For many years, many hundreds of years, Christians
have looked forward to the return of our
Saviour.
And Peter says that as we approach the
end, many people are going to mock and
say, where is the promise of His coming?
But it's because God is long-suffering and
He doesn't want anybody to perish, that He
waits.
Let me read that to you in 2nd
Peter, in chapter 3, and verse 3.
First of all, you need to know that
in the last days, there are going to
be mockers.
And they are going to follow after their
own lusts.
It's when a person wants to live after
his lusts, that he mocks the things of
God.
And they say, where is the promise of
His coming?
For since our fathers, our ancestors fell asleep,
everything continues just as in the beginning of
creation.
But it says further down that the reason,
verse 9, the Lord is not slow concerning
His promise, but is patient toward you.
He is not wishing for any to perish,
but for all to come to repentance.
We are living in those days, you know.
There have always been earthquakes and wars, and
maybe not as many as in these days.
But those of us who are living in
humility, in repentance, and in the fear of
God, would sense that it can't be long
before Christ comes again.
Because so many things that are happening, I
mean, if they continue at that rate, all
mankind will perish.
So, I believe that we as believers need
to understand how the Lord wants us to
live in this time.
It says here, the Lord wants, verse 9,
all to come to repentance.
Repentance is what the Lord is looking for
in the last days.
And repentance is going to be the thing
that's missing in most preaching in the last
days.
So, it would be very easy to identify
those who are in touch with Him, those
who are aligned with the mind of God,
by just seeing one thing.
Is there preaching on repentance, on turning from
sin, on leading people to a really holy
life?
If that's not there, then, personally, I'm not
interested in listening to any preacher.
And thereby, I protect myself from deception.
In Matthew 24, when Jesus was asked by
His disciples about His second coming, they
asked Him a number of things.
And one of the things was, first of
all, they asked Him, He said in verse
1 and 2 that all these stones that
are in this temple will be torn down.
And they asked Him, when is that going
to happen?
Then they asked Him, what's the sign of
Your coming?
And what's the sign of the end of
the age?
And He answered all those three questions in
one.
A number of things He spoke there related
to the time when the temple would be
destroyed, about 40 years after He spoke.
And some of the other things He mentioned
were the answer to the other two questions,
which is, what is the sign of Your
coming and the end of the age?
And it's very interesting that the Lord said,
first of all, see to it that no
one misleads you.
Verse 4, For many will come in My
name, saying, I am the Christ, and will
mislead many.
Before He spoke of wars and earthquakes and
other things like that, He spoke about deception.
So I see the primary indication of the
second coming of Christ is not wars, is
not earthquakes, is not tsunami waves.
They'll all be there.
But the first thing Jesus said was deception.
And if I see an increase of wars
and earthquakes and seas roaring, that to me
is not the primary sign.
The primary sign is going to be an
increase of deception.
And deception means, you know how deception is,
you know what a counterfeit note is?
A 500 rupee note that looks exactly like
the original, that's what the meaning of counterfeit.
Something that looks vastly different from the original
is not going to fool even a young
child.
It's something which looks so much like the
original.
So I can expect that as we approach
the end of time, we're going to have
many versions of Christianity preached, which look so
much like the original.
And Jesus said that.
See to it that no one misleads you.
And verse 11, again, it's almost as though
He emphasizes that.
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead
many.
When Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the
Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7, and He
gave those instructions, at the end of which
He said, that if you listen to these
words of mine, and obey them, Matthew 7,
24, you'll be like a wise man who
built your house on a rock that will
never, never be shaken.
Nothing can shake you.
I'll tell you that.
Nobody can deceive you, if you obey what
you read in Matthew 5, 6 and 7.
Beginning with blessed are the poor in spirit,
which means having a great sense of your
own need, and not being occupied with the
needs of other people around you.
And all those other things, I don't know
how many of you take those chapters seriously
and read them frequently.
I read them frequently because of one reason.
Because I know that if I obey these
things, I will be on a solid rock,
and nothing will shake me in time or
in eternity.
Why is that important?
Because the Bible says in Hebrews 12, that
God is going to shake all things.
Heaven and earth are going to be shaken,
and only the things that cannot be shaken
will remain.
Do you know that verse?
It's in Hebrews 12.
It's good to know scripture.
I believe that those who know the scriptures,
and obey them will stand in the last
days.
It says, those who know their God will
be strong in the last days.
In Hebrews 12, It says, there's going to
be a shaking.
Hebrews 12 verse 26, His voice at that
time shook the earth, but now He's promised
to shake not only earth, but heaven.
And verse 27, Yet once more denotes the
removing of those things which can be shaken,
as of created things, so that those things
which cannot be shaken may remain.
If you place your confidence in created things,
what does it say there?
Created things are going to be shaken.
Money is a created thing.
You place your confidence in that, you'll be
shaken.
Human beings are created things, and if you
place confidence in man, you'll be shaken.
Everything we see in the earth around us
is created.
And the more we place confidence in any
of those things, in a system, in an
organization, in anything human, it will be shaken.
But the things which cannot be shaken will
remain.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot
be shaken, let's show gratitude by which we
may offer to God an acceptable service with
reverence and awe, for our God is a
consuming fire.
So, since we are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken, and that takes me back
to Matthew 7, where we read of that
house that cannot be shaken.
And there Jesus spoke about a number of
things in Matthew 5, 6 and 7.
I want to tell all of you, my
dear brothers and sisters, if you want to
be ready for the coming of Christ, I
would urge you to read Matthew 5, 6
and 7.
I can give you a written guarantee, you
will be ready when He comes.
I don't know when He's coming, but you'll
be ready.
I don't need to know when He's coming,
but you'll be ready.
You know some of the things He spoke
there in Matthew 5, 6 and 7?
He spoke about purity of heart, and He
spoke about mourning for sin, He spoke about
standing up for righteousness and being persecuted for
that, He spoke about standing up for His
name, not being ashamed of the name of
Jesus, being persecuted for that, He spoke about
overcoming anger, He spoke about overcoming the lust
of the eyes, He spoke about always speaking
the truth, your yes must be yes and
your no must be no, He spoke about
loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us,
never having a bitterness in our heart against
anybody, no matter what they do, He spoke
about seeking to be perfect, as our Heavenly
Father is perfect, He spoke about giving to
the poor and to God's work, and never
letting anybody know about it, the important thing
is not what you give or whether you
give, but don't let anybody know, the things
you sacrifice for the Lord, the things you
do, keep it secret, He talked about praying
in secret, so that nobody knows what you're
praying, He talked about fasting in secret, you
want to have a house built on a
rock, fast in secret, pray in secret, give
in secret, and He spoke about not loving
money, it's all in Matthew 5, 6 and
7, He said you can't serve two masters,
you got to serve God or money, one
of the two, and you got to make
a choice, if you serve money, you'll build
on sand, if you serve God, you'll build
on the rock, He spoke about not being
anxious, but trusting God, spoke about faith in
God for material things, not to become rich,
like we hear a lot of people preaching
today, He spoke about basic food and clothing,
not luxuries, He taught us to pray, give
us this day, not our daily ice cream,
but our daily bread, and we need to
understand that, and because there's another gospel being
preached, which will lead you astray, stick to
Matthew 5, 6 and 7, and you'll never
go astray, He spoke about not judging other
people, we've heard that for years, mind your
own business, let other people do what they
like, and if you can help them, help
them, bless them, but don't judge them, don't
judge them, we're not called to judge anybody,
we're not called to judge according to the
outward appearance, leave it to God, He can
do His job of judging people, without your
help, without my help, because judging often makes
us accusers, and the moment we begin to
accuse, from judgment is a very short step
to accusing, and the moment you start accusing,
the devil's got your hand and says, thank
you, let's fellowship together, in accusing that person,
you ask yourself, hasn't that been true, that
whomever you have judged, you've gradually begun to
accuse, and without realizing, you've begun to hold
hands with Satan, then your house begins to
shake, decide that you will not judge, you
will not judge, I tell you my own
testimony, my younger days, I was foolish, nobody
taught me these things, you folks are so
lucky, that you hear some of these things,
I wish somebody had got a hold of
me, when I was converted in 19, and
said, Zack, don't judge people, leave them alone,
I wish somebody whom I respected, had told
me, read Matthew 5, 6 and 7, build
your house on the rock, I think I'd
have started much earlier, but I think I
began to take all these things seriously, only
when I was about 35, that's when we
started building CFC, that's really when my Christian
life began to take, began to be serious,
I mean I was a Christian long before
that, but some of these little little things,
it's the little things, that destroy us, the
little foxes destroy the vines, so, if you
take these things seriously, I believe we can
be protected, now at the end of all
this wonderful teaching, do you know what Jesus
said?
In Matthew 7, verse 13, He said, this
is a narrow gate, who said it was
going to be easy?
It's a narrow gate, which you can go
only one at a time, you can't take
your wife through, you can't take your children
through, however much you'd like to, you have
to go one at a time, and tell
them, follow me, they have to make a
choice, whether they want to go through this
narrow gate, and not only narrow gate, the
way itself is narrow, see in front of
the narrow gate, verse 13, 14, there's a
way that's narrow, all the way to the
throne of God, it's narrow, so when anyone
shows me a broad way, I know that's
not leading to God's throne, it's not leading
to life, and then, the next thing He
said, in relation to the Sermon on the
Mount, is, beware of false prophets, it's amazing,
how many times Jesus said that, at the
end of the Sermon on the Mount, He
said, beware of false prophets, in relation to
the last days, He said, beware of false
prophets, and one of the things, you've heard
me stress many times, in relation to the
study of the scriptures is, always read scripture
in its context, in its context, and when
you read about false prophets in Matthew 24,
you say, yeah, the context there is the
second coming of Christ, there are going to
be many false prophets, before the second coming
of Christ, counterfeiters, who preach another gospel, and
then, when we read about false prophets, in
relation to the Sermon on the Mount, what
does that teach us?
That teaches us, there are people who are
going to, teach us something different, from what
is written on the Sermon on the Mount,
what's the meaning of that straight, and the
narrow gate, and the narrow way that Jesus
speaks, at the end of the Sermon on
the Mount, and then false prophets, you put
it all in context, and this is how
I understand it, here is this wonderful teaching,
that starts with, blessed are the poor in
spirit, and ends with, verse 12, in everything,
here is the simple rule of thumb, whatever
you want people to do for you, do
it for them, see that's how the Sermon
on the Mount ends, the rest is all
a conclusion, it starts with, blessed are the
poor in spirit, and ends with, whatever you
want people to do for you, grab the
initiative, and do it for them, in other
words, treat other people, exactly like, you want
other people to treat you, do you want
people to speak evil about you, behind your
back, no, don't speak evil of others, behind
their back, do you want people to gossip
about you, no, please don't gossip about other
people, how many Christians do you think are
following this simple rule, it's a simple rule
Jesus said, supposed to be the golden rule,
treat people the same way, you want them
to treat you, for he said, this is
the entire message of the Bible, when you
read the word, the law and the prophets,
like in verse 12, that is an expression,
for which today we use the word, the
Bible, the word Bible, it's not an English
word, it's a word from another language, it
just means book, and in Jesus' day, instead
of saying Bible, he said the law and
the prophets, and that was all they had
in the Bible in those days, the law,
given by Moses, Genesis to Deuteronomy, and the
prophets, all the way to Malachi, that's what
he called the Bible, and so what Jesus
is saying in verse 12, the whole Bible
teaches one thing, treat other people, the way
you want them to treat you, my brothers
and sisters, if you just take that one
verse, you'll have plenty to repent of, the
rest of this year, I don't know how
many of you will take it seriously, but
if you just take that one verse, you'll
have plenty to repent of, for the rest
of this year, treat your wife, the way
you want to be treated yourself, treat your
husband, the way you want to be treated
yourself, speak to your wife, the way you
want her to speak to you, speak to
your husband, the way you want him to
speak to you, and speak to one another,
the way you want others to speak to
you, who likes being yelled at and screamed
at, do you like anybody yelling at you
and screaming at you, don't ever do it
to other people, do you like anybody speaking
evil of your children, then don't speak evil
of other people's children, dear me, I mean,
if we had only done that in the
last 25 years as a church, where we
would be today, can you imagine what a
blessed home your home would have been, if
you had followed that since the time you
joined CFC, boy, your home would have been
a little taste of heaven, can you imagine
how, what great heights you would have reached
today spiritually, if you had followed that rule,
start with, blessed are the poor in spirit,
Lord, I see my need, I don't see
the need of people around me, and end
with, I want to treat other people, the
way I want to be treated myself, all
of us know, how we want to be
treated, if somebody borrows money from you, do
you want him to return it, sure, you
may be in need, and he may not
be serious about returning it, well, do the
same to other people, if you borrow money
from other people, deny yourself, and pay it
back, it's a very simple rule, I tell
you it can apply to a thousand and
a million situations, the simple rule, treat other
people, the way you want to be treated
yourself, and in between those two verses, the
first one in Matthew 5.3, and the
last one here in Matthew 7.12, is
all that wonderful teaching in Matthew 5.6
and 7, and at the end of it
he says, this gate is very narrow, you
can walk it, lots of godly men and
women, who walk this way through two thousand
years, and you'll come to a glorious life,
and then he said, there's another way, where
you ignore these things, where you listen to
all this, you don't take it seriously, you
can choose another way if you like, that's
a broad way, it's easier, you can live
in sin, come to the meetings, and sing
the songs, and praise the Lord, and live
in sin, and don't treat other people the
way you want to be treated, and just
listen, but don't do anything that you hear,
that's a broad way, it leads to destruction,
and then there are false prophets, listen to
this, in the context, who will tell you,
it doesn't matter, if you don't obey all
that you read in Matthew 5.6 and
7, that's the meaning of false prophets in
this context, yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter, we
don't have to take all that seriously, you
mean we have to overcome anger hundred percent,
who said that, that's impossible, I heard a
preacher, say the other day, on one of
these television programs, anger is energy, isn't that
good, who doesn't want energy, anger is energy,
by which we can use it for God,
and he says, God himself is angry, so
we can be like him, it's a good
way to justify anger, there are a lot
of things God is, which we can't be,
God is a judge, we're not supposed to
be judges, God receives worship, we're not supposed
to receive worship, God can be angry with
wicked people, we're not supposed to be angry,
God forgives people only when they repent, Jesus
forgave people even before they repented, we forgive
people even without repentance, God doesn't, so there
are certain areas, where we're not supposed to
be like God, the devil says, said to
Eve, you can be like God, and say,
no, thank you, we're human beings, like Jesus
said, I'm a son of man, I'm an
ordinary man, and that's how we're supposed to
live, and the false prophets say, no, no,
no, that's okay, it doesn't matter, I mean,
he's human, naturally you lust, okay, you lust
to your eyes, but you repent, that's the
question, if you're repenting, you're okay, the danger
is, if you sin and justify it, boy,
there's absolutely no hope for you, if you
sin and you justify that sin, but I
want to tell you this, if you're sinning,
and sinning, and sinning for 40 years, and
you're repenting, and repenting, and repenting, and baffling
it, you're on the way to life, I
hope that encourages, some of you are still
defeated, in any area, if you're baffling it,
and not justifying it, and not becoming proud,
that you're better than others, you're on the
way to life, but the moment you begin
to justify something, and say, well, I had
to do that, I tell you, you're on
dangerous ground, you're on the broad way to
destruction, the broad way to destruction, is the
way of justifying yourself, I'm okay, be careful,
false prophets will tell you that, and these
false prophets, the other thing, which he said
about false prophets, is, they come in sheep's
clothing, verse 15, and that is, they have
the right doctrine, that's how I understand it,
that means, you look at them, immediately, the
first impression you get of them, at a
distance, is that's a sheep, it's a wolf,
in sheep's clothing, and you can't recognize a
wolf, in sheep's clothing, at a distance, and
if their disguise is clever enough, you won't
even be able to recognize them close up,
but the moment they begin to speak, you
know, there's a difference between the way a
wolf speaks, and a sheep speaks, the moment
they begin to speak, you'll be able to
detect something, hey, that doesn't sound right, he
seems to have the right doctrine, but they're
ravenous wolves, ravenous wolves, and the message translation
says, they are out to rip you off,
in one way or the other, that means,
a ravenous wolf is, what does a wolf
get into, why do you think a wolf
puts on sheep's clothing, what's his motive, it's
certainly not to bless the sheep, it's to
try and, what does a wolf get into
the sheep's fold for, to get something for
himself from the sheep, some of the sheep's
meat, he's hungry for something that he can
get from the sheep, and when you get
a preacher, who's hungry to get something out
of you, usually your money, sometimes your honor,
when he's out to get something out of
you, you know that's a false prophet, because
God is not like that, Christ Jesus was
not like that, he didn't come to earth
to get something out of people for himself,
there's a fundamental difference between a true prophet
and a false prophet, a false prophet is
out to get something from you for himself,
maybe your honor, usually your money, and in
some cases, sex, but a true prophet would
be interested in blessing you, he wants nothing
from you, he wants to give you something,
he wants to give you something, it's a
mark of love, God's love is always wants
to give something to the other person, and
so we see here, you will know them
by their fruits, and you know the fruit
of the spirit is love, from verse 16,
you will not know them by their gifts,
there are two things, the fruit of the
spirit, and the gift of the spirit, and
if you look at the gifts of the
spirit, you will not recognize false prophets, you'll
recognize them only by their fruits, but in
spite of Jesus saying this so plainly, it's
amazing how people are still deceived, they just
don't listen to the words of Jesus, they
get so overwhelmed and brainwashed by false prophets,
that they forget all about what Jesus said,
Jesus spoke about fruits and gifts, fruit of
the spirit, and the gifts of the spirit,
in relation to the sermon on the mount,
so it's very interesting, right through the sermon
on the mount, he doesn't mention anything about
healing or prosperity, or any of these things
that a lot of people speak of today,
Jesus spoke about more important things, he wasn't
leading people back to Deuteronomy 28, Deuteronomy 28
is full of healing and prosperity, it's an
old testament gospel, it is a gospel, but
it's outdated, it's like British Raj, British Raj
finished in India, more than 57 years ago,
you better wake up, we're in a new
age today, it's the same thing, we're not
saying there never was a British Raj, there
was, it ruled India right up to 1947,
but we're not in 1947, that's all I'm
saying, and there was a time when the
gospel was the gospel of health and prosperity,
that was BC, before Christ, not after that,
after that it's Matthew 5, 6 and 7,
this is the good news, that I can
live this life, describe Matthew 5, 6 and
7, but there's no mention of health and
prosperity, but there's a mention of a soul
and a spirit, that's been transformed into the
likeness of Jesus Christ, that has the same
attitude to people, that Jesus had, of wanting
to treat them, the way they want to
be treated themselves, the same attitude to material
things, that Jesus had, not loving them, but
using them, for the glory of God, that's
completely different, it's a far, it's a million
times higher level, than that Old Testament level,
mentioned in Deuteronomy 28, but man's flesh is
such, that he's always looking for something in
the Bible, to satisfy himself, and therefore he
lives at a substandard level, so it says
here, about fruit, a good tree bears good
fruit, verse 17, but a bad tree bears
bad fruit, and he keeps on speaking about
fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit, this is the important
thing, and he says, it's not a question
of impressing people, it's a question of the
tree itself being good, in other words, the
nature, is what produces the fruit, it's not
just behaving nicely, there are a lot of
people, who behave nicely, and just because they
behave nicely, you know, that person is a
good person, there are a lot of nominal
Christians, who behave very nicely, but God, Jesus
didn't come, to make people nice, he came
to make people born again, and I believe
one of the great deceptions, in the last
days, is going to imagine, that nice people
are born again, no, nice people are not
born again, because there are nice people in
all religions, I've seen some very nice people,
who are atheists, who don't even believe in
God, who never cheat, never harm anybody, who
are extremely good, very gracious, but they don't
even believe in God, but Jesus didn't come
to make people nice, he came to make
people born again, to come into a new
life, God wants new men, new women, not
nice people, and the church is not a
place, where we are just trying to make
people nice, sometimes we can hear, the word
of God, and say, that's good, we'd like
to do that, we'd like to be a
little more gracious, in our speech, that's good,
we hear in the church, about being gracious
in our speech, we hear about being generous,
that's good, let's be generous, a lot of
good things, we hear in the church, we
like to bless our enemies, that's a good
thing, and you do all these things, that
you hear in the church, what do you
become?
You become a nice person, but not a
new person, there's a lot of difference, between
being a nice person, and a new creation,
and there's a lot of difference, between being
a nice pig, and a cat, you know,
perfumed and cleansed pig, no, it's very, very
important, that we don't get deceived by that,
Jesus said, the tree must be good, it's
not just a question, of hanging good fruit,
on a bad tree, the tree itself must
be good, and who knows that?
You know it, you know, whether Jesus has
done a work in you, where you have
become a new creation, where Christ himself, means
more to you, than anything else in the
world, and where material things, take their proper
place, creative things, take their proper place, and
then he spoke about gifts, in verse 21,
he spoke about fruit first, then he spoke
about gifts, the subject is false prophets, remember,
subject begins in verse 15, ends in verse
23, and he says, the way to recognize
false prophets, from true prophets, is by their
fruit, but false prophets, may have a lot
of gifts, and here are some of those
gifts, verse 21, Lord, Lord, many will say
to me, Lord, Lord, in the last day,
but they will not enter God's kingdom, because
the important thing, is to do the will
of the Father, and many of these false
prophets, will stand before me in the last
day, and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy
in your name, didn't we cast out demons
in your name, and didn't we do many
miracles, not one or two, but many miracles
in your name, and I will declare to
them, I never knew you, depart from me,
you who practice lawlessness, the whole thing, is
an issue of sin, and then he says,
if you hear these words of mine, verse
24, and you act on them, you'll be
a man, who builds his house on a
rock, if you hear these words, and say,
yeah, I understood it all, everything's okay, but
you don't do it, verse 26, you'll be
like a foolish man, so remember this, my
brothers and sisters, it's not knowledge, but obedience,
that's going to determine, whether your house will
remain or not, many of us have got
tremendous amount of knowledge, in our tape libraries,
in our minds, in our notebooks, none of
that will help us to stand, in a
day of tremendous deception, it's going to be
obedience, the more we obey God, in the
little things, you go all the way to
Matthew 5, 6 and 7, say, Lord, he
who does the will of my father, and
the will of the father is described in
God, in those three chapters, I can never
be shaken, no deception will ever shake me,
let's turn back to Matthew chapter 24, in
Matthew 24, Jesus spoke, further, about, these two
types of believers, in the last days, he
spoke about, there are going to be two
types of believers, in the last days, in
verse, he said, the coming of the son
of man, verse 36, the day and hour,
no man knows, even the angels of heaven,
nor the son, but the father, for the
coming of the son of man, will be
like the days of Noah, they ate and
they drank, before the flood, and they did
not understand, and the flood came, and took
them all away, it's something similar, to what
happened, during the time of the tsunami, when
suddenly, they didn't know, they were eating, drinking,
and doing other things, and suddenly, the flood
came, and destroyed them all, and people will,
some in the field, some here and there,
now, in the, similar passage, in the gospel
of Luke, where he spoke about his second
coming, we read a little more detail, that
Matthew doesn't mention, in Luke chapter 17, he
mentions, the time of the coming of the
son of man, will be like verse 26,
Luke 17, 26, will be like the days
of Noah, everything carrying on as usual, right
up to the time, when Noah entered the
ark, and then suddenly, they were destroyed, and
then he said, the days of the son
of man, will also be, like in the
days of Lot, verse 28, they were also
doing normal things, right up to the day,
Lot left Sodom, and suddenly, everything was burnt
up, and that's how it will be, in
the day, when the son of man is
revealed, so Jesus took two examples, from the
Old Testament, one was Noah, and the other
was Lot, and he said, the last days
are going to be like those days, where
people, don't think about judgment, there's going to
be sin, all types of, particularly sexual sin,
was very rampant, in the days of Noah,
and the days of Lot, there was a
lot of violence, of two sins, that are
very rampant, in the days of Noah, and
the days of Lot, sexual sin and violence,
they murdered people, ruthlessly in Noah's day, and
you see, how in Lot's day also, those
men tried to break open, the door of
his house, it says, when those angels were
there, they were violent people, there was violence
and sex, exactly like in our day, they
were crazy after sex, and they were violent
people, who were ready to take up a
fight, for a little thing, but that's not,
what Jesus mentioned, he didn't mention, sex and
violence at all, he said, people are just
going to be taken up, with normal living,
you know, eating, drinking, going to their work,
going to office, coming back, getting married, planting,
building, and etcetera, just normal things, that everybody
does, but they are not ready, we may
not be involved, in sex and violence, see,
that's for the unbeliever, but Jesus was speaking
to believers, and he said, the danger for
believers, is not sexual sin and violence, I
mean, that's going to be the world, the
danger for believers, is going to be, that
they are just going to be, verse 26,
eating, and drinking, and marrying, and giving in
marriage, and verse 28, buying, and selling, and
planting, and building, and these are normal things,
that all of us do, all human beings
do it, Christians and non-Christians, we have
to do this, because that's part of life,
but the point is to be, so taken
up with these things, that we are not
ready, for Christ's coming, and then he spoke
about, two types of believers, in the last
days, one like Noah, wholehearted, radical, standing up
for God, never compromising on anything, and never
lowering the standards, and having a small church,
of about eight people, which was basically his
own family, and he saved his whole family,
because he didn't compromise, and then he said,
there will also be, in the last days,
believers like Lot, and Lot, it's amazing that,
I mean, I always thought of Lot, as
a crooked, money loving, chap, who just took
advantage, of being with Abraham, you know, I'm
reminded of a lot of people, who have
come to CFC, through the years, and who
prospered, materially, and children have grown up, and
got good jobs, and once that's all over,
they leave CFC, because they got what they
wanted, that's all they wanted, they didn't want
anything else, well, it's a good thing they
left, but that's how it's going to be,
in the last days, Lot, also, he's a
guy, who hang, hung around with Abraham, godly
man, until he got prosperous, and rich, and
then left, he said, that's all I want,
that's all I was looking for, I got
it now, and he left, I said, well,
what's going to be the future of these
people, I mean, I thought Lot is going
to be, he's a crooked man, but yet,
it says in 2nd Peter, some chapter 3,
something which really, chapter 2, something which really
amazed me, when I read it first, and
2nd Peter, we, read about the last days,
again, when he speaks about the last days,
Peter says the same thing, they're going to
be false prophets, verse 1, false teachers, in
the last days, and many will follow their
way of sensuality, verse 2, sensuality means things
that please our senses, not which helps our
spirit, we're going to gratify our senses, more
than seek what is spiritual, and the other
thing, is in the false prophets, and false
teachers, verse 3, will be greedy people, who
will try to exploit you, with their false
words, it's amazing, how always throughout the Old
Testament, and New Testament, you read that false
prophets, are always interested in your money, I'm
always wary of a man, who's always talking
about money, he's interested in your money, I
mean, he won't say it's for me, he
says it's for my ministry, but, if you
want to be a false prophet, you know
what the apostles, gave instructions, in their days
to people, he says anyone comes and asks
you for money, he's a false prophet, that's
in one of the earliest books, next to
the Bible, written in the second century, one
of the earliest books, available today, Christian book,
is a little book, called the Teaching of
the Twelve Apostles, and, we can find it
on the internet, it says, there, one of
the things they thought, one of the earliest
Christian books, ever published, anyone who asks you
for money, is a false prophet, why did
they give those instructions, in those days, because
they didn't have a Bible, I mean, most
people in the second century, ninety-nine percent
of Christians, never had a Bible, how do
you know who's a false prophet, today we
can check so many verses, what about, when
ninety-nine percent of people, in different countries,
don't have a Bible, then the apostles said,
ok, here's a way to check them out,
do they ask you for money, they're false
prophets, rule them out, think if people had
followed that instruction, for two thousand years, you
know how safe Christianity, would have been, and
today, so, here it speaks, about the last
days, and then, it's very interesting, that just
like, Jesus did, Peter also, speaks about the
same two people, in relation to the last
days, verse five, Noah, and verse seven, Lot,
it's interesting, the same thing is in Luke
seventeen, Noah and Lot, it seems as though
the Holy Spirit, keeps bringing up these two
people, in relation to the last days, why,
why repeatedly, Noah and Lot always, because one
was a wholehearted man, and the other was
a compromiser, and then, here's what I said,
I read here about, Lot being a righteous
man, verse seven, I wouldn't have believed it,
but if the Holy Spirit says so, I
say okay, I accept it, he rescued righteous
Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct, of unprincipled
men, I didn't think that about, I wouldn't
say all those good things, but the Holy
Spirit says it, so I believe it, Noah,
Lot was oppressed, by the sensual conduct, he
was, the message Bible says, he was nearly
driven out of his mind, with all the
sexual filth and perversity, now you know, you
can also be nearly driven out of your
mind, by all the sexual filth, and perversity,
that you see around you, and you may
think you are a spiritual man, you may
be no better than Lot, no, that's the
point, just because we are oppressed, by all
the filth and sin around us, doesn't mean
that we are like Noah, we could be
like Lot, you can be a righteous person
like Lot, but not like Noah, will you
escape and go to heaven, yeah you will,
you probably lose your children, and your family,
because you are a compromiser like Lot, but
you go, Lot escaped and went, and it
says here, further again in verse 8, he
was a righteous man, a second time, boy,
and then a third time, verse 9 again,
Lord knows how to rescue the godly, from
temptation, ok, since the Holy Spirit says it
2-3 times, I accept Lot as a
righteous man, as a picture of a believer,
who goes to heaven, but, I wouldn't like
to be like him, even if I am
oppressed, by all the evil in the world,
I don't want to be like Lot, because
there is another alternative, you can be like
Noah, what is the difference between Noah and
Lot, in relation to the last days, basically
this, Noah's attitude was, I have got only
one life, the world is coming to an
end, only a few more years left, before
everything is going to be destroyed, I want
to spend all my life, and all my
time, and all my money, to build that
which will last for eternity, that's the arc,
which will go through the flood rather, which
will last through the judgment, I want to
live for God, I want to use my
maximum time, energy, money, wisdom, intelligence, everything for
God, and the minimum required, to earn my
living, to take care of my family, and
there are going to be believers like that,
in the last days, and then there are
going to be believers like Lot, whose attitude
is, yeah, I want to go to heaven
when I die, sure, and I believe in
Jesus, I have said the magic words, Lord
Jesus come into my heart, but we got
to live in this world man, I want
to enjoy myself as much as possible, and
not go so far, that I lose my
seat in heaven, I won't go that far,
but you know, how close can I come
to the edge, without falling over, these are
babies, you know like, on the railway platform,
who are the ones who say, how close
can you stand to the edge of the
platform, when the train is coming, they won't
be grown up mature people, there are only
children who talk like that, grown up mature
people stand little distance away, these are babies
who say, how close can I come to
the edge of the, become worldly, without losing
my salvation, you find question answer times very
often, I find that people ask, can I
do this as a Christian, can I do
this as a Christian, can I do this,
in other words, they are trying to find
out, what is the edge, can you define
the edge for me, if I do this,
will I fall over the edge, they are
always trying to find out, where the edge
is, they are babies, they are like lot,
now if I go to Sodom, and spend
my life making money, will I still go
to heaven when I die, you know, people
like lot, Noah, they are not interested in
such questions, they are interested, I've got only
one life, what can I do for God,
before I leave, so we can, whereas lot's
attitude is, what's the minimum I have to
do, to go to heaven, I want to
say my brothers and sisters, all of us
sitting in this room, can be divided into
two categories, and I'm not going to divide
you, that's God's business, but you can find
out, which you are yourself, by this simple
question, a very simple question, what is your
attitude, to the rest of your life on
earth, you can't do anything about the past,
what's your attitude going to be, to the
rest of your life on earth, starting from
today, is it going to be, what is
the maximum, I can do for God, with
my life, my energy, my intelligence, my money,
my time, and what's the minimum I have
to do, to survive on this earth, you
know, I'm going to earn my living, and
take care of my family, that's the attitude
of Noah, and then, there's a second category
of people here, and you know yourself, whether
you're in this category, what's the minimum I
have to do, to get to heaven, and
what's the maximum, I can enjoy myself on
this earth, and get everything I want on
this earth, without losing my salvation of course,
I want to say, there are only two
categories, Noah and Lot, that's what Jesus said
in Matthew 24, and that's what Peter says
in 2nd Peter 2, and whether you know
it or not, whether you like it or
not, you are in one of these categories,
but you can change, the thing is, you
can change from being a Lot, to being
a Noah, the choice is yours, God won't
force you, Jesus spoke about it, and he
left it to us, and he made it
clear, that Lot escaped, isn't that great, you'll
go to heaven when you die, isn't that
all you wanted, promised, seat reserved in heaven,
live for the earth as much as you
like, you'll go to heaven, but I'll tell
you something, people like Lot, I don't know,
it says he is righteous, so ok, he
went to heaven, but go and ask him
today in heaven, Lot, think of your earthly
life now, tell me, do you have any
regrets about how you live, would you rather
live like Abraham, or are you happy the
way you live, you lost your wife, you
lost your two daughters, you lost your sons
-in-law, etc., he'd say, boy, I wish
somebody had warned me, I wish I had
a bible, like these people had in 2005,
I never had a bible, but Lot, you
had a godly man, Abraham was your uncle,
you were so close to him, yeah, I
was a fool, I didn't listen to him,
I thought he was too radical, I became
a compromiser, the people who ask me, Brezhak,
do you really think people are going to
have regrets in heaven, you answer that question,
do you think Lot's very happy in heaven
today, do you think we forget about how
we lived on earth when we get to
heaven, I don't think so, and if you
don't forget about how we lived on earth,
I tell you, Lot's got a lot of
regret, even if he got there, regret, you
know, can be there, even when we get
to heaven, when we see Jesus, and see
how much he gave himself for us, how
he sacrificed everything, gave himself totally that we
might get to heaven, and we see how
selfishly we lived our life on earth, to
see the minimum we could do for him,
you know, think of a husband and wife,
where the husband is doing the maximum for
his wife, and the wife is doing the
minimum to keep the marriage alive, that's Lot,
it's not a very happy relationship, and that's
why a lot of Christians don't have very
happy, they are so moody sometimes, they are
discouraged, and depressed, and the doctors will tell
you, yeah, depression is a common thing nowadays,
I say, rubbish, the bible says, rejoice in
the Lord always, but you can rejoice in
the Lord always, only if you have this
attitude, like Noah, I say, what's the maximum
I can give for God, you show me
a man whose entire attitude to life is,
what is the maximum I can do for
God, with my time, money, energy, everything, I'll
tell you a man who will never be
depressed, but you see a man like Lot,
who is thinking, what is the minimum I
have to do, in order to get to
heaven when I die, what's the maximum I
can enjoy myself on earth, there's a man
who loses temper, who will get depressed, and
who will lust, and who will do all
types of things, and of course you'll say,
I'm sorry Lord, forgive me, he'll never get
victory in a hundred years, and you'll say,
it's not possible, it is possible, but not
with that attitude, never, so, you classify yourself
now, now the question is, if you have
honestly classified yourself, and you know, what nobody
else knows, what is your attitude towards, this
world and towards God, the Bible says about,
Noah in Hebrews chapter 11, by faith, verse
7, Hebrews 11, 7, being warned by God,
he prepared an ark for the salvation of
his family, by which he condemned the world,
he spent his life, building the ark, because
he knew that's the only thing, that's going
to go through the flood, Lot was different,
he thought he could take care of his
family, by giving them a rich lifestyle, ah,
if I can go to Sodom, make a
lot of money, I can do it really
well for my children, give them everything they
want, grand clothes and, etcetera, a lot of
things, good food and everything else, and they
fell in love with the, unconverted men of
Sodom, whose interests were also the same, and,
he lost them, he lost his daughters, because
he was not radical, he lost his sons
-in-law, because he wanted to please them,
more than he wanted to please God, he
was not radical, but Noah wasn't like that,
he didn't listen to his wife, or his
sons-in-law, or his daughters, or his
daughters-in-law, or his sons, he stood
for God, and his sons just followed, he
said, I'm not going to compromise, his wife
followed, think my dear sisters, if you can
be like Mrs. Noah, encouraging your husband, to
be a wholehearted, radical, maximum for God type
of Christian, instead of trying to drag him
back, like Mrs. Lot, can you imagine, what
a blessing that will be to your family,
that's the type of wife you should be,
in the last days, and if you happen
to have a godly father, be thankful for
that, there are not many around these days,
if you follow his radical example, son or
daughter, you won't regret it, when you get
to heaven like Lot, even if you get
to heaven, I tell you honestly, I think
in my entire life, I was never interested
in going to heaven, that's the honest truth,
I mean, I can say that before God,
I've been born again 45 years, in 45
years, I was never interested in going to
heaven, I was interested in pleasing Jesus, I
don't care, I once told the Lord, Lord,
if you're in hell, I'd like to be
there, to me, heaven is not the place,
my destination, my destination is, the side of
Jesus Christ, wherever he is, and that's already
begun, on earth, that's how we're supposed to
live, not one day, I'll be rid of
all the trials on earth, and one day,
I'll finish with all my sorrows, that's not
my goal in life, my goal is to
be with Jesus, to please him, because we
have only one life, only one life, remember
this, my brothers and sisters, and take the
example of Noah, how did he condemn the
world?
He condemned the world by not living for
the world, he was so different, where everybody
around him was living for earthly things, here
was a man, who was spending all his
energy and time, to build the ark, and
when people around you see, that he wasn't
a man who neglected his family, oh no,
he took care of his family, we got
up a little earlier, walked with God, spoke
with God, prayed for his family, earned his
living, he didn't have anybody to support him,
do you know that he built a ship
from his own money?
Imagine if God told you to build a
ship for him, and you had to pay
out of your own pocket, there are going
to be people in the last days like
Noah, who served the Lord, with their own
money, Noah did all of God's work, with
his own money, nobody supported him, do you
know how much it cost to build a
ship?
He didn't go asking people to give money,
I'll tell you why I don't ask for
money, even for God's work, you've never heard
me say that in 30 years, and I'll
tell you why, I've never said it before
I think, but I'll tell you what God
has told me, the Lord has told me,
if you've got one rupee left in your
bank account, don't ever ask anybody to give
money for God's work, till you're given that
also, when you've got zero left in your
bank account, please get up and ask other
people to give money for God's work, imagine
if people followed that rule, yeah, I believe
it's right to ask people to give money
for God's work, provided you've emptied your own
bank account, but today, it's not like that,
a lot of people are asking you for
money, have got their private jets and private
homes and huge bank accounts, and there are
gullible believers who sit with their mouth open
before these television screens and are fooled completely,
I don't belong to that category, I look
for people like Noah, who are doing God's
work, with their own money, and who don't
ask anybody for it, I'm sure Noah had
to deny himself in many ways to build
a ship, imagine how much it cost to
build a ship, he worked hard, he got,
sold some of his land and cut down
trees, because he wanted to build the one
thing that will last forever, you go to
Noah today and ask him, Noah, do you
regret today in heaven that you denied yourself
so much on earth and you lived on
simple food and didn't buy extra clothes and
all that because you wanted to give for
God, you wanted to build a church, he
said, not at all, not at all, and
I'll tell you this, learn an example from
that, one day we're all going to be
in heaven hopefully, there'll be some like Noah,
who have no regret, and there'll be some
like Lot, there'll be many like Lot, who
may be there, but who'll have a lot
of regret, and I want to tell you
another thing before I close, Lot never heard
a sermon like this to challenge him, so
you got an opportunity that Lot never had,
God loves us, that's why he doesn't want
us to have any regret in eternity, we
fathers love our children, that's why we don't
want them to have a regret later on
in life, that's why we give them many
instructions, which they don't understand when they are
children, God loves us, he sees the future
better than any of us, and he doesn't
want you to have any regret in eternity,
that's why he tells us now, my son,
be wise and choose with eternity's values and
view at all times, and don't let the
devil take away the seed by tomorrow, many
a times you've heard challenging messages and what
has been the effect of that, still back
to the same old thing, because you allow
the devil to take it away, water the
seed, you never get a plant growing if
you don't water it, God's not going to
do that, he plants it, and he sees
whether you want it to be watered and
to grow up to be a tree, that's
your choice.
Heavenly Father, help us to be wise, to
number our days, so that we can apply
our hearts to wisdom, we pray in Jesus'
name, Amen.
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