This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
We need to rejoice when the current events discourage us.
We need to be rejoicing people when things don't seem to be
going the way we would hope. When you have loved ones and
family that turn from the Lord, when you have people that just
blow you off, when you have people you work with that think
you're nuts, when you have immediate family members perhaps
that just don't seem to care about their souls, it's
heartbreaking. It's discouraging, but we're
victorious people. We have won.
Christ is conquered. When you give your life to
Jesus, you want to share the love and freedom you feel with
those whom you care about most. It can be extremely difficult to
find the strength in sharing the good news with those who refuse
to believe it. The best thing that we can do is
to focus on loving through patience, prayer, and respect,
trusting that God will move. Today, Pastor Clark teaches us
to rejoice even when things don't seem to be going the way
we want. Jesus is coming back soon, and
he's already won. Now here's Pastor Clark in
Revelation Chapter 19 with today's edition of Living Waters
of Grace. In the second coming, the Bible
says every eye shall see him in the rapture of the tribulation
begins right after we are taken out, and the millennial Kingdom
begins at the second coming. There's enough information in
the scriptures to make it clear that the raptures are quite
different event than the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And the reason I bring this up, there's a lot of confusion
regarding these things in the body of Christ today.
You have people who are pre Trib, mid trip, post Trib, all
millennial, post millennial, all these different end time views,
eschatological end time views. We Calvary Chapel are historic
pre mill, pre Trib in the sense of our eschatology.
And we're not alone. Good Bible teachers that you
listen to in the radio like John MacArthur or Charles Swindoll,
Charles Stanley, a lot of you guys listen.
I know to some of these people there, they take the same
position we do. So we're in good company with
credible Bible scholars. However, I said this isn't
anything to divide on with people who have different
positions. The good news is whenever the
Lord comes back to all realize we're right and they were wrong
but if they're in Christ, we're all going to love each other
anyway and it's not going to matter.
But it is important in regard to how we're preparing for the
Lord's return and how we live in light of that return.
So let's look at the section that we're going to spend some
time on Revelation chapter 19. As we see in verse 11, the
heaven is open and behold a White Horse, a physical animal,
a horse. We're all going to be riding
horses when we come back with the Lord at the second coming.
Now I don't like riding horses. I'm afraid of getting on them
because they can go out of control, you know, and unless
you're really trained to tell it what to do, it just has a mind
of its own. But the good news is when we
come back with the Lord, don't worry about that.
We're going to get on the horse. The horse is going to know
exactly where it's going, what it's supposed to do.
We're just going to have to hold on.
That's all we're going to have to do.
But Christ is going to come back on this beautiful White Horse
and we're all going to ride with him.
And it says he who sat on him was called faithful and true
capital F, capital T in your Bibles and righteousness.
He judges and makes war. Now, this is a time that I think
everyone of us should be looking forward to.
I was thinking about the world the way it is today and the
complete ignorance that it has toward the things of God, this
independence of a Creator. Sometimes you wish you had this
power in you, and we do. We have the Holy Spirit's power
in us, but we don't have the power to bring forth judgment,
do we? Only Christ has that power and
authority. Sometimes you just long for
certain people you know that will realize that God is the
Lord. Amen.
People that scoff and ridicule and laugh at you and reject you
and think you're nuts. You just can't wait for the day
that they realize how real God is and how holy he is and how
just and how glorious he is. But this is a day that we have
to wait for when Christ comes and the liberal thought the day
is I'm not a Sinner. Why would he be talking about
sin? I'm a good person and how
there's no such place as hell. I would not even acknowledge
that a place like that exists, some might say.
Someone told me recently that a relative went to a neighbor and
was telling the neighbor boy about the importance of knowing
Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Savior.
Because if you don't have him as your Savior and you're Lord,
you'll suffer the consequences one day of eternal hell.
And the mother came over very angry and very disturbed that
this young man had told her son about hell.
And she said, we don't believe in such a place.
That's morbid. We would never accept anything
like that. Well, her authority certainly
isn't the word of God, is it? And sometimes it's difficult for
us because if we are Christians, we have to proclaim everything
that this Bible teaches, even when it makes people disturbed
and when it makes them uncomfortable.
And that's the difference between churches in these last
days that are proclaiming the truth and churches that are
proclaiming the lie. But there is this liberal
thought today. There's no place in this world
today for any idea of judgment. There's no consequences for sin.
We make up God in our own image and and how we want to think
about him. That's what's called
universalism. This pretense and delusion today
that people have will one day be very, very costly.
If you look at Matthew Chapter 7 for a moment, the slip in your
Bible over to the left Matthew Chapter 7, it says in verse 21
of Matthew 7, not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord shall
enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will
of my Father in heaven. You want to underline it in your
Bible. It isn't enough this to say you
believe in Christ, but you need to be doing his will like Jesus
when he was on earth. He's perfect God, perfect man.
He says my will is to do the will of the Father and if we're
his offspring, then we should have the same desire in our
hearts to do the will of the Father.
He said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and
done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice
lawlessness. And won't that be a shock to
your whole life, thinking you're on the right track and you're
doing the right things? But meanwhile your heart is just
not pure because you haven't allowed Christ to save you.
And so you're trying to be a religious person.
I think of all the institutions on the face of the earth today,
many churches are very religious.
They have statues, they have crosses, they have icons, They
have all kind of spiritual atmosphere.
And yet Jesus would say many times he could say to us today,
just because we have a dove that represents the Holy Spirit of
the cross here. He could say these, these people
worship me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
And so the consequences of believing a lie.
That's why the apostle Paul every time we take the Lord's
Supper, he says to examine yourself, whether you're in the
faith every time that supper goes around.
Would the God, if any of us here are posers and we're not
Christians that we would take that we would examine ourselves
and we'd hear the Spirit of God say you're still lost, you're
phony, you need to get saved. And if you hear that, be
thankful that he's shown you that you are in delusion.
But if we can take that supper and we allow the Spirit to
examine us and we have that assurance, blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory
define ere salvation purchased of blood born of his Spirit
washed in his blood. We can know that for sure, can't
we? We have that assurance in us or
our heart does not condemn us. God, the Lord Jesus Christ comes
with crowns of triumph and glory and deity as we see here in this
section of Revelation. He's all knowing.
He has flaming eyes. His eyes and verse 12 are like a
flame of fire, a holy judgement. Christ, as He looks upon you and
me. His Word, the Word of God, is
the instrument of His righteous judgement.
Look at Hebrews chapter 4. Just move over to the left there
a little bit a few books. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 11
through 13. It says.
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall
according to the same example of disobedience.
For the word of God and the Bible declares Christ as the
Word. In the beginning was the Word
and the word was with God and the Word was God.
John chapter one verse one. Not like the Jehovah witnesses
would say in the beginning was the Word and the word was with
God and the Word was a God. No, Jesus Christ is God, not a
created being. He's the second person of the
Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, self
existent, always existing of 1 essence with the Father.
It says the word of God is living and powerful and sharper
than any 2 edged sword, piercing even the division of soul and
spirit and of joints and marrow. And as a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
You know, when we sit here and we examine ourselves in the
Lord's Supper, I can just picture like the sword picking
away at my heart, pulling stuff back.
Clark, I want you to see this. I want you to acknowledge this.
I want you to recognize this. I want you to let this go.
Let me purify you, let me carterize these places of
bankruptcy in your heart, and let my spirit make your heart
dislike mine. He's a discerner.
He knows every thought and intent of our heart.
He knows every motive. And verse 13, it says there's no
creature hidden from his sight. God sees the whole earth.
He sees the whole world. He sees every human being, all
things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we must
give an account. There's nothing I can hide.
I can hide things from you. You can hide things from me, but
we can't hide anything from the Lord God.
In verse 13, it says he was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood and his name is called the Word of God.
The judgment that confronts God's enemies in Isaiah chapter
63. If you flip over there in the
Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 63, this talks about this
Armageddon, this final battle, one day that will come upon this
earth and his second coming, the consequences of those who are
going to fight against the Lord. Who is this?
Who comes from Edom with dyed garments from Borzraw, This one
who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of
his strength. And this is what we see depicted
in Revelation 19. I who speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Why is your apparel read in your
garments? Like one who treads in the
winepress? Again, the same verbiage that's
used in Revelation. I've trodden the winepress alone
and from the people. No one was with me, for I've
trodden them in my anger, and I trampled them in my fury.
Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments.
So what we see represented by Christ is this battle that will
ensue when He comes back. For the day of vengeance is in
my heart, and the year of my redeem has come.
I look, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there
was no one to uphold. Therefore my arm brought
salvation for me and my own fury.
It sustained me. I've trodden down the people in
my anger, made them drunk in my fury, and brought down their
strength to the earth. His name is called the Word of
God. Jesus is a visible word of the
unseen God. I love it.
It says in Hebrews regarding Christ himself and Hebrews
chapter one verse 3. Hebrews chapter one verse 3.
It says about Christ, who being the brightness of his glory in
the express image of His person, on upholding all things by the
word of his power. When he sat down by himself, He
purged or cleanse us from our sins.
He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, sat down on
the right hand of the Father. He's the express image of his
Father. And so as we look at this
section of revelation, we understand that we're going to
be with the Lord when he comes back.
And as I described the difference between the rapture
of the church and the second coming Christ, when he comes
back and the second coming, his role will be absolute and
authoritative. It'll be seen as an iron roll,
invincible in this world. When he's rolling and reigning
on this earth, there will be no more corrupt governments.
There will be no immorality rolling and raging on the
televisions and on the Internet, in the airwaves.
It'll be a time of purity and righteousness, and nothing will
be dealt with like it has been in that time compared to the way
it is right now. Sometimes we wonder, why do the
wicked rage, as the psalmist said, and the people imagine a
vain thing? Why is it that people refuse to
see their need of a Savior? Why is it that they refuse to
repent? Christ has given Himself
everything on behalf of the human race upon the lost, upon
the Sinner, and the world keeps pushing their hands away from
Him. During this time in the
millennial Kingdom, when Christ rules with an iron hand for 1000
years, there'll still be people born on the face of the earth.
During that thousand years, there'll be sinners that will be
born that will one day once again rise up at the end of that
thousand years in anarchy, at the final battle of Gog and
Magog. And that's right prior to the
destruction of the earth, when the Bible says there will be a
new heaven and a new earth that will be created.
So his role will be unlike anything that we're experiencing
today. Now, we have to keep in mind
though, that God's hand is still on the universe.
It never was off of it. Sometimes we wonder, though,
don't we, God, how could you let this happen?
Why did this go on? There's a purpose and a reason
for everything that happens in human history.
God's never sleeping. He's never ignoring the
heartache and the pain of his people.
Israel had to cry out for many hundreds of years before God
sent a deliverer, didn't they? Before God sent Moses to pull
them out of the bondage and horror of living under Pharaoh's
regime? I think about the Jews and the
Holocaust and those who cried out for help and for mercy.
God was not silent in that time, for He had many Christians
helping the Jews find a place of safety and to get out of the
country. So they weren't killed in the
ovens, but many were. But God was there, as He will be
even during the tribulation when people were going through
tremendous horror and heartache and heartbreak.
And yet he'll have still on the earth a remnant, 144,000 people
who will be going around sharing the good news of Jesus Christ,
saying it isn't too late. Repent for the Kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And Revelation chapter 14, if
you move there for a moment, it describes in detail.
And we went through this months ago regardless, starting this
final reaping of the earth's harvest.
Verse 14, it says, I looked, and behold a white cloud.
And on the cloud sat one like the Son of Man, having on his
head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
Another Angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice
to him who sat on the cloud. Thrust in your sickle and reap,
for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the
earth is ripe. So he who sat on the cloud
thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
Then another Angel came out of the temple which is in heaven,
he also having a sharp sickle. And another Angel came out from
the altar who had power over fire.
He cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle,
saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters
of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.
So the angels thrust in the sickle into the earth, and
gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great
winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled
outside the city and blood came out of the winepress up to the
horse's bridal for 1600 furlong. So we see how this picture of
the blood of the people who are being destroyed at this time, it
says in verse 13, he's clothed with a robe dipped in blood and
his name is called the word of God.
Joel chapter 313 says put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe,
come go down for his winepress is full.
The vats overflow for their wickedness is great.
I'll tell you when the Lord comes back at the second coming
with us, the evil on the face of the earth, the hatred, the
anarchy will be at an all time high and it's going to be a very
dramatic scene when these armies on this earth will come against
the armies of God. Every eye, the Bible says we'll
see him when he returns. When the rapture comes, the
people are going to be surprised.
They're going to wonder where did everybody go?
You guys probably saw some of these movies, the Left Behind
series. I think they they were done
rather well in the sense of least giving you a picture of
what these things are going to be like.
You know, someone's driving in a car and all of a sudden they're
not there anymore. You know, people are in a movie
theater and half the theaters wiped out.
I don't know about the movies a day.
If you're in a movie theater, probably most of the people be
left behind, you know, But that's pretty bad out there in
the theaters. You got people in airplanes
flying and maybe the pilots a Christian, he's gone.
It's going to be staggering. And the world's not going to
know what to do with that. They're going to probably say
some alien invasion. They're going to come up with
some kind of ridiculous story how to deal with this in the
news. But when Christ comes back the
second time in verse 7 of chapter 1, it says, behold, He's
coming with cloud, and every eye will see Him, even they who
pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because
of him. Even so, Amen.
I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end says the
Lord who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty.
What a glorious day that will be.
Technology is here today. You can see events occurring
live around the world on your Internet, right?
Your computer. Many of you guys have cell phone
capability with all kind of apps.
I was thinking there should be an app for the Rapture and the
second coming. We should market that stand, you
know. But seriously, everybody's going
to have the potential and capability of seeing all these
things live as they come to pass.
Will see him on the White Horse. They'll see him on the White
Horse with His righteous armies following behind all of us
throughout human history who are His elect.
Will be following the King of kings and Lord of Lords on the
horses. And the wicked on the earth at
that time will look up in shock and horror to see millions upon
millions of Christ's Kingdom. Converging on them from the sky,
all riding on white horses. What a scene that's going to be
verse 16 of chapter 19. And he has on his robe and on
his thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of Lords, all who
have denied the deity of Jesus Christ.
And those who are currently denying, unless they repent,
will see the error of their heresies.
The Mormons, the race of Islam, the Jehovah Witnesses, they
don't know who Jesus Christ is. They proclaim that they know
him. Their literature looks like they
know him. But they miss the most critical,
important point. He is the King of kings and Lord
of Lords. He comes in glory as God to this
earth. We need to rejoice when the
current events discourage us. We need to be rejoicing people
when things don't seem to be going the way we would hope.
When you have loved ones and family that turn from the Lord,
when you have people that this blow you off, when you have
people you work with that think you're nuts, when you have
immediate family members, perhaps that this don't seem to
care about their souls, It's heartbreaking.
It's discouraging. But we're victorious people.
We have one, Christ is conquered and we need to continually be
reminded and we need to look at this section of Scripture and
see the fulfillment of Christ's second coming again in power and
glory to rule the earth as King of kings and Lord of Lords.
You think I'm nuts? How many people think I'm nuts
in here today? This, this is wild, man.
This is like, this stuff is not of this world, this is
futuristic, but it's all true. It's all going to come to pass
just like it was from the prophets declaring the birth of
Christ when he came the first time, right?
Born in the Manger. Every detail of every prophecy
was fulfilled 100% to the way that God said it would come to
pass. And the same thing's going to
happen when the rapture occurs, the fulfillment of prophecy, and
the same thing's going to occur when Christ comes back with us
at his second coming. Nothing's going to stop it.
People can try to refute it today on The History Channel and
say we're a bunch of nuts, we've drank the kool-aid or whatever.
You know they're going to say this stuff.
Don't worry about it. Just be strong in your faith,
keep studying, know what you believe, why you believe it, and
be able to share it in a rational and attractive and
convincing way so that it'll make people think and it'll make
people inquire. And I'll tell you, there's a lot
of interest in the end of the world right now, isn't there?
The Bible says no one knows a time or hour.
You can't put any dates on it. Anytime someone sets a date, get
away from their literature and their teachings, their heretics,
you know, So we got like a lot of opportunity to talk to people
because people are interested. So we're living in fantastic
times, exciting times, glorious times.
So let's all just keep heading in the right direction together
as brothers and sisters in Christ and keep loving people
and keep sharing your faith and ask God for patience because
he's been patient with you and me, right?
Still patient with us. So the love of God, that's what
people need to hear about. We are digging into the Book of
Revelation here on Living Waters of Grace.
Pastor Clark is tackling this challenging book as we try to
discern the messages that are within its pages.
There's so much imagery and at times you're not always sure
what's literal and what's metaphorical.
At one point there's a reference to an adulterous woman riding on
a beast. And as someone else mentioned,
at one point it almost sounds like a rodeo from hell.
And in actuality it kind of is. You learn about the downfall and
demise of a sinful and rebellious world, falling down
in worship to someone who is the anti hero, the enemy, Satan
working his insidious ways into the minds of fallen people.
It's sad and it's heartbreaking, but it's a classic story of good
versus evil. Thankfully, we know how this
story ends. Jesus wins, Jesus reigns, and
evil is conquered once and for all.
We pray and trust you've received Jesus as your Savior.
But if you haven't, don't wait until the events in Revelation
become what's happening on the streets.
None of us wants you to be there at that time.
Instead, we'd love for you to be with us in heaven as we
celebrate the marriage supper with Jesus as his bridegroom.
To get a better understanding of where we are in the Book of
Revelation, to listen to any messages before or after this
one, you can find them at our website,
calvarychapelonline.com. That's it for today's edition,
but we hope you'll want to hear Pastor Clark teach more from the
Book of Revelation. It can be exciting to think
about the future for believers, but it can feel a bit harrowing
for those who don't believe. Come hear more next time on
Living Waters of Grace.