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  OVERCOMERS JUDGE THEMSELVES DAILY
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of judging ourselves
rightly to avoid regret when standing before the Lord in judgment. It
highlights the need to learn from past mistakes, follow Jesus
wholeheartedly, and be prepared for His coming. The speaker shares
personal reflections on running the Christian race diligently,
overcoming obstacles, and being faithful in all circumstances.

Topics: "Self-Examination", "Faithfulness in the Christian Race"
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 11:31, Revelation 14:4, Matthew 25:21, 1 Peter 4:17, John 6:37, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 John 2:28, Isaiah 1:18, Hebrews 12:1

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of judging ourselves rightly to
avoid regret when standing before the Lord in judgment. It highlights
the need to learn from past mistakes, follow Jesus wholeheartedly, and
be prepared for His coming. The speaker shares personal reflections on
running the Christian race diligently, overcoming obstacles, and being
faithful in all circumstances.

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CONTENT
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It's good to have our eyes open to see the mistakes other people have
made, not to find fault with them but to learn lessons for ourselves. A
foolish man does not learn even from his own mistakes. An ordinary man
learns at least from his own mistakes.

But a wise man learns watching the mistakes of others, not judging them
but learning for himself. Can you think of some lesson you have learned
by watching somebody else's mistake without judging him? That's very
important. My initial tendency is to judge him.

But to say, Lord, there's something I can learn from there. I have read
the Old Testament like that. We have proclaimed in CFC through the years
that we are not under the old covenant.

That is the covenant God made with Moses on Sinai with all those terms
and conditions, ten commandments. We are not under them. We are under a
higher law of the Sermon on the Mount.

But the Old Testament, the 39 books, that is for us, that is part of the
Bible. That is not abolished. And the main thing I can learn from those
39 books and from the historical sections of the New Testament is
lessons for myself.

And I believe this is one of the mistakes the Pharisees made. That they
never sought to learn anything for themselves. They had very sharp eyes
to judge other people.

They even, it's not only the woman caught in adultery, they were
watching even Jesus with very sharp eyes. They would send people to
Jesus to trap him in his words. Can you imagine doing things like that?
And they were supposed to be the most righteous people of their time.

So the most righteous people of their time were the ones whom Jesus
condemned the most. I don't find him condemning the Herodians or the
Sadducees so much or the Greeks or the Romans or the Pharisees. The
Pharisees were the people who obeyed the scriptures and who had the
closest in doctrine to the Old Testament Bible.

It's a verse I've shown you before. I'd like you all to see it again.
And those who haven't seen it before, let me point it out to you.

Matthew 23. Matthew 23 is a chapter full of the denunciation of the
Pharisees by Jesus. But if you look carefully in the midst of this
chapter, there are two good things that Jesus said about the Pharisees.

There are lots of things that we have to beware of and avoid. There are
two good things. And one of those good things is this.

In verse 3, he's talking about the Pharisees in verse 2. Verse 3, he
told the disciples, everything that the Pharisees tell you to do, do.
What does that prove? That proves that all their doctrines were right.
Jesus cannot look at all the religious groups today and say whatever
they tell you to do, do.

Impossible. He cannot even look at all the Christian denominations and
tell you whatever they tell you to do. Some of you have come out of
Christian denominations.

Why did you leave them? Because they were teaching some things that were
not correct. Not that they were bad people. There were some things in
their teaching that was not correct.

So think of that denomination you came out from for that reason. Jesus
will not say whatever they tell you to do, do. You don't believe in
infant baptism.

You're not following their methods and many other things which they
practice in their Christianity. But when Jesus says about any group,
whatever they tell you to do, he's almost giving a certificate saying
all their doctrines, their doctrinal statement is 100% right. Which
group is that today? Do you feel you belong to a group which has got its
doctrines all correct? I don't want to be act humble, but I really
believe that what we believe is exactly according to scripture in
everything.

So that Jesus may say, listening to our messages and all the sermons
preached here, Jesus will say to people who come here, whatever they
tell you to do, do. Because what they are teaching is absolutely right.
But does he have to say, please don't watch their private lives.

The way they do certain things is not right. Their attitudes towards
certain people is not right. But their doctrine, you can sign it.

Jesus says, I can sign it myself. It's absolutely true. Now, if that is
true, we are pretty close to the Pharisees.

We might as well face up to it. And if so, we have to judge ourselves
and cleanse ourselves. For many years, I have felt that one mark of the
house of God, of the family of God, is what is described in 1 Peter
chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 is what I believe is one of the marks of
the family of God, the household of God.

It's a unique verse, 1 Peter and chapter 4 and verse 17. In the middle
of that, it speaks of the household of God, or the family of God. And it
says, it is time for judgment to begin, not to the unbeliever.

Judgment must begin within the family of God. Are you part of the family
of God? Judgment must begin with you. And this judgment must begin with
us first.

So I have taken that very seriously now for many, many years in my life.
I can stand before God and say this, God is my witness that every single
day of my life for many years now, I have judged myself in something or
the other. I preach a sermon, I go away and judge myself.

What was there that I could have done better, or I should not have said,
or I should have said, or did I bore people, did I take too long? I'm
judging myself all the time, even in a thing like that, even though
preaching a sermon may be a good thing and 101 people may have come and
told me they were blessed by it. Okay, but I still judge myself. I
sometimes listen to my own sermons on YouTube and say, Lord show me, is
there something I need to cleanse myself? I do not, that is simply
saying I am not perfect.

When I judge myself, I'm testifying to the Lord, Lord I'm not perfect.
And so I'm not perfect in my preaching, I'm not perfect in my living, I
keep judging myself in my relationship with my wife, even though I never
lose my temper at her anytime. When I judge myself, I say, Lord that's
not enough.

I don't want my testimony to be negative. The Bible doesn't say,
husbands don't lose your temper at your wife, that's a negative thing.
The Bible says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church.

It's a positive thing. So the mere fact I don't lose my temper at my
wife, that's okay, it's good, but that's not the great thing. The great
thing is to learn to love your wife as Christ loved the church, and I
haven't got there yet.

I'm working my way towards it. My point is, as long as you, I think all
of us will say, we have not become like Christ. We all say that, but
what are you doing about it? I mean, it's like saying a child wants to
complete, let's say at least 12th grade, and he says, I haven't attained
12th grade, but he doesn't want to sit in the second grade all his life.

No, every year it's going forward. It's examination in the class, it's a
promotion to the next. That's how our life must be, and you'll never be
promoted in the Christian life to a higher level if you are not judging
yourself.

It is the mark of the family of God, and this is a very precious verse
to me. Ever since I understood this great truth, that anyone who
acknowledges that he has not become like Christ will be judging himself
every day, and if he does that, what will happen is, he will make
progress not once in a year. Children get promoted to the next class
once in a year, but a true Christian can be promoted every day.

Let me show you that. That's how Paul lived. That's the challenge that
comes to me.

In 2 Corinthians 4, we read, Paul says, in the verse 16, 2 Corinthians
4, verse 16, in the middle of that verse, our outer man, that is our
physical body, is decaying every day. I mean, doctors will tell you,
there are thousands of cells dying in our body every day. Blood cells,
brain cells are dying.

That's why as people get older, their memory becomes weaker, because
brain cells are dying by the hundreds every day, and our outer body is
decaying. But he says, in the same way, our inner man is being renewed
every day. I mean, the body doesn't take a break for one month, okay,
and no cells will die in this one month.

No such thing. Even if you're the healthiest person in the world, your
brain cells are dying every day, whether you like it or not, and many
parts of the other part of your body, there are cells that are dying.
Some blood cells are replaced, but there are cells dying every day.

And it never takes a holiday. In the same way, the opposite of that, the
inner man should be renewed every day. Renewed means a little more like
Christ.

That's the only meaning of renewal. A little more like Jesus Christ than
I was, not last year, than I was yesterday. Okay, if you haven't got
there, fine.

Let's work on it. When you read something like that, does it challenge
you? That's my question, not have you attained it. When I read something
in scripture, my first question is not have I attained it, but does it
challenge me that I want to get there? I want to be where Paul was.

There are many things, you know, if you read scripture, it would take a
challenge from the life of any of these men. For example, John the
Baptist. I was just reading what I read many times before.

Somebody came to John the Baptist. You know how great preachers like to
be famous and known, and that's what puffs them up and ruins them.
People came to John the Baptist and said, are you Elijah? No, he could
have.

People think I'm Elijah. He says, no, he didn't even think like that.
Are you that prophet, Messiah? Oh no.

What are you? This is what challenged me. Read it in John chapter one. I
am a voice.

Brother, sister, are you willing to be just a voice, a voice for Jesus?
Nobody sees your face, nobody knows your name. That's the way the Holy
Spirit spoke to me. Are you willing to be a person whose name nobody
knows, whose face nobody recognizes? Anywhere you go, you're not a
famous person, you're just an unknown, but you're a voice for the
Savior, a voice for Jesus Christ.

I mean, I read that before, but just some time ago I read it again. I
said, boy, Lord, that's a challenge to me. I want to be a voice.

John the Baptist. That's why Jesus said that man was the greatest man
that ever lived up to his time. What was so great about him? And you
know, the other thing about John the Baptist, he was the one prophet who
never did one single miracle.

Some people think prophets must do miracles. John the Baptist did none.
Elijah and Elisha did so many.

John the Baptist did zero. And Jesus said he's the greatest prophet that
ever walked on this earth. Not only the greatest prophet, he's the
greatest man since Adam before Jesus, who's John the Baptist.

And what did he say about himself? I'm a voice. Never sought to promote
himself. Be a Christian like that, brothers.

Jesus said in Matthew 11 that the lowest member of the kingdom of heaven
of Christianity, of a Christian, would be higher than John the Baptist
spiritually. What does that mean? If I am to be higher than John the
Baptist spiritually, it means that I'll be willing to be humbler than
him. That's the meaning.

If he was only a voice, I want to be less than that. That is to be
greater than John the Baptist. Because, I mean, Jesus is the humblest of
the law.

We can never reach his level. I was thinking, meditating the other day
on this great verse, and I've meditated on it many times before, but it
came home fresh to my heart. It's amazing how the Bible is like a well
from which you can keep drawing all the time, even after 60 years.

By the way, I was converted exactly 60 years ago. I was just celebrating
my 60th anniversary this month of being born again. I was 19 and a half.

I was in the naval base in July 1959. My ship had been, I mean, my
spiritual ship was wandering, wandering, wandering for so many years.
But that day I dropped an anchor.

I believe Jesus accepted me. John 6, 37. He said, I'll never cast you
out.

And I had read that verse before, but that date was like an anchor, and
I never doubted it. All these 60 years, I've been anchored on that
verse. Him that cometh to me, I will never cast out.

Even though since then I've made many mistakes, many blunders,
disappointed the Lord, hurt Him in so many ways, took time sometimes to
confess my sin, took advantage of the Lord in many ways. But He was so
merciful, merciful, merciful, till He finally, after about 16 years of
being born again Christian, the Lord began to open my eyes to the new
covenant, and to being filled with the Holy Spirit, and to knowing God
as my Father, and to knowing this wonderful truth that God loves me
exactly as He loved Jesus. So many things opened up to me.

But for me, it took many years to get there. That's increased my
responsibility. But it's been my passion since then to really become
more.

I knew that I realized then my destination was not heaven. Till then my
destination was heaven. Now my destination was to become like Jesus
Christ.

It's very different from heaven. I told the Lord, I'm ready to go to
hell. If you're there, I'll spend eternity with you in hell.

No problem. Because for me, I don't desire anything. I don't desire the
comforts of heaven.

I desire Jesus. And when I stand before the Lord, as we all will stand
in the Day of Judgment, I don't know whether you realize that the fact
that we are going to stand before the Lord should bring within us a
great reverence and fear. If it doesn't bring a reverence and fear in
you, that you are going to stand before the Lord to give an account of
everything in your life, I want to say to you, my dear brother and
sister, I want to say it as lovingly as possible.

There is something fundamentally wrong with your Christianity. 2nd
Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10 and 11 to be read together. 2nd
Corinthians 5, 10.

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that we will be
recompensed. Recompense means rewarded or punished accordingly for the
deeds we did in our body. According to whatever, they're talking about
believers now, whether what we did was good or bad.

And therefore, whenever you read therefore in the Bible, see what it is
therefore. What is it therefore? It's related to the previous verse.
It's saying, knowing the fear of the Lord.

Why? Because we're going to appear at the judgment seat of Christ. I
know the fear of God and we persuade men. And what about your own
ambition, Paul? Verse 9, in light of the judgment seat, we have only one
ambition.

Whether at home in heaven or absent from home here on this earth, one
ambition to please him. You know, in the context, he's saying that one
day we'll be absent from the body and present with the Lord. He's saying
in verse 1 and 2, our permanent home is heaven.

So, verse 9, whether we are in our permanent home in heaven or absent
from our permanent home here on this earth, we want to be pleasing to
him. The meaning of that is the way I pictured it in my mind is, when I
get to heaven, my life is going to go full speed in one direction.
Pleasing God, pleasing God, pleasing God.

That's absolutely certain. You and me, we'll be going full speed in one
direction in heaven. Pleasing God, pleasing God, pleasing God.

That we have no doubt about. And he's saying here that I want to go in
the same direction when I'm absent from heaven here on this earth. That
means it's not that I'm going in some other way here and suddenly the
Lord comes and I have to change direction and start pleasing him.

No. I want to be moving in exactly the same direction right now as I
will be moving when I suddenly get transported to glory. If I die
tonight or the Lord comes tomorrow, no change in direction.

Oh, come Lord, we're going the same way. Pleasing the Lord. I hope all
of us will take this challenge.

That there'll be no change of direction if Christ comes. Your ambition,
what is it? Verse 9, what is our ambition? To please the Lord. Young
people ask me, is it good to have an ambition? I say, yeah, sure.

But make sure your ambition is a good one. You know, children have all
types of ambitions. I want to drive fire engines or I don't know how
many of them grow up to drive fire engines when they grow up.

It's all exciting things, you know, I want to be a marathon runner in
the Olympics or… But here's a good ambition that we can have and we can
attain. An ambition to please the Lord in exactly the same way as I
would be doing when I'm absent from the body and present to the Lord.
Lord, I don't want even a slight change of direction.

It must be, I'll do it more perfectly then, but my ambition must be the
same. Even if though I may do it more perfectly in heaven, my ambition
should not change at all. He's not saying I'll be able to do it as
perfectly on earth as I do it in heaven, but I believe my ambition can
be exactly the same here on earth as in heaven.

Only please the Lord. In any situation, okay, what is pleasing to the
Lord here? You're finding God's will about some complicated situation.
Lord, what's pleasing to you? That's all.

No other question. What is pleasing to you? Not what is good for me or
what is most beneficial for me or what's most beneficial for my family
or how much money I've learned. Okay, okay, those are the things worldly
people have as their ambition and those are the things that we also had
once upon a time, but I hope we are converted.

I hope you have turned around from that and say now I want to please the
Lord. And don't think, you know, there's a word in English called
spoilsport. Spoilsport means someone who likes to mess up your life in
some way by spoiling you.

So sometimes people think God is a spoilsport. If I yield completely to
him, he'll mess up all mine. He'll tell me to take the worst possible
job and go and live in the most difficult place on earth to live.

What a crazy idea. Do you think your earthly father will do that to you?
Any of you, do you think your earthly father would try and plan
something like that for you? And Jesus says, you earthly fathers know
how to give good things to your children. How much more will your
heavenly father? Many people have a wrong concept of God as a
spoilsport.

I say he's my earthly father, always planned something good for me. I've
always planned something good for my children. And I tell you my
heavenly father is a million times better than that.

Plans what is good for me, but he knows what is eternally good for me.
That's the advantage. So he may take me through some trials, which I may
like to avoid my children going through.

But my father does not stop me from that because he knows that's good
for me. So, but we live in this fear. One day I'm going to stand before
the Lord and I have to give an account to him.

And when I give an account to him, the verse that has helped me, I hope
it'll help you also, is 1 Corinthians chapter 11. You know, I pictured
it like this. When we all, you know, like one by one, we are going to
stand before the Lord to be judged by him.

And I pictured Christ sitting at his judgment seat and he calls up
different people by name, you know, millions we've got all eternity. So
plenty of time to do it. One by one, he calls different ones and he goes
through the record of their life.

That's what he reads. Everything done in his body. And maybe there's
going to be a video that the whole world can see.

The video of all that you did, at least, at least from the time you were
born again. Okay. All the past is blotted out.

But from the time you were born again, everything that you did, every
sin that you confessed and forsook is cleansed. That will not be in the
video because you confessed it, forsook it. But if you didn't forgive
somebody or you did not ask for forgiveness from somebody, all that will
be there.

A lot of things are going to be in that video. And when the Lord plays
that video there, are there things which will make me shrink in shame?
Do you know the Bible says that when Jesus comes again, there are going
to be two categories of believers. Now we all know there are two
categories of believers and unbelievers, but here's two categories of
believers when Christ comes.

Turn with me to 1 John and chapter 2. When Christ comes again, 1 John
and chapter 2 and verse 28. Can you see the two categories there? My
little children, when Christ appears, there will be two categories of
people. One who have confidence and boldness and say, yeah Lord, praise
God you've come.

I'm waiting to stand at your judgment seat. One group is like that. And
the other, believers now, still believers, oh Lord, have you come
already? And I haven't settled those matters.

I haven't repaid those debts. I haven't asked forgiveness from that guy.
I didn't go and forgive that other person.

They shrink away. These are believers in shame. A lot of people think
that all believers are going to be the same.

I don't think so. There are two groups right here and I'll show you from
Revelation and there are two groups. A lot of people don't like to face
up to this, but it is true.

You might as well face up to it now. Here is one group in heaven.
Revelation chapter 7. And I saw a great multitude, verse 9, Revelation
7, 9. No one could count.

No one could count means billions and billions. I'm not talking about
human beings. I'm talking about people who are in heaven.

Okay, praise the Lord. Billions of people in heaven from every nation,
every tribe, every people, every tongue. Now, I want to tell you quite
honestly, if you study the spread of Christianity right now, up to the
21st century, every nation has not been covered with the gospel.

Every tongue does not have a Bible. Every tribe does not have one
convert, at least from every tribe. I mean, even in India, in the
Andamans, there's a tribe there and not a single person been converted
from that.

But here it says there will be from every tribe and tongue and nation
and I'll tell you who they are. In every tribe and every tongue and
every nation in the world, babies have died at birth. That's how there's
going to be people from every tribe and tongue and nation in heaven.

Not one will be left out, because from every nation and every tribe,
there have been babies that have died at birth and they all go straight
to heaven, not because they are babies, but because the blood of Jesus
is put to their account. You know, just like you can be a millionaire's
son, baby and a baby and you can have a bank account of a million when
you're one day old, because the daddy put that much in your account. So
the blood of Jesus is put to the account of babies who have not
consciously committed any sin.

So there will be some from every tribe, tongue and nation there. Think
of all the aborted babies, millions of aborted babies, even in the
educated countries. They're going to be there.

And then what do they say? All that they say is, our salvation is due to
what the Lord has done for us. They cry out saying, our salvation is due
to our God who sits on the throne and our Lamb. What do we have? We have
white robes and we have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

That is their only testimony. Even babies are born in sin, but it has
been cleansed. Even that baby that never saw life on earth, that aborted
baby that's in heaven now, say the blood of Jesus has allowed me to be
cleansed and I can stand here.

And the great sinner who died, the thief on the cross who murdered
people till almost the last day of his life, he says the blood of Jesus
has cleansed me. I'm here. They cannot boast about anything.

My robe was filthy, but the blood of Jesus made me clean. I cannot boast
about anything else. I didn't do a single thing for the Lord.

That baby says that, the thief on the cross says that, but the blood of
Jesus has cleansed me. I'm here. And how many are there? Millions,
billions.

But there's another group in heaven, which is a little smaller group.
The first group is so big you cannot count them. The second group is
small enough to be counted.

It's fairly large, but it's small enough to be counted. Revelation 14.
Remember, Revelation is a book of symbols.

So when it says 144,000 is not literally 144,000. The meaning is in
Revelation 7 is a number that cannot be counted. In chapter 14 is a
number that can be counted.

That's the only difference. It may not be exactly 144,000. But this is a
group of people who have the name of the Father and of the Lord Jesus
written on their foreheads.

Now you need to see that the contrast is between the followers of the
Antichrist who have the name of the Antichrist written either in the
previous chapter, chapter 13, verse 16. The Antichrist allows you to
have his mark on the forehead, verse 13, 16, or on your right hand. But
the Lamb of God does not allow you to have it on the right hand.

It must be chapter 14, verse 1 on the forehead. You've got to see the
contrast. The devil allows you to follow him publicly.

I am a follower of Satan on your forehead or secretly hide it inside
your right hand and follow the devil secretly in your office and come to
the church and act like a wholehearted believer, follow the devil
watching pornography in your room, secretly even come to the church and
look smart. The devil allows people to be secret believers, secret
followers of him. But all public followers like the Satanists and
worshippers, both types, there are religions where they put the mark of
the religion on their forehead.

They openly proclaim, I'm a follower of this wrong religion or
something. But there are others who follow the same unrighteous
principles but it's in secret. The devil says, I allow you, put the mark
on the hand so nobody will see it.

But the Lord Jesus says, no, if you want to follow me, verse 14, you
must have my name on your forehead. There's no such thing as being a
secret follower of me. Wherever you go, you're publicly known as a
disciple of Jesus Christ and I'm not ashamed of it.

Whether you're a school boy, a college student or working in an office
where everybody's corrupt, you stand up for, you don't have to be a
preacher, but you say, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. And I tell you,
it's one of the greatest honors and privileges. I had such tremendous
opportunities to do that when I worked in the Navy with unconverted,
non-Christian bosses before whom I had to say, sorry sir, I'm a
Christian and I cannot do that.

What an honor! And sometimes they would punish me for it. I would suffer
for it, fine. I mean, they almost locked me up in prison when I refused
to, not for being a Christian, but for refusing to obey an order, which
I said, I cannot do with a clear conscience.

I'm sorry, sir. Okay. But somehow God protected me from that.

But I'm thankful. And I was only 23 years old and I had a number of
occasions to do that. And then after the Lord had seen me doing that one
day, the Lord said, okay, you can quit the Navy and serve me now.

He tested me for years before doing that. I think mainly to see that
when he took me into the ministry years later, whether I would stand up
against all the corruption there is in Christianity. But he trained me
out there in the Navy.

And I'm telling you this, God will give you opportunities in your place
of work to stand up for what is the truth. And I remember one secretary
in an office, a Christian, asked me this question, Brother Zach, see,
I'm sitting with the boss in the office and the phone rings. I mean, it
was not cell phones those days.

It was hand phones on the table. It was years ago. And the boss asked,
the secretary says, Brother Zach, the boss asked me to pick up the phone
and if he's calling for me, tell him I'm not here.

What should I do? So I said, you discover it only when you pick up the
phone, who he's asking for. So here's what you should do. You pick up
the phone and your boss has told you.

And that chap asked you, is the boss here? Put the phone back.
Disconnect the phone. And he'll ring again.

Now tell the boss, Sir, please ask somebody else to answer the phone now
because the chef is going to call again. I'm a Christian. I cannot tell
a lie.

You may lose your job. I tell you in Jesus name, you'll get a better
one. I've seen people.

This is what I've taught and I've seen people experience it. Because the
one verse in scripture which says, those who honor me, I will honor.
I've experienced it myself so many times.

Once I got a transfer in half an hour, I took a stand for something. I
just turned out of my job and got another one. I said, praise the Lord.

So those are precious experiences. So have the mark on the forehead. But
this number is very small.

And what is the characteristic of them? It says here, as described in
verse 4, they followed the Lord, the Lamb, wherever He went. Wherever
Jesus went, they looked for the footsteps of Jesus and they walked
there. Always looking for the footsteps of Jesus.

Sometimes it's not very pleasant. I remember when religious people took
me to court once in India, the Lord spoke to me. The first day I stepped
into the court, He said, don't forget religious people have taken me
also to court 2,000 years ago.

Look for my footsteps here. I said, what are those footsteps? Faith in a
loving heavenly Father and love for your accusers. I said, great.

That's what I'm going to walk in. Faith and love. Faith in my heavenly
Father controlling all circumstances here in the court and love for
those people accusing me there, to love them and bless them when I meet
them.

Good. I did that. It's a wonderful experience.

So follow the Lamb wherever He goes. It's not always easy. Jesus didn't
have an easy path.

But it's wonderful to be in that small group of people, not like the
millions who say, oh, the blood of Jesus has cleansed me. I was a rotten
sinner, but somehow the blood cleansed me. I'm here.

That's great. Praise the Lord, brother. You're my brother in Christ.

But I want to have to, I don't want to be like the dying thief. What do
you think regret the dying thief has in heaven today? Oh, I wish I had
lived at least one day for my Savior. I did not even get one day to live
for Him.

Think of the regret that man has. I got saved and I died immediately.
And He'll tell you, you guys are so lucky after you got saved.

You had so many years. I hope you did something for the Lord in those
years. That's what the dying thief will tell you and me.

And I want to say, yes, my brother, the Lord gave me 60 years after I
was converted and I could do things for Him. I hope you left some
testimony like that. And you followed the Lamb wherever He went.

And it says here, they were those who kept themselves when it says they
were worse for they were not defiled with women. The women mentioned are
the daughters of Babylon. You read that in Chapter 17.

Corrupt Christianity is called a harlot system full of harlots,
spiritual harlotry. And this is a group that kept themselves from the
spiritual harlotry of the daughters of Babylon. Babylon and his
daughters, it speaks in Chapter 17.

They did not defile themselves with compromising Christianity. Babylon
is compromising Christianity. So that these are the things that we need
to judge ourselves in.

And 1 Corinthians Chapter 11 tells us how we can be ready for the coming
of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11. Think of this day when we stand before
Jesus and He judges all human beings.

There are many things we regret for failures. We ask God to forgive us
and relent from those failures. You know, when I think of the Apostle
Paul, he lived 67 years and then he was beheaded by Nero, the emperor.

Out of those 67 years, 30 years he did wrong things. What type of wrong
thing? Worse than you and me. He persecuted Christians and killed some
of them.

Anybody here done anything like that? Imagine having a record where I
have persecuted God's people and killed some of them, then I get
converted. I know, I regret the years when I disappointed the Lord so
much. But you know what the result of that was? When I meditate on those
years, I say, Lord, I'm going to run much faster because I wasted so
much time.

It's like that Olympic runner I saw in a video of one of those recent
Olympics, one of those African long distance runners. He tripped and
fell and he got up. You know, once you trip and fall in a race, it's
almost impossible to win.

This guy tripped and fell and got up and ran and came first. I said,
wow, what an example for me. Because he said, I've got to make up for
this time I lost.

That's exactly how I felt. I said, Lord, I've lost a lot of time by
being half-hearted and not serious in my Christian life. I have to make
up for it.

I can't be like all these other young fellows who sort of slowly move
along at a steady pace. I have no time for that steady pace. I've got to
go full speed because I wasted so much time.

I've told people in my own home church, I said, many of you guys are
learning things at the age of 17 and 18. What I learned when I was 36.
So you have much more opportunity, if you come to my age, 80, to go way
much further than I have come in the Christian life.

But when I see the way you're living, I don't think you'll beat me.
Because I've got so much regret over the way I messed up things in my
life that I'm going full speed and I don't see you guys going full speed
like that. I see you guys are so careless and slack and drifting along.

You come to a good new covenant church, but you're not radical. And so I
tell you, I'm disappointed in the sort of half-hearted way. You're
moving in the right direction, agreed.

And you understood all the new covenant and all, but it's not a radical,
wholehearted, fast pace at which you're running. That's how Paul felt. I
messed up so much of my life.

I've done so many evil things. Peter, Paul, Peter, John, James, and all
haven't done it. I've got to run.

And that's why God picked him up and used him so much. There's no
partiality with God. There's no partiality.

He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. He says, if you seek
me with all your heart, you will find me. Whoever you are, there's no
partiality with me.

So 1 Corinthians 11, come to this verse, has been a tremendous help to
me. When the Lord judges everyone, it says here, 1 Corinthians 11, 1
Corinthians 11, 31. If we judge ourselves rightly, rightly, rightly in
the day of judgment, we will not be judged.

What a promise. That means my turn comes to stand before the Lord. The
Lord calls out, Zach Poonen, when I come and stand there, and the Lord
opens the records, the video.

No, Zach, nothing to be judged. Wow. Can you imagine how excited I'll
be? Is there anything on earth to compare with that? Well done, good and
faithful servant, there's nothing to be judged.

It says here, there'll be nothing to be judged. Why? Because I tried my
best to judge myself every day from the time I got light. And I decided
to run faster than the others because I've wasted so many years of my
life.

Dear brothers and sisters, take it seriously. We can glory in the fact
like the Pharisees, Jesus says, all that this church says to you, do,
do. NCCF is teaching the right thing.

Everything they tell you to do, do. Believe what they do. This is
absolutely the right doctrine.

You won't find another church like that in California. Great. It means
nothing.

You can boast about it, glory about it. But it'll mean nothing when you
stand before the Lord. If you have not judged yourself rightly, that
born again, God fearing man from the Roman Catholic Church may be ahead
of you, because he judged himself rightly.

His doctrines may have been wrong. But the Lord will say, look at that
what man did with that wrong doctrine. And how you should have been way
ahead of him with all the right doctrines.

To whom more is given, more will be required. I've had some people tell
me, Brother Zak, my life, I can't progress much because my wife is so
half-hearted and not serious disciple. I say, you know what will happen
to you in the day of judgment? When you stand before the Lord and give
that excuse, Lord, I couldn't wholeheartedly follow you because my wife
was such a drag on me.

The Lord will say, hey, let me call that man from there. That man from
that country, come here. He'll call him before you and say, I'll show
you a video of his life and show you what type of wife he had.

You see that? How she yelled and screamed at him and did all types of
things against him. But see what a wholehearted life he lived. What do
you have to say? Your mouth will be shut.

John Wesley was one of the greatest men of God who lived on this earth
and as a witness for Christ. He had a wife who was really unconverted,
would pull his hair in the presence of his senior co-workers. She would
open up the letters which he had written for posting.

And when he was away, she would open up and write some other nonsense
inside that in those letters, fold it up, stick it and mail it. Have you
got a wife like that? Don't ever complain that your wife or your husband
is not wholehearted. There is absolutely no excuse.

God's grace is sufficient to overcome every single problem. You have
only yourself to blame if you sin. You have only yourself to blame if
you're not becoming more like Christ at least every year.

And people around you should be able to listen to it. Whenever I hear
some couple comes to me and some brother says, brother I've been
listening to your message for 10 years. I say I want to ask your wife
whether you've become a better husband.

Otherwise what you're saying you've listened to me for 10 years. Let
your wife tell me that you've become a much better husband in 10 years.
Oh then something has happened.

Otherwise it's just knowledge. It's very easy for people to listen to me
and get a lot of knowledge, correct knowledge. But it doesn't help to
know that two times two is four, two times three is six.

It's all accurate but how does it help you spiritually? So it's very
very important dear brothers and sisters to be ready for the coming of
Christ with judging ourselves rightly and having no regret when we stand
before the Lord. May the Lord help us. Let's bow our heads for a moment.

Thank you father for your word which is a lamp to our feet and light to
our path and above all the life of Jesus which is a tremendous example
for us to follow. Please help us we pray. Everyone here Lord we know you
have great plans for this church and for the truth that is proclaimed
here that can transform lives and families.

We pray that you will bless every single person here and all those
who've come newly and those who are seeking to be members here Lord we
pray there'll be a radical attitude towards discipleship and also an
unashamed proclamation of their loyalty to Christ in a time like this
where so many are compromising. Help this church and everyone here to be
true to you. We know we will have no regret when we stand before you
face to face.

Thank you father in Jesus name. Amen.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/LImAlDmPyc8.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/overcomers-judge-themselves-daily/
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