Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace March 4, 2026
Transcript
- 0:03This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
- 0:08Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
- 0:12County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37The church had a problem with compromise.
- 0:41The church was known to be dealing with idolatry.
- 0:44There was pressures internal within the church itself.
- 0:48As they were worshipping, they were worshipping not any God,
- 0:51but they were worshipping. Idols Apollo, the sun God, was
- 0:55established in this particular city, and what happened was, as
- 1:00the church was endeavouring to do the things that it was
- 1:03supposed to do, they allowed false teachers.
- 1:05To be in the church. False teachers have always been
- 1:09a problem in the church. Whether modern day or the early
- 1:12church era, there have always been people seeking to
- 1:15capitalize on the body of Christ for personal gain.
- 1:19We are reminded that the ultimate authority of the church
- 1:22is Christ. Whatever pastor or preacher you
- 1:25may have. Pastor Clark gives insight into
- 1:28this church mentioned in Revelation as a lesson to us to
- 1:31be critical of those who would stray from Scripture and lead us
- 1:36astray from the gospel of Jesus. Now here's Pastor Clark in the
- 1:40Book of Revelation Chapter 2 with today's edition of Living
- 1:44Waters of Grace. Revelation chapter 2, verse 18
- 1:49through 29. And to the Angel, the church in
- 1:53Thyatira, right these things, says the Son of God, who has
- 1:56eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass.
- 2:01I know your works, your love, service, faith, and your
- 2:04patience. And As for your works, the last
- 2:07are more than the first. Nevertheless, I have a few
- 2:09things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who
- 2:13calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants, to
- 2:17commit sexual immorality and eat things, sacrificed idols.
- 2:21And I gave her time to repent and her sexual immorality, and
- 2:25she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a
- 2:28sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great
- 2:31tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
- 2:35I will kill her children with death.
- 2:37And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the
- 2:41minds and the hearts. And I will give to each one of
- 2:44you according to your works. Now to you I say, and to the
- 2:48rest in Thyrotyra, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have
- 2:52not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you
- 2:57no other burden, but hold fast what you have till I come.
- 3:02And he whoever comes and keeps my works until the end, to him I
- 3:06will give power over the nation's.
- 3:08He shall rule them with a rod of iron.
- 3:10They shall be dashed to pieces like the Potter's vessels, as I
- 3:14also received from my father, and I will give him the morning
- 3:18star. He who has an ear, let him hear
- 3:21what the Spirit says to the churches.
- 3:23This particular church, Thyatira, the 4th church we're
- 3:26studying now in the Book of Revelation, is given the longest
- 3:30letter of all. The churches that we've studied
- 3:33so far and the city of. Thyatira, about 40 miles.
- 3:37Southeast of Pergamus, which is a church.
- 3:39We studied about last week. This particular church is
- 3:43involved with a lot of issues that churches shouldn't be
- 3:46involved with at all these centers in false teaching.
- 3:50That's what happens whenever churches begin to fall apart.
- 3:54Doesn't matter how many people are there, how few, or how many,
- 3:57whenever the Church begins to deviate from the teachings.
- 4:01Of the word. Of God and begins,
- 4:03unfortunately, to make things up as they go along the church then
- 4:06begins to become a problem to the people that go to.
- 4:09The church this particular church in in.
- 4:12General, you might have remembered.
- 4:13Back in Acts chapter 16, in your studies of the Scripture, this
- 4:17city is mentioned regarding a certain woman named Lydia, the
- 4:23first convert in the city of Thyrotaira.
- 4:25She's mentioned in the book of the Acts, and it says that the
- 4:29Lord opened her heart to heed and listen to the things that
- 4:32were spoken to by Paul. And when she and her household
- 4:36were baptized, she begged us, saying, if you have judged me to
- 4:39be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.
- 4:42And so she persuaded us. And that.
- 4:44Was the beginning of the church in Thyatira the Lydia.
- 4:48Seller of purple. The city itself was a
- 4:50manufacturing port. Also a military city.
- 4:54And of all these cities that we're studying right now in the
- 4:58Book of Revelation, this church again has received the largest
- 5:02letter. In this city, there's a town
- 5:05that people are making a living by the Guild.
- 5:10In order to make the living, you had to be part of a.
- 5:12Guild or you couldn't work. A Guild was like a trade union,
- 5:16a trade association, and in order to make your livelihood
- 5:20you had to belong to these guilds.
- 5:22But the problem at that time or the conflict at the time was
- 5:25that the church was being tempted to compromise its
- 5:27convictions. And this is what the John is
- 5:31addressing as Christ is speaking to him regarding this church in
- 5:35Revelation. The church had a problem with
- 5:39compromise. The church was known to be
- 5:42dealing with idolatry. There was pressures internal
- 5:46within the church itself. As they were worshipping, they
- 5:49were worshipping not any God, but they were worshipping.
- 5:52Idols Apollo, the sun God, was established in this particular
- 5:56city, and what happened was, as the church was endeavoring to do
- 6:01the things that it was supposed to do, they allowed false
- 6:04teachers. To be in the.
- 6:05Church and false. Teachers were like teaching
- 6:08things that weren't part of. The Apostles doctrine or the
- 6:13foundation of the Teachings of Christ and the Church, instead
- 6:16of dealing with the false teaching they were allowing.
- 6:18These things to go along, they weren't saying anything.
- 6:21They weren't mentioning anything about it.
- 6:23They weren't stopping it. And the responsibility that the
- 6:26church has myself as a pastor. And Elder.
- 6:29And Howard and Rick. Is that?
- 6:32There can't be false. Teaching in the church, we could
- 6:35be doing 90% of the things right and 10% wrong.
- 6:39And as I said, the rat poison is always 2% arsenic and 98% weak,
- 6:45and that's what causes rat poison to be lethal.
- 6:48So when the church has a little leaven, a little sin, a little
- 6:51impurity, it begins to corrupt the whole church.
- 6:53If I'm living a double life and I'm walking in immorality in my
- 6:57private life, and then I'm coming.
- 6:58Here preaching you and. Even though I might sound right
- 7:01and I'm teaching. Doctrine and all these.
- 7:03Things. There's no power in what's being
- 7:05said because it's being filtered by delusion and deception and
- 7:09morality and impurity. And the same thing when you come
- 7:12to church on Sundays, you want to come with your hearts pure
- 7:15before the Lord. You don't want to bring in the
- 7:18world and the lust of the world into the body of Christ.
- 7:22When we take the Lord's Supper, we sit down and we take it to
- 7:26have our hearts purified together, don't we?
- 7:29We all need to be purified. We're out in the world all week
- 7:32and we're rubbing shoulders with all kind of stuff and we hear
- 7:36things and we see things and many of these things obviously
- 7:39enter into our heart and they cause.
- 7:41Us to be cold. And lukewarm and lack attention
- 7:45to the things of God. And what happens then?
- 7:48It begins to invade our families and our marriages and our
- 7:51households and our. Community and those we.
- 7:54Work and live with. And so the importance of the
- 7:56church having no compromise. Now, some of us are dealing with
- 8:02struggles, I'm sure, in our own lives, personally.
- 8:06Sometimes we have business. Dealings or relationships with
- 8:09certain people and we feel that we sometimes shouldn't say what
- 8:13we really need to say because if we did, it might affect the
- 8:16business deal or it might affect the relationship, or something
- 8:20might not go right. Or maybe we could lose our job.
- 8:24And maybe the boss is asking you to do something you know is
- 8:27morally unacceptable and against your convictions and you're
- 8:32having struggle. You're thinking, well, Lord, if
- 8:34I don't do what he tells me to do or she tells me to do, then I
- 8:37could lose my job. What do I do, Lord?
- 8:42Well, the Lord would always have us do what he tells us to do,
- 8:45right? But we all have a tendency at
- 8:47times to compromise, don't we? And we need to step back and
- 8:51say, Lord, I need to do what's right no matter what the cost
- 8:54is, even if it costs me my job, it costs me my house, it costs
- 8:59me my livelihood. Because ultimately, Lord, you're
- 9:02the one that provides for me. It's not man, it's you.
- 9:06And we all struggle with believing that at times.
- 9:09It's like the old phrase Lord, I believe helped my unbelief.
- 9:15We want to trust God and we want to follow Him, but sometimes we
- 9:19compromise and we need. To repent of compromise and we
- 9:22need to ask the Lord to free us from the fear of.
- 9:25Man and the fear of the culture. And that the one thing we want
- 9:30the most is to do what's pleasing in his sight.
- 9:32So these self professed prophets arise here.
- 9:36He's speaking to this church and it says these things, says the
- 9:39Son of God, this. Is the only instance in this
- 9:42Book of Revelation that this phrase Son of God is used, and
- 9:46it's used to refute the Son God Apollo, who they worshipped as
- 9:52the God of their culture? And Jesus is clearly delineating
- 9:58that he is the Son of God. He has eyes like a.
- 10:02Flame of fire. And his.
- 10:04Feet are like brass. You know when Christ, Christ.
- 10:07Is in our midst today. He's here.
- 10:09He is so focused on you and me because He loves us.
- 10:13His eyes are so intent upon your heart that He's searching and
- 10:19moving by spirit and through His Word and through worship and
- 10:22through the Lord's Supper to separate the stuff in our heart
- 10:26that needs to be taken away and taken out.
- 10:30It's like an infection that needs to be excised from our
- 10:37hearts. Sin we think isn't that big of a
- 10:41deal sometimes, but the Bible says a little leaven, a little
- 10:46sin ruins the whole body. That's why David was so intent
- 10:52on saying, Lord, search me and know my heart, try me and know
- 10:57my thoughts, and see if there's any wicked way in me, and leave
- 11:02me in the way everlasting. He was so focused upon purity
- 11:08after he fell into sin. He did terrible things like many
- 11:12of us have, and yet God in His mercy forgave him and restored
- 11:16him and renewed him, didn't he? But David wasn't the same man
- 11:21after that fall. He was so aware of his heart and
- 11:26his propensity to sin against the God who loves him.
- 11:30And so in his prayers he said, search me Lord, and know my
- 11:34heart. He wasn't saying search other
- 11:35people, get them straightened out, deal with them.
- 11:39No Lord, search me, know my heart, know my thoughts and see
- 11:44if there's any wicked way in me and leave me in their way
- 11:47everlasting. Let the words of my mouth and
- 11:54the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my
- 11:59strength and my Redeemer, That that would be our prayers as we
- 12:04worship God, as we come before him in prayer and our private
- 12:06lives, that we're asking God to change our hearts and to purify
- 12:12us. Christ is seeing everything and
- 12:15he wants to eliminate everything and purify us so that we don't
- 12:19have to. Stand in judgment before his
- 12:22throne one day and give an account for ungodliness.
- 12:27The judgment seat of Christ is a judgment for believers.
- 12:31The great White Throne judgment is a judgment for the unsaved,
- 12:34The loss. If you're a Christian, you won't
- 12:37be at the great White Throne judgment.
- 12:40But if you're a Christian, you will be at the judgment seat of
- 12:42Christ. And the Bible says you will give
- 12:44an account for every idle word and every corrupt deed that you
- 12:50hadn't repented of. And so today we ask God to
- 12:54purify us and to cleanse us so that all of us can stand in that
- 12:58judgment and hear well done, good and faithful servant enter
- 13:01into the joy of the Lord. And so Christ, as he looks with
- 13:06these eyes that are so pure and so holy and so perfect, he's
- 13:11searching the heart of this church and our church.
- 13:14As well here today. It says his feet are like fine
- 13:18brass, he says. I know your works, your love,
- 13:20your service, your faith, your patience.
- 13:23And As for your works, the last or more than the first, this
- 13:27church in comparison to. Ephesus, you know, Ephesus lost
- 13:30their first love. They began to become weak in
- 13:35their devotion to Christ. They weren't loving Him anymore
- 13:39with all their heart, with all their mind, and with all their
- 13:41soul and with. All their strength.
- 13:43This church in the other side, though, is apparently pressing
- 13:47in to love God more, to seek his face more, and to end up doing
- 13:53better near the end than they were in the beginning.
- 13:57I I see so many of us at times. We come to Christ.
- 14:00We're excited, we're all stoked because of what Jesus did and we
- 14:05just. Want to serve him?
- 14:06And we got all. These promises we want to make.
- 14:09And all these things. We want to do and then I see,
- 14:11you know, people that. Start well and then all of a
- 14:14sudden I don't see them anymore. They're not finishing well.
- 14:19It's like the parable, the sower.
- 14:20The person that. Receives a word with joy and the
- 14:24beginning. Oh Jesus, he's so great.
- 14:25He did this and saved me and oh, I'm so excited.
- 14:28My life's changed and all this stuff.
- 14:30And then it says, in the cares of the world, the deceitfulness
- 14:33of riches. And the lusts, other things
- 14:35choke the word. And then what happens?
- 14:39Anybody know? We become unfruitful.
- 14:44There's no life in US. The seed obviously didn't take
- 14:50and the. Seed ends up dying, but the
- 14:54parable the sour the 4th. Soil, it brought forth 51
- 14:58hundredfold. I think back in my own life,
- 15:01Jeff and I were talking about that.
- 15:02This week on the phone. About the Lord.
- 15:05And his work in our lives. And I had had an experience with
- 15:09the Lord. When I was 20 and I thought it
- 15:13was salvation, I was all excited and I was radical and I was.
- 15:18Changing and I was. Wanting to tell people about the
- 15:22Lord and all that kind of stuff. But it didn't.
- 15:24Last real long. It lasted for a couple years and
- 15:27then all of a sudden I found my desire to go back to the old
- 15:30ways and to do the same old things again.
- 15:33And so I had a Christian life for years.
- 15:35It was sort of like schizophrenic.
- 15:38I was this way one time and then I was this way another time and
- 15:42then in my early 40's the Lord dealt with me through some
- 15:45family crisises and I remember going to.
- 15:49A church where there was a. Revival going on and.
- 15:53There was only a few people there that attended the.
- 15:55Revival. But the revival was for me, and
- 16:00I listened to the pastor talk about what is real salvation,
- 16:05what is real conversion, what is a real work of God's Spirit and
- 16:10a heart. And I realized that what I
- 16:14thought I had, I didn't have. And so I went down by myself on
- 16:20gun on my face and said, Lord, this Christianity isn't working
- 16:24for me. Something wrong?
- 16:26I know what your word says and I know how great you are, but I
- 16:30don't live like this is real. And I asked Him to do whatever
- 16:37needed to be done in my heart in order for it to become real.
- 16:42And He did. And I'm ashamed of so many of
- 16:46the things I've done in my life. Or I thought I was a Christian
- 16:50and I wasn't. But the Lord is merciful, and
- 16:55He's so faithful, and He's a God of the second chance, isn't he?
- 17:01For all of us? God's got to have a sense of
- 17:04humor because six months after that He's calling me into
- 17:07ministry. I'm saying I am the least
- 17:09qualified lawyer, he says. Not many wise, not many mighty,
- 17:16not many. No boar called.
- 17:18But God has chosen the. Weak and the foolish things of
- 17:21this world. To confound the wise.
- 17:24So that no flesh would glory in His presence.
- 17:27So I'm not interested in compromise.
- 17:29Anymore. One time I was, I thought.
- 17:31That was just the way it was. Everybody compromises.
- 17:34Yeah, you believe, but you really don't.
- 17:36Live like you believe sometimes. Because we're all human, you
- 17:38know, We all cut each other's slack.
- 17:41You know, I got drunk last night, you might say.
- 17:45And the other person. Yeah, I was drunk two weeks ago.
- 17:47I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did it.
- 17:50That's not the gospel. That's not salvation.
- 17:56It tells us in Galatians 5. It gives a.
- 17:57List of the sins of compromise and this is written to believers
- 18:02galatians chapter 5 he says the works of the flesh in verse 19
- 18:07are evident adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
- 18:12lewdness, idolatry and this church was.
- 18:15Full of idolatry and thyrotyra. Sorcery, hatred, contentions,
- 18:21jealousies, outspursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
- 18:26heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the
- 18:29like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told
- 18:33you in time past, that those who practice such.
- 18:36Things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
- 18:43God has called us for holiness and purity.
- 18:49People many times ask me, do you?
- 18:51Believe in eternal security, do you?
- 18:52Believe once saved, always saved.
- 18:54You believe you can be saved and not be saved.
- 18:57That's not the that's not the question we should be asking.
- 19:03Am I living in light of what the Bible says is true salvation?
- 19:12Or am I kidding myself that someone just make me feel good?
- 19:17You know, I get a kick out of these people that sometimes.
- 19:19These churches, they get them to come.
- 19:20Up front and. They'll come up front if you
- 19:21want to accept Jesus a day. And you don't want to go to
- 19:23hell. And who in the world?
- 19:24Wants to go to hell so everybody comes up.
- 19:26I mean, that sounds like a good deal.
- 19:28Jesus died for my sins. If you ask him to come in your
- 19:31heart and save you. You won't go to hell, you'll go
- 19:34to heaven, man. Who wouldn't want that?
- 19:38But there's no message of death to self.
- 19:41If any man will follow me, let him deny himself he who finds
- 19:45his life for my sake. Must first lose it.
- 19:48There's a cost right to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
- 19:52If any man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his
- 19:56cross daily and follow me. So the people come down and so
- 19:59the passage I prayed his prayer after me.
- 20:01Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner, please forgive me of my sins.
- 20:06Came into my heart and saved me. So I don't have to go to hell
- 20:08and I can be in heaven with you forever.
- 20:11So the person praise it. Then the pastor goes, praise
- 20:13God, you're a Christian, you're saved.
- 20:16And the person's like I am. Sometimes I don't feel
- 20:20different. I don't sense anything's
- 20:23happened to me or but I guess if that's what you're saying, I
- 20:27guess that's what I am. And so they come to church week
- 20:31in and week out, month in and month out and year in and year
- 20:33out, thinking that they're Christians because they prayed a
- 20:38prayer. But down deep inside, their
- 20:41heart is still. Doing the same things, thinking
- 20:43the same things. You and I, we can't save our
- 20:47self. It's the mercy of God.
- 20:49It's his grace. And when God changes a life,
- 20:52folks, He changes a life. We don't have to pretend it.
- 20:56We don't have to fake it. We don't have to.
- 20:58Have power positive thinking well yeah I pray this prayer
- 21:00even though I'm. Still acting this way.
- 21:02You know I'm saved because I. Prayed a prayer.
- 21:05No, we're. Saved.
- 21:07If we are living like Jesus Christ, we're saved if we love
- 21:11the things that he loves and hates the things that he hates.
- 21:15We're saved if we're new creations, right?
- 21:18If any man is in Christ, he's a new creation.
- 21:21Old things are passed away, right?
- 21:24My old desire is to do the things I used to want to do are
- 21:28passed away. I don't want to do them anymore
- 21:32because my heart's been changed. All things have become new.
- 21:37So if we're here today and we're still struggling with old things
- 21:42and things haven't become new, we're still without Christ.
- 21:46And the good news is, is that Christ is still here and.
- 21:49Able to save. And so he's speaking to this
- 21:52church. He's talking about judgment.
- 21:54He's talking about the need for repentance.
- 21:58Repentance is critical to conversion or salvation or
- 22:02change or purity. In the church.
- 22:04The church is a place that repentance should be the most
- 22:07intense, guys, not the world. It's US.
- 22:11Judgment, the Bible says, must first begin with us, and with
- 22:15us, the House of God. What is it that we are
- 22:18compromising with secretly? What is it that we're thinking
- 22:21or? Watching or seeing or.
- 22:22Doing that only God sees and no one else sees.
- 22:26What is it that we're turned on by?
- 22:31What is it that we're turned off by?
- 22:35What is it that comes on the? TV that the Spirit of God is
- 22:38just crying out. You turn that.
- 22:39Filth off. I don't want you to be defiled.
- 22:43I don't. Want you to become impure?
- 22:45I don't want your thoughts to be corrupt.
- 22:47I don't want you to be defiled as we're studying in the Old
- 22:50Testament right now about the. Purifications systems.
- 22:54And all that and the and the roles that God.
- 22:57Gave to Moses regarding the ministry of the sacrifice.
- 23:00And touching what's clean. And and not touching what's
- 23:03unclean. I'll tell you God was so clear
- 23:08on his displeasure for. The slightest.
- 23:12Thing that would defile or make one impure or unholy.
- 23:17And do you realize a thought that comes into your heart that
- 23:20is not sent there by God is designed to defile you and
- 23:25corrupt you? It says that we're to cast down
- 23:32imaginations and every thought that exalts itself against the
- 23:36knowledge of God. How many thoughts did you have
- 23:38this week that came to try to exalt themselves against God's
- 23:42knowledge in your life? Recognizing where they're
- 23:45coming. From why they're being sent,
- 23:48what the source is, it says to bring every thought into
- 23:52captivity, into the obedience of Christ, every thought.
- 23:57Thanks for being with us today here on Living Waters of Grace.
- 24:01We are in the Book of Revelation, and we find it
- 24:03fascinating how influential and involved the angels are in this
- 24:08book. They bring about whatever it is
- 24:11that God has instructed them to do, but it's through their
- 24:15actions that much of the judgements come on the earth.
- 24:19The angels are in submission to God as their authority, but He
- 24:22utilizes them in unique ways throughout this book.
- 24:26Like angels have a specific purpose from God, you have a
- 24:30unique purpose and plan to. God wants to use you in your
- 24:34life as a testimony to others and to bring others who are
- 24:37currently lost into the fold of God.
- 24:41God would love more than anything for all who are willing
- 24:44to come to Him for salvation, but He wants it to be their
- 24:47choice, not a forced situation. This is the way God works, not
- 24:53forcing himself on anyone, but giving each person free will.
- 24:57If you're interested in learning about this choice that's free
- 25:01and that it's a gift, go to calvarychapelonline.com and
- 25:06click on the About Us tab and then find the link for what we
- 25:10believe. We'd love to be a help and a
- 25:13resource for you as you walk through what it means to be a
- 25:16follower of Jesus. If you find the contact tab on
- 25:20our website, you can get in touch with us or submit a prayer
- 25:24request. We'd love to hear from you.
- 25:27That's all for today's edition and Revelation, but there's much
- 25:30more that Pastor Clark plans to share with us from this
- 25:34culminating book of the Bible. Stay tuned for that and make
- 25:37sure to mention this radio program to others.
- 25:40Invite them to tune into Grace FM 91.7 FM.
- 25:45They can stream worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM.
- 25:50This has been Living Waters of Grace.