People Who Were Ready for Christs Coming 3 - — Zac Poonen

Readiness for Christ’s First and Second Coming

The last two studies we had, we were considering those who were made aware by God of the first coming of Christ when he was born. Even though it was prophesied in the Bible that he would be born in the book of Micah and even the time of his death was mentioned in the book of Daniel, so people could have had a rough idea of even when he would have been born.

Yet the vast majority of people in Israel were not ready. They read the scriptures, they studied the Bible, but they didn't even know when Christ came and was born. In fact, most people didn't know it for over 30 years.

And in that we have a warning that is possible for Christians today to read the Bible, study, go to meetings, etc. and not be ready when Christ comes again. And do you think any of those people in Israel felt that they were not ready?

They all thought they would know when the Messiah came and they didn't. And I find that many who are born-again Christians also imagine that they are ready for Christ's second coming, but many of them are in for a big surprise.

So in this church we seek to save people from surprises in the day of Christ's return and save people from surprises in the day of judgment so that we have no surprises at all. I don't want any surprises in my life.

I've told the Lord many times that if there's one small little thing in my life, that's not right. Something I've not settled with God, something I'm not settled with man, I don't want to get any surprises in the day of judgment.

I don't want the Lord to point out to me in the day of judgment even one thing, however small it may be, which I needed to set right. I said, Lord, I'm serious. I'm willing to pay any price, but I want my scorecard in the day of judgment to be a hundred out of a hundred, everything set right.

You know, that can be for you too. The Bible says, if we judge ourselves rightly, we will not be judged in 1 Corinthians 11. And if we obey that verse, the promise of God is we will not be judged. What a promise that is.

I won't be judged if we judge ourselves rightly now. So if you are serious about being ready for Christ's coming, it's good to think of these examples. Everything written in scripture is for a warning and an example for us.

We saw the examples of young people like Joseph and Mary who were made aware of Christ's coming. Older, much older people like Zacharias and Elizabeth who were made aware of Christ's coming. We saw simple, illiterate people like shepherds who are not Bible scholars.

We saw who were made aware of Christ's coming. We saw godly older men and women who were in their 80s, but who had the Holy Spirit upon them, Simeon and Anna, who were also made aware of Christ's coming.

God-Fearing Outsiders and the Example of the Wise Men

So today we want to turn to Matthew chapter 2. And here we read of people who were not Jewish people at all who were made aware of Christ's coming. They were not, in today's terms, we would say people who are not Christians.

Do you think that they could be God-fearing people among those who are not Christians? Many Christians say impossible. It's true that the Bible says in Romans 3, there is no fear of God among them. That's generally speaking true of all the world.

All seek their own. And yet throughout history we have to acknowledge that here and there there have been sincere people who sought after God and who didn't know anything about the Bible, who didn't know anything about Jesus Christ or the truth, whom God loved because he created all men and who in the days of the Jews were a thousand times better than the Jews who read the Bible and went to the synagogue.

And who in our day, non-Christians, who are a thousand times better than so-called born-again Christians who fight with others, who love money, who watch internet pornography, and who come to church and read the Bible and act very holy and know all the language, very gifted.

We will get some real surprises when Christ comes again. And that's what I learned from the story of the wise men. They didn't have the Old Testament. They didn't have a Bible. They were not descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

But God revealed to them Jesus. In the New Testament, we have an example of a Roman centurion who came to Jesus once and asked him, can you please come home? His home was many miles away. And please pray for my servant who is sick.

Imagine a master who will travel so many miles to get his servant medically treated. Would you do it for a servant in your home? Or would you tell him or her, go to the hospital, get treated. Here's a military man who would go all the way to get his servant who is sick treated.

Some of these people are 10 ,000 times better than many who call themselves believers because they are kind to the poor and the weak. The way you treat people inferior to you is a pretty good test of whether you're even a believer.

In the Proverbs, it says that the righteous man is kind even to his animals. Whereas a wicked man, even his mercies are cruel. So this centurion came to Jesus and Jesus said, yeah, I'll come and heal him.

And Jesus said, he said, oh no, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come to my house. I'm not, I'm a nobody. There are many believers who think, of course, I'm worthy to receive Jesus. I'm not a nobody.

But the Roman centurion said he was a nobody. And I believe that if you speak the word right here, many miles away, my servant will be healed. It's humble people who have the greatest faith. It's those who realize that they're nobodies who have the greatest faith.

And maybe this is the reason why you don't have more faith. And when Jesus heard this, he said something which is amazing. I want you to look at that. Because here was another man like these wise men who came from the east.

You read it in Matthew chapter 8. He, you know, the centurion had come and asked him, saying, verse 8, Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come into my room, but just say the word and I know my servant will be healed right now.

And a man, because I know that when I speak, my soldiers obey me and if you speak, sickness will obey you. Can you imagine faith like that? In the military, when a military officer tells a soldier go, he doesn't wait one second.

He goes. It's like these military parades you've seen. About turn, turn about. He knew that Jesus had such power that if he spoke a word, that sickness would not stay for one moment. There's a principle in God's dealings with us according to your faith, be it unto you.

It's according to not our desire. Our desire may be immense, but our faith may be zero. God greatly desires to bless us, but it's a principle he has established that everything he does is by grace through faith.

Grace is God's hand reaching down, offering us every blessing in the heavenly places. Faith is not saying, Lord, I believe. Faith is our hand reaching up and taking from God's hand what he offers. If I don't take it, I don't get it.

This centurion took it. He said, Lord, just speak the word and I know it'll be exactly like when I tell my soldiers go. It'll go immediately. And Jesus, when he heard this verse 10, there are only two places in scripture in the New Testament where it says Jesus was surprised.

Jesus marveled. Only two places. Here is one of them. Can you do something that makes Jesus marvel? Can you say something to the Lord that will make even Jesus surprised? You have such faith in me? You know, we should be like that.

We've got to learn things from non-Christians. We have to learn things from this Roman centurion. He was, he marveled. The other place where, I don't have time to show it to you, the other place where Jesus says Jesus marveled was when he saw the unbelief of certain people.

He marveled at their unbelief. I think it's in Mark 6. He marveled at their unbelief. And here it says he marveled at their faith. The only two things that Jesus ever was surprised by, when he saw fantastic faith and when he saw, boy, look at the unbelief of these people.

They don't trust me. After all that they've seen, after all they've done, still don't trust me. Even today, he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He marvels at the unbelief of so many so-called believers who get into a panic when they have faced some problem.

He marvels at their unbelief. When they get into some difficulty, some sickness, some trial, something, they say, oh God, have you forsaken me? He marvels at their unbelief. And this is not some person who doesn't know the Bible.

These are people who come for years to church listening to God's word. They don't believe. They sing well. They know a lot of the scriptures, but the most important thing they don't have, faith. You know, I often think it's like having a lot of gadgets in your house, but you don't have electricity.

Now, what's the use of all that information and all that knowledge? Dear brothers, sisters, don't keep accumulating electronic gadgets. Get a little electricity. Faith. And then Jesus said, I have never found such great faith with anyone among all these Bible-believing, Bible-thumping, synagogue-going, religious Israelites.

Do you think Jesus would say today, among all these believers who look so holy and sing so well and read the Bible and go to meetings every day, I have never found such faith as I've found in this non-Christian.

Do you think it's possible? I believe it's possible. Do you think such Roman centurions come only once in 6 ,000 years? There could be people like that today. Not knowing anything about the Bible, but the little they know about Jesus, they trust him.

Salvation Through Christ and God’s Impartiality

Now, don't misunderstand me. There's no salvation outside of Christ. Nobody died for the sins of the world except Jesus Christ. Nobody rose up from the dead never to die again in the history of mankind except Christ.

Those are the two things that make the Christian faith absolutely unique. And that's why I believe what Jesus said, that I am the way, no one comes to the Father but by me. And everyone who enters the kingdom of God, even in the Old Testament times, even before the law was given, Enoch, Abel, they're in heaven today, but how did they get there?

Through Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection. But Abel and Enoch knew nothing about Christ. They didn't know the word of God. There was no word of God in those days. And it's like that today.

God is no respecter of persons. And there is a verse in Romans which says, I want to show you this. Romans chapter 10, sorry. It's a very interesting verse. Romans chapter 10. It says here in verse 18, surely they have never heard, have they?

Indeed they have. Their voice has gone out into all the world. The words to the hands of the earth is a quotation from the Old Testament. But I say surely Israel did not know. First Moses says, this is the Lord telling Israel, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation.

Or as a message Bible says, when you see God, reach out to those whom you consider as inferiors or outsiders, you'll become insanely jealous. How in the world can God reach those people? We are the Christians.

Well, you don't behave like Christians. You're not passionately seeking after God. And when you see God, I'm reading from the message translation, verse 19. When you see God, reach out to people who you think are religiously wrong and stupid.

You will throw temper tantrums. How in the world can God go to them? But Isaiah dares to speak, verse 20, these words of God. People who never looked for me, found and welcomed me. And I found and welcomed people who had never even asked about me.

That means they didn't know Jesus, but they were seeking after God. But as far as Christians are concerned, he caps it all with a damning indictment. Day after day after day after day, and we can say week after week, I beckoned these people who call themselves my people with open arms.

And I got nothing for my trouble but cold shoulders. And icy stairs. I tell you, I believe with all my heart. Many who are lost will be first. Many who are first will be last. And many who think themselves very spiritual will not even be in God's kingdom.

And you'll be surprised at some of these people who will be there, redeemed by the blood of Christ, the Christ whom they didn't know. How do you think babies go to heaven? Babies go to heaven, redeemed by the blood of a Christ they didn't know, whom they never knew anything about.

Look at all the millions of abortions that take place in the world today. They're all living souls. And those living souls have all gone to heaven. All with a high rate of infant mortality in many parts of the world.

People who don't know, babies, they're going to be in heaven. So God is, God's heart is larger than ours. Many Christians, particularly the legalistically minded ones, are so narrow-minded in their thinking.

God is not. God's got a large heart because he created them. You may be narrow towards them because you didn't create them. Think how you look at your little children who came out of your womb, mothers.

Every human being was created by God. And God looks at them in an entirely different way than we do. And wherever on earth he sees someone even having a little desire after him, he responds. It's what Jesus said when the prodigal son's father saw that boy coming at a distance, he ran.

It's the only place in the Bible where we read God running to welcome someone who was seeking after him. And that's what we see in Matthew chapter 2. These wise men from the east, I don't know where they came from, maybe Iran, Persia.

Why did God reveal himself to them? Why? He doesn't just pick names out of a hat and say, okay, I'm going to choose them. No. He's always been a rewarder, Hebrews 11, 6, of those who seek him diligently.

That's the truth about God. The other truth about God you need to know is it says in Romans chapter 2, there is no partiality with God. God doesn't look at anybody's face and God doesn't condemn a man because he was born in some jungle where he could never hear about Christ.

No. God doesn't condemn a man because he was born in some religion. And grew up without any knowledge of Christ. And God's not going to accept you because you were born in a believer's family and you knew all about Christ.

He sees the heart. And I tell you, he sees many things that we don't see. And that's why many who are very prominent in many churches, because they are gifted. Maybe in preaching, maybe in singing, maybe who are the ones who stand up in front in all churches?

People who can preach or sing or good organizer, good master of ceremonies. These are the people who are prominent in almost all churches in the world. But they may not be the most prominent in that church in God's eyes.

Because God sees the heart and what he looks for, this is where we are all equal. He doesn't look at your gift because gift he gives. None of us can take credit for it. But the hunger of the heart after him.

Hunger for God in the Lives of Outsiders

I think of one whom I consider to be the greatest saint that India ever saw. And that's Sadhu Sundar Singh. When he was about, I mean his mother used to take him to different Hindu and Sikh gurus out in the forest to hermits and whatever knowledge she had about, she had no knowledge about Christ, but there was a God, a creator, tried to instill in him a certain reverence for God.

He never cared for Christians. He tore the Bible and things like that. He was anti-Christian. When he was 14 and his mother died and he's 14 years old. Imagine a boy 14 years old. Have you seen a 14 year old boy around here?

Can you imagine a 14 year old boy like that? Kneeling down before God early in the morning saying, Oh God, I cannot live without you. Where are the 40 year olds who pray like that? Where are the 60 year olds who pray like that?

God, I cannot live one day without you. I need to know you. I need to know who you are. There's a Sikh who hates the Bible and Christians, but who wants God, wants to know God and assumes that God is in maybe his religion or some religion, but definitely not in the Bible.

He seeks God and he's so desperate after some time that one day he says, If I don't find you, it's not worth living on this earth. Now he wasn't saying empty words. He meant it. There's a train that goes by here every morning around five o 'clock.

I'm going to put my head on the tracks and kill myself. What's use living if I don't have you? I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, some of you have heard the most wonderful truths that's proclaimed in this country through many, many years of your sitting here.

Do you have such a desperate hunger after God? But you say, God, life is not worth living if I don't have you. If I don't know you, if I can't live close with you, it's not worth living. I mean, according to his understanding, suicide was the only alternative.

We know that's not a wise alternative. But he was so desperate and suddenly he sees a vision. He expects to see a vision of some other God, but he sees a vision of Jesus. I'm not surprised. I'm not one bit surprised.

And his whole life has changed. His whole life has changed for the next 28, 28 years. What a life he lived. There's never been a man in this country who lived like him. Christ radiated through his life.

He was never once interested in money or the honor of men or any such thing, but the terrific passion that never died out in 28 years to share this wonderful message of the gospel with others, even though he was poisoned by his own parents.

God took care of that and healed him. Lives like these have been a challenge to me and should be a challenge to you. Non-Christians who found Christ. In the year that he died, in 1929, there was another Sikh who also tore the Bible, who was converted, and his name was Buxing.

And I consider him to be the greatest man of God I ever met in this country till today. Not necessarily the greatest preacher. The greatest preachers are not necessarily the greatest men of God. But a man who knew God.

A man who never feared any man. I learned a lot from him in my younger days. A man who never cared for money. Came from a non-Christian religion. What about all these people who are taught the Bible from childhood?

What are they doing? We'll get a lot of surprises in the day of judgment. It's not doctrine that's going to take us into God's kingdom. The Pharisees had all the right doctrines. But Jesus said, you know, we know they had the right doctrines because Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 23 verse 2 and 3, whatever the Pharisees say to you, do.

Because they are saying the right thing. The only thing is they don't do it themselves. Jesus himself gave a certificate there that the doctrine of the Pharisees is a hundred percent right. Later on in the same chapter, he told the Pharisees, how will you escape the damnation of hell?

Can people who have all their doctrines right, like all of us sitting here, end up in hell? I really believe that. It's possible. I don't like to say this, but I have to be faithful as a servant of the Lord to tell you that some of you who sat here for years may end up in hell.

What delight can that bring me to see you in hell? But I have to warn you, because you play the fool with God in your daily life. You take sin lightly and you think because you come to CFC, you'll be all right.

I'll tell you something, when you stand before the Lord, he's not going to ask you, which church did you go to? You'll find Roman Catholics who had a lot of their doctrines wrong, like Mother Teresa and others, way ahead of you in God's kingdom.

Is doctrine important? Sure it is. Because it's only through correct doctrine that we can bring many others into the truth, into salvation, into victory over sin, to building the church as a pure testimony for Christ.

All that is important, but for the individual person, for the church, doctrine is more important than life, but for the individual person, life is more important than doctrine. You're a hunger for God.

Cornelius and Reverence for God

That's what we see in the Roman centurion. Later on you see in Acts chapter 10 of another Roman centurion, another guy who killed lots of people in battle. I want you to see his example. You see, these are all people who followed in the footsteps of these wise men from the East, and that's why I mentioned them.

Acts chapter 10, we read about a centurion, a captain of the Italian guard, a very devout man. Boy, he doesn't know a thing about the Bible. He doesn't know anything about the Old Testament. He doesn't know about Jehovah or Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or he's living after Jesus died and rose again.

He doesn't know anything about Jesus. This is years after Pentecost, probably 10 years after the day of Pentecost. We read this, he led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God. He led everyone in his house to live worshipfully before God.

Boy, I know a lot of Christians who don't do that. And he was always helping poor people who were in need, and he had the habit of prayer. He prayed to God continually. Did he pray in the name of Jesus?

No, he didn't know about Jesus. Did he know about Jehovah? No. Did he read the Old Testament? He didn't know anything about the Old Testament. He was a Roman. He knew there's a supreme being who runs this universe.

He didn't know who he was. But whoever it is, oh God, I want all of your children to worship this God. Be kind to poor people. I wish we had more believers like Cornelius. I tell you, the church would be a better place.

I don't believe Cornelius was a gossip going around speaking all types of nonsense like a lot of believers speak about each other. He can't be a worshipper of God if he does things like that. He wasn't just to nominally for name's sake go and pray on a Sunday or a Saturday and then do his own thing the rest of the week.

He was not the type of person who would say, oh, I'm a bit busy today on Wednesday. I don't have time to go for the meeting. I'll tell you something. I believe if Cornelius were here, non-Christian, he would have come here on Sunday morning at 9 30.

He wouldn't have been late. Because these non-Christians have a tremendous reverence for God which Christians don't have. I found everywhere when Christians go late. Now, I can understand if you got a flat tire or the baby needed to go to the toilet or something.

There are all types of circumstances which delay us, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about just plain laziness. Where if I were to ask people, how many days were you late for work? How many days did you punch in late at the factory in the whole year?

The answer is probably zero because that means money. Okay, then people say we have children. Okay, you got children. How many days do you take your children late to school in the whole year? And school is at 8 30, not 9 30.

How many days did you take your children late to school? The answer is zero because you're afraid of the principal. How many days were you late for church? Almost Sundays. Because that's only God, you see.

These are Christians. Don't be surprised. Don't say, hey, isn't it Jesus the only way? But not the type of Jesus you believe in. Not the type of Jesus who doesn't give you any respect for God. That's another Jesus.

I wonder sometimes whether many people who claim to be believers are even born again. There's no reverence for God. There's no respect for God. There's respect for the boss in the office, respect for the principal in the school, but no respect for Almighty God.

I will be the first to vote. Lord, take the Cornelius's into your kingdom and put these wretched believers, send them to hell. Because there's no partiality with you. God's not going to accept you just because you had the good fortune to be born into a Christian family.

Or you had the good fortune to be born to parents who brought you to this church. Or you had the good fortune to be married to a husband who brought you to this church. Or your brother came here or your sister came here.

It means nothing to God. My own children can't get into God's kingdom saying, Lord, my dad served you. So what? The Lord will say, so what if your dad served me? That's within him and me. But you got to have a relationship with me.

I wonder what you glory in. The Jews in John the Baptist's day said, we have Abraham for our father. Oh, yeah, we'll get into God's kingdom. John the Baptist said, leave alone the non-Christians, leave alone the non-Jewish people, these stones, stones can get into God's kingdom before you.

That's what he said, you know. God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones. Don't you think some of those non-Christians are better at least than the stones on the ground? John the Baptist was a prophet who knew God.

And I would say to you, don't take God for granted. You may get a lot of surprises when you stand in the final day as we all have to stand before him. We need to have a lot more reverence and that's what these, I believe it was the reverence that these wise men had.

The Wise Men, Humility, and Following God’s Word

Let's turn now to Matthew chapter 2. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, certain wise men, we don't know exactly what that word means, scholars or you know, people who specialize in astronomy, scientists, people who studied the stars.

I mean brilliant, brilliant men. These were not like the dumb shepherds. These were people who were PhDs. Can PhDs find Christ? Why not? Illiterate shepherds and PhDs. Both are there in God's kingdom.

That's another thing I found with some Christians. Because they themselves are not very clever. They think clever people can't be in God's kingdom. It's not true. Some clever people are more God-fearing than some dumb Christians.

Because with God, color of skin doesn't matter, intelligence level doesn't matter, nationality doesn't matter, nothing matters. But you look into your mind, I think many of us may think rich people cannot be spiritual.

Jesus said it's very difficult for a rich man to enter into God's kingdom. He said it's impossible without God's help. But if he did manage it, boy, he must be quite an overcomer. More than the poor man who just got into God's kingdom because he was so needy.

The Bible says God has hidden the truths from the wise and the clever, revealed them to babes. So for a wise and a clever man to understand, get revelation from God, he must have overcome something. Which someone who's dumb and stupid didn't have to overcome.

We got to get a lot of prejudices out of our mind. Many people despise, you know, the white people in the U .S. two, three hundred years ago who used to look down on the blacks and make them slaves. But it's possible that some of you may have the same attitude.

You know, if you're poor, you may say God accepts me, but he doesn't care for the rich. Or you're not so clever. You say, I'm not so clever. I'm spiritual, but that fellow is so clever. He can't be spiritual.

Where do you get that idea from? Any type of prejudice, you know, where rich look down on the poor or the poor look down on the rich. Or the clever look down on the stupid or the stupid look down on the clever.

It's all ungodly. And I found a lot of it among Christians. I've seen, you know, unfortunately, we have the caste system in Hinduism in this country. And so there are many who are in the lower caste, are very dark and not very educated because of circumstances.

But they're all equally precious to God. But I found some Christians when they come up from that, those lower rungs of poverty and from the despised levels of society, when they become Christians, they look down on the people who are in the upper classes.

It's a reverse phenomenon. They don't understand that that is as much stupidity as those upper class people looking down on the lower ones. No, don't despise anyone. These men were great scholars. Much cleverer than you and me, if they knew about astronomy 2000 years ago.

And they sought God. And God revealed to them that a king of the Jews was born in the East. Now, you see, the Jewish nation at that time was one of the despised, defeated nations. Once upon a time, Persia had ruled the Jewish people.

After Babylon ruled the Jews, Persia ruled the Jews. King Cyrus, you read about in the time of Nehemiah. So these people were from a country that had ruled another nation. And God shows them there's a king born in that nation which you despise.

You may be a very powerful nation, that may be a very weak one, but there's a king born there. You need to go and see. These people, though they were PhDs, must have been extremely humble. I love to see a PhD who is humble.

That's greater than an ordinary laborer who is humble. Because a laborer has nothing to glory about. So if he's humble, that's not a great thing. It's good, but it's not a great thing. But when a PhD who's accomplished something in life, when he's humble, that's an accomplishment.

Because he has a lot of things to glory about. When I see a young believer, humble, newly converted, that's good. But it's not a great thing. He's not done much in the Christian life. But it's very rare to see a man.

I mean, I've mixed with so many of the so-called great preachers. But I'll tell you one thing. It's very rare, very rare. To meet any of them who are humble, who are ordinary men, they become big in their own eyes.

These men, they were so scholarly. They were esteemed, I'm sure, in their country very highly. But it never went to their heads. Because if it did, God would have revealed nothing to them. And they would not have been willing to make that long journey to go and see the king of a despised nation born.

So I see something that God reveals himself to people who don't know him. Because he sees in their heart a hunger and a humility, a recognition of the fact that though they are so scholarly and educated, it's all from God.

You know, I'm sure these wise men understood what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5. What have you... Verse 6 or 7, it says there. What have you that you did not receive? Think about it. If you received it, how can you be proud of it?

Your knowledge, your ability, you received it. Don't ever be proud of it. Whenever you're proud of anything in your life, you act as though you didn't receive it, as though you made it yourself. Did you make your pretty face?

You tried to make it prettier, but God who gave you the features. Did you create your own intelligence? No. You could have got education, but your intelligence was given by God. It's good to humble ourselves always.

And I want to say this, not just for one day after you hear this message, but I pray that these truths will make such a deep impression on us that it's not a momentary humility. I mean, right now when you hear all this, you all feel pretty humble, right?

But how long will it last? That's the question. Will it last till tomorrow? Is this the first time you've heard a message that challenges you, exposes your pride? Well, I want to say these are the people who are ready for Christ's coming.

The first time, and it's going to be such people who are going to be ready for Christ's second coming. And it says here, they came to Jerusalem and they, you know, they heard it was a king. And here we learn that even wise men can sometimes do something stupid.

They follow the star, I don't know for how many hundreds of miles, probably a thousand, two thousand kilometers all the way from Persia to Jerusalem. On a camel, I don't know how many days it took, how much money they spent.

To find God. How far will you travel? Will you travel 2000 kilometers to find God? A lot of people, I ask them, they tell me which church they go to. I ask them, why do you go to that church? Well, it's sort of around the corner.