Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / Living Waters of Grace 08.29.25
Transcript
- 0:04This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
- 0:08Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
- 0:12County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
- 0:16continues teaching through God's Word.
- 0:37The world. That he gave his only begotten
- 0:39Son. We're all.
- 0:39Loved by God, God is love. So we are those.
- 0:44In fact, that's why he calls us the children.
- 0:46He says that we are His children.
- 0:48What love is this that we would have of the Father, that he
- 0:52would call us his children. I am your child.
- 0:57Knowing everything you know about me, you call me your
- 1:00child. That's the love of God.
- 1:02We are beloved. It will not be loved because of
- 1:05what we do, will not be loved because we've earned.
- 1:08As a parent, you understand better than anyone how much your
- 1:11child means to you. A parent's love is truly one of
- 1:15the strongest forms of love, and this is how God views you and
- 1:19me. His love for you is so immense
- 1:22that it can be hard to comprehend, which is part of
- 1:25what makes it so remarkable. In today's message, Pastor Lewis
- 1:30wants you to remember that no matter what your life has looked
- 1:33like up until now, God still loves you.
- 1:37If you feel distant from God, know that He is patiently
- 1:41waiting for you to return to Him now.
- 1:43Here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of Jude, chapter one with
- 1:46today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
- 1:50One of the most significant things that we can talk about
- 1:52with the book of Jude is the fact that the title of this
- 1:56epistle bears the name of its author.
- 1:58Jude and Hebrew name for Jude is Judah Judas.
- 2:03The name would means actually praise or worship or
- 2:06Thanksgiving is what the name would means in the Hebrew
- 2:09language. The significant thing about it
- 2:12though, another important thing about it is the fact that Jude
- 2:15is the brother of James and the half brother of Jesus.
- 2:21We know that in this epistle we find out that we know that Jude
- 2:27has come to faith whereas before he did not.
- 2:29None of his brothers actually believed until after the death
- 2:33and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- 2:37So let's just start reading from verse one.
- 2:39It says Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and the brother of
- 2:44James to those who are called sanctified by God the Father and
- 2:50preserved in Jesus Christ. So what we find here is that
- 2:55Jude, I think even the way he identified himself as very
- 2:59interesting being again that he was not initially A believer.
- 3:04If you would look in Matthew 13 and 55 that actually names the
- 3:08names of the brothers were the half brothers of Jesus.
- 3:12You know he had a brother, James who?
- 3:14Also has a book. That he is the author of And
- 3:18then there is Jose, there's Simon, and then there is Judas.
- 3:21As we read through this, we find that he says himself as he
- 3:26identifies, he doesn't come out and say that I'm the half
- 3:30brother of Jesus. Now I think that many of us, if
- 3:33we were to start an epistle. We probably would leave with
- 3:35that, right? We wouldn't bury that lead.
- 3:38We would start out right away with that.
- 3:39Yeah, that. Jesus, my.
- 3:40Brother. But Jude didn't start off that
- 3:44way. He talks about the fact that he
- 3:47is a bond servant of Jesus Christ, which is really amazing
- 3:52because you know, at one time all of his brothers thought that
- 3:55Jesus was mad, that he was crazy and that they needed to do
- 3:59something to almost get rid of him.
- 4:01But we see here that he has been humbled and in his humility he
- 4:07calls himself a bond servant of Jesus Christ, which basically
- 4:12means I am a slave to Jesus Christ.
- 4:16I don't know if you guys remember before you got saved,
- 4:21the last thing you wanted to do or be was a slave to Jesus
- 4:24Christ. We were doing our own thing.
- 4:27We were doing what made us happy.
- 4:29But then once you get saved. And your heart humbles you.
- 4:34Gladly submit yourself to the servanthood of Jesus Christ.
- 4:40And that's what this brother did.
- 4:41Now you know what? Also, it's interesting that
- 4:43there's really no, there was no nepotism with Jesus.
- 4:45Now he had four brothers, but there was no nepotism with
- 4:48Jesus. I mean, he didn't put them on no
- 4:50pedestal. He didn't do anything different
- 4:52for them than he did for anybody else.
- 4:54There's a record in the book of Matthew chapter 12 where Jesus
- 5:00is in a house and he's. Teaching.
- 5:03And while he's teaching his mother and his.
- 5:05Four brothers. Come to the house and and Jesus
- 5:08just keeps on teaching. You know, like they.
- 5:10Never. Like they never showed.
- 5:11Up, you know he. Just keeps on teaching.
- 5:13Like no big deal. And then there was men in the
- 5:16house who said Jesus. Your mother and your.
- 5:19Brothers, they are outside. They they, they're bidding you,
- 5:21they want. You and Jesus said.
- 5:24Who is my mother and my brothers?
- 5:30And he pointed to the people, the disciples that were there
- 5:34learning his word. And he said, these are my this
- 5:37is my mother and my brothers, those who do the will of my
- 5:42father or my mother and my brothers.
- 5:46There was no nepotism with Jesus.
- 5:49And like you. Said his brothers.
- 5:50Didn't even believe. And and what was interesting is
- 5:52that even at the crucifixion, when Jesus was on the cross, he
- 5:58didn't commit his mother. To any of his brothers.
- 6:03He committed her to the Apostle John, Those who do the will of
- 6:08my Father. Or my mother and my brothers.
- 6:12So I just thought those are just very interesting facts.
- 6:14But now Jews. Says I am a bond servant of
- 6:18Jesus Christ and the brother of James.
- 6:23And then he says to those who are called, sanctified by God
- 6:27the Father, and preserved in Jesus.
- 6:31Christ. So when we look at that, we see
- 6:34the position of the church. Is what James is what Jude is
- 6:38discussing here he's. Discussing the.
- 6:40Position of the church. We are all called or chosen
- 6:47according to the Word of God. We are, we're called, we're
- 6:51given, we are called to the ministry or even call to
- 6:56salvation. In 2nd Thessalonians 213 and 14,
- 7:00it says that we are chosen for salvation and called by the
- 7:04gospel. We are called, and Jesus himself
- 7:08even says that no one comes to me except the Father draws them.
- 7:13We're called to be, say we're called to salvation.
- 7:17We are called to believe in Jesus Christ.
- 7:19And I remember when I was being called.
- 7:24I don't know if you guys remember during the time when in
- 7:26your life when the Lord was beginning to tug on your hearts
- 7:30and to draw you toward him, but I can remember when the Lord.
- 7:35Was. Working on my heart.
- 7:37I had a hard heart. I was in sin and was enjoying
- 7:42it. I was doing whatever it was that
- 7:43I wanted to do, but there came a time when I began to just feel
- 7:48empty. It came a time when I didn't
- 7:50even enjoy the. Sin the way.
- 7:52That I used to anymore I just felt empty and just didn't want
- 7:56to be by myself. Because if I did, then I'd have
- 7:58to look at and think about who I was, what I do, and it.
- 8:04Was just a heaviness. That was just all over me and,
- 8:07and I just remember saying and, and and and the woman who was my
- 8:11girlfriend at that time. Who was now my wife.
- 8:13Thank you. Jesus, we both agreed.
- 8:16That it was. Time to go to church.
- 8:19We need to go to church. And it was during that time that
- 8:22he was calling us and bringing us to himself.
- 8:27I, I mean, I don't know if any of you remember those times when
- 8:31you know, when, when life just seems to change and, and things
- 8:34that we thought was important is no longer important.
- 8:37I used to think that making. Money was really important.
- 8:40It became not as important in these fruitless and meaningless
- 8:44relationships and, and, and wanting to have positions of,
- 8:48of, of power and influence and all those things drive the
- 8:52nicest. All these things was just so
- 8:54important. And I remember when those things
- 8:58did not become important anymore.
- 9:00They were no longer important because it wasn't, it wasn't
- 9:02fulfilling. It didn't fulfill me anymore.
- 9:06And somebody preached the gospel and our lives never the same.
- 9:10So we were called and then it says sanctified.
- 9:13And that's sanctified here usually means set up, set apart
- 9:16for his purpose. But here sanctify means we are
- 9:20beloved. In fact, in some of your
- 9:23versions in May, instead, instead of saying sanctified and
- 9:25may say beloved, we are beloved. And what's amazing about the
- 9:30fact that we're beloved, we are beloved with an everlasting
- 9:33love. There's nothing that can
- 9:36separate us from the love of God.
- 9:40Nothing. You know, the love of God
- 9:43actually goes out to everybody, for God so loved the world.
- 9:47That he gave his only begotten Son.
- 9:49We're all. Loved by God, God is love, so we
- 9:54are those. In fact, that's why He calls us
- 9:55the children. He says that we are His
- 9:57children. What love is this that we would
- 10:01have of the Father that he would call us His children.
- 10:04I am your child. Knowing everything you know
- 10:08about me, you call me your child.
- 10:11That's the love of God. We are beloved, and we're not
- 10:14beloved because of what we do. We're not beloved because we've
- 10:17earned it. We're not beloved because we're
- 10:19one of God's favorites. We are beloved because that's
- 10:25who God is. We'll be loved.
- 10:28And not only does he call us, not only does he love us and set
- 10:33us apart, but we are also preserved in Jesus Christ by
- 10:39him. In this faith we don't keep
- 10:41ourselves, We can't keep ourselves.
- 10:46In this preserve means kept or guarded, watched.
- 10:51Carefully. By Jesus Christ.
- 10:55If we want to. If we even tried to keep
- 10:57ourselves in this, but we could not do it, we couldn't do it,
- 11:02but we are kept by Jesus Christ. How wonderful was that?
- 11:06He calls us, He sanctifies us, or He beloved us and He keeps
- 11:14us. He does it all.
- 11:17He does it all. I was just thinking about the
- 11:23fact this walk that we have and it's it's almost like a picture.
- 11:27It's almost like a picture. You know, the Bible tells us
- 11:29that we are kept by the power of God in first Peter and it tells
- 11:33us in second Timothy 1 and where Paul himself says, look, I am
- 11:37persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
- 11:44to him. And even in Jude verse 24 here
- 11:47in the book of Jude, it says that, you know, he says unto him
- 11:50who was able to keep me from stumbling.
- 11:55And we'll dig into that a little bit more once we get over.
- 11:57There, but I the one thing I do want to say about that.
- 12:00Keeping us from stumbling. That kind of gives me a picture,
- 12:03you know, we're just talking about the children.
- 12:05Earlier. And do you remember when your?
- 12:07Child is younger and those who still have young children you
- 12:09probably know this can probably relate to this when you go into
- 12:13a group or when you get. Around with your children.
- 12:15And they're walking, and they finally.
- 12:17Get to the point where they can start.
- 12:18Walking on their own, and and and and now instead of holding
- 12:21them, you're walking with them. OK.
- 12:24And. And when you get around a group
- 12:25of people, obviously because you want to be.
- 12:27Protective of your child. You want them close to you, so
- 12:32you grab their hand and initially they may hold on to
- 12:36your hand, but eventually they'll start to pull away.
- 12:42They'll want to leave your hand alone, right?
- 12:44Like I can do this on my own. But wait a minute.
- 12:47We're here with a bunch of people here.
- 12:49There's there's we, we getting ready to go to the curb and
- 12:51there's traffic here. I can do it myself.
- 12:54And he's pulling your hand off. You remember those days.
- 12:56He's pulling your hand off of you.
- 12:58And that baby is not. Safe that.
- 13:01Child is not safe because he's holding on to you.
- 13:04He's safe because you're holding on to him.
- 13:07You stop him. From running into traffic.
- 13:09Not because He makes the decision to not put his life in
- 13:13danger. He's a child.
- 13:15He'll sometimes let you go, but you continue to hold on to Him
- 13:19because you're a parent who loves your child.
- 13:22That's exactly what God does for us.
- 13:24He holds on to us even though sometimes we stop holding on to
- 13:29Him. We're not kept because we
- 13:31continue to hold on to Him. We're kept because He holds on
- 13:35to us. That's a blessing.
- 13:39That's a blessing. And then verse.
- 13:41Two, he he says mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.
- 13:47So because we are the church we're called, and because we're
- 13:51sanctified, we've been loved by God.
- 13:52Because we're kept by God, we have access to his mercy, his
- 13:58peace, and his love. We have access to these things.
- 14:03We have access to his mercy. In fact, if we do sin, when we
- 14:08do pull away from him and we run into sin, we have mercy because
- 14:13we know that we have did wrong. We have we have committed sins.
- 14:17So we throw ourselves on the mercy seat of God and ask for
- 14:21his forgiveness and he's granted.
- 14:24It's just like if we're if. There was a time when I got
- 14:29caught speeding. All right.
- 14:32And I was coming up route. I remember exactly where I was
- 14:34at the time. I was coming up Route 30 and I
- 14:35was speeding and I didn't realize I was speeding.
- 14:38It wasn't like I was doing it intentionally, but.
- 14:40I did, but I. Was probably going too fast.
- 14:42I just. Kind of took her word for it
- 14:43because I didn't know. I had kind of zoned out.
- 14:46I was, you know, driving a, a a company car and I just.
- 14:50Turned the corner and I was going up Route 30 and I wasn't.
- 14:53Paying attention to how fast I was going but.
- 14:55If any of you. Live right there in that.
- 14:57Bottom part of of a route. 30 towards North Huntington.
- 15:03Police a little more, you know, they pay a little.
- 15:06Bit more attention to you down that way.
- 15:09So I didn't know how fast I was going, but anyway I got pulled
- 15:12over and I got a ticket and she said, well, you can go and
- 15:14contest it and, and, and, and I said, OK, I'll go and contest.
- 15:18We set a court date and all those things and.
- 15:20I got to the point where. When I got to the court.
- 15:23You know the judge. Was asking her.
- 15:26You know, what do you have? And she's laying out all these
- 15:29things. She's laying out all these
- 15:31camera angles and. All these different thing, I'm
- 15:34sitting there to entertain like, wow, all that got captured and
- 15:38that little 15 minute time period or 10 minute time period.
- 15:42And so he comes to me. So OK, what's your defense?
- 15:45So I don't have one. I certainly didn't come as
- 15:48prepared as she did. I don't have a defense.
- 15:52None of us have a defense for the sin that we commit against
- 15:57God. None of us have a defense.
- 16:00And just like I said to them, I said, look, I'm here throwing
- 16:03myself on the mercy of the court because I can't defend this.
- 16:06I can't say that I didn't speak because I don't even know.
- 16:09I probably did. I have a heavy foot sometimes.
- 16:13I'm throwing myself on the mercy of the court asking for your
- 16:16leniency. I'm not defending anything that
- 16:19she said. And that's exactly what we do
- 16:22with God. We have the access.
- 16:25The Bible says that we can come boldly before the throne of
- 16:28grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
- 16:33of need. We know where we can go because
- 16:36we are the church, because we are his children.
- 16:39We have access to his mercy and his peace.
- 16:42Clark and I was talking about, I was actually listening on the
- 16:45way in and and he was talking about peace when he's talking
- 16:49about peace and I was thinking about peace because I've been
- 16:51studying that this peace that he's talking about, this peace
- 16:54that passes that surpasses all understanding.
- 16:58We have this peace. We have it now.
- 17:00We didn't always have peace with God.
- 17:04There was a time when we were a hostile against God.
- 17:07We were carnal minds and the Bible says that the carnal mind
- 17:11is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of
- 17:14God. Neither indeed can be.
- 17:17It can, cannot be subject to God.
- 17:19There was a time when we were not at peace with God and
- 17:21couldn't be because of our lifestyle, because of our sin.
- 17:25The Bible says that your sin have separated you from your
- 17:28God. And we were, we didn't have
- 17:31peace with him, but it wasn't until we received the salvation
- 17:36of the Lord. It wasn't until we received and
- 17:40we believed on what Jesus Christ did on that cross for us that we
- 17:44have peace with God. Romans 5 and one said now being
- 17:49now, now, you know, being justified by faith, we have
- 17:52peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
- 17:58Philippians four and seven says that the peace of God surpasses
- 18:01all understanding and it will guard our hearts and our minds
- 18:06by, through and in Jesus Christ because of our salvation in
- 18:11Christ and our relationship our. Position in the church.
- 18:14Because of that, that we are the Church.
- 18:17Because of that, we have both the God of peace and we have the
- 18:22peace of God. But we can't have the peace of
- 18:26God until we have the God of peace.
- 18:30But sometimes we don't feel that we have mercy with God.
- 18:34We feel condemned. The enemy is very good at that
- 18:37and making us feel condemned. Sometimes we don't feel like we
- 18:41have peace with God. It also says here and we are
- 18:46loved and let that love be multiplied to you.
- 18:49Sometimes we don't might not feel loved.
- 18:51You know, sometimes as a kid, a kid may say, I just don't feel
- 18:54loved sometimes. And sometimes we might not feel
- 18:57loved because we're basing these all these things on our
- 19:00feelings. We're based in all these things
- 19:02that come to us. And it can be our anxieties that
- 19:05are ruling up in us that cause us not to experience his mercy
- 19:10or not to experience his peace or experience his love.
- 19:13It's feelings. But our salvation is not based
- 19:16on feelings, brothers and sisters.
- 19:18It's not based on that. Our our salvation is based on
- 19:21our faith. It's based on our faith is what
- 19:24we believe and who we believe. Who are we going to believe?
- 19:27But we don't always feel that way within ourselves.
- 19:31And I don't always feel at peace.
- 19:33Sometimes I feel anxious, I feel confused, I feel a mess.
- 19:38Don't always. Feel like I'm experiencing God's
- 19:41mercy sometimes. I know the enemy can make me
- 19:43feel like I'm a little condemned.
- 19:45But we have His mercy and we have His peace.
- 19:48It's there for us, always there for us, and it's love.
- 19:55Verse 3. Says we love it.
- 19:57While I was very diligent to write to you concerning our
- 20:01common salvation, I found it necessary.
- 20:04To write to you. Exhorting you to contend
- 20:08earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to
- 20:14the Saints. You know when Jew first started
- 20:18writing this letter? His initial purpose was to talk
- 20:24about this common. Salvation that he had.
- 20:26With everybody, I'm sure Jew was probably just very.
- 20:29Happy to be saved and. He'd gone so many years where he
- 20:33was. You know, living.
- 20:36Contrary to the gospel, because he didn't believe, so he
- 20:39believes. And he writes.
- 20:40This letter he's moved to write. This letter to the believers.
- 20:44To all believers. Was written to us.
- 20:46Because we are to the. Call to sanctified and preserved
- 20:49in Christ Jesus, but something. Happened while he was about to
- 20:53write this letter, something happened the.
- 20:55Holy Spirit. Says I don't want you to write
- 20:57about that, I want you to write about this.
- 21:01Anybody know anything about experience in your plans, what
- 21:04you want and then God having his way?
- 21:08And he has his plans. Anybody know anything about
- 21:11that? I mean, you know, we can have
- 21:13our plans. I mean, his plan was, look, I'm
- 21:15going to write about the common salvation and we're going to
- 21:17rejoice and have fellowship in that.
- 21:19But God said no. Holy Spirit said no, I want you.
- 21:21To write about this. I want you to encourage them and
- 21:25exhort them to contend. For the.
- 21:28Faith. And listen, he did not say,
- 21:31contend for the faith which was delivered for all the.
- 21:37Saints or was delivered to the Saints.
- 21:39He didn't say that, He said contend for the faith, which was
- 21:43once for all, once for all. Delivered to the Saints.
- 21:49That's really important because now he's making a distinction
- 21:52between this faith that was given from the apostles to the
- 21:59church. That faith, that body of
- 22:03doctrine, that body of truth, that faith, it was once for all.
- 22:09It's not going to be changed. Jesus gave it to the 12 apostles
- 22:14that he that he chose. He gave it to them, directly to
- 22:18them and they are giving it to you.
- 22:20And that's the faith that you're contending for.
- 22:22You're not contending for some some faith that's adding this
- 22:25and adding that or subtracting this and subtracting that that
- 22:29feels this way about Jesus or feeling that way about Jesus.
- 22:31That's not the faith that you're contending for.
- 22:34You are contending for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the very
- 22:38gospel that Paul says I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ
- 22:42because it is the power of God until salvation.
- 22:47That gospel, that faith is the power of God until salvation to
- 22:52everyone who believes, to the Jew 1st and also to the Greek,
- 22:56and it is the righteousness of God, that gospel.
- 23:00So that's why he said we're going to write about this
- 23:04instead, because this is what's important.
- 23:06And today? In our church, we need to
- 23:08realize. Something there is a.
- 23:10Battle. Against truth there is a famine.
- 23:13For the word of God, a famine. It's a battle against the true
- 23:20fundamental doctrines of Christianity.
- 23:24My brother sent me something recently this week and it said
- 23:26that only 24% of theologically identified Christians actually
- 23:34believe in the Trinity, 24%. And those who are just
- 23:38self-proclaimed Christians, only 16% believe in the Trinity.
- 23:42That is fundamental gospel. The Father, God the Father, God
- 23:47the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That's fundamental gospel.
- 23:51Somebody's teaching, it's not real and people are.
- 23:54Believing it, this has been Living Waters of Grace, a
- 23:59ministry of Calvary Chapel Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA
- 24:04Master Lewis Harrell has been teaching through the book of
- 24:07Jude. This is a book of warning as the
- 24:10audience that Jude was writing to was coming under attack from
- 24:14false teachers. Even in the early days of the
- 24:17church, there were teachers who claimed to have a unique
- 24:20revelation from God that superseded Scripture.
- 24:24Pastor Lewis wants you to be sure to be on your guard against
- 24:28those teachers today, as they will try to distract you from
- 24:32following the way of Jesus. By focusing on what God's Word
- 24:36says, you can call out false teachers for what they are and
- 24:41stay on the good path. Do you want to hear more
- 24:44teaching from Living Waters of Grace?
- 24:46You can do so by visiting our website at
- 24:49calvarychapelonline.com. There you will find an archive
- 24:54of past teachings from Pastor Lewis and Pastor Clark, find a
- 24:59link to our mobile app, or even give to support the ministry of
- 25:03Living Waters of Grace. Your gifts can help support the
- 25:06work of Grace FM, spreading the gospel to people in our
- 25:11community who are in need of the presence of God in their lives.
- 25:15If you're in Westmoreland County, we'd love to invite you
- 25:18to one of our Sunday services. We meet at 10:30 AM at 207
- 25:24Hudson St. in Greensburg. It'd be a privilege to get to
- 25:28meet you in person and learn how we can be praying for you and
- 25:32helping you grow in your walk with Jesus.
- 25:35And if you're in Greensburg, be sure to listen to us on the news
- 25:39station for Grace FM at 91.7. Spread the word to others so
- 25:45they can benefit from these solid Bible teachings as well.
- 25:49You've been listening to Living Waters of Grace.