Living Waters of Grace April 17th, 2026

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.

We have become so focused on, and we need to be on sound

doctrine. We need to be focused on the

Scriptures and what they teach Sola scriptora that God does not

speak independently or in opposition to what is found in

the Word of God. But we can become so dogmatic in

our minds and so in a way have everything in a box about God

and how He works, that we don't allow ourselves or avail

ourselves to be open to what is called the manifest presence of

God. I remember I was babysitting

some kids one time and every little thing I did, they would

tell me I was wrong. It could be the words I was

saying or the way I was eating. It's because the way their

household functioned wasn't the same as how I was accustomed to,

and there was no grace involved. Today, Pastor Clark says

Christians can get so caught up in the rules of being a

Christian that sometimes we become legalistic.

There's grace in the gospel because of his love.

He sent his Son for you, even if you fail now.

Here's Pastor Clark in Revelation chapter 14 with

Revelation 14 · chapter mention

today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

Revelation 14 verse one. Then I looked and behold, a lamb

standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 having his Father's

name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven,

like the voice of many waters and like the voice of loud

Thunder. And I heard the sound of

harpists playing their harps. They sang, as it were, a new

song before the throne, before the four living creatures and

the elders, And no one could learn that song except the

144,000 who were redeemed from the earth.

What a picture, a lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, capital L,

standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 on fire.

Jewish missionaries, Jewish believers who minister during

this terrible time of the great Tribulation.

And God has protected them in spite of what we learned last

week, the beast, the devil, the Antichrist, the false prophet.

And we see that these people are victorious.

They've been through the Tribulation and they haven't

been destroyed. They haven't been taken out.

God has spared them and protected them to do His will.

And Revelation 14 answers 2 specific questions that are

raised in Revelation 13 regarding this beast.

As it said in the seventh verse of chapter 13, it was granted to

Him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them, and

authority was given to Him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Well, the 144,000 represent the 12 tribes of the nation of

Israel, and it's obvious here they're standing physically on

this mountain with Christ Himself at the end of the

tribulation, victorious. So obviously the 144,000 were

not under his authority. And also what happens to this

beast and his followers? We'll look at that as we

continue through 14, but today we're just going to cover the

first 3 verses primarily. Why does he mention Mount Zion?

Well, Mount Zion is seen and described throughout the the

history of the Bible as the hills that surround the ancient

city of Jerusalem. And this is a place where Christ

will come and one day establish his Kingdom.

He'll come physically atop the Mount of Olives and stand and be

King of kings and Lord of Lords and reign forever on the face of

the earth. Isaiah 2423 says, Then the moon

will be disgraced and the sun is shamed.

For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

and before his elders gloriously.

Joel chapter 2 verse 32 says, And it shall come to pass that

Joel 2:32

whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be

deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the

Lord calls. And then over there in Micah

Micah 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, verse one through 7, a tremendous prophetical

statement. Now it shall come to pass in the

latter days. At the mountain of the Lord's

house shall be established on top of the mountains, and shall

be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow to it.

Many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the

mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways, and we shall walk in his paths.

For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord

from Jerusalem He shall judge between many peoples and rebuke

strong nations. Afar off they shall beat their

swords, and the ploughshares and the Spears and the pruning

hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword

against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and

no one shall make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord of

hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the

name of his God. But we will walk in the name of

the Lord our God forever and ever.

In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame, I will

gather the outcast and those whom have afflicted.

I will make the lame a remnant and the outcasts a strong

nation. So the Lord will reign over them

in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.

This tremendous things to look forward to, isn't it?

I mean, it's tough as life seems to be at times in this world and

the struggles and the heartache that the human race goes

through. This is the future that the body

of Christ has to look forward to and all those who've believed on

the Lord God. I can't wait for that day.

I love this and Micah where it says that God will turn their

weapons and into plowshares and pruning hooks.

They won't have the desire or the interest in destroying human

race anymore. Christ will establish His

Kingdom and He'll roll with the iron hand.

And these folks have the privilege of on their foreheads,

the Father's name, written opposite of what we studied

about in 13, where the unbelievers and those who pay

homage to the Antichrist will have the mark of the beast on

their foreheads. So who are these people, this

special group of people, the 144,000?

You might have speculated yourself.

I believe it's the movement of Calvary Chapel.

Everybody else is in trouble without this kid.

A lot of people claim that they're the special group,

right? The Baptists, the Methodists,

the Lutherans, the Catholic, the Orthodox, Everybody has their

own little idea of what things would be like in the end.

That they'll be the special privilege room in heaven for

obviously those who belong to Calvary Chapel.

No, it's going to be the Father's name only.

No sectarianism, no denominationalism, no division.

That's the name of the Father on the forehead.

I can't wait for that John 17 This is Jesus prayer that they

all may be one as you Father are in me, and I in you, that they

also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent

me. So the name of God, even their

Father stamped on their forehead.

As I was studying that I thought about all flesh is grass and the

glory thereof fadeth away, right?

Every one of us, we have a season to live our lives and

then all of a sudden it's gone. All the great movements of God

throughout church history, all the great men and women of God

who we read about in history, they're no longer here, are

they? But the name of our God remains,

Amen. The name of our God remains

forever. And Jude, I love this.

How the apostle ends the citation of exhortations in the

book of Jude. Now unto him who is able to keep

you from stumbling. There's only one that can keep

you from stumbling and present you faultless before the

presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

To God our Savior, who alone is wise, Amen.

God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty,

dominion and power, both now and forever, Amen.

So John tells us about these experiences as he's given this

book by the power of the Holy Spirit to write these things

down. And you think about his

experiences and, and what he actually encountered is, is

quite fascinating to me. It says he heard a voice like

the voice of many waters, the voice of God, verse 2 of chapter

14, a voice of many waters. In chapter 1, verse 15, it says

John heard this, his voice is the sound of many waters.

Chapter 4, verse 5, it says, and from the throne proceeded

lightnings, thunderings and voices.

It says that there's sound of harpist playing.

I get a kick out of these people that say that there's no musical

instruments that are supposed to be in the church today.

You know, there's some groups who believe that everything's

Acapola. The Eastern Orthodox Church

teaches that, the Church of Christ teaches that.

But I, I don't know where they come up with this stuff because

in the throne room of heaven, there's instruments, there's

harps, there's music. You know, it's interesting how

people develop traditions of men.

I would say that make God's word of no effect.

But they're playing to accompany the worship singing of the

144,000. That's like, we're blessed here

to have our musicians accompany us as we sing praises to our

God. And it says they're going to

sing a new song. 144,000 people. Their feet are planted on Mount

Zion physically, yet their praise takes them right into the

presence of God. It says their voice is like many

waters, the voice of a loud Thunder.

They sang in verse 3 as it was a new song before the throne,

before the four living creatures and the elders.

Now, how in the world could they be before the throne and on the

earth at the same time? God does miraculous things when

our hearts are open to the work of the Holy Spirit.

How many of you here have experienced the presence of God

in the midst of worship here at Calvary?

OK, how does that happen? We're just not singing songs or

playing music. But this is for God to God about

God, and he desires us to worship him in spirit and truth

so he can see our hearts and sense our praise.

And as we worship him with lyrics that are biblical and

songs that are God honoring and God glorifying, God hangs out in

the midst of that kind of encounter with his people, and

he makes himself manifest. He makes himself real.

And so they're worshiping before the throne of God spiritually.

They're encountering God in a way that's supernatural, and

they're experiencing God in a way that is completely different

than what you would experience at AU2 concert or a Paul

McCartney concert, right? I mean, there's a whole

different dimension of reality in the midst of God's Spirit, in

the midst of his throne and his Kingdom.

And that's what I wanted to sort of segue into as I was thinking

about this kind of stuff on vacation, as well as preparing

for this message. If you flip over to Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 for a minute, Hebrews 10/19, it says Therefore,

brethren, having boldness, tenor, enter the holiest by the

blood of Jesus, by a new living way which he consecrated for us

through the veil that is to his flesh and having a high priest

over the House of God. Let us draw near with a true

heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts

sprinkled from an evil conscience in our body washed

with pure water. So again, physically here, and

yet by invitation of God Himself, I'm allowed to enter

into the holy of holies and you are too.

I think what happens today in our modern Christian experiences

that we have become so focused on and we need to be on sound

doctrine. We need to be focused on the

Scriptures and what they teach sola scriptura that God does not

speak independently or in opposition to what is found in

the Word of God. But we can become so dogmatic in

our minds and so in a way have everything in a box about God

and how He works, that we don't allow ourselves or survey

ourselves to be open to what is called the manifest presence of

God. Christianity is designed by God

to be an encounter with God, not to be a religion.

Religion is dead. I'm not interested in religion.

I'm sure you aren't either. I'm interested in encounter, in

relationship. And God was speaking to me as I

was away this week. That Clark, you need to

encounter me in a deeper way. It's good that you know about

me. You know my word.

You can teach my word, you can speak about the things I've done

through history, you can proclaim the gospel, but I have

something so much more for you than just that.

And I wanted to cause you, as you're open to encounter me in

ways that perhaps you haven't experienced yet.

If you flip over to Hebrews chapter 4, same kind of idea

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

here verse 14. Seeing then we have a great high

priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of

God. Let us hold fast our confession,

for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our

weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet

without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to

the throne of grace. Where is the throne of grace?

Sin? The heavenly Kingdom and it says

that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of

need. When's the last time you have

entered into that throne room of grace where you really realize,

hey, I'm in a completely different place than I usually

am on planet earth? God by His Spirit has compelled

me and allow the door to be open for me to enter into a realm and

a dimension. It is completely not normal, not

normal when I came to Christ 2020 years.

I'm making myself younger than I really am over, you know, about

40 years now I had a spiritual encounter with God that I I

can't to this day really articulate completely in in

vocabulary and I'm sure many of you have too.

But I all I know is that I woke up the next day after I repented

of my sins and I asked Christ to to save me and to help me that I

went from total darkness and confusion and insanity in my

mind. And the next day I had a peace

that passes understanding, human understanding.

I got up the next day and even the way I saw the world and the

way I saw people and the way I saw creation.

It was like the light was turned on.

It was bright. It was no no longer obscurity.

There was no longer a veil that was up to keep me outside the

reality of the God of creation, the God of heaven.

And I realized for the first time that I knew Him and that He

knew me and that I had a relationship with Him now that I

never had before. And down through the years, it's

ebbed and flowed as it has in all of our lives.

Sometimes it gets weaker, sometimes it gets stronger, but

I really believe in these days that we're living that God wants

the revelation of His Holy Spirit to become so much more

real and evident in all of our lives.

I have people I love and you guys in the church and people I

work with that I see go through tremendous adversity and

tribulation. I only can help them to a

certain extent, but I can't point to this door that enters

into a supernatural spiritual realm that, as the apostle says,

we can come boldly to this throne of grace that we may

obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Is anybody in the time of need here today?

Is anybody need the mercy of God and the grace of God?

We all do. So when's the last time you have

gotten on your face and said, Lord, I want this privilege,

this right, this inheritance to enter into your throne room and

experience this mercy and grace that you promised I can have in

my time of need. Now, if you're like me, lots of

times you read that. That's nice, that's cool, but

you don't avail yourself to it. We don't enter into that

promise. We don't enter into that reality

of what Christ is established for us now.

God is a spirit and he has no face.

His face is seen in the person, his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,

God the Son. Without that we wouldn't be able

to comprehend it, the transcendence of God.

But the Holy Spirit is interesting person in the

Godhead because he also has no face.

Jesus describes him in John 3/3 as like the wind.

He blows in this direction, He goes in that direction.

You can't seem to catch him or figure out what he's going to do

next. But his whole purpose is to

glorify the sun and to reveal to us our sin and to cause us to

repent. The Holy Spirit is the one who

lives in us to give us Peace of Mind and tranquility and comfort

and hope and patience and love and self-control and humility.

That person who lives in US desires to live through us and

get us out of the way so that Christ can be seen through us.

But these experiences of the 144,000 I I can't imagine.

In some ways I can cause I've experienced it in some sense.

But this is a special occasion because all the songs that have

been written in in history about God, you think, well, you know,

why do I listen? You guys are saying how great

thou art or to God be the glory or how can it be this, this sing

those songs. That's good enough for me.

It says that God gave them a new song.

I'm interested to know what would be said in that song that

is so different than a lot of the songs we sing today.

But obviously it's important to God that there's a new song.

It's a kind of worship that I don't think anybody has ever

encountered in the history of Christianity.

This particular song and 144,000 are given the privilege to sing

this, and it says they're the only ones that can learn the

song at this particular point in time.

It says no one could learn that song except 144,000 who were

redeemed from the earth. A special opportunity for a

special group of people singing before the throne of God.

I know in my heart of hearts, guys, that my ability to do

anything on any given Sunday morning is impossible.

I've learned that through the ups and downs and the failures

and the struggles of my own ministry with people and trying

to help and to teach and to disciple, You know, I'm not the

Lord, but God in our midst is here to work in all of our lives

through His Word. And so he wants us to have a

hunger for righteousness. He says if you're hungering and

thirsting for righteousness, you will be filled.

And I think at times we leave church on Sunday and we're not

filled because we haven't hungered and thirsted for him,

him alone. And maybe the worship isn't what

you like it to be sometimes, or maybe the preaching or the

teaching sort of left you cold. But that's no excuse, right?

For your own heart hungering and thirsting for Him His

righteousness He promises you you will be filled so not one of

us can have an excuse when we gather as a body and every time

we gather as a body crisis in our midst, no matter how weak

and frail we are as his vessels that doesn't in invade the the

sovereign power of God to 0 in on every human heart that's here

on a given Sunday. But if I'm coming today and I'm

hungering and thirsting for God, which I am and I trust many you

are. I'm going to leave here filled

today, and it might not even be anything that I heard through my

own message or through worship. It's just going to be something

that God did where he transported me into his throne

room, into his presence in a way that I never maybe encountered

or experienced before. And throughout the course of the

Bible, you can see that many people experience these things

in different ways. Paul in Second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. This is what he says.

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast.

I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body I

do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know.

God knows. Such a one was caught up to the

3rd heaven and I know such a man, whether in the body or out

of the body I do not know. God knows how he was caught U

into paradise and heard inexpressible words which is not

lawful for man to utter. Do you think God can do that?

Well, obviously you can't. He did it for Paul.

He's done it for countless God, godly people throughout the

ages, where people heard God speak to them about going into

missions or going to be a pastor or going to be some kind of

servant of God in the ministry. They've heard specifically God's

voice to their hearts that this is my will for you.

Of such a one I will boast. Yet of myself I will not boast

except in my infirmities, my weakness.

For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool, for

I will speak the truth, but I will refrain unless anyone

should think of me above what he sees me to be, or hears from me,

unless I should be exalted above measure.

By the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the

flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me.

Isn't it interesting how God can even use the enemy to keep us

humble, lest I be exalted above measure concerning this thing, I

pleaded for the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my

strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast of my infirmities,

that the power of Christ will rest upon me.

Thanks for being with us today here on Living Waters of Grace.

We are in the Book of Revelation, and we find it

fascinating how influential and involved the angels are in this

book. They bring about whatever it is

that God has instructed them to do, but it's through their

actions that much of the judgements come on the earth.

The angels are in submission to God as their authority, but He

utilizes them in unique ways throughout this book.

Like angels have a specific purpose from God, you have a

unique purpose and plan too. God wants to use you in your

life as a testimony to others and to bring others who are

currently lost into the fold of God.

God would love more than anything for all who are willing

to come to Him for salvation, but he wants it to be their

choice, not a forced situation. This is the way God works, not

forcing himself on anyone, but giving each person free will.

If you're interested in learning about this choice that's free

and that it's a gift, go to calvarychapelonline.com and

click on the About Us tab and then find the link for what we

believe. We'd love to be a help and a

resource for you as you walk through what it means to be a

follower of Jesus. If you find the contact tab on

our website, you can get in touch with us or submit a prayer

request. We'd love to hear from you.

That's all for today's edition and Revelation, but there's much

more that Pastor Clark plans to share with us from this

culminating book of the Bible. Stay tuned for that and make

sure to mention this radio program to others.

Invite them to tune into Grace FM 91.7 FM and they can stream

worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM. This has been living waters of

grace.