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.
The world system satisfies the desires of the fallen nature.
So even though we're Christians, we still deal with sin, right?
And we'd be lying if we say that something doesn't affect us at
times or attract us. It does.
We got to fight against it. The Bible tells us as men to
flee youthful us at war against the soul.
You have to put yourself in a place that you're not going to
be attacked by the world system, but the world system is designed
to satisfy the fallen part of your nature, your flesh and your
mind. Hey, we're all human, right?
We all have cravings and desires.
If you're trying to lose weight, you're not going to go hang out
in the donut shop or at the ice cream parlor.
If you're trying to do a digital detox, you've got to get out
into nature, away from technology.
In today's message, Pastor Clark expresses to you the importance
of being on guard against the sinful system of the world.
Don't let the world entice you to compromise your walk with
Christ, but steer clear of all of its fleshly lusts.
Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation Chapter 18 with
today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
In spite of the darkness and this last day of the
tribulation, God's glory is going to shine, because the
Angel illuminates the earth with his glory, so the darkness can't
ever outshine the light. And it talks about this
judgment. It says the nations have drunk
of the wine for the wrath of her fornication.
The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the
abundance of her luxury. This Joel judgment is spoken
about where Babylon is fallen shows that in chapter 17, the
ecclesiastical system is fallen with a great harlot we studied
about several weeks ago. And now in chapter 18 we see the
political financial system becoming affected by what's
going on. And Babylon's going to receive
double for her many sins. The dwelling place of Satan.
There's so many places on the face of the earth today that is
the dwelling place of Satan, of demons.
I think bars are and nightclubs are the dwelling place of
demons. Unfortunately, I attended some
of those places after I became a Christian for a while.
I knew down deep inside that I shouldn't be in those places
because I didn't. I wasn't like that anymore.
But you know, through business situations or whatever, I was
compelled to go to some of these places at different times.
And I'll tell you like it's sense of darkness and what
happens as a Christian, if you hang out with people who are in
the dwelling place of demons, it will have a tendency to pull you
back from the direction that God wants you to go in.
It will cause you to go backwards in your spiritual life
that we use that word backsliding.
And so there's many, many places that are the dwelling place of
demons. Now here is a mine which has
wisdom. The seven heads are the seven
mountains in which the women says this judgement has become
the pollution of the whole world.
I know you folks that have kids. You love your kids.
Some of you have chosen to homeschool them.
Some of them you haven't you? You got them in public schools.
I'll tell you guys, it's your responsibility to train your
kids in the way of the Lord. In these days, you can't depend
on anybody else to train your kids up in the way of the Lord.
It gives us warning in the Old Testament that the children of
Israel were told to teach their kids from the morning when they
got up to when they went to bed at night.
They would read the word, they would disciple them, they would
teach them the ways of God. Unfortunately nowadays, and I'm
not saying any, you guys do this, but too many people depend
on the Christian School to educate their kids spiritually,
or they depend on the church that teach their kids
spiritually. And the church has a
responsibility to teach everybody from the baby up to
the oldest person. But one day a week for 45
minutes isn't going to cut it, right?
It isn't. It's your responsibility to
teach your kids, but what's happening is all this pollution
is affecting your children. And if you're not on top of it,
when your kids come home from school and you're asking them,
well, what is it you learned today about science?
Or what is it that they taught you about how the world
developed? And you're not circumventing the
darkness that's coming in to infiltrate their lives and to
cause them to become jaded in regard to the things of God.
You're going to have a real problem when they get older and
they become adults. The world system that we're in
today is opposing Christ and every angle.
It exists today to make you and me a slave to its system.
And the only thing that can free us from the system is the
person. And the power of the Holy Spirit
is Christ. And the Father sent him forth to
do the work of convicting the world of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment. The apostle Paul tells us we're
not to be conformed to this world.
It's not a suggestion, it's a commandment not to be conformed
to this world. One of the easiest way to be
conformed to this world is allow that to, to be on 24/7.
I, I personally don't see a whole lot that's worthwhile
watching on there. It's like a waste.
You might think I'm a fanatic, but you know, I still have ATV
because my wife still likes watching it, but I, I don't have
any interest in that television. It's a waste of time.
Tell me one thing that's good on there.
Football. That's about it, you know, But
the problem is you got to deal with the commercials in between,
right? And that's when you go
backwards, scantily clad women with the beer commercials and
the fancy car commercials. And you know, it's just like,
brother, I'll tell you. But you know, the TV is what
conforms you subliminally to think the way the world does.
It takes your kids and causes them to have a worldview that
isn't Christian. It's a worldview that's fallen.
And so Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world.
The world system satisfies the desires of the fallen nature.
So even though we're Christians, we still deal with sin, right?
And we'd be lying if we say that something doesn't affect us at
times or attract us. It does.
We got to fight against it. The Bible tells us as men to
flee youthfulness at war against the soul.
You have to put yourself in a place that you're not going to
be attacked by the world system, but the world system is designed
to satisfy the fallen part of your nature, your flesh, and
your mind. That's why it's going to be very
easy for the Antichrist to deceive the masses in the last
days, because he's going to promise them all these
possessions. He's going to promise some
wealth and prosperity, and everybody's going to have the
sense of entitlement. And that's why I keep bringing
up through this book, the prosperity gospel that's being
preached out there today is a perfect segue into what the
Antichrist is going to promise the masses, using the false
religious system to get people to be interested in greed and
themselves rather than being interested in giving and being
sensitive to others. And verses 4 through 8, he hears
this voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, lest
you share in her sins, unless you receive of her plagues.
The Lord saying the sins have reached up to heaven and God has
remembered our iniquities. In other words, sin has gotten
so high and so much in God's face that there'll be a time
when God says that's it, it's over, enough's enough.
I'm going to eradicate this blight from civilization and
humanity, and it's not going to have control upon people anymore
because it's going to be put to death once and for all.
Call sin and death one day and the Book of Revelation will be
thrown into the lake of fire. And so we see that God's
faithfulness and His warning is to the people who are left on
the earth at the time of this tribulation.
There'll be many people that will come to know Christ during
the tribulation, and they can't take the mark of the beast, so
they can't buy and do commerce and sell and do business because
they don't have the code and the number to get them into the
system. So they're going to be like
nomads running the earth, hiding out, trying to protect
themselves from the internment camps and that kind of stuff.
But God is warning the people on the face of the earth at that
time that do know him, that are part of his remnant that come
out from among these people that are on the face of the earth
that are worshipping the fallen world system.
And he says come out and be separate.
In other words, they have to avoid defilement or they'll
become partakers of the sins of the people.
And today, some of us might have become defiled by situations and
places we've been recently or things we've watched or heard or
seen or purchased that have had an ungodly influence in our
life, and we need to avoid this defilement.
First Timothy chapter 5 says neither.
Be partakers of other people's sins.
Don't share in other people's sins.
Keep yourself pure. Ephesians chapter 5 starting
with verse 8, it says for you were once darkness, but now
you're light in the Lord walk as children of light.
In other words, there was one time all you did was dark
things. That's all you thought about.
I remember there was a time in my life every day I get up and
think, OK, what bad things am I going to do today?
I had a whole list of them and it wasn't a good day for me
unless I accomplished my list of of sin.
It says you once were like that, but now you're light and the
Lord walk as children of light. In other words, don't walk the
way you used to walk, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, what's acceptable
to you, Lord, that's my prayer. Now, what is pleasing to you?
Not what's pleasing to my fallen nature, the way I used to be.
I want to live in a way that's pleasing to the Lord.
It says have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather expose them. And we can't be around darkness
any of us. We shouldn't be messing with
that stuff. We shouldn't be in places where
darkness is being glorified and where people are ignoring the
truths of the Kingdom of God. It says don't hang out with
them, don't have fellowship with them, rather expose them.
If you're going to do anything, preach the gospel, share with
people their need of Jesus Christ, he says.
It's shameful even to speak of those things which are done to
them in secret. But all things that are exposed
are made manifest by the light for whatever makes manifest as
light. So we're in a place of
ungodliness. We're in a place of the
unfruitful works of darkness. The Holy Spirit lives in you.
If you're a believer, there's light in you that's exposing the
darkness. Now, you can try to hide the
light. You can try to ignore it like
it's not in you and participate in the darkness for a while.
But the darkness can't outshine the light.
And God will eventually have to chasten you and discipline you
and put you in a place in your life that you're going to repent
and get back on track again. He says in verse 14, Awake you
who sleep arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
See, then you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but
as wise. A fool walks in darkness after
they become a Christian, redeeming the time because the
days are evil. Things are getting worse and
darker and worse and darker. Therefore, do not be unwise, but
understand what the will of the Lord is.
Do not be drunk with wine and which is dissipation, but be
filled with the Spirit. Drunkenness is not to be
tolerated in the believers life. None of us have a right to get
hammered anymore. We shouldn't be doing that.
Now I'm not saying you can't have a drink because the Bible
doesn't teach that total abstinence, but the Bible is
real clear that you're not to be drunk anymore.
Amen. And so everybody has to know
when they're moving into a place of inebriation and stop.
So my job to judge you if you have a glass of wine or you to
judge me. But if you see me drinking more
than one glass of wine, you have a right to say, Clark, you're
heading in a dangerous direction.
What the apostles saying here in Revelation isn't just so much
for the people that are going to be left here, but where are you
today? Are you living as an unwise
person? Are you in places of darkness?
Are you allowing yourself to participate in things that
Christ had to shed his blood and die for and so he's warning them
in revelation to be protected as a repent so that they won't have
the plagues in verse 8 come upon them in that day that the
remnant is spared from the plagues.
So what sins will be judged? Well, we've already looked at
many of them here we see idolatry.
We see in verse 7 it says in the measure that she glorified
herself. Pride lifting themselves up in
this time, living in a way that is ostentatious is one thing to
have wealth is another thing to use your wealth in a wise way.
I've known people who are very, very wealthy that live like they
have no money, and they use their money in ways that are as
wonderful in the sense of helping other people.
You know Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, that company is the
biggest retail corporation in the world today.
When Sam Walton developed his business and became extremely
wealthy, he lived in the same modest ranch home.
He never sold it. He drove his used pickup truck.
He could have bought anything he wanted, but that wasn't how he
was wired. He was a fascinating individual
and even all the money he had set up for the generations of
the family, the kids, the grandkids, the great grandkids
that have all come on down the road.
He set the trust up so that there was only so much money
given to them at certain periods of times in their lives so they
wouldn't go out and squander their wealth.
Because he knew that the danger of money could cause a lot of
problems, as the Scriptures say, in people's lives.
So we see here the pride. We also see the the heart of the
Church of Jesus Christ and the last days in Matthew 25 prior to
the final judgment. Now a lot of people say, well,
you know, I'm I'm saved, I'm going to heaven.
Well, how do you know why? I pray to prayer and I'm going
to, you know, I believe in Jesus, I'm going to heaven.
That's all there is. You know, well, thank God for
the simplicity of the gospel. But the gospel is much fuller in
the sense of what real belief entails.
In real belief entails change of conduct.
Then I'm not walking in darkness anymore, because if I'm still
wanting to walk in darkness, I haven't been converted yet.
If my heart still desires the fruitful works of darkness and I
want to do those sinful things, Christ hasn't conquered my
heart. I'm still rebelling.
I'm still lost. I'm still in my sin if that's my
main propensity and focus of my everyday life.
But this is the final judgement here and this is shocking to a
lot of people, says this is the Son of Man who'll come and he's
going to judge the nation's. When the Son of Man comes in
verse 31 of chapter 25 in his glory and all the holy angels
with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
Picture this. All of us will see this
encounter. All the nations will be gathered
before him, and he will separate them from one another as a
shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
And he will set the sheep on his right hand.
If you're a believer here today, you're sheep, the goats on the
left. If you're an unbeliever or a
poser or a phony, you're on the left.
And the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you
blessed it of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world.
Listen to this. I was hungry and you gave me
food. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you took me
in. I was naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to
me. And the righteous will answer
and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a
stranger, and take you in or naked and clothe you?
Or when did we see you sick or in prison, and come to you?
And the King will answer and say to them, assuredly, I say to
you, in as much as you did it unto one of these, the least of
these, my brethren, you did it to me.
So in a church what we do is for one another, right?
It's Christchurch, and everything we're trying to do as
a body of believers is for the sake of people that don't know
him yet, for the sake of people who do know him, to help our
missionaries get the gospel out to the ends of the earth.
When there's a need presented, we're involved in meeting that
need because everything that we do in the microscope of God's
judgment, when God sees are we living for the sake of others?
Many say to those on the left, depart from you cursed into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food.
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.
I was a stranger. You did not take me in.
I was naked. You did not clothe me.
I was sick and in prison. You did not visit me.
And they will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you
hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or
in prison, or did not minister to you?
And he will answer them, saying, assuredly, I say to you, And as
much as you did not do it to the one, the least of these, you did
not do it to me. And these will go away at the
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.
So the world system is either compelling you to move away from
it. So you take what it is that
God's allowed you to have and prosper you with.
And you pray and you say, Lord, what's the decisions you have
for me? What missionaries am I going to
help? What person is going to show me
they have a need? And I'm either going to ignore
them and blow them off whenever I have enough to take care of
that need and I'm going to walk away.
Or I'm going to use what it is and God's going to put it in my
heart to say, God, Clark, help that person or do this or do
that, that be sensitive to that situation that's being
disconnected from the world system.
The world system, though, is telling you no, you can't do
that. You're a fool.
You don't know that person. You don't know what they're
going to do with this or that. All this skepticism and all this
fear and trying to hoard everything you have for yourself
and where's it going to end? It says these will go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.
So what's the priorities of our stewardship in this world system
today? The plagues are going to come.
The entire economic empire, the Antichrist is going to collapse.
The remnant are going to rejoice to God's righteous judgment.
But what about you and me today? Where are we with this system
that we're still influenced by? Jesus talks about the importance
of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven in Matthew
6. Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
So I have to say to myself today, as we begin to conclude
in regards to the world system, I can teach this stuff, I can
talk about it, I can exhort you, but I need to exhort myself.
Where's my stewardship? Where's my heart affections?
Where's my priorities? Does God own what I have?
Do I surrender my life to God, every part of it, everything I
have, everything that is mine, or does it have a hold on me?
Does my stuff have a hold on me? Am I giving more allegiance to
the present world system? Is my treasure you Jesus, or is
it the treasures of this present earth?
What is it that you and I are putting our focus upon as we
live our lives today? The last thing I want you to
look at is Second Corinthians chapter 6, because these things
are going to happen. When they do happen, if we're
with him already, we're still going to have to give an account
for what we did with our lives. And the Lord will say, well, you
know, you believed in me, you trusted in me.
You're in the Kingdom and the Bible says that some of us will
be saved as oh by fire. I don't want to find out what
that means. I hope you don't either.
Doesn't sound good. It's good to be saved, but it's
the be saved by as oh by fire. Sounds like this is skin of our
teeth and we were on the edge of being cast into the fire.
The Second Corinthians chapter 6 tells us here again, the warning
that I read about at the Lord's Supper.
Allow the Lord to deal with your hearts, all of us, and allow the
Lord to separate from your heart what might be there that is
causing you to be tied into the world too much.
But the Lord deal with that stuff and he'll, he'll help you
to be free from it. He'll lift it off of you.
He'll put things in priority and he'll put things in place in
your life. You know, the cost of
selfishness and the cost of greed affects your marriage, it
affects your kids, it affects your relationship with the
people you work with, the people you're concerned about, your
burden for. There's no power outside of
yieldedness to God. And God wants us to yield to
him, all of us. How much does he want of my
life? He wants it all.
And that's something that I have to look at in my own life every
day. Every day I have to fight
against the pressures of the world.
Every day I have to make a decision what I'm going to do
with my checkbook. Every day I have to make a
decision what I'm going to do with what God trusts me with.
And it's, it's, it's not easy guys, as you all know, if you're
honest, but you know, prayer is a wonderful place to come
because we can say, Lord, help me to understand the dynamics of
this place. I live in this earth that the
ancient Israelites said wasn't their home.
They were looking for a city whose builder and maker was God.
It says they dwelt in tents as temporal dwellers, as
sojourners, as nomads, not putting roots down in this world
because they were looking for a city whose builder and maker was
God. And the church today is so
anemic and so weak because believers have chosen to give
allegiance to the world system instead of the Kingdom of God.
And the Bible says in the last days that we're to come out from
among that kind of living and that kind of concept and be
separate. It says judgment has to 1st
begin with us and us meaning the House of God, but that we would
listen to what Paul says when he says what agreement has the
temple of God. That's you with idols if there's
idols in your life and lay them at the feet of Jesus so he can
smash them and pull you out of the bondage that they've allowed
to control your life. For you are the temple, the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell in
them and walk among them. I will be their God and they
shall be my people. Oh, may we be able to say that
today that He is our God and we are His people.
Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you.
If you're touching unclean stuff.
Stop it today, deal with it today, and walk out with a firm
conviction by the power of the Holy Spirit that from this day
forward you're not messing with certain things that you were
messing with. I will be a father to you and
you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty. Therefore, having these
promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God. His has been Living Waters of
Grace With Pastor Clark, we're going through the challenging
and also intriguing Book of Revelation.
Whether you're a fan of reading ahead in books of fiction,
there's such a benefit to reading ahead in the Bible to
read about how it all ends. But in an interesting turn of
events, the Book of Revelation is not really the end, but
rather the beginning. It's the end of life as we know
it here on earth. But there's so much to look
forward to for what comes after all the judgement of the earth
and those who reject God. There's a lot to work through,
and it can be heartbreaking to read through the intense
judgements and wrath that will come on those who hate God with
all their might. The thing is, God has given
chance upon chance to these people.
They don't want it. So the outcome is that there are
judgements and consequences for those who've rejected the good
news and the gift of salvation that's offered through Jesus's
death and resurrection. Are you one who has heard about
these things but doesn't really want it because you want to live
life on your terms? Trust me, living for Jesus is so
much better. That doesn't mean it will be
easy. As you listen and read through
Revelation with us, you'll come to a stark realization that you
don't want to be on earth when the apocalypse happens.
So check out Calvary Chapel online.com to learn how to come
to a saving grace through faith that will allow you to be with
Jesus for eternity. We'd also love to meet you in
person at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
Come join us at 400 E Pittsburgh St., Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA
15601. This has been living Waters of
Grace.