Two Types of Believers in the Last Days -Part 1 — Zac Poonen

The Promise of Christ’s Coming and the Call to Repentance

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 2 Peter 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 willing, wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

We are living in those days. There have always been earthquakes and wars, 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, 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 is 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.

Deception as the Primary Sign of the Last Days

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.

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'm 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 looks so much like the original.

Obeying the Sermon on the Mount

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.

The Commands of Jesus in Matthew 5–7

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. He 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. We need to understand that. 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.

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, you know 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 at 19 and said, Zach, don't judge people.

Leave them alone. I wish somebody who might respect it 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 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 Narrow Way and False Prophets

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 in 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 the 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.

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's this wonderful teaching that starts with blessed are the poor in spirit and ends with verse 12, in everything, here's 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 is 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. 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 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. It's a 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 walked this way through two thousand years and will 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 100 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.

That'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 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 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 of the way of justifying yourself. I'm okay. Be careful. False prophets will tell you that.

Recognizing False Prophets by Their Fruit

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. 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 Message Translation says, they are out to rip you off in one way or the other. That means a ravenous wolf. What does a wolf get into?

Why do you think a wolf puts on sheep's clothing? What's his motive? Certainly not to bless the sheep. 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 is 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. Maybe 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. 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 B .C., 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, where 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 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 think, oh, that person's 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're just trying to make people nice.

Sometimes we can hear the word of God and say, oh, that's good. We'd like to do that. We'd like to be a little more gracious in our speech. Yeah, that's good. We hear in the church about being gracious in our speech.

We hear about being generous. Yeah, that's good. Let's be generous. A lot of good things we hear in the church. We like to bless our enemies. Yeah, 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. I mean, 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, created 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.

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. If 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, I'm going to obey you, I'm going to obey you, I'm going to obey you. He who does the will of my Father and the will of the Father is described in God in those three chapters.

Noah and Lot as Models for the Last Days

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.

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, verse 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. Eating, drinking, going to their work, going to office, coming back, getting married, planting, building, etc.

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. 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. Children have grown up and got good jobs. And once that's all over, they leave CFC because they got what they wanted.