======================================================================== HOW NOT TO BE JUDGED AT THE FINAL JUDGMENT by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of being prepared for the final day of judgment, highlighting Jesus' teachings on hell and the need to take sin seriously. It stresses the significance of confessing sin, repentance, and seeking forgiveness, especially in our speech and interactions with others. The speaker urges self-examination, reconciliation, and living a life of grace and truth to avoid condemnation in the day of judgment. Topics: "Preparation for Judgment", "Confession and Repentance" Scripture References: Matthew 10:15, 1 Timothy 2:5, Matthew 5:23, 1 Corinthians 11:31, James 3:8, Colossians 4:6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of being prepared for the final day of judgment, highlighting Jesus' teachings on hell and the need to take sin seriously. It stresses the significance of confessing sin, repentance, and seeking forgiveness, especially in our speech and interactions with others. The speaker urges self-examination, reconciliation, and living a life of grace and truth to avoid condemnation in the day of judgment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Praise the Lord, good to see you all this morning. One of the things that Jesus often spoke about was the final day of judgment. And he came from heaven, he knew the Father, and he knew the future, and he knew man and man's sin. And knowing all that, he felt it was important to speak often about the day of judgment. I think more than any of the prophets spoke. In fact, if you read the New Testament and you take a concordance and look for the word hell, you'll find Jesus spoke more about it than anybody. Why is that? Because he, coming from heaven, knew the reality of hell. More than anybody else. 99% of the believers I have met, including CFC believers, do not seriously believe in hell. They think they'll never go there because they come to CFC or went through some motion of St. Christ coming to my heart. But I'll tell you who goes to hell. Please take my word seriously. Those who live in sin. It doesn't matter which church they go to. CFC or anywhere. And those who do not confess sin as sin. If you call your sin a weakness, Oh, I just have a weakness that I sometimes flare up and get upset. Okay. I'm sorry to say Jesus did not die for your weaknesses. So it'll never be cleansed. Because you call it a weakness. Call it sin. Why don't you call it sin? Because you don't want to take the blame. You say it's your temperament. My temperament is like that. I tend to flare up. I tend to shout at my wife. Okay. There's no cleansing for shouting. There's cleansing for sin. So I'll tell you something. Whatever you don't call sin will never be cleansed. You have to answer for it in the final day as sin. So it's better to call it sin. And when you call it sin, there are two things you have to do. You have to repent. That means you say I don't want to do it again. And secondly, you have to ask forgiveness from the person you did it to, if it hurt somebody else. If it's a private sin, like if you're watching pornography in secret. People say in secret, but it is not in secret. Because there are hundreds of demons looking over your shoulder. Hundreds of demons looking over your shoulder. And demons don't occupy as much space as a human being, remember. So there can be hundreds of demons looking over your shoulder while you're watching pornography. And saying God, you know, the devil's an accuser and all his demons are accusers. They say, God, do you see that person? He goes to CFC. Claims to be very holy. Do you see what he's doing right now? And God says to Satan, you're right. He's on his way to hell. But the poor man doesn't know it. He calls it a weakness. My duty is to warn you. I cannot save you. Even Jesus cannot save a man who does not choose and want to be saved. If Christ could save everybody in the world who did not want to be saved, nobody would go to hell. Because God wants everybody to be saved. Why doesn't he save all the people in the world? Because of only one reason. Why are 99% of human beings going to hell? Why are 99% of people who call themselves Christians going to hell? I believe that firmly. Because I've seen people and I've seen Christians. It's not because God wants them to go to hell. It's because they don't call sin, sin. Or, when they know it as sin, they don't turn away from it. They don't even try to give it up. At least if you're trying to give it up, God will see, yeah, there's a person who's really trying to give it up. He doesn't want to sin. God will appreciate that. You don't want to. The important thing is want to. When you watch pornography, you want to do it, right? Nobody's forcing you. God sees that you want to, okay? See, God has given everybody a free will. You choose what you want to do because what you want to do will determine where you will go. So, see these verses in Matthew chapter 10. Jesus was sending out his disciples to preach the word of God, just like he sends out his servants today. I believe the Lord sent me out to preach exactly the same way he sent his disciples 2,000 years ago. Not everybody is called to preach. Not everybody is sent out like that. But I know that I am. And Jesus said, this is how you must go. When you enter a house, Matthew 10 verse 12, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, let your blessing of peace be there. If it's not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Because some homes will receive a servant of the Lord and some homes will not. There are many Christian homes that will not receive me. It's fine. They have to answer to God, not to me. But whoever does not receive you and does not listen to your words, as you go out from that house, you will shake the dust from your feet. And listen to this. For that house and for the people living in that house, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city or that house. Because they rejected a true servant of God who brought them the true word of God. It's a very serious thing. Now, there are very, very few true servants of God in the world. That I agree. But if there is one, and God alone will decide that, it will be very dangerous to reject what such a man says. It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than in the day of judgment. And if he is a true servant of God, he won't be giving his own opinion. He will be quoting scripture all the time. Don't listen to a man who hardly quotes the Bible. Don't listen to a preacher who turns to one verse in the Bible and then gives his whole sermon without referring to the Bible. I would never listen to such a man. He is giving his own ideas. He may call himself a servant of God. Don't be deceived. Because no man's words are the word of God. That's why I often quote the Bible and I think I'm right in saying that in all my books that are on the website, there are about 30 of them, I think I'm right in saying, except for the book which is my personal testimony, Day of Small Beginnings, all the other books where I'm preaching from God's Word, you can turn to any page in that book, I mean a printed book you open, there are two sides. At least on one side you'll see a scripture. I think I'm right in saying that. Almost any book, you open any page, on one of the two sides you'll see a scripture. That is how much I quote scripture. Now, take some other books written by other preachers and others and turn to many, many pages, you'll never find a scripture reference. What does that prove? It proves, I don't think my word is God's word. I believe God's word is God's word. And if I quote that, I can say something on that. And the others who don't quote a scripture, who don't give a scripture reference, thinking their word is God's word. What are you going to live by? Man shall not live by bread alone or by man's words alone. Man shall live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. Never respect a preacher who does not quote the Bible and who does not constantly refer to the Bible and does not show you from the Bible what he's saying. I followed that rule for 64 years of my life and I've never regretted it. That's what saved me from deception. When a person is preaching, I compare it to scripture and I've gone to very godly men. Very, very godly men. And I've told them, Brother, what you said is not in the Bible. In fact, the Bible says the opposite of what you said. And he asked me, where? And I said, I'll show it to you. Here and here and here and here. And he was surprised. That showed me that some very godly men haven't studied the scriptures. You can live a very good life, but if you don't know the scriptures, you don't know the mind of God. It's possible that many people sitting here are happy that you're living a fairly good life, you're not harming anybody, you're not committing any serious sin. But I'll tell you this, if you don't have the habit of reading the Bible and studying it, you do not know the mind of God. You can listen to me hundreds of sermons, you'll know the mind of Zach Poonen. How do you know that's the mind of God? You've got to compare it to scripture. Now you can trust me so much that you say, well, I've seen through the light, Brother Zach will not tell me a lie. That's true. But still your connection to God is through me. You're trusting me and I am the mediator between God and you. It was like that in the Old Testament. It says in Hebrews that when God gave his word, he gave it through a mediator and that mediator was Moses. But Moses, he was a man. But now it says the mediator is Jesus Christ. See 1 Timothy chapter 2 it says here in verse 5 there is one God we know that, in three persons Father, Son and Holy Spirit and there is only one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus. Never forget this verse. 1 Timothy 2.5 Just like there is only one God, there is only one mediator God has appointed between God and man and that is Jesus Christ. And if you don't know Jesus Christ personally there is no way you can come to God. Impossible. You can know Zach Bonin as much as you like and still go to hell. There is only one mediator between God and man that is Jesus Christ. And Paul says, I'm only, verse 7, a preacher and an apostle, I'm telling you the truth. He says, I'm not a mediator. Paul says, I'm only a preacher. The mediator is Christ Jesus. So there is a great danger that you can trust a man so much that as far as you're concerned, he becomes like a mediator between you and God. That won't help you. There is only one book that God has given, the Bible and there is only one mediator between God and man. And I'm telling you from my own experience I have believed for the last 64 years nearly there is only one book which God has written, the Bible and there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. And that has sustained me all these years and will sustain me until Jesus comes. So please choose that. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 10. We read there that if you don't receive the word that God sends through His servant Matthew 10, 15 in the day of judgment, you'll find God judging the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course, He already judged them by killing them for their homosexuality. Homosexuality, unfortunately is becoming more widespread in the world these days which is another indication that we are coming towards the end of time. Many of these perverted sins will increase. And it's an indication like other sins that people commit. Sodom was especially responsible for that. And Jesus referred to that saying Sodom, when you see Sodom's judgment is the final day, you know the people who were killed in Sodom years ago in Lot's time are still going to be judged. That is not the final judgment. Final judgment, those people will come up and God will question them for their homosexuality. And then your turn will come. Not your turn, I'm talking about the turn of those who did not receive the word sent by God's servants. You will find that judgment is more that what Sodom got was much less. That's what it says here in verse 15. In the day of judgment, Sodom and Gomorrah will get a lesser judgment than you because you rejected the word of God. And you turn to chapter 11. Again He says Capernaum verse 23. Miracles were done in you. Has God answered a prayer in your life? Where you found yourself in some tough situation and God did a miracle and set you free. Whatever it is, physical or any other miracle. And if that did not make you repent then it will be more tolerable, verse 24, for Sodom than in the day of judgment. He's always comparing the day of judgment with Sodom. Sodom will get some judgment in the day of judgment. Yours will be worse, which sort of gives me the impression that Sodom is going to be a very severe judgment. Then I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 12. This is the more serious one. Day of judgment. That's the expression I'm thinking of. Day of judgment. And Jesus spoke about it more than anybody else. Like He spoke about hell more than anybody else. Okay, Matthew 12 verse 36. I tell you that every careless useless word that means a word that hurts others that's the meaning. It's not talking about an accidental slip up in my English language or when I speak some other language which I don't know I may slip up and use a wrong word because I don't know the language. It's not talking about that type of accidental mistake. But a word that hurts other people where you did not care. Careless means without care. Without care for the dignity of that human being you spoke a word. And where is the danger of our speaking a word without caring for the dignity of a human being? I'll tell you. Where somebody is poorer than you. I mean if you are one of those wretched human beings who are proud that you are an upper caste I really believe they are the most wretched human beings who are proud of their caste and look down on people in a lower caste. They are wretched in God's eyes. Because God created all men equal. Which person is there on earth who did not come from Adam and Eve? Nobody. So who has divided men into caste and all that type of thing? Human beings. So you may find, I want to tell you honestly I've seen a lot of it in Kerala, I've seen a lot of it in Tamil Nadu in Andhra and in North India this idea that we belong to an upper caste. Our name belongs to an upper caste name. Well you're going to get a big surprise on the day of judgment when God in Kerala is for your name or your caste. So that's where we can speak a word without care for someone who we feel is lower than us. Maybe to a servant in your home. Can you treat that servant in your home like an animal? I've come across some CFC people who treated their servants worse than an animal. I told them to get out of CFC and never come back. And they never came back. When they invited me to their house I said, I'll never come to your house. And you go and apologize to that person. And he never apologized. I don't know where he is. He will suffer, that's for sure. Because you cannot speak a word without care for one of God's created human beings. And think that God will ignore it. But if you do speak a careless word you have to give an account for it in the day of judgment. Again that phrase. Again the same phrase. Day of judgment. You're not only going to give account for all the sins that you committed against other people, but the words that you spoke in a rude way. I mean there are many husbands who really feel their wife is inferior to them. Their wife is at a lower level. 1 Peter 3 says the wife is a joint heir of the grace of life. You read 1 Peter 3. That means her throne is at the same level as yours. How many of you husbands believe that your wife is an equal heir, H-E- I-R, with you of the grace of life? Or have you got the heathen idea that a woman is inferior? Well, I feel sorry for you if you feel like that. But that's why some husbands talk to their wives in a way they will never allow their wives to talk to them. You ask yourself, the way you talk to your wife, would you be shocked if your wife spoke to you like that? Then you are one of those who believe your wife is a little lower level. And you will get the surprise of your life when you stand before God in the Day of Judgment. Every careless word, a word without care that you speak, you have to give an account in the Day of Judgment. One word. These are verses that you will not find other preachers preaching in other churches. That's why the churches are so shallow. And I sometimes wonder when I preach like this, why do people still listen to me? Why don't they turn off, switch it off, and listen to somebody else who will comfort them? That indicates to me that there are some people on the earth who are really serious about getting right with God. Otherwise they wouldn't listen to somebody like me. There are hundreds of other preachers they can listen to who will never disturb you or challenge you and will smoothly let you go to hell. I don't do that. I'll tell you straight. I believe this with all my heart. For myself, if I have spoken a careless word, a word without caring for that person whom I'm speaking to, that's the meaning of I will give an account of the Day of Judgment even if I'm the greatest preacher in the world. It makes no difference. With God there is no respect of persons. And you can't say, well, that was my wife or that was my servant. No excuse. They were all children of Adam, children of whom God created in His own image. Have you read this verse in the book of James? Turn with me to James in chapter 3, verse 8 and 9. No one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. There are three things mentioned about that tongue in that verse. One, no human being can control it. You say, then how do we control the tongue? You've got to ask the Holy Spirit. You've got to be filled with the Holy Spirit to control your tongue. Secondly, it says it's a restless evil. It lies quietly inside your mouth but once it starts talking it's sort of restless. You get angry with somebody and it's restless. And it's not restless in wanting to say good things. It's evil things that spout out. And further it says, what comes out is like a snake's and a snake puts out its tongue. You know, deadly poison. Not just poison but deadly poison. Do you believe my brother, sister that from your tongue can come a more deadly poison than from a cobra? Do you read the scriptures carefully? If you do, you'll be very careful with your tongue. That's why it says in the first part of that verse in the first part of that chapter, verse 2, yeah we all make many mistakes we stumble in many ways. But if you do not stumble in your speech you're a perfect man. If you can control your tongue you'll be able to control your whole body. And by tongue I also mean what you write when you write an email or you write a letter that's your tongue speaking in words written down. And if you can't control that you're not, if you can control it you're a perfect man. We have here a saying, let us press on to perfection. That's one way to press on to perfection. Say, Lord I want to control my tongue. I want to be a perfect man. Those of you who want to press on to perfection, start with your tongue. Because it says every careless word you'll give an account in the day of judgment. It's serious. It's much more serious than we realize. And I don't mind speaking about it continuously and frequently. Look what it says here, verse 9. With this tongue we bless the Lord and our Father. We did that this morning. We were praising the Lord with this tongue. And then it says, the same tongue you use to hurt, curse men means, you may not put a curse on a person but you hurt your wife, you hurt your husband. You hurt people who have been made men who have been made in the likeness of God. You say, I thought only Christians were made in the likeness of God. No. Human beings have got something of the likeness of God in them. A lot of it has been spoiled by the devil. It's something like you know, sometimes on a wall they stick a poster when it's freshly stuck that man's face is very clear. Then some other political party comes and tears it off and you see the man's face. It's not, maybe you see one eye or one ear or something. That's all that's left. That's what's happened to man. Originally made in the image of God and the devil came and spoiled Adam and Eve. But still a little bit is there. One eye, one ear, some part of that image of God is there in every human being. That's what this verse says. In every human being. The full image is not there. They are not like Christ. But men who have been made in the likeness of God. The one thing I would say is that every human being is God is a spirit, a conscience. The worst human beings have got a conscience. Animals don't have it. A dog and a cat don't have conscience. And that one thing proves that there's a little bit of the likeness of God in every human being. Even the worst of them, they have a conscience. So don't be rude to anyone. It says in Colossians in chapter 4 Colossians chapter 4 it's a tremendous standard A good teacher a good maths teacher will always say aim for 100%. That's a good maths teacher. When you do your examination, aim for 100%. That's what it says here. Colossians 4 verse 6 Let your speech always Always means 100%. Always be with grace. You can stop there. In fact, you can live the rest of your life with just one verse. Let your speech always be with grace. Grace is like being seasoned with salt. You take one spoon of food from a plate and you immediately know whether there's salt in it or not. You don't have to ask anybody if your tongue is sensitive, you know immediately. One spoon of food in your mouth you know whether there's salt or not. Season with salt and you know how God has created salt in order to make our food tasty. There's something missing in the taste when salt is missing and you know it immediately. And exactly the same way, the way some people speak you know immediately there's no grace there. One spoon is enough, just a few words and you know this guy hasn't got any grace. Do you want to be like that? A good cook is one who always seasons their food with salt. That's a good cook. And some women have such a reputation their cooking is so perfect. I've tasted some meals like that from some sisters. Always perfect. Always the right amount of salt. I found that with my own wife's cooking for more than half a century. Always the right amount. Seasoned with salt. Imagine if our words can be like that. If you can have a testimony like that like some of these good cooks their cooking is so perfect. Just the right amount of salt, seasoned, perfect. Imagine if you can have a testimony like that when that brother speaks I'm talking about ordinary conversation, I don't mean preaching when we talk to that brother or that sister I find a grace in his words. He's not harsh and judgmental and gossipy about everybody else. Or she's not harsh and judgmental and gossipy about everybody else. She's not always finding fault with others. There's a grace. Grace doesn't mean we ignore errors and faults. God doesn't ignore errors and faults and God is full of grace. But he's not always talking about people's sins. The Bible is not full of rebukes for people's sins. The Bible has so many words of comfort. There's a balance. It says, let your speech always be with grace. If you want to know how to get the balance I'll tell you, read the Bible. There's a perfect balance in the Bible of grace and truth. He doesn't ignore the truth. So let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt so that you will know how you should speak to each person. To everybody. To a servant, to a beggar. I used to tell my children when they were small I'd say, if you chase away a beggar from the gate, who comes begging at the gate, please go after him and say, I'm sorry sir. Call him sir. He's older than you. He may be a beggar, but he's older than you. You have no right to speak to him like that. I'm sorry sir for speaking rudely. Please forgive me. Well, I don't know whether they ever spoke rudely, but I warned them a beggar is a human being. I mean, if you don't want him to keep knocking, you can speak that kindly. Not rudely. We're not permitted to speak rudely to anybody. We're not permitted to yell at and get angry with any human being. Imagine if CFC believers had a testimony that they never speak rudely to their wives. CFC wives never speak rudely to their husbands. They never speak rudely to the auto rickshaw driver who's yelling at them and you pay them. Or some porter in the railway station who's arguing. They never speak rudely to anybody. Or even on the road if they collide with somebody. I want to have that testimony. Because it says every man is made in the image of God and it says you must speak respectfully. You may disagree. I disagree with hundreds of Christians. And I'm not rude to them. I don't call them all bad names. I say, I'm sorry brother, I disagree with you. Even when I rebuke somebody for sin. I warn them. It will make a tremendous difference. I'll tell you why. Because, let me continue to read that verse in Matthew chapter 12. We didn't complete that. Matthew chapter 12. Verse 36. I read verse 36, but I didn't read verse 37. Verse 36 says every careless word, Matthew 12, 36 that you speak you will give an account in the day of judgment. Every, every single one. Because in the day of judgment verse 37, it's by your words that you'll be justified. And by your words that you'll be condemned. Do you know that? Do you know that condemnation is going to come because of your words and justification is going to come because of your words? Okay, let me show you another passage in Matthew chapter 5. These are verses in your Bible. I hope you've read them. I'm just pointing them out to you. This speaks of a time when you come to God in prayer. Matthew 5 and verse 23. When you are presenting your offering at the altar. Now the most common offering we present at the altar is prayer. Lord, please heal me, I'm sick. Please heal my child, it's sick. Lord, we are in a difficult situation, please give us a better job. Please give us a better house to live in. Please solve this problem we are facing in our home. Please help us to pay our children's school bills, school fees, or college fees. There are many needs that we have. And you come before God, or sometimes you come before God and say Lord, please forgive me. Whatever your offering is, when you are presenting your offering, Matthew 5, verse 23, and there you remember that you hurt your wife, that you hurt your husband, that you spoke rudely to some brother or a sister, and even though they didn't say anything, they've got something against you. They have something that is going to come up in the day of judgment against you. Even though they never said it. But you know in your heart, you hurt them. You did evil to them. You spoke against them. What is the Lord saying? Go later and ask forgiveness? No! Leave your offering there. It means stop praying. Have you seen the verse where Jesus says stop praying? It's here. Leave your prayer there. To paraphrase it, stop praying. And first, be reconciled to that person. Your wife, or your husband, or your brother, or sister, or any human being. Be reconciled. That means get back into fellowship. Or set the matter right, even if you don't have fellowship. Then come back and say, Heavenly Father, I've done what you told me to do. I've set it right. Now will you listen to my prayer? Please heal my sick child. Please help me with this problem I'm facing in my house. You see now why many of your prayers are not answered? Do you understand today? Because you're not doing what God told you to do first. See that word first in verse 24? First. Settle matters with your wife, your husband, your brother, your sister, or that stranger. Then come. Make friends quickly, verse 25, with your opponent and Lord. That person can take you before the court of God and say, he hurt me. And he never said it right. Better make friends with him. So dear brothers and sisters, this has been the burden of my heart today because I believe that it will help us all in the day of judgment. I want to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, one of my favorite passages in this connection. And that is verse 31. 1 Corinthians 11 31 has been one of my favorite verses. I've used it very much in my own life. If we judge ourselves rightly, we will not be judged in the final day. I don't want to be judged in the final day, I'll tell you. I sometimes picture in my mind Christ sitting on his throne of judgment and one by one by one people lining up to be judged by him. And the Lord opens up the record and plays the video tape of this man's entire life on the screen for the whole world to see. Your whole life on the screen. And you see there's so many matters not set right. And the Lord says, this is not set right on such and such a date. All the dates are there, date and time. And this was not set right, this was not set right. It's a video with date and time included. And you remember your memory will be perfect that day. You say, oh yes, that's right, that's right, that's right. You cannot argue with the Lord's video because the video is from your own memory. Our memory is all weak, but when we resurrect it, it will become perfect. And you will remember every single thing that you did from the time you were a baby in that day. So the Lord just says, rewind to your memory and it's all played back on the screen as a video. And the next person comes, I rewind to his memory, play it back to the video. And when it is played back, you can't argue with it because it's your own memory saying, you did that. You said that. You behaved like that to that person. And all those judgments. Then my turn comes. I say, Lord, I want you to say zero to be judged. Is that possible? This verse says yes. How can you have zero to be judged in that day? You have to only do one thing. Judge yourself rightly today. That's why I say it's one of my favorite verses. I judge myself, I tell you before God, I judge myself every day. And not only every day, many times a day. As soon as a thought comes, I say, I reject it. Or if I accidentally said a word, I want to go and apologize. You say, that's crazy. You may call me crazy, but then you'll see in the day of judgment it'll be zero against my record. You want to be zero in your record or you're worried about people calling you crazy? I don't care what people call me. I want to judge myself rightly so that I will not be judged in the final day. I fear God. I have a tremendous respect for God. I'm not afraid He will hurt me. No. I'm afraid I will hurt Him. Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I have no fear that God will hurt me. But I have a tremendous fear that I may hurt God by my behavior, by my speech, by something I say or something I do or some attitude I have. I don't want to hurt my Heavenly Father. I don't want to hurt my Savior who did so much for me. That's why I judge myself. I'm not judging myself because I want a special seat in heaven. I told the Lord long ago, I want no special seat in heaven. I just want to be close to you for all eternity. And so that's why I judge myself every day. And it also makes my life on earth extremely happy. It makes my sleep at night very peaceful. I don't get disturbed in my sleep. I don't have wild dreams or I don't lie in bed thinking what to do with that person or what to do with this person. No, I sleep peacefully. People say when you get old you won't be able to sleep peacefully. Well, I do. It's because I judge myself every day. Why is it some of you young people can't sleep properly? Imagine what you'll be like when you grow old. Judge yourself, my brother, sister. Judge yourself. You know very clearly what you did wrong. Your conscience has told you many times. You keep telling it to shut up, shut up, shut up. Okay, after some time the conscience shuts up and you're the loser. Because your conscience doesn't... you told him to shut up, it shut up. And you do so many wrong things and the conscience doesn't bother you. There are people who come to that place. They told their conscience so many times, shut up, I'm not going to listen to you. No, no, no. Or they justify themselves. No, no, no, that was right what I did. It was wrong what that person did and this is why I did it like that. Okay, the conscience says, okay, I won't disturb you anymore, sir. You are the loser when you go against your conscience. Do you do that? Justify yourself when God tells you something? I feel sorry for you. Listen to it. And even if you apologize to somebody you did not have to apologize to, what did you lose? Nothing. Say I did not have to apologize to that person because actually I never did any harm. But I apologized. What have I lost? A little bit of my dignity? I'm willing to lose all my dignity. I don't want any dignity. I'm a sinner saved by grace. But what if I had to apologize and I did not do it? That would be much worse. So I'd rather do more than less. So brothers and sisters, I hope 1 Corinthians 11.31 will be a guideline for you that the day of judgment your turn will come, my turn will come. We'll see each other's videotapes and I hope it will be zero in your case. God bless you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word that prepares us for the day when Christ will come back and not just because you're afraid of judgment but we want to please you. That's why we want to judge ourselves. Help us each one, Lord, to live before your face and to walk in the light that you have given in your word and not in the light that other men give. Help us, Lord. Help us to fear you, to reverence you, to walk in your light all our days. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/NwqP0aucH0A.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/how-not-to-be-judged-at-the-final-judgment/ ========================================================================