Living Waters of Grace, February 20, 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.

How could a loving God allow such a horrible situation to

occur there? God's judgement, and I'm not

saying Haiti is God's judgement it but it says in the last days

there will be birth pangs and a frequency of cataclysmic events

occurring on the face of the earth to cause men and women and

children to begin to look up and to wonder about is there a God?

And then, if there is a God, am I ready to meet Him?

A common question among many people is how could a loving God

allow terrible things to happen? Some believe bad things are

God's judgement, natural consequences, or even evidence

that God doesn't exist. Ultimately, we can make all

manner of assumptions and speculations, but we must

realize that God's ways are higher than our ways and His

thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

In today's message, Pastor Clark attempts to convey what

Revelation might be telling us about events in the final days.

Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation chapter one with

today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

In verse 15, it talks about his, his voice being the sound of

many waters. I love to sit by the ocean when

there's no one there and no distractions.

And I love this to close my eyes and just hear the waves

crashing. This continual, there's no

silence. It's just continual noise.

And every wave seems to have a different sound effect in my

ear. Every wave that flows in is not

exactly the same as the wave that came before it.

And it's just a continuation of this, an outpouring of the, the

sound and crashing of, of the surf upon the sand.

And God's sound, his voice is like the sound of everlasting

waters. If you ever been to Niagara

Falls and you stood at the base of the falls, you're in the Maid

of the mist. You just hear the, the crushing

sound of the water this relentlessly coming down off the

the cliffs there into the into the pond or lake of stream

there. It's just continue.

It's a sound of his absolute power and authority.

I think of a, a storm at night, a thunderstorm or a lightning

storm or a hailstorm. And, and this the, the sound of

the Thunder is so crushing. And at times it, it shakes you,

it, it, it makes you fearful. The fact that God is so

magnificent and so powerful that he could wipe any of us out in a

second. And it, it's just overwhelming.

And then you think of the the sound of earthquakes or

tornadoes or hurricanes or typhoons, the tremendous power

that God has in the midst of this universe, it would cause

you to to fall on your face and be broken, as we will see John

here in a few moments, falling on his face.

But no one can stop these sounds but God.

No one can stop the fury of the Thunder and the lightning and

the hurricane and the earthquakes.

But God, he has control over this whole universe.

Nothing occurs outside of His will and His plan.

Someone mentioned recently about the crisis in Haiti.

How could a loving God allow such a horrible situation to

occur there? God's judgement and I'm not

saying Haiti is God's judgement it but it says in the last days

there will be birth pangs and a frequency of cataclysmic events

occurring on the face of the earth to cause men and women and

children to begin to look up and to wonder about is there a God?

And if there is a God, am I ready to meet him?

Am I ready to stand before him? This sound of the voice in

heaven speaks with power and authority, and it says in verse

16 that out of his mouth when a sharp 2 edged sword.

We read in Hebrews that the word of God is sharper than any 2

edged sword, piercing, dividing asunder of soul and spirit and

is a very discerner of the thoughts and intents of the

heart. It's just so wonderful when you

sit down, you're reading through the Bible this year and and as

you read it, it's purifying you. It's it's convicting you.

You, you see your own life and the life of Abraham and Isaac

and Jacob and Sarah and Hagar and all these people and and the

scriptures. You, you say, boy, that person

reminds me of me a little bit, you know, and it shows you God's

action and intervention in their lives and his mercy and his

grace and his forgiveness. And you're, you're encouraged,

you know, the fact that God is such a compassionate, loving,

merciful God in spite of the foolishness of the human race,

in spite of the foolishness of the human heart.

And this sword that's coming out of his mouth speaks with

authority. It's the living word of God.

Ephesians tells us that it's the sword of the Spirit, which is

the word of God. He gives us a description also

of the of the seven stars in verse 16, and these seven stars

are descriptive of perhaps he refers to the name Angel.

Angel means messenger. We prayed this morning before we

came up here that God's angels would protect this place,

surround it from the attacks of the evil. 1 And God has sent

forth his army of angels in the midst of these days that we

live. I love what it tells us in

Hebrews, the beginning of Hebrews, about the angelic

creatures, aren't they ministering spirits, sent forth

to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation?

You have a guardian Angel. Do you know that?

Do you believe that? Well, the Scriptures declare

that you do. And that poor Angel, what

they've had to put up with, right with all of us.

I'm sure my Angel would love to trade places with one of you

guys. He's been with me for 58 years

now. But even the angelic beings,

whenever the word of God is proclaimed and preached, they

like to hang around in the atmosphere because they never

get tired of listening in and hearing the mystery that's

revealed through the church, the gospel of God's salvation.

The angels could also in some commentaries refer to the

pastors of the churches because we're messengers, we're

responsible to declare to the community, the body, the the

message of the, the word of God. And verse 16, it refers to his

countenance. It says his countenance was like

the sun shining in its strength, the sun SUN.

When you look up in certain times of the day, you wouldn't

dare gaze into the brightness of the sun because you'd burn your

retina. But in certain times a day you

can sunset, you can look at it, look at the beauty, and it isn't

as bright. But the countenance of Christ is

like the fullness of the brightness of the sun at its

greatest point, at its fullest of strength.

That was experienced by Peter, James and John whenever they

were at the base of the Mount of Transfiguration.

When Christ appeared in his glorified state and the

brightness of His glory was exceedingly manifest, and Peter

and James and John, it was so bright they had to fall on their

face. And this is the way our Savior

is now. He's transfigured, He's changed,

and John is actually able to experience this again.

He's before them. His face shines like the sun.

His clothes become white as the light.

The ancient teachers of the Word described as light as uncreated

light. You know when God said let there

be light and he created the moon by night and the sun by day and

the stars by night. The light that is manifest in

the Holy Trinity is always existing, it's self existent.

It never had a start and never had a beginning.

And that's why the Word tells us that God is light and in Him is

no darkness or shadow of turning.

Psalm 8411 says, for the Lord God is a sun, SUN and a shield,

a purifier and a protector. So it's a wonderful thing to

know that God's brightness, the exceeding image of his glory and

His perfection as it reveals to us our sin, convicts us that we

can repent and be purified and be made as gold, pure gold.

But he's also the protector that he knows how much we can deal

with in any given moment. If he turned all the light on on

me in one nanosecond, I would be completely pulverized and non

existent. But God understands what we're

able to deal with. And so he comes in the midst of

his glory to John with a heart that is full and also heavy and

broken because of the state of his church in the days that this

was being written. And his heart is still heavy

today for the state of the church today.

Christ, we see in this revelation here is no longer the

quiet Carpenter, is he? He's no longer the obscure and

lowly servant. He's now risen, glorified, and

manifest in His full authority to prepare to judge the nations

first. Peter 417 says for the time has

come for judgment to begin at the House of God.

This is what's occurring here. Jesus is revealing to John the

revelation of Himself in the midst of His church in the last

days. Peter says for the time has come

for judgment to begin at the House of God.

It has to begin here, guys, with you and me, doesn't it?

Our judgments, our concerns about those without Christ are

important to pray for God to save our families, our

neighbors, our loved ones. But we must come clean before

the Lord ourselves, not be living double ways, not be

living one way in church and another way outside of church.

We must realize that God has to deal with our hearts, the House

of God. If it begins with us first, what

will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Peter questions verse 17 and 18. John begins to respond to this

vision, this unveiling, this revelation of Jesus Christ.

What was his posture like? It says.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

A lot of people, they have a very lackadaisical, superficial

understanding of what it's going to be like to enter into the

Kingdom of God. Some people think they're going

to be going in high 5, high 5 and the Lord say, Cole, hey,

we're here. It's not going to be like that.

Every one of us will be on our face before God praying that

we'll hear his voice say, well done, good and faithful servant,

enter into the joy of the Lord, not depart from you cursed.

I never knew you. That's why the Bible tells us,

work out your salvation today with fear and trembling.

Today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow.

If you hear his voice today, don't harden your hearts as

those who harden their hearts in the wilderness.

So he falls at the Lord's feet as a dead man.

This is the one who put his head on the breast of Jesus.

His relationship with Christ now is different in some sense

because he's fully aware of his exaltation and his glory, his

magnificence and power. He falls at the Lord's feet.

Have you ever been at the time in your own life where you're in

prayer and you're at His feet and you're aware of His Holiness

and his greatness and his purity and your own sinfulness?

I think we need to be in those kind of places more and more in

these days that we're living, that we would be real with God

as Isaiah was Isaiah a prophet, a great man of God, Whenever he

had the revelation of the throne of God, he said, woe is me, woe

is me. I'm a man of unclean lips, a

declaration of repentance, and I dwell in the midst of an unclean

people. That's all our declaration,

isn't it? Woe is me.

We are all people of unclean lips and we dwell in the midst

of unclean people. Who knows what occurred in the

lives of the people in this church this week and the secret

places where only God could see? What type of sin might we have

carried into this place that I trust was laid at the feet of

Jesus at the Lord's Supper? Christ wants His church to be

purified. He wants it to be whole and the

holy be holy. He said Be holy, for I am holy.

Be perfect as your heavenly Father who's in heaven is

perfect. And that's not in our own

strength. This is an impartation of God's

gift to you and me, His grace that as we yield to Christ,

Christ will fulfill his will in our lives and he'll conform us

to the image of his Son. That's what he promises every

one of us, right? That he will transform us and

make us into his likeness. So John is laying at his feet as

a dead man. Daniel chapter 10, verse 8.

Daniel 10:8

He says I saw this great vision. Whenever Daniel saw this vision,

this is what he said about himself.

He said no strength remained in me, for my vigor was turned to

frailty in me. I retain no strength.

His face was to the ground and he heard this voice, and the

voice told him to stand upright. And when Daniel stood upright,

it says he stood trembling. We need that same experience

that John has had in our own life.

We need that experience that Daniel had, Isaiah had, Peter

had whenever he recognized when Jesus spoke to him after the

miracle. And Peter's words were, Lord,

get away from me. I am a sinful man.

And these are the servants of God, understanding what they are

apart from the grace of God. And this is the wanderer of

God's grace where he says to him after he's on his face, he

didn't say, you dirtbag, you need to stay down there because

you're scum and you're no good and you're, you're totally

depraved. How dare you think you even have

a right to be in my presence? He isn't that way, is he?

He reaches down and he puts his hands on his servant and he

says, do not be afraid. Even though all of us will be on

our faces before the throne of God, those who truly are His, He

will touch and say, do not be afraid.

His grace is so manifests His mercy that His right hand is

upon us. So this is the way things are.

He says now I am the 1st and the last.

I am he who lives and was dead, the declaration of the

resurrection. Christ died for our sins.

The Gnostics and the false teachers back then and even of

the day say he really didn't die.

He was just sort of unconscious. Here's a declaration of Christ

himself, He who lives and was dead.

And behold, I'm alive forevermore.

Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and

death, of hell and death. He tells him to begin to write.

You know, I read this and as I study this and prepare to teach

it, I realize my own life, how I need to pray to see Him this

way, that my heart would be full of awe when I'm in His presence

when we were worshipping today. I don't know about you guys, but

sometimes I just get a intense sense of His presence that I

feel like my knees are going to buckle.

This not an emotion, it's a sense of the reality of who He

is. And who am I to come up here and

stand before you and talk about this holy God?

It strikes terror in my heart, but I know his hand is on my

shoulder saying, do not be afraid.

And he's saying that to each of you as you come and understand

his greatness and His Holiness, and you know your own sin, your

weakness, And he touches each of you today and says, do not be

afraid. Where do we need to be?

Someone told me Psalm 51 is a good Psalm to pray every day.

David's lament. He said, my sin is ever before

me and against you only have I sinned and done this evil in

your sight. The places of humility is where

God wants all of us to be. This is what he also says.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a

contrite heart. These, O God, you will not

despise. That's where God wants us to be,

guys. It's to be real.

As we come in here as brothers and sisters, God gives us his

joy, his peace, his presence. But we all need to be contrite,

right? And this admitting what we are

not trying to be some way that we're not, or trying to impress

some and they think we're something we're not.

God knows all of us, even on our best day, we're the worst in

light of who he is, right? There's not one of us in here.

They're better than the other or worse than the other.

We're all in the same boat, right?

To be able to know what we are and to see our hearts in light

of God's word. Repent, repent, repent.

I remember that old song by the birds.

Turn, turn, turn. That's what repentance is.

I'm going this way and I come to the realization of my mind.

I'm living the wrong way, going the wrong way, and I need to

turn and go in the direction of the will of God.

That's repent, repent, repent. The modern understanding of

repentance is the actions or process of repenting for

misdeeds or moral shortcomings. Yeah, I did this.

I shouldn't have done it. That was wrong.

But, you know, hey, we're all human.

You know, it's, you know, I'm not perfect.

You know, we make excuses. And that's the modern concept of

repentance. The modern concept of repentance

is I'm driving down the road and I get a speeding ticket.

I know I'm wrong. I paid a fine, but instead of

going by the speed limit, I go out and buy a speed detector.

I really wasn't repenting. All I'm hoping is that next time

I'm speeding I won't get caught. That's the modern understanding

repentance. In the Greek understanding, it

means a change of mind which results in a change of actions

and awareness of our utter insufficiency to be holy in and

of ourselves. I need a Savior, a sin bearer,

want to lift my guilt and to transform me, to see my thoughts

and actions change, and to receive God's mercy and

forgiveness. I'm walking this way.

The Spirit is convicting me before I know Christ and all of

a sudden I realize that no matter what I do, what kind of

promises I make, what kind of self help book I read or what I

try to do, I'm not going to be able to change my wicked ways.

The self help gurus say we'll read this book and this will

help you understand why you are the way you are.

And it always points back to your parents.

It's their fault. So the kids have these arguments

with their adult parents. I am the way I am because of

you, how you raised me. A lot of guilt to throw in your

parents. You know, our parents would then

say, well, it was my parents who did it.

And then we go all the way back to the garden.

And sure, there is some reality that Adam and Eve were the the

ones that began this insanity. But if it was you or me, we

would have done the same thing there.

But the point is, is that instead of looking and trying to

cast blame to someone who is, I think, responsible for my own

sin, I need to say I'm a Sinner and I need help, I need a

Savior, I need Jesus. I need his mercy to forgive me

and to change me from what I am and who I am, and to give me a

spirit so that I can become a new creation in Christ, so I can

become a new person, the child of God instead of the child of

the devil. That's what repentance is.

Repentance starts and it's very important because the whole Book

of Revelation is a message of repentance.

He tells the book the the church in Ephesus repent and go do your

first works. Someone visited the church one

time. They said, I don't like your

church. Why?

Because you guys have too much emphasis on repentance and

humility. Well, that's all there is.

That's the church. That's the message of Christ to

repent. David says in Psalm 51 three,

and this is a picture of the beginning of the act of

repentance. It confessed to God.

He says I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is

always before me against you. You only have I sinned and done

this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak

and blame this when you judge. If I don't realize that what God

is speaking to me about is honest and true and just then

I'm living in delusion. The first step of repentance is

acknowledge the sin and understand what I've done, that

I'm guilty. The second step in repentance is

then to begin to cease the sin against God and resolved by his

grace, as Jesus said to the woman, go and sin no more.

Jesus doesn't forgive this and say go ahead and go, go, go sin

again. We'll we'll talk 5 minutes

later, an hour later or two weeks ago, we'll, we'll go

through this process again. This Yeah, you're forgiven.

OK, go and have a nice day. And you know, a million times

during the day, asking forgiveness for the same thing,

That's not repenting repentance. It's turning from our sin and

resolving to sin no more. Our resolve means to not repeat

the offense. That's why Paul tells us in

Ephesians and Colossians we're to put off the old man, which is

corrupt according to deceitful lust, and put on the new man,

which is after God created in righteousness and true holiness.

Take the old coat off, burn it, and put the new coat the cloak

of His righteousness. And then, as God is merciful

working in my heart, I want to make amends for the things I've

done wrong in my life. Thanks for being with us today

here on Living Waters of Grace. We're 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 judgments 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 in 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 in to Grace FM 91.7 FM and they can stream

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

Grace.