Living Waters of Grace 12.22.25

This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis

Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland

County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he

continues teaching through God's Word.

But we're all in a battle. Whatever that sin is, whatever

that struggle is that you have, that you're still trying to get

victory over, you are in a battle.

It's a spiritual war. And in a war there are many

battles. And thank God He gives us the

strength to win many of the battles.

It doesn't mean sometimes we don't lose some, sometimes we

do. Sometimes things come out of my

mouth that shouldn't. Thoughts come into my mind that

shouldn't. Sometimes I'll lose that battle.

Wow, isn't that the truth? We are all in a battle and

sometimes you lose. One of the best places in the

Bible that we see this played out is in Romans Chapter 7 where

Romans 7 · chapter mention

Paul talks about not doing the things he wants to do and doing

the things he does not want to do.

That's a daily, sometimes moment by moment battle.

The point Pastor Lewis will make today is that while you won't

win every battle you face, you need to stay in the battle and

allow the Lord to equip you daily.

Now here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter

one with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

And then in verse 15, the best line in this whole Scripture, he

said this is a faithful saying. That means it's a trustworthy

saying and worthy of all acceptance.

That means everyone, everyone should accept this.

It's worthy for everyone to grab hold of this.

What is that word? This is the best news in this

entire chapter, that Jesus Christ came into the world to

save sinners, to save sinners. He didn't come to save the

righteous. He didn't come to save those

whose garments have never been soiled.

He didn't come to save the perfect.

He didn't come to save the ones who had never sinned, those who

were so good, you know, oh, that's a good person.

That's a good person. And God didn't come for you.

God came for us who are messed up, those who were sinful, those

who blew it in the past, those who understand our need for him.

That's who God came for. That's who Jesus Christ came

for. So he said Jesus Christ came

into the world to save sinners. And Paul's acknowledging and he

says, and I am chief, I'm one of the worst.

And when he says that, he's not saying, well, I compare myself

to your sin. My sin is worse than yours.

That's not what he's talking about.

I've even heard that before. People comparing sins, Well, you

should see what I used to do. Paul's saying compared to God,

compared to the standard of God, because we don't compare

ourselves with each other. We don't compare ourselves to

each other. We shouldn't feel good about the

fact that this person did something worse than me.

Sin is sin. Paul's saying compared to the

standard that God has, I am a chief Sinner.

I am a chief Sinner and so am I. And notice he says I am chief.

He didn't say I was chief. He didn't say I used to be

chief. He says I am chief.

Paul acknowledges that he still have some things that he needs

to get victory over, just like we all do.

We still got some things that we struggle with.

We still got some things that sometimes our flesh raises up

and we go the wrong way on it. And Paul said, I acknowledge

that I am chief. I can still be like that old

person sometimes. But the news that he came to

save sinners, not to condemn them, as it says in John 3 and

17, he came not into the world to condemn the world, but that

the world through him might be saved.

He didn't come to condemn us, He came to save us.

And I thank God for that because I qualify.

I qualify. I am a Sinner and I qualify for

the person that Jesus Christ came for.

And thank God I do and thank God I do because otherwise I'd still

be there. I'd still be there.

He is so good. And I think about my life and

the things I did in my life, and I'm so grateful that he didn't

leave me where I was. I've hit some dark times in my

life, very dark. I used to be angry at one point,

very angry. Went through a lot of different

changes in my life. I used to chase money, thought

it was the most important thing, selfish.

Everything was for me and about me.

Chase positions. I chased opportunities that

would get me more money. I ran the streets.

There was even a point where I got so angry that I actually

owned a gun. And I remember times when I

would be in a room with a bunch of gang members and there was a

time when I was the only one that didn't have a gun, and then

I went and got a gun. So when people say carrying a

gun sometimes don't change you if you're not the right person

to be carrying a gun, yes it will.

Yes it will. Because it made me bold to do

things that I wouldn't do if I didn't have it.

To say things that I wouldn't say if I didn't have it to go

places that I wouldn't go if I didn't have it.

But he saved me. Even in spite of all that, he

still reached down one night and touched my heart and he saved

me. I'll never forget my wife and I

sitting about 5 rows back from the 1st and we're listening to a

teaching of preaching on Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

And we both looked at each other like that's us.

I know it was me. And as he was praying and asked

us to close our eyes and to think about whether or not this

is for us. The scripture is about us.

And if God is tugging at your heart, maybe the day is the day

for you to receive salvation. And my wife and I both stood up

together and we got saved. But it was that day when the

Lord touched our hearts. There is a time and we needed it

because we were sinners. I was Sinner, am a Sinner, but

I'm a forgiving Sinner. And then he goes on in verse 16

he says, however, for this reason I obtain mercy, that in

me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering as a pattern

to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting

life. Paul says I am now the poster

child of who can be saved. If he can save me, then he can

definitely save you. Paul is saying I'm the pattern

I'm the pattern on those that in other words, he did it in me

first. I love that verse where it says

in me first, Jesus Christ might show long-suffering.

He showed his patience towards sinners in me first because I

persecuted him. I was a direct assault upon him.

And if he saved me, he'll definitely save you.

I was, I heard somebody talking about this when he said, yeah,

yeah. Sometimes when I'm preaching

Christ or if I'm talking to a somebody who's a Sinner and they

say, well, Jesus Christ, well, you know, he'll never save me

because of the things that I used to do.

The guy says that he would always go back to this and go

back to Paul and say, well, wait a minute, did you ever blasphemy

Jesus Christ? Well, no.

Did you ever kill anybody because they follow Jesus

Christ? Well, no.

Did you ever beat people up, drag people out of church

because they. No, I never did that.

Well, Paul did and he still got saved.

But I don't have to go back to Paul and talk about what Christ

did. I can talk about what he did in

me first, what he did in me first.

And so Paul said, I am the pattern.

I'm the prototype. I'm the example of what the

patience of Jesus Christ will do and what grace and His mercy

will accomplish in us. Not only did he save me, He

changed me. Not only did he change me, he

delivered me. This is the power of the gospel.

The gospel is power. That's why Paul says in Romans

116, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it

is the power of God unto salvation.

There's power in the gospel. There's power in the gospel.

It changes lives. It can deliver.

It can set people free. It can save lives.

Thank God. Verse 17 So after Paul says all

that, then he goes into a praise and worship service.

A1 man praise and worship service.

He says now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible to

God, who alone is wise be honor and glory forever and ever.

Paul's worshiping, Paul's worshiping, and do you ever

think about what God did for you or what he delivered you out of

and you just go and just start worshipping him, that blessing

to just think about, Oh my God, Lord, I can't believe you did

this and just start worshipping. He is king eternal.

He's never, he's alpha and Omega.

There's none before him. There's not going to be any

after him. He's immortal.

That means he's uncorruptible. He's uncorruptible.

He's imperishable. He doesn't decay.

He's immortal and he is the invisible God.

He's invisible. You know, Hebrews says that, you

know, we believe it's through the Word of God that we believe

that things that are seen are made by things that are not

seen. Amen.

He is the invisible God who alone is wise.

And we can say that because He is the source of all wisdom.

He's the source of all wisdom. He is the Spirit.

According to Isaiah Chapter 11 and verse 1, He is the Spirit of

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

wisdom in the spirit of understanding.

He's the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of counsel and might.

All of that is in Christ Jesus. He is the source of it all.

So he is the only wise God. And to him, yes, be honor and

glory. And you know what?

And so much more is due to him, and so much more.

Honor and glory forever and ever a man.

So be it. Then in verse 18, he says this I

commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies

previously made concerning you. Now these are prophecies.

If we go over to go over to first Timothy chapter 4 and look

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

at verse 14 and it says here do not neglect the gift that was in

you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of

the hands of the eldership. So you know, we know that when

Timothy before Timothy was called out, there was a laying

on of hands. It was an anointing.

There was that that Commission that came, you know, by the

presbytery, the learning, the laying on of hands by many

elders. And in that according to this,

there were prophecies that was given to Timothy about his

ministry. And what Paul is saying here is

that according to those prophecies that was previously

made concerning you, he says, listen by them, wage the good

war, fight the battle well, fight the good fight with those

prophecies. And we said, you know, and, and

he's saying that to us. He said that to us, fight the

good fight. Hold on to the word of God.

Hold on to the doctrine that is coming to you through this.

Hold on to that. Every day you get up, you are in

a spiritual battle. Believe it or not, we are all

soldiers. That's why, you know, the

Scripture refers to us so much as being like soldiers, so many

military terms, because being in the faith is being in battle.

But our weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

That's all. But we are in a spiritual

battle. Some of us are in a battle

against our flesh, somewhere in the battle against the world,

somewhere in the battle against Satan every day who's constantly

accusing you before God and man. But we're all in a battle.

Whatever that sin is, whatever that struggle is that you have,

that you're still trying to get victory over, you are in a

battle. It's a spiritual war.

And in a war there are many battles.

And thank God He gives us the strength to win many of the

battles. It doesn't mean sometimes we

don't lose some. Sometimes we do.

Sometimes things come out of my mouth that shouldn't.

Thoughts come into my mind that shouldn't.

Sometimes I'll lose that battle. Like the time I told you I was

riding my wife and something happened and the spirit said

don't say it. You go out.

You're about to say I told you so don't say it.

Don't say it. I lost that battle because I

said it. You know, those are spiritual

battles, though. Those are spiritual battles.

We win some and some we lose, but we fight the good war, we

fight the good fight all the time, every day.

We get up, we're fighting the good faith, fight off the good

fight and then 19, he says. Having faith and good

conscience, that means you have your testimony of what you

believe, your proclamation of what you believe.

You believe that Jesus Christ came and died for your sins.

You believe that Jesus Christ was buried and you believe that

he rose again on the third day. You believe that he ascended

into heaven. You believe that he's coming

back. Our faith is in that, our hope

is in that. And we keep that with us having

that faith and we believe in the word of God and everything

that's in this word. We keep that with, we hold this

in front of us, not behind us or in or beside us.

We got to keep this in front of us.

Paul said you were to always keep in front of me, always

before me, so that I might not send against you.

So we hold on to those things. And the good conscience is just

walking out our faith. It's just walking out our faith

or living out our faith. We don't have to live with a

condemned conscience. We're not being hypocritical in

our faith. We're not living double lives.

We're not allowing the enemy to try to make us feel guilty or

make us feel condemned about anything.

Look, if I sin, I repent, I'm restored back to the Father.

He's not going to hang that over me all the time.

I have a good conscience. I have a conscience toward God.

So I'm always trying to always think about the things of God.

And then he says here, which some having rejected, some

rejected the faith and they rejected their good conscience,

some having rejected that concerning the faith and

suffered shipwreck. I think he goes from the army

now to the Navy. You know, he, he suffered, you

know, the example now is a Navy exam.

Now you suffered shipwreck. You know, we're talking about

battling now we're talking about shipwreck.

And it's like that sometimes, you know, when we're in that

battle, if we give up and we turn our conscience, you know,

we, we, we ignore our conscience or we ignore the faith or we

reject the faith, it will shipwreck our lives.

It will lead to sin. There's no question about it.

It will lead to disobedience, lead to sin.

Verse 20, and we're going to close here.

And in verse 20, he says of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander,

whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blasphemy

Hymenaeus and Alexander. These are two men that you've

read about in the book of Acts at some point.

These are men who were associated with Paul, was

walking with Paul, but they decided that they'd rather have

the world instead. When he talks about Jimenez,

Jimenez was a man who actually begin to teach that the

resurrection have already come. He started teaching that the

resurrection had already come, totally contrary to what Paul

was teaching, contrary to the letters that Paul has sent.

So he says the resurrection has already passed and he calls some

to stumble in their faith as a result of that.

And then there's Alexander. Alexander, he greatly resist or

he opposed Paul's teaching. And Paul says as a result of

that, that they all need to be delivered into Satan.

Now, that doesn't just happen because they did it once.

That's not what he's talking about.

Obviously, when that had happened, he warned them, he

went to them, he talked to them. You can see almost a very

similar account of this discipline and how the process,

the discipline works back in First Corinthians chapter 5,

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

when the gentleman who had sinned, you know, they had gone

to him and they had talked to him and, and just did not

repent. And that's what he's talking

about with these guys. He did not repent earlier.

While at the end of chapter Second of Thessalonians, at the

end of that, it talks about the church discipline and how we

withdraw from people who are sinning openly sinning and not

repenting, not repenting. But the purpose of that is not

that. Again, I want to repeat this.

The purpose of that is not to throw people away.

I do not want to discard my brother because he slipped or my

sister because she slipped. The purpose of withdrawing from

that brother or sister is so that they will have an

opportunity to either hear God or they end up giving themselves

over to Satan. And if they give themselves over

to Satan, they'll be, they'll become afflicted and they'll

come to a point like I was come to a point where I can now hear

God, 'cause I'm at my lowest and I'll give myself thin to

repentance. I repent because I realize what

I've done. And he's saying that this is

what the goal is for them to learn not to blasphemy.

That's what church discipline is for.

It is not to just kick somebody out of church.

It's for the purpose of restoration.

It's always for the purpose of restoration.

We have to get better. The church itself has to get

better at walking with people who fall, who slip.

We got to get better at that. There are some people who

believe that the church is the only religion that shoot is

wounded. We got to get better at walking

with people to victory over whatever it is that they're

dealing with. My heart breaks when I hear

about pastors who have fell off. Maybe they fell off into some

sin. My heart breaks because what

that's telling me is that you mean they had nobody that they

could have reached out to before it get to this point?

Nobody that they could sit down with over breakfast like my

brother and I did the other day. Sat down over breakfast and just

talk with each other. Yeah.

Nobody. He could share that he's

struggling with a with a sin or the thought of a sin.

That's sad. I pray that that doesn't happen

here. I pray that if someone is

struggling, that there's someone in here that you can reach out

to. It doesn't have to be me,

doesn't have to be Clark, but that there's somebody that we

can reach out to and say, you know what?

I'm struggling in this area. So Satan can shine the light on

you and show how weak the church is.

All that's exactly what he wants to do.

Tear up your testimony. Let's do it before it gets to

that point. So Hymenaeus and Alexander, they

went shipwrecked, but he turned them over to Satan so that they

would learn to not blasphemy. Listen, the grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ is abundant. And maybe there's someone here

who have been overtaken by sin, someone who's walking and sin,

someone who's never given their life to Christ, never, someone

who's never believed in Jesus Christ for their salvation.

There is no reason. Now we know that there's going

to come a day when judgments going to come and all those who

are disobedient, all of those who have refused to believe on

Jesus Christ will suffer the wrath of God.

I mean, it's in the word, it's going to happen.

Nobody here today has to suffer that you can either right where

you are, confess that you're a Sinner and that you're in need

of a Savior. Doesn't have to be something

that it's public or public and everything.

And a few people here would pray with you, talk with you.

No one has to leave here today. Hell bound those of you on TV.

If you're watching today, you can give your heart to Jesus

Christ and repent and receive His salvation.

His grace and His mercy is abundant.

It's abundant. He had enough for me, He'll have

enough for you. He had enough for me.

He'll have enough for you or you or you or you.

No respecter of persons. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your sacrifice.

We thank you for your love. We thank you that you sent your

son Jesus to die for our sins. Lord, we thank you for the grace

and the mercy that you have in abundance.

Father, we just want to thank You that You would press it upon

our hearts always, Lord, to remember, to remember that

sacrifice, Lord, that you made so that as sinners we can come

to You. We can still ask for Your

forgiveness. Lord.

We thank you, Lord, that we can be saved by grace through faith

and not by accomplishing the works of the law.

Father, we pray that You will always allow us to remember and

to commemorate what you did on that cross, Lord, when you

defeated sin, Satan, and the great.

We thank you Lord, that we now have eternal life because of

that sacrifice and we remember that in the name of our Savior

and our Lord, in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor

Lewis Harrell here on Living Waters of Grace.

We're digging into all that Paul shared with Timothy in the books

of First and Second Timothy. Timothy was commissioned to do

the following fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on

eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed

the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Timothy would be carrying on what Paul had taught him and

continuing on in ministry, even though Paul knew that more

hardships would come for Timothy.

This is the Christian life. It's not glamorous, it's not

some celebrity status. It's hard fought, it's gritty,

it's unpopular, but it's worth it.

Can you believe that today? Are you willing to fight the

good fight even at the cost of earthly pleasures?

Living the life of a follower of Jesus will have its heavenly

rewards. To be a part of a community

that's looking forward to that heavenly reward, we invite you

to join us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.

If you're in the Greensburg, PA area, come be with us this

Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.

Ste. 6B. Check out Calvary Chapel

online.com For more information on directions and any other

details you might want to know. You can also download our mobile

app from our website thatscalvarychapelonline.com.

If you have friends or family members who want to tune in,

encourage them to listen on Grace FM 91.7.

One last thing, this radio ministry relies on your support

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financially, send gifts to Grace FMPO, Box 716, Greensburg, PA

15601. Thanks for prayerfully

considering this, and thank you for listening to Living Waters

of Grace.