Sermon

Living Waters of Grace for April 21st, 2026

Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  1. This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark

  2. Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,

  3. County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he

  4. continues teaching through God's Word.

  5. Luke chapter 17 verse 26. This is Jesus speaking as it was

    Luke 17:26

  6. in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son

  7. of Man. People will be eating, drinking,

  8. marrying wise, and they were given in marriage until the day

  9. was that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed

  10. them all. So it'll take the world by

  11. surprise. And Jesus said that his time of

  12. return and all the stuff that's going to happen on the earth is

  13. going to be very similar to the days of Noah.

  14. Business as usual. Isn't that where we're at in the

  15. world today? Sure, they're always world

  16. events that put people on the edge of their seats, but for the

  17. most part, we're just doing what we always do.

  18. Generally, people aren't concerned enough about the way

  19. the world is going to actually do anything about it.

  20. In Pastor Clark's message today, he tells you that that's exactly

  21. what Jesus said the world would be like all the way up until his

  22. return. So what are you waiting for?

  23. Are you prepared to meet Jesus now?

  24. Here's Pastor Clark in the Book of Revelation chapter 14 with

    Revelation 14 chapter mention

  25. today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

  26. Revelation chapter 14 verse 4. These are the ones who were not

    Revelation 14:4

  27. defiled with women, for they are virgins.

  28. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

  29. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God

  30. and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no

  31. deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.

  32. Matthew 24 talks about what it's going to be like in the last

  33. days. Jesus says, but woe to those who

  34. are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those

  35. days. Paul makes some interesting

  36. comments over in First Corinthians Chapter 7 regarding

    1 Corinthians 7 chapter mention

  37. marriage. If you turn over there for a

  38. minute, First Corinthians Chapter 7, verse six and eight,

    1 Corinthians 7 chapter mention

  39. he says, but I say as a concession, not as a

  40. commandment. And this isn't something he's

  41. saying everybody does or should do, but for him this is the way

  42. it is. He says, I wish that all men

  43. were even as I myself, but each one has his own gift from God,

  44. one in this manner and another in that.

  45. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for

  46. them if they remain even as I am, but if they cannot exercise

  47. self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than

  48. to burn with passion. And then down in verse 25, he

  49. says, Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the

  50. Lord, yet I give judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has

  51. made trustworthy. I suppose therefore that this is

  52. good because of the present distress, that it is good for a

  53. man to remain as he is. Now during Paul's days, the

  54. church was under persecution, a lot of struggle, very, very

  55. difficult to have a Christian homes, Christian family.

  56. And of course Paul was always on the run from one city to the

  57. next, sharing the gospel and also watching out for his own

  58. life. Eventually was martyred.

  59. And he says in verse 27 are you bound to a wife question mark,

  60. Do not seek to be loose. Are you loose from a wife Do not

  61. seek a wife. So he's giving both perspectives

  62. there. If you're married, stay in the

  63. place of marriage and be grateful and and and serve the

  64. Lord. But if you aren't exhorting

  65. people to consider being single. Verse 28 but even if you do

  66. marry, you have not sinned and if a virgin married she has not

  67. sinned. Nevertheless, such will have

  68. trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.

  69. But this I say, brother, in the time is short, so that from now

  70. on even those who have wives should be as those who had none.

  71. Interesting comment, huh? I mean, you know, what does that

  72. mean? I mean, you can read into all

  73. kinds of things regarding that. But I think what the apostle is

  74. bringing forth is that we love our wives as Christ loves the

  75. church. We're dedicated, we're loyal,

  76. we're faithful, we work on our marriage.

  77. We have a strong marriage to pray together, but we're not so

  78. fragmented in our Christian walk that every little situation in

  79. the world and, and sense of you should do this.

  80. If you're married, you should have this kind of place or this

  81. kind of, you know, you can really get carried away with the

  82. world in regard to the objects and the material issues that are

  83. required. I I think it's wise as Paul

  84. lived to be simple and have a very basic and very, very simple

  85. life in regard to how connected to the world.

  86. But in verse 30 says those who weep as those they did not weep,

  87. those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy

  88. as though they did not possess and those who use this world as

  89. not misusing it for the form of this world is passing away.

  90. So in other words, everything that we can put our emphasis on

  91. in our lives in the culture as married people can really get

  92. out of context right. It's very easy to get into debt.

  93. It's very easy to begin to pursue things that aren't good

  94. for developing our our Christian life.

  95. I mean, Paul teaches also everything in moderation, but I

  96. won't be brought under the control of any certain thing.

  97. But he says I want you to be without care.

  98. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he

  99. may please the Lord. And I have some friends who are

  100. single and they don't have rebellious teenagers.

  101. They don't have MasterCard or visas that maybe aren't under

  102. control. They're not worried about

  103. replacing the sofa, you know, or getting the new dining room

  104. table. They're just not connected with

  105. those kind of concepts, right? And so they're able to totally

  106. focus on the Lord. This 100%.

  107. And nothing distracts him. Verse 33.

  108. But he who is married cares about the things of the world,

  109. how he may please his wife. And us guys know if Mama ain't

  110. happy, no one is happy, right. I've learned that after 39 years

  111. of marriage. You know, I mean, the Bible says

  112. I'm the head of the house. But you know, really it seems

  113. like Cindy has many times, you know, even though she, you know,

  114. respects the spiritual headship and all that.

  115. It's, you know, my, my job is to to please her.

  116. And I'm thankful she's a godly woman and she's not asking me

  117. for anything that's unreasonable.

  118. But nonetheless, our job as as husbands is to please our wives.

  119. There is a difference between a wife and a virgin.

  120. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she

  121. may be wholly both in body and spirit, but she who is married

  122. cares about the things of the world, how she may please her

  123. husband. And this I say to your own

  124. prophet, not that I may put a leash on you, but for what is

  125. proper and that you may serve the Lord without distraction.

  126. So again, today, if you're single, don't put pressure on

  127. yourself to think you have to get married.

  128. I mean, God may have a plan for you to get married.

  129. I think there's a lot of pressure in the culture today in

  130. churches, they look at some single person, well, when are

  131. you going to get married? And the person's like, I don't

  132. know, there's no one even in my life.

  133. And and then they think maybe there's something wrong with

  134. them if there isn't a person who they're going to get married to.

  135. Well, that isn't the general context all the time.

  136. God does choose some people to live celibate lives.

  137. Some people, as Paul said, lost a husband or a wife through

  138. death, or maybe someone abandoned someone.

  139. It isn't necessary all the time for that person to find another

  140. mate. Sometimes, as Paul said, the

  141. Lord freed that person. Now they don't have to be held

  142. in that kind of capacity anymore and they're free to do what the

  143. Lord wants them to do. As a married man, and Cindy is a

  144. married woman, we are committed to the Lord 100% to do whatever

  145. it is He's called us and asked us to do.

  146. But there are sometimes some certain impossibilities that

  147. marriage does perhaps cause a little bit more difficulty

  148. sometimes if you're called to go to China to be a missionary, if

  149. you're single, it's a lot easier than if you are married and have

  150. a bunch of kids. It has to be supported right.

  151. So it's it's different for everybody.

  152. But at the same time, Paul tells us in Hebrews 13 four marriage

  153. is honorable among all and the bed undefiled but fornicators

  154. and adulterers. God will not judge.

  155. So when you read this in Revelation about these ones that

  156. were not defiled with women, the apostle John isn't saying

  157. sexuality is impure or immoral within marriage.

  158. It's a beautiful thing. As Paul said in Hebrews, the

  159. marriage bed is undefiled. So he sanctifies the sexual

  160. union between a a man and a woman.

  161. But you have to look at the context.

  162. So what was it like in those days that people are living on

  163. the earth during this tribulation period and these

  164. 144,000 Jewish evangelists who are totally committed to the

  165. things of the Lord and have chosen by a gift not to become

  166. married. What is it like in the last days

  167. and what type of intensity will be brought upon the earth?

  168. Now today, marriage is mocked. I I get calls all the time.

  169. People want me to get married in the church and want me to do a

  170. wedding. Well, the first thing I asked

  171. them, are you living together? And they say, yeah, so well, you

  172. know, before we even begin to to talk, you need to not be living

  173. together and you need to have counseling, marital premarital

  174. counseling. My purpose in doing that is to

  175. see people come to Christ during that time and also to give them

  176. insight as to what they're going to be dealing with when they

  177. make these commitments. Most of the time I hear the

  178. phone click after I say that, well, we'll get back to you and

  179. that kind of thing. So the the institution of

  180. marriage within the culture and within the context of the church

  181. is very, very mock today. What's big today is

  182. cohabitation, isn't it? How many people know people

  183. living together raise your hands despite everybody in here you,

  184. you have friends or people you know that they just think it's

  185. OK to live together. How about same sex unions?

  186. That's growing today, right? There is not as closet mentality

  187. anymore. People are very open about

  188. living together in a same sex unions divorce rate.

  189. Today, four out of five marriages end up in divorce.

  190. And that's even within the context of the Christian

  191. community, which is unbelievable.

  192. There's a growth of all this immoral context in the media,

  193. the Internet and magazines and billboards and media and songs

  194. and that kind of stuff. It's unbelievable how graphic

  195. the immorality is on the airwaves.

  196. It's just out of control. Marriage is disconnected from

  197. Christ. There's people getting married.

  198. They don't want anything to do with getting married in the

  199. church, seeing it as as a celebration and as a blessing to

  200. be married before the Lord and what we call holy matrimony.

  201. A lot of people don't even want to have a a wedding in churches

  202. nowadays, let alone be counseled or pray or or consecrate

  203. themselves to to the Lord in regard to their marriage.

  204. Romans chapter 1 talks about the way the world was back in Paul's

    Romans 1 chapter mention

  205. day and that we think things are getting worse now.

  206. I don't think I mean, I think the world has always been messed

  207. up. It's just the fact that we know

  208. about it more because of the media and connection of Internet

  209. and all that kind of stuff. News 24 hour news networks.

  210. But it says in verse 21 of Romans one, because although

  211. they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor we're

  212. thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish

  213. hearts were dark, darkened, professing to be wise.

  214. They became fools and they changed the glory of the

  215. incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and

  216. birds and forfeited animals and creeping things.

  217. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness and the lusts of

  218. their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves.

  219. And we see that today with fornication, adultery, sexual

  220. immorality, homosexuality, lesbianism, I mean all over the

  221. place, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and

  222. worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator

  223. who is blessed forever. All men.

  224. For this reason God gave them up to vow passions for even their

  225. women exchange the natural use for what is against nature.

  226. So lesbianism or homosexuality isn't a current phenomena.

  227. It's been that way since the beginning of time.

  228. It says likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the

  229. woman they burned in their lust for one another.

  230. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in

  231. themselves the penalty of the air which was due so perhaps in

  232. this time, in the last days. I mean, things are so bad now

  233. and I don't think we noticed it because we're isolated.

  234. If we're Christians, we're not feeding on that garbage.

  235. We're not listening to it, we're not participating it.

  236. It's certainly not in the in the church community.

  237. But we see in this day and age the growth and at the end of

  238. time, when the Holy Spirit in the church is pulled out, the

  239. Holy Spirit will still be convicting the world, but the

  240. church presence won't be here. You won't have people working

  241. against ungodly principles. You'll have people today who

  242. stand up against things that the government tries to do that are

  243. ungodly, right and impure. We have voices, people who will

  244. get out in the streets and canvas the community, and we're

  245. like a tide against the spread of darkness and immorality in

  246. the world. But when the church, the bride

  247. isn't here anymore, who's going to be the voice against these

  248. kind of things? And so the heightened level of

  249. sexual immorality and fornication and even going back

  250. to Pagan rights is going to be unbelievable.

  251. Idolatry will be huge in the last days.

  252. The worship of self through gratification of the desires of

  253. the fallen nature, using religion, Pagan religion, as its

  254. deception. Back in Ephesus they had the

  255. Temple of Diana. It was a large temple in the

  256. midst of Ephesus where people would go and do religious

  257. things, but it was all under the guise of impurity, prostitution,

  258. sexual immorality. And so they were involved in

  259. that. And they had a sense that what

  260. they were doing was OK because it was like in a religious type

  261. of service, but it was a Pagan ungodly, right?

  262. And so people will be moved in that the deception, the worship

  263. of Antichrist himself is going to be manifesting itself itself

  264. in unrighteousness, Val uncleanness, perversity like we

  265. remember in the Old Testament, the study of the fertility

  266. called Savastrath where sexual sin was rampant.

  267. Now we look at things a day and unless you're reading or talking

  268. with people who are in these kind of lifestyles, you sort of

  269. maybe miss the fact that the things are really bad.

  270. I mean, most of us have filters on our computer to prevent

  271. impure stuff from coming into our homes.

  272. And so we're isolated. We have filters maybe in our TV

  273. or maybe we don't prescribe to certain cable networks because

  274. of the Holy Spirit in our lives and that we belong to the Lord.

  275. Video games, we're cautious about what our kids are playing

  276. with and watching that kind of stuff.

  277. So we're somewhat isolated for the tide of immorality that's

  278. spreading around the world, but it is it is an all time high.

  279. The sex slavery market where people are being kidnapped in

  280. different countries, young girls and young boys, and taken to

  281. places like Thailand where the sex trade is, is just

  282. unbelievable. And these poor kids are put out

  283. in the street to be abused and sodomized by ungodly people.

  284. It's just the filth upon the earth is just unimaginable.

  285. I can't imagine how much worse it's going to be again when the

  286. church is taken out at the rapture.

  287. And then of course, the willful abandonment of God will truly

  288. flourish at that time because there'll be no one to bring any

  289. spiritual conviction outside of these 144,000 and a few others

  290. like them who will still preach the gospel regardless of what

  291. things occurred to them and their martyrdom and that kind of

  292. stuff. If you turn to Luke chapter 17

    Luke 17 chapter mention

  293. for a minute, Luke chapter 17, 14 verse 26, this is Jesus

    Luke 17 chapter mention

  294. speaking as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in

  295. the days of the Son of Man. People will be eating, drinking,

  296. marrying wise, and they were given in marriage until the day

  297. was that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed

  298. them all. So it'll take the world by

  299. surprise. And Jesus said that his time of

  300. return and all the stuff that's going to happen on the earth is

  301. going to be very similar to the days of Noah.

  302. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot.

  303. And they ate and they drank and they bought and they sold, they

  304. planted, they built this everyday life going on, right?

  305. But on that day, Lot went out of Sodom.

  306. It rained fire and brimstone in heaven and destroyed them all.

  307. Even so, will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

  308. Now you think about Sodom and Gomorrah.

  309. Things were horrible there. God is telling a lot to get out

  310. his wife and his kids. These impure people are knocking

  311. on the door. Whenever the angels came to warn

  312. them to flee the wrath, it was to come.

  313. They're knocking on the door. Let us in that we may have sex

  314. with those men in there. The angels impure Lot was

  315. freaking out. He didn't know what to do.

  316. He's like trying to barter with them.

  317. We'll take my daughters. They're virgins.

  318. I mean, that blows your mind in the in the sense that here's

  319. God's calling Lot, righteous lot and fearing for his own life.

  320. Thank God the the Lord protected his daughters.

  321. But nonetheless, it says in these last days, this is what

  322. it's going to become, like Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 says

    Genesis 6:5

  323. regarding Noah and the days of Noah.

  324. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in

  325. the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was

  326. only evil continually. Can you imagine that having a

  327. mind? Maybe you remember when your

  328. mind was like that, before you knew Christ, that every thought

  329. you had was evil continually. You were constantly planning in

  330. your mind what next corrupt thing you were going to do, what

  331. next sinful thing you were going to plan.

  332. And as the Lord looks on the earth today, He sees the human

  333. race for the most part being this way, that the thoughts of

  334. the heart are people outside of the Lord are only evil

  335. continually. Can you imagine when again, when

  336. we're not around the bride of Christ, there's no salt left,

  337. there's no light to repel the darkness.

  338. Sin will be released like a flood, drowning the world in

  339. perdition and judgment. And how amazing is this group in

  340. Revelation chapter 14 when you think about their commitment to

    Revelation 14 chapter mention

  341. the Lord? In verse four and five, it says

  342. these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

  343. These are the ones that follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

  344. They've been chosen by the Lord to be entirely separated unto

  345. the Lamb. They follow Jesus, His plan, His

  346. life, His teaching, at all costs, at at all times and in

  347. all places. I wonder what we're like in our

  348. own lives and our own walk with the Lord when no one else sees

  349. us. Are we like these that are

  350. represented here in Revelation That we follow the Lord's plan

  351. in our life and His teaching at all costs, at all times and in

  352. every place that we might find ourselves?

  353. Psalm 119, verse one and two says blessed are the undefiled

  354. in the way who walk in the way or the law of the Lord.

  355. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with

  356. the whole heart. They also do no iniquity and

  357. they walk in His way. So the picture of the people

  358. that the psalmist is speaking to is very similar to the people

  359. here in Revelation chapter 4, that God says you're blessed in

    Revelation 4 chapter mention

  360. your life. You're walking in not impurity.

  361. You're walking in the way of the Lord.

  362. You're walking in the law of the Lord.

  363. You're blessed if you keep His testimonies, if you seek Him

  364. with your whole heart, not part of your heart or just on Sunday

  365. or whenever you feel like it, but every day you're like, Lord,

  366. I want my heart to be your heart.

  367. I want my thoughts to be your thoughts.

  368. I want Your Holy Spirit to control me and convict me so

  369. that there isn't anything in my life that will be found to be

  370. impure and bring disgrace on You.

  371. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with

  372. the whole heart. I want to be blessed, don't you?

  373. And if you want to be blessed, do what the psalmist says, keep

  374. the word of God, seek him with your whole heart, and you'll

  375. find that you're not going to be interested in intentionally

  376. sinning against him. You're going to walk in his

  377. ways. The definition to undefiled

  378. means not to be filthy. That's why the Bible says we

  379. aren't like filthy jesting, dirty language, dirty talks,

  380. dirty stories. We're not like that anymore.

  381. We want purity in our life. We're uncorrupted in the sense

  382. that we're not allowing the ways of the world to defile us.

  383. These people that were the virgins weren't allowing

  384. themselves to be involved in any kind of sexual union.

  385. That would be seen as being impure.

  386. Sexual union that would be impure would be homosexuality,

  387. fornication, adultery and a lot of people justify that today.

  388. Well, I'm in love and I have emotions and my hormones or

  389. whatever and and the Lord does never makes allowances for that.

  390. He says if you are struggling with your sexual drive and you

  391. can't address it and allow the Lord to control it and give you

  392. peace. He as Paul speaks, you need to

  393. get married so that you don't burn the lust.

  394. But if you're able to, as these virgins obviously were these

  395. 144,000 Jewish evangelist, they were able to look to the Lord

  396. and not allow themselves to be drawn into the context of the

  397. culture of the prostitutes that were in the streets, constantly

  398. calling them to come in and enjoy them.

  399. They kept their eyes fixed on the Lord and they wanted to do

  400. what he wanted them to do. Again, though, in marriage, you

  401. know, some people get some warped ideas in the culture that

  402. somehow a sexuality is not a good thing.

  403. It's a good thing in marriage, but only in marriage.

  404. That's why Paul says the marriage bed is undefiled.

  405. There's no corruption in the marriage bed with the sexual

  406. union between the husband and the wife.

  407. So we're not talking about marriage here.

  408. In regard to the context of why these people chose to be

  409. virgins, I don't think if you went out there in that time, in

  410. the last days, could any of these people actually find find

  411. a godly woman? If everybody's heart is thinking

  412. evil continually, the pickings are pretty slim.

  413. Some of you single folks know the pickings are sort of slim

  414. now. Or you know, you look and you

  415. say, well, where is a godly man or a godly woman?

  416. Are you willing to wait on the Lord before you would try to get

  417. involved with someone just because you think you need to be

  418. married? You'll you'll regret that the

  419. rest of your life. Perhaps no godly women or men

  420. are left to marry at this time. And so these people like Paul

  421. chose to be entirely separated to Christ for the ministry in

  422. this time of tribulation. So they're not affected by

  423. distractions. Some people are called to this

  424. idea of a celibacy in in being virgins.

  425. Turn over to Matthew 19 and very interesting comments that you

  426. find that as I read what Paul said and also what Jesus says

  427. himself here in Matthew 19. In the Book of Revelation,

  428. Pastor Clark is taking us through all kinds of events and

  429. happenings that are predicted for the future.

  430. But for those who believe and follow Jesus, there's much to

  431. look forward to in heaven with Jesus.

  432. However, for those who are here on earth during the Tribulation,

  433. there's all kinds of chaos that will unfold.

  434. The Bible talks about an Antichrist, a false prophet, and

  435. of course that evil enemy Satan. You see how there are such

  436. clever attempts for the enemy to disguise himself as God and even

  437. the Trinity, the true Savior of the world is God and how he

  438. comes to rescue through his triune nature, God the Father,

  439. Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

  440. Just like Satan tried to take over for God in heaven was cast

  441. out, Satan will try to convince people on earth that he is the

  442. triune God to be worshipped instead of the legitimate God in

  443. heaven. It's an attempt, and although he

  444. will capture plenty in his schemes, he will not win.

  445. The true God wins, and Revelation unpacks how that will

  446. all happen in detail. Be encouraged because there's a

  447. way out for all of this madness that will ensue on this earth.

  448. But you don't want to wait indefinitely to make that

  449. decision about Jesus. We don't know when the church

  450. will be raptured, and you want to be ready to be with Jesus.

  451. To learn more about this, head over to calvarychapelonline.com.

  452. We're so glad you've been with us today.

  453. And if you'd like to connect further with this ministry, find

  454. us on Facebook or YouTube. You can also download our mobile

  455. app at calvarychapelonline.com. Be sure to join us for weekly

  456. services at 400 E Pittsburgh St. Ste. 6B in Greensburg, PA 15601.

  457. This has been living waters of grace.