This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,
County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
And verse 3 And then the second Angel poured out his bowl on the
sea and it became blood as of a dead man.
And every living creature in the sea died.
Now we read about this in Revelation chapter 8.
There was a partial destruction of the waters.
They were partially destroyed and the sense of becoming
contaminated with blood. But now we see the complete
contamination. Everything in the waters, every
living creature in the sea, it says in verse three, died.
Water is essential to all life on Earth. 2/3 of the Earth's
surface is covered with water. The human body is made-up of
half to 3/4 water. Without food, a human body can
survive for up to three months, but without food, that number is
drastically reduced to three to seven days.
In Pastor Clark's teaching today, he warned you of a time
when God will judge the earth by turning the sea into the
likeness of blood. But today you can be sure that
if you turn to God, He will show you mercy.
Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation Chapter 16 with
today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
Revelation chapter 16. We're going to go through the
1st 11 verses this morning, so let's read the first verse here.
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven
angels, go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the
earth. Last week we studied about this
great voice out of the temple that we're in the time now where
there is no more opportunity for intercession.
There is no time to ask God to hold back his judgment.
As we pray right now, as brothers and sisters, we pray
for our families and our loved ones and the people we care
about that there would still be time for them to come to, to
know the Lord and be saved. But there will come a time when
God's temp temple will be closed in the sense that there will be
no more opportunity to ask Him to wait.
His time has come to pour out His judgment and disgrace.
A great voice of God comes out of the temple and he's speaking
very clearly now to the angels, the seven angels.
This is the third woe that we read about in Revelation 11/14,
that the wrath of God is about to be poured out upon the earth
right at the end of the tribulation period.
This wrath will be poured out to punish sin because God's
righteous judgment is now about to come into focus, and also the
opportunity still for chastisement upon people on the
earth that they still might think about repenting.
But we'll find out as we go through this particular text
today that regardless of what happens, men still refuse to
repent of their deeds. And as we study these different
bowls of judgment, it reminds us of what happened in the nation
of Israel and the book of Exodus, when God plagued Egypt
with the boils and the water that turned to blood, and the
extreme darkness that occurred on the face of the earth for
three days. And Exodus Chapter 7, nine and
10, verse 2, we see that, we see the first Angel, He goes forth,
it goes out and pours out his bowl upon the earth.
And a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the
mark of the beast and on those who worship the image.
The people prior to this horrible event coming out
thought they had it made for a while.
They were looking at all the people that were on the earth
that were recognizing that all the things that they heard about
prior to their lost their loved ones who had already gone to the
Kingdom of heaven. There are the people who are
still in the face of the earth at this time of the tribulation
were warned by people like us that when the Antichrist comes
on the scene, if you're still on the earth and you haven't
received Christ, you still have an opportunity.
But whatever you do, do not take the mark of the beast.
Because if you take the mark of the Antichrist, you sold your
soul to the devil. There is no opportunity for
repentance. You've been deceived and your
judgment is sealed. But the people at that time that
didn't know or could care less about what we're talking about
today, I thought they had it made.
Economy is going well. There's peace on the earth.
Everything is flowing in a prosperous way.
Anybody that didn't accept the mark of the beast at that time
would be considered a fool because life is so good.
The Antichrist promises peace on earth and wonders and and
there's going to be a season of peace on the earth during that
time. So the people that receive the
market of beasts are going to think that they got it made, and
the people that haven't are the fools.
But the real fools now will be seen as those who did receive
the mark of the beast. Because not only do they have
this mark on their bodies that give them the opportunity to buy
and do commerce, but they're going to receive a horrendous
mark, a sore from the throne of God that's going to be very
painful and very hideous. And every time they look at
themselves in the mirror, they'll no longer recognize the
solace that they had temporarily from the mark of the beast.
They will only see this horrendous sore that will point
them out as those who are followers of the Antichrist in
verse 3. And then the second Angel poured
out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man,
and every living creature in the sea died.
Now we read about this in Revelation chapter 8.
There was a partial destruction of the waters.
They were partially destroyed and the sense of becoming
contaminated with blood. But now we see the complete
contamination everything in the waters, every living creature in
the sea it says in verse three died.
I love the ocean. I don't know about you, but at
this makes your heart sick to look and think about the
vastness of God's beautiful creation.
That one day, that beautiful sea that we enjoy riding the waves
in and surfing and all that kind of fun stuff, playing in the
water with our kids will one day be destroyed.
And no one will even consider walking in it, let alone getting
any salt water in their mouth anymore.
Because now they will have to experience the horror of all the
waters being destroyed. And you think about this
horrible event where every creature dies.
Our water system, our water supplies will be completely
contaminated. It will be very clear that the
earth will not be able to continue as it is without this
wonder of drinking water. And verse 4 it says, And the
third Angel poured out his bowl in the rivers springs of water,
and they became blood again. We read about this partially
occurring in Revelation 8. Now the waters are completely
contaminated and the time will be short for Christ's return as
the earth cannot survive very long with this kind of chaos.
And verse 5 it says And I heard the Angel of the waters saying,
You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who
is to be, because you have judged these things, for they
have shed the blood of the Saints and prophets, and you
have given them blood to drink, for it is their just due.
So now after all this time, the horror of all these people on
the face of the earth that hated people who were Saints, who were
Christians, forced them to die martyr's death, laughed and
ridiculed over the blood that was shed by the horrible people
on the face of the earth that persecuted the Christians.
Now God's righteous judgment is coming and it's pure and it's
appropriate. And we see the horror of this
situation because not only is this blood everywhere, it says
he's given them blood to drink for it as their just do.
The ones that scoffed and ridiculed the blood of the
martyrs will now have to drink the blood of the waters of
death. And God is faithful and he's
righteous, and his judgment is surely to come one day, even
though the world innocently thinks every day that life will
go on the way it always does, but one day it will be too late.
And as we study this book, one of the things I'm concerned
about, Everybody's interested in end time prophecies, and it's
thrilling and it's fascinating. But if it doesn't have any
impact on changing my life as I teach it and yours as you listen
to it, what's the point? If I'm not concerned about my
own life in repenting? If I'm not concerned about lost
people needing to hear the gospel?
You know, it's like what the Scriptures say, ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, what's
the point? The Bible tells us knowledge
puffs up, but love that edifies. And I know some people who are
marvelous students of prophecy, but they don't live as
Christians. I can't understand the
connection. You would think if you were in
the prophecy and understood the gravity of what's going to come
out in the world, that it would cause you to have some burdens
and some concerns for anybody that doesn't know Jesus Christ.
I pray that's what occurs as we study this book.
I want it to be practical. And that's not something that
feeds our minds, our intellect, intellects.
Verse 8 it says then the 4th Angel poured out his bowl on the
sun and power was given him to scorch men with fire.
And men were scorched with great heat.
And they blasphemy the name of God who has power over these
plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.
Have you ever been in the sun where you got in a real bad
sunburn? It's not pleasant, is it?
You put that solar cane on and rub that Noxzema on to try to
get rid of rid of the heat. I mean, there's nothing worse
than getting a bad sunburn. I remember as a kid, you know,
as before we knew about skin cancer and that kind of stuff.
And my mom abused my brother and I should send us out in the sun
without suntan lotion, you know, And at night we would be we
would be our backs would be almost beat red and I forget
what she rubbed on us. She rubbed some kind of stuff
on. And you'll be OK.
I didn't mean she abused us. She didn't know any better, you
know, but you know, we'd be laying in bed at at night and
our backs would all night. You couldn't sleep.
Remember that when you were kids, It hurts so bad everywhere
you turn. You couldn't get comfortable.
You know, you tried to sleep on your stomach and you were red.
Sleep on your back, you're red. And but at this time, this kind
of sun condition will be like unlike any other sunburn that
anybody could ever experience. Some people in our congregation
have gone through the process of chemotherapy.
And that is bad enough in a sense of how it burns the skin.
This kind of heat that's going to come off the sun will be
cataclysmic. It'll it'll burn the very flesh
off of people's bodies and they'll have to flee from it.
They'll hide somewhere to get out of the get out of the rays
of the sun. The sun's usually a blessing to
man. And now the sun has become a
curse. And what's shocking here, as it
says these people, they blasphemy God because of this,
instead of saying God, we, we sense your anger.
We know we're sinful. We know we need to turn away
from our sin and our pride. They, they curse God, they shake
their fist at him and, and, and just say horrible things about
the Creator. And because of their pains and
their sores, it says they did not repent of their deeds.
It shows you the hardness of man's heart.
Back in Exodus when God was dealing with Moses and Moses was
dealing with the afflictions on the nation of Egypt through the
various plagues. The purpose of those plagues
were intended by God to 'cause that nation to realize the evil
that they had done towards God's chosen people, the nation of
Israel. And every time Pharaoh sort of
got it a little bit and started reconsidering his, his evilness
and his hatred and his vindictiveness and, and
deceptions toward God's chosen people, as soon as he began to
start to turn a little bit, he turned right back again to being
the hard hearted evil man and leader he was.
And even in the midst of this going on in the Book of
Revelation, it says they, they refused to repent.
It says they did not repent of their deeds.
They refused to give him glory. So it shows you the hardness of
men's hearts. We all have hearts that at times
can be hard, even as Christians. It, it's, it, it's never ceases.
It never ceases to amaze me as a pastor, knowing my own heart and
knowing the hearts of those I, I serve, that at times we can be
very, very difficult in regard to being pliable in the hands of
God. The Lord in the midst of his
love is bringing judgment. Of course, He has to destroy the
world one day. It's obvious because men won't
repent, repent. Their deeds are evil.
They refuse to repent. But God's heart throughout the
beginning of time, in the midst of adversity and trial and
tribulation, is to turn the people's hearts toward him.
That we would cry out for mercy and say, Lord, forgive me.
And God is a merciful God because if He hears us cry out
for mercy and forgiveness, He will never once turn his back
away. His mercy endures forever, the
Bible says. But there's something in the
heart of man that the pride is so thick and so strong that we
will refuse to acknowledge our wrongdoings and our sin and not
repent. And so God begins to pour these
plagues out of darkness. It reminds us of what happened
in Exodus chapter 1021 and 22. The darkness was so thick.
It says that God extended that through the hands of Moses so
that the darkness would be felt. Sometimes you've been in a
situation where you've just felt darkness.
Maybe you felt the darkness of the evil 1, the oppression, the
attacks of the evil 1. I have.
It is so thick, it is so dark. It is so real.
You almost feel you can touch it.
Or maybe you've been out in the woods some night and the stars
are overcast. You can't see the the moon and
and you're trying to find your way in a path and it is so dark
that you know you better not go anywhere.
You'll really get lost. So you just stay in the place
that you are. It was such a thick darkness in
Exodus. It lasted for three days and it
says it was so dark that the people had not the ability to
see one another, neither anyone rose from the place that they
were in. It also says that they nod their
tongues in verse 10 because of the pain of the sores and the
heat from the sun. And it reminds us of what it
says in Matthew 2530. And he casts the unprofitable
servant into outer darkness. And there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. This is a preview of hell.
Hell is a literal place. It is a place designed by God
for the devil and his angels. God never intended that man, his
creation, would have to be in hell.
But because of our own hardness, the own wickedness of our own
hearts, and our refusal to repent and submit to God, we
we'll have to enter into that place if we don't have Christ as
not any our Savior, but our Lord.
And so he says in verse 11 that they did not repent of their
deed. I'd like to read something to
you. This is something that's just
been on my conscience the last couple weeks.
It's from a devotional I've been looking at, and it says, my
brethren deem it all joy Whenever you fall into diverse
temptations or trials, knowing that the testing of your faith
works out patience. God has a purpose for trials and
adversity. It's to cause us to be humbled
and to be broken and to repent and to turn toward him.
With these words from his general epistle, James, a
brother of the Lord, reminds us that the various afflictions we
encounter in our daily lives can be of great benefit.
And we know, as Paul reminds us, that those who love God, all
things work together for good in Romans 828.
Now listen to this and see if this applies to you.
I know it does to me. The demands of today's secular,
humanistic, ego worshipping society, where personal comfort
and pleasure reign supreme, have often caused many, if not most
of us to take our focus off of striving to live the Gospel of
Christ. Does that affect any of you
guys? However, unlike Peter, who,
having taken his eyes off of his Lord and having begun to sink
into the sea, immediately cried out to Jesus to save him, we
seem to be either unaware of or indifferent to the fact that we
are focusing upon and sinking within the toward sea of this
temporal life. And thus we become bait for the
many demonic passions lurking therein, seeking to devour our
souls. This is why God and His
limitless love for us will permit us to experience various
tribulations so that we will wake up and cry out to him for
help, so that we can again fix the eyes of our souls upon Him.
I believe we have to wake up in these days.
The church is dead everywhere, the Church of Jesus Christ in
these last days. The Bible says there's a great
falling away. Men will be lovers of themselves
rather than lovers of God. And we're living in those days
and we're fighting against those days, all of us, for our
families, for our marriages, for our children.
And as I said earlier when we prepared for the Supper, the
apostle John who wrote the Book of Revelation also says that if
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. So we're studying about all
these poor people in the Book of Revelation today.
Sometimes we read all these poor people.
They refuse to repent of their sin.
They won't acknowledge the Creator.
They blast him to the Creator. And many times I look and I look
at the image of the Church of Jesus Christ today and I say, do
we look any different than those who will have to face that
eternity of hell? Are we the kind of people that
are refusing to repent of our sins?
Are we walking around in self righteousness saying I have no
sin, I'm judging other people's sins, but I'm not judging my own
sins. It says if we hate, say that we
have not sinned, we make him a liar and His word is not in US.
The purpose, one of the roles of the Holy Spirit, God, the Holy
Spirit, is to convict you and me of sin.
He does that perfectly well. He makes it very clear to my
conscience and yours whenever we're behaving in an
inappropriate way, when we're thinking things we shouldn't,
when we're doing things we know we shouldn't.
He makes it very clear about where we're at in our lives in
regard to sin. First, Peter chapter 4 says for
the time has come for judgment to begin.
Where? At the House of God.
Now we're studying about the judgment and revelation, right?
Well, revelation hasn't fulfilled yet in the sense of
the prophetical vision of John in the days ahead.
It's going to come to pass, but I have to live right now.
And so I'm thinking about judgment and revelation, but I
first of all have to realize that judgment has to 1st begin
with me and with this House of God.
And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those
who do not obey the gospel of God?
And that's what we read about in Revelation.
What will be the end of those in that book who will not obey the
gospel of God? It says there will be 9 of
teeth. Now if the righteous 1 is
scarcely saved, where will the ungodly in the Sinner appear?
Peter asked that question. James tells us that we're to
draw near to God and he will draw near to you.
That's repentance. Repentance is turning away from
walking away from God in my own path of destruction and selfish
and foolishness and delusion and turning to the Lord, drawing
near to him. And if I turn from my sin and
repent and draw near to God, God doesn't run the other way.
I'm the one that's running the other way in my rebellious sin,
right? I'm the one that's running away
from God. And I've been there and you've
been there. And we got loved ones that are
running from God. But whenever we come to our
senses like the prodigal and we turn and we know we want to go
to the House of the Father, we turn towards God and he runs
toward us. He comes to us and embraces US.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
And as we're drawing near to God, the responsibility that we
have, James says we're to cleanse our hands.
He says cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart.
You double minded. The double minded person is
going this way and going this way and going this way and going
this way and going this way and going this way and we don't know
which way we're going. We get nowhere.
God's calling us. We know our conscience is
affected, but the sin in us, we love that sometimes more.
And we're going this way and, and, and we're we're like
spiritual schizophrenics where we have no rest, we have no
peace because we have this constant tension of holiness in
our own desire for what we think we want and what's best for us.
James also tells us that we're confess our trespasses, our sins
to one another, to pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The sin causes spiritual sickness.
It causes death. You know, sometimes we know what
it's like to be obviously physically I'll.
We get flu shots to protect ourselves from the flu.
We get different inoculations. We take vitamins to protect
ourselves from disease and illness.
We try to eat properly so we have the proper nutrition so
that we stay healthy. Not realizing, though, that
that's all in vain if we're living a life of habitual sin.
Because no matter how many inoculations you get and how
many vaccinations you get, how many flu shots you get, how many
vitamins you get intake, and how well you try to eat, eat and
work out, the wages of sin is death.
You're going to die. You can't stop that.
You can't prevent it. You can't help yourself and you
can't help anybody else from the process of physical death.
The wages of sin is death. And so he calls the church, he
calls Christians together and James that we get together and
we pray for one another and confess our sins to one another
that we might get the help that we need.
There's nothing more tragic than a church that listens to a
message and goes home and there's no confession, there's
no repentance, there's no praying for one another.
It's, it's, it's not even a church.
It's an institution, it's a business.
It's just, I don't know what you would call it.
It's, it's nothing. It's dead.
And if we go out without repentance, if we go out without
confession, if we go out without praying for one another, we are
walking out sick and we are walking out dead, James says.
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.