The Simple Gospel Message - Part 1 — Zac Poonen

God’s Use of Young People Throughout Scripture

What some of you may not know is that in the Bible there are lots and lots of stories, true stories, of God selecting young people right from the very first book of the Bible. In fact, he even selected a little child once, called Samuel, who was a little boy.

And in the first book of the Bible you read about God choosing a young man who was only 17 years old, Joseph. You read later on about his choosing another young man who was probably about 19, called David.

And even when Jesus came to earth, and not only that, there are a number of prophets like that. You know, Jeremiah was a very, very young man when God called him. And even Jesus, when he called his 12 disciples, they were all in their 20s.

Why God Chooses Young People

Now, we have a question there. Why does God choose young people? Why doesn't he choose people who are 60 or 70? He chooses young people in the Old Testament. He chose young people when Jesus came to earth.

And there's a reason for that. Because young people like you have your whole life ahead of you. Now, you may see me with gray hair saying this, but I made this decision 44 years ago when I was young like you.

I made a decision in my life that God who created me would be first in my life. And today I'm standing before you not preaching some theory, but something that I have proved the reality of for 44 years.

And I want to say it's worth it to make a decision when you're young. I was 19 when I made that decision. One, because you've got your whole life ahead of you. I mean, if God picked a person who was 60, how much of his life does he have ahead of him?

Very little. But when God picks you up, when you're a teenager, like I was a teenager, I hadn't even become 20. Or in your early 20s, you have the opportunity of right from very early in life to make maximum use of your life on earth.

Life’s One Opportunity and the Coming Judgment

You know, all of us get only one opportunity to live on this earth. In all the school and college examinations, if you failed once, you can always sit it a second time, sit for it a second time, a third time.

But life is not like that. Once you've finished your life, if you failed, you can't sit a second time. There is no second time. The Bible says, it's appointed unto all men, once to die, and after that the judgment.

So, we have only one life, and we can't afford to get it wrong. We can't spend all our life, or 75 of our life, discovering we were on the wrong track at the end of 60 years or so. At the end of it, discovering we were on the wrong track, and then try to make the best of our life thereafter.

There's very little of life left thereafter. And that's why it's wonderful to remember our Creator when we are young. There's a verse in the Bible. I want to read it to you. If you have a Bible, you can turn it.

Otherwise, just listen to me as I read it. It's in the book of Ecclesiastes, which comes after Psalms and Proverbs, in chapter 12. Here is what God's word says, Ecclesiastes 12, verse 1. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth.

Before the evil days come, that's when you are much later in life, when you will say, I don't have any delight in that. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Before the evil days come, when you say, I have no delight in that.

Young Minds Can Be Molded for God

Another reason why God, Jesus, when He was on earth, chose young people, is because young people can be molded. And you know, like a little plant can be bent in any direction. When it's a plant and you can't bend it, you can't change its shape when it's a tree.

But when it's a little plant, you can make it grow straight or one direction or another direction. Young people are like that. See, Jesus knew when He was on earth, that if He picked up a 50 or a 60 year old man, He couldn't mold that man's thinking.

Because the man's thinking has been set in a certain way for 60 years. But you folks, your minds are not set. Many of you are in the process of learning, learning new things. And that's the time when your mind can be molded, and your life can be directed to the very best possible way.

God’s Love Compared With Earthly Fatherhood

And Jesus came to reveal that God is a good God, a loving Father. He even said that the best earthly father was evil compared to God. Not that the best earthly father was evil, but compared to God. You know, it's something like saying, the stars have got light.

That's right, isn't it? The stars have got light. At least we can see light. They don't have light, but we see them as light. But that light, even though the star is a burning fire, when the sun comes up, the light disappears.

It's there, but the sun is so bright that you can't see the stars. And that's a picture of the best Father's love on earth. It's like the light of a star. Yeah, He's got love, but when compared to God's love, the star is like darkness.

That's what Jesus said. That the best Father's love was darkness compared to God's love. It was so great. Now the reason why I say that is, you see, a lot of people think that religion is for old people.

True Christianity Versus Counterfeit Religion

I thank God that I didn't believe that when I was 19. Religion is for young people. True religion. I don't mean false religion. And I'm not talking about, you see, unfortunately, even a lot of things that go by the name of Christianity today, are not really true Christianity.

You know, just like you heard of counterfeit 100 rupee notes, counterfeit 500 rupee notes. Why are there counterfeits? Why do people make counterfeits? Because the original is valuable. Nobody makes counterfeit brown paper, because the original is not valuable.

Counterfeit is only made of something valuable. And that's why there's a lot of counterfeit Christianity. You probably met counterfeit Christians in your life. You probably met counterfeit pastors. I'm not surprised.

Because there are real Christians, just like real 100 rupee notes, there's counterfeit 100 rupee notes. So, I'm not talking about Christianity, in which you may have seen a lot of counterfeits. But I'm talking about Jesus Christ, a person.

Salvation Through Jesus Christ Alone

You see, the true Christian faith is not a religion in the sense of a way of life. Many people think of so many religions, there are different ways of life. And that's a very popular thing to accept nowadays.

You know, when we say that, there's only one way of salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ, people say, well, you're being very narrow-minded, when you say there's only one way to God. But you know, truth is always narrow-minded.

Truth is always narrow-minded. 2 plus 2 equals 4. It's not 3 .9. It's not 4 .1. It's not 3 .8. It's not even 3 .99. It is 4. So a good mathematician is very narrow-minded. He says, I'm sorry, 2 plus 2 is always 4.

That's the truth. There is no other way. So remember this, that if you really got the truth, it's only one. You can't have so many options when it concerns truth. But if it's not the truth, then of course you got many options.

And we're talking not about a way of life, you know, be good and don't harm other people.