This sermon emphasizes the importance of forgiveness as a key aspect of being ready for the Lord's coming. It delves into the story of David and Shimei, highlighting the critical nature of forgiving others as a reflection of God's forgiveness towards us. The message stresses the need to forgive from the heart, even when faced with difficult situations, to ensure that our own forgiveness from God remains intact. It challenges listeners to examine their hearts, forgive those who have wronged them, and be prepared for the final judgment.

We want our study of scripture to be practical and not theoretical. What were the two good qualities that the Pharisees had? Which Jesus himself certified as good. Sometimes we think everything about the Pharisees was bad. But there were two good things that Jesus pointed out. Which two good qualities most of us have. Which two good qualities most of us have. See, Matthew chapter 23. This is the chapter where Jesus denounced the Pharisees for so many wrong things in their life. Because there were many wrong things in their life. And Jesus used very strong words speaking to them, you vipers and generation of vipers and all that. But here's one good quality. Verse two and three. Jesus told his disciples. The Pharisees are sitting in the chair of Moses. Everything that they tell you to do, do. What does that teach us? That all their doctrines were right. Will Jesus ever say to you, all that the Roman Catholic Church teachers do? Will he tell you to do it? All that the Jehovah's Witnesses teach, do. Will he say that? No. About whom will he say? Everything they teach you, do it. Everything. It says all that they tell you to do. Do. That means, see, Jesus would say that only if somebody's doctrine is absolutely right in every area. See, some of our even Protestant churches, they don't teach everything correctly. Many of our Protestant churches, they baptize children. Jesus will not say all that they teach you, do it. This must have been a very high standard of doctrine that the Pharisees, Jesus could say everything they do is right. Everything they teach is right. Otherwise he would not tell his disciples. That is the number one good quality of the Pharisees. All their doctrines were correct. Secondly, we see here in verse 25. You scribes and Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish. See, that means the outer life of the Pharisees were clean. Their external life. They didn't commit adultery. They didn't kill people. They kept the Sabbath. All those commandments God had given, they didn't worship idols. Their external life was clean. Isn't that a good quality? There are many Christians whose external life itself is not clean. But Jesus gave a certificate, your external life is clean. So what do we learn from that? What do you learn from that for yourself? Your doctrine may be 100% right. Your external life may be 100% clean. And still, you may be the biggest Pharisee in your church. But so many Christians glory in these two things. We're not like those people who baptize children and all these wrong doctrines. I don't know, all our doctrines are right. And look at our external life. We don't cheat anybody. We are living upright, clean lives. And if you glory in these two things, you don't realize you could be the biggest Pharisee of all. And remember the Pharisees killed Jesus. So anybody who glories in these two things could be hand in hand with those who killed Jesus today. What is it they did not have? They did not practice what they preached. And their inner life was all dirty. So we're talking about the coming of the Lord now. How to be ready for the coming of the Lord. And like we said, we need to study for those subjects which are coming in the final examination. You won't encourage your children to study for something which is not coming in the final examination. So God is not going to test your doctrine in the final day. No. He's not going to test your knowledge of the scriptures. What is he going to test? We saw in one example that he's not going to check up how many miracles you did or how many demons you cast out. No, he's not going to ask you all that. And we saw that sin is going to be the most serious thing in the final day. But sin where? Not the external life. Now turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. You know, one of the common habits that all the children of Adam have is to judge other people. We don't judge ourselves, we judge others. And the devil encourages you to judge others. Because he himself is the accuser of all the brothers. So he's always instigating you to find fault with others. And never allows you to judge yourself. So if you want to overthrow the devil, one thing you can do is this. You decide Satan, I'm not going to judge other people from now on. I'm going to judge myself. That will really disturb the devil. You do that, you'll find that you overcome Satan. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 4. It says here in verse 5. Do not go on passing judgment before the time. That means there is a time to judge. He's not saying never judge. He says don't judge before the time for judgment has come. So since you all have a great lust to judge other people. God says I'll allow you to do that, but do it at the right time. Not before that. When is the right time? Verse 5. When the Lord returns. When the Lord returns, then please feel free to judge everybody. Because only then you will see 90% of people's lives. See right now you can only see 10% of people's lives. You may know more about the people who live in your home. But all the people who do not live in your home, all the people you meet in church, you know only 10% of their life. The most important part of their life you don't know. What do you think of a teacher, examiner, who examines only 10% of the paper and then decides to give marks? He'll say why didn't you check all the rest of the questions? You looked at only 10% of that student's answers and gave the marks. Wouldn't you object if a teacher looked up only your children's 10% of their answer papers and then gave the marks? And gave your child zero because first page is all wrong. And you'll say hey teacher the other nine pages are all correct. So you'll say hey teacher look at the other nine pages as well. Yes I agree that the first page is wrong. But the rest of the pages are correct. He should get 90%. But you gave him zero. And this is what we do to other people. We know only 10% of a person's life and we start giving them marks. We just wait till the Lord comes when you'll be able to see the whole answer paper. Because what is the other 90% that you cannot see in other people's lives? Number one, the things hidden in darkness. You cannot see the hidden parts of a person's life. See, all the people you meet in church, you don't know how they behave at home. You don't know how they behave in their office. You don't know how they behave on the roads when people are getting angry with each other. You don't know how they behave in a crowded train. Like that I can make a list of many things. You don't know how much they fight with auto rickshaw drivers and vegetable vendors and all that. You don't know that. You don't know anything of that. You just see how nicely they sing and talk to you in the church. And you're giving marks. You haven't seen the hidden areas of their life. Even if you're living in the same house, even if you're married for 50 years, living in the same house, you still do not know what are the thoughts going on in your husband's mind. And even after that, you can't understand what's going on in your husband's mind. Or what's going on in your wife's mind. Is that important? Yes, God considers that important. So, what I'm trying to say is, these things hidden in darkness, we cannot see. What he's doing when he's alone in some room, we don't know. So, there are so many areas of a person's life we know nothing about. We only know 10%. That is why I said, it's like a teacher who just sees the first question and gives marks, zero. Or gives 100% based on the first question. But the other nine questions are all answered wrong. He should get 10%, but the teacher gives 100%. It was foolishly that teacher judged on the basis of 10% of the answer paper. That is why we give 100% to some people who should get only 10%. And we give zero to somebody else who should get 90%. I hope you understand now why the Bible says, do not judge. Wait till the Lord comes. This is one way to be ready for the Lord's coming. I will not judge anybody. But there's a difference between judgment and discernment. That means I sense when I listen to a certain phrase, he's not genuine. Or the way some people talk, you say, this guy's a crook, I can make out that. So, I'm not judging him. I'm just discerning him, so I will not have any dealings with him in my life. I will not spend my time listening to this preacher because I feel he's not genuine. That is discerning for my own benefit. But judging is, I pass a judgment on him, he's like this, he's like that. Discernment is more an inward thing. I discern something, so I decide whether I can have dealings with this man or not. For example, if you are considering marriage, you must discern. You don't have to judge a person, but you must discern. Do I want to spend my life with this person or not? You're not judging the person, but you're discerning. I don't feel free about this person. So, remember, understand the difference between discerning and judging. Discerning is a more inward thing for my personal relationship with somebody. That I must do all the time. You must discern every preacher we listen to. Can I continue listening to him or is it not helpful? Is his attitude to money Christ-like? Is he leading me to a godly life? That is discernment. So, judging is another thing. And here it says, when the Lord comes, he will reveal all these hidden things. See, in our mind, there's a thing called memory. That memory is like a videotape that is always recording everything in our life. See, like this camera is now videotaping here. It's taking a picture of everything. But it can't take a picture of what's in my thoughts. This camera cannot tell you whether I'm preaching for money or for honor or any such thing. But there's another camera inside my memory. Which can also picture why I'm preaching. Is it for honor or money or because I love the Lord? And it's also, it can picture all the thoughts that go on in my mind. That is an amazing video camera, our memory. Because it can record everything. It can record my thoughts. My words. My actions. My actions in the presence of others. My actions when I'm away from others. And also, the motives of my heart. So that's the second thing here, the Lord will bring to light the motives of people's hearts. See, sometimes a person can do a very good thing, but the motive can be evil. For example, the Bible speaks about the bride and the harlot in Revelation. The bride of Jesus Christ and a prostitute. Chapters Revelation 17 and 18 speaks about Babylon, the great prostitute. Spiritual prostitute, not physical prostitute. And Revelation 19 and 21 speak about the spiritual bride of Jesus Christ. And, you know, both are called themselves Christians. Babylon is false Christianity and Jerusalem is true Christianity. The bride is the true Christian. Babylon the harlot is a false Christian. One is a bride, one is a prostitute. And one way to find out is by money. Do you serve God? Do you serve Jesus out of love? Or do you serve Jesus for reward? For example, a wife will give her body to her husband out of love. A prostitute will also give her body to a man for money. Both are giving their body. One is out of love, the other is for money. So, you can find out in the church who are the bride and who is the harlot. Where a person serves Jesus out of love, that's a real wife. Where a person serves Jesus for a salary or for money. Who is the one who gives her body for money? You know the answer. Prostitute. And there are so many people who serve Jesus today for money. That's how you see the harlot. You don't see it today. You can't see it now. It's written in the book of Malachi. And in the last days. Malachi 3, verse 17. The Lord says, in that day, they will be mine. The day I prepare my own possession. He says, my bride, I will gather my own possession. And that day, verse 18, you'll be able to distinguish between who is really righteous and who is wicked and who really serves God and who did not serve God. Today, you don't see it. Because everybody appears very spiritual and talks about a burden to do this for the Lord and a burden to do that for the Lord. But the motive, we cannot judge now. But we are not to judge also. But the Bible says, in that day, the whole videotape will be played on the screen. You'll see the motive with which a person did everything. Why did you do it? Not what did you do, why did you do it? I don't know. That will be the important question that day. And then you will distinguish who is really serving God and who is not serving Him. That is why it's best not to judge anybody now. I don't judge, but I discern. I discern because I cannot associate with certain people because I sense there's not a right spirit there. But I don't pass judgment on them because in the final day, it will become evident. So, if you want to be ready for that final day, make sure the things hidden in darkness are clean in your life. Make sure that every sin that you have done in secret is confessed and set right. And like Zacchaeus, if you have taken money wrongfully from people, make sure you give it back. If you have not returned somebody's money, when the Lord comes, that man will say, Lord, you can't take him, he owes me some money. You wait till he pays it back, then you can take him. Will the Lord have to say that? Will somebody have to say that about you? Lord, you can't take that man because he owes me money. As soon as possible, pay back all your debts. Especially if you have cheated somebody, return it. Why did Zacchaeus say, I'll give back four times? Because he made a quick calculation of 10% interest per year and decided I have to give back more than I took. He said, I stole that from that man 15 years ago. I can't give the same money, I have to give him with interest. 15 years means I must give him four times. So we have to be righteous in all these hidden areas. Very few preachers talk about all this. And those are the people who are not preparing you for the second coming of Christ. And those are the kind of preachers who are not preparing you for the second coming of Christ. And they are not preparing you for the final examination. And they are preparing you for a lot of subjects, but all those subjects will not come in the final examination. And how can we pay back all the wrong things we have done? We have done everything wrong. And when I came to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord showed me how I have earned money I had to return all of that. I emptied my bank account and paid it all back. And my bank was empty but my heart was full of the joy of the Lord. If I had not done that 53 years ago, I would have been dragging a chain on my leg for 53 years. Can you imagine running a race with a chain tied to your leg? So these are the things that we need to really take seriously if we want to say, I want to be ready for Christ's coming. When I see all these money matters and if somebody has hurt you, make sure you have forgiven that person completely. You know, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, I believe my calling is to make sure that everyone who listens to me will get 100% in the final examination. I've told people who come to our church in Bangalore, I say you may hear me say some very hard things but in the day of judgment you'll turn around and thank me for it. When you see the condition of so many other believers who were fooled by their preachers who preached soft things to them. Now here is a really tough thing. Matthew 6 You know the Lord's Prayer. There are six requests there. Matthew chapter 6 in verse 9 onwards. Here are the six requests. Hallowed be your name. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. Three things concerning God. That's how we must begin our prayer. What glorifies God. Then three things concerning ourselves. Give us our food every day. Forgive us our sins as we've forgiven others. Don't lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. Out of these six requests out of all these six requests one thing Jesus takes out and emphasizes it. Which is that? Not hallowed be your name. Not thy kingdom come. He talks about forgiveness. Out of these six he takes one. Verse 14 If you forgive men your father will forgive you. If you don't forgive men your father will not forgive you. Let me ask you a simple question. In that verse is he talking to believers or unbelievers? That's the first question. You know the answer. Both 14 and 15 he says your heavenly father. Your father. Now tell me is he talking to believers or unbelievers? Is he the heavenly father of unbelievers? No. Your heavenly father verse 15 will not forgive your sin. If you don't forgive others. Okay next question. If your sin is not forgiven and you die will you go to heaven or hell? Let me ask again. If your sin is not forgiven when you die like that will you go to heaven or hell? Can you get a second chance after death to confess your sin and escape? No. There is no second chance. It's appointed unto men once to die after that the judgment. After death the judgment the Bible says. So supposing you lived a very good life as a believer for many years and towards the end of your life somebody did some terrible thing against you or did some terrible thing to your daughter and you say I'll never forgive that man Okay. What does the word say? If you don't forgive men your father will not forgive you. At 25 years you lived as a good believer for 25 years you lived as a good believer only towards the end of your life you became so bitter that you wouldn't forgive somebody and then you died without forgiving that person I want to ask you a question Will your father forgive your sin? Will you go to heaven or hell? You say but he lived 25 years as such a good brother So you believe that God will hold a balance in the last day put all your good deeds one side and bad deeds that side and that is how he's going to decide whether you go to heaven or hell? That is what every religion in the world believes You also believe that? It's not the gospel of Jesus Christ You may say brother Zach preaches very hard He will thank me in the day of judgment if you listen to me and if you don't listen to me you will discover in the day of judgment that what I said was true I hope you will listen to me because these are the words of Jesus being ready for the Lord's coming before you die the Lord comes Are you ready? And you have not forgiven somebody How can you go if your sins are not forgiven? If you not forgive men your father will not forgive you Heaven and earth will pass away those words will not pass Many years ago the Lord said to me I never want you ever to preach to please men I will help you to earn your own living so that you will not be dependent on anybody to support your family so you will not need any rich man's offering you will never have to please anybody in any church you will not need an offering from a church and you will not need to be invited back again also I preached my truth I said yes Lord I'll do that till the end of my life by the grace of God that is why I say things to you which probably you don't hear from others I'm not interested in your money I'm not interested in your money that is why in all the meetings that I arrange for 40 years we never take an offering wherever I have responsibility I always say no offerings because we don't want anybody to think we are interested in their money we are interested in their souls in their eternal salvation and we want to speak the truth so that they are ready for the Lord's coming so this little thing that Jesus said here if you don't forgive men your father will not forgive you let me give you an example from the Old Testament there was a man in the Old Testament called a man after God's own heart do you know what his name was? David but he did not end his life as a man after God's own heart when you get time read 2 Samuel chapter 15 and chapter 16 there you will read how Absalom his son chased David out of the throne and while David was running away there was a relative of the old king Saul who hated David for overthrowing Saul he couldn't do anything because David was the king when he saw David being thrown out he was so happy his name was Shimei he came to meet David he says God has now rewarded you with punishment from your own side and he threw stones at him and cursed him and one of David's soldiers said let me cut off his head David said no then he was a man after God's own heart he says God has allowed him to curse me let me forgive him and he went and Absalom was then killed and David came back as the king Shimei I heard David is coming back now and he was really scared so he came running to meet David and said please forgive me I am sorry what I said David said okay I won't kill you he promised him some years later David was dying now I want you to turn here in 2 Samuel sorry 1 Kings 1 Kings we read here in chapter 2 verse 1 David's time to die drew near he called Solomon and told him I am going the way of all flesh all the earth be strong show yourself a man keep the charge of the Lord walk in his ways keep his statutes his commandments everything that's written in the law keep it then God will bless you now if he had stopped there and died if he had stopped there and died that would have been great but he didn't stop there he says Solomon you know that man called Shimei verse 8 there is a man called Shimei Shimei the son of Gera you know how he cursed me I told him verse 8 last part I will not kill you but you didn't make that promise I was the one who made that promise Solomon you make sure you kill him and see how he says it not just kill him make sure you bring his grey hair down to the grave with blood is this David speaking like this what is the next verse and he died let me ask you something did David forgive Shimei yes or no don't be afraid I will give the answer no next question is David in heaven what do you think yes because in the old testament there was no commandment saying if you don't forgive others you will not be forgiven there was no commandment in the old testament don't lust after women don't get angry these are all new testament commandments don't be anxious don't mix up old covenant and new covenant David had eight wives today if somebody has eight wives you think he will go to heaven David had see people in the kindergarten are not tested at the same level as college students in the new testament we are like college students old testament they are like kindergarten babies see if a three year old dirties his diaper it's not a serious thing if a twenty year old needs diapers that is a bit of a serious thing so when David does not forgive Shemiyah that's not a serious thing because he never knew how much Jesus forgave us he never saw Calvary he never saw the cross but when you have seen Calvary and you have seen the cross and how much Jesus forgave you and if you don't forgive others then you won't be forgiven to whom more is given more is required you say why does God judge David and me by different standards if your company gives you hundred rupees to go and buy something for the company from the market and he gives another person hundred crores to buy something for the company will the company expect this man to bring more than this man who got only hundred rupees definitely much more because more was given David never sat in a conference like this listening to what you are hearing now so God overlooks it because he didn't have light in him what about us who live in the new covenant is there such a thing as God cancelling our forgiveness which he forgave me once and he says no I take it back let's turn to Matthew 18 Peter came to Jesus once in verse 21 Matthew 18 21 Lord how many times shall I forgive my sin seven times Jesus said no even 70 times seven times that means keep on forgiving 490 times even in a single day and then he said I'll tell you a story there was a king verse 23 who wanted to settle accounts with his servants and there was one man who owed him 10,000 talents you know how much that is that is 60 crores or something 60 crores when can you return 60 crores you're in debt and he says oh master I don't have anything please forgive me 60 crores and the king said okay whole thing forgiven in one word sign forgiven and he went and met another person who owed him maybe few thousand rupees maybe two three thousand rupees two three thousand rupees is a lot of money it's quite a bit of money large sum but what is it compared to 60 crores it's not even like a drop and he caught him by the throat and said pay back my money verse 28 and he put him in jail verse 30 this man who had been forgiven 60 crores could not forgive a few thousand rupees people heard it and reported it to the king verse 31 and the king called him back verse 32 said you wicked man i forgive you all that huge debt shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow slave and the lord he was moved with anger and said you got to repay verse 34 all that 60 crores does god cancel the forgiveness that he once gave you what does the story say verse 35 so shall my heavenly father do to you if you don't forgive others this is the one place in scripture where we are told that god can cancel all the forgiveness he gave you for millions of sins in your life you were forgiven 20 years ago when you were born again all millions crores of your sins but now last week you decided you are not going to forgive somebody you better hurry up and forgive him because if you die in this condition he says my heavenly father will do the same to you if you don't forgive your brother from your heart that means all that was forgiven 20 years ago is now put back on your head have you heard this before you don't need to hear it from me just read that it's in your bible you know one other thing the lord told me in my bible teaching ministry is this the lord said i want you to preach what other preachers are not preaching in the bible which are in the bible things in the bible that some preachers are not touching at all because that's how you can save people's souls so i want to encourage you now before you get up from your seat to say to god lord i forgive everybody who has harmed me start with your mother-in-law i forgive my mother-in-law because mostly people have problems with their mother-in-law she's done so many things wrong to me but i forgive her right now and lord that brother who cheated me of my family property and inheritance and that person in the office who told a lie against me made me lose my job terrible things these people did but you've done terrible things against jesus and he forgave you i'm not asking you to go and visit them jesus forgave the pharisees but he didn't go visiting their homes troublesome people it's best not to visit them the bible says pursue peace with all men and sometimes the best way to pursue peace with somebody is by never visiting them because there will be a quarrel so i'm not saying you must visit them or fellowship with them but forgive them you may never see them in your life i remember one place i was preaching the same message and one sister came up to me and said brother my brother-in-law raped me my husband's brother should i go and see him again i've forgiven him i said please don't go anywhere near that man forgiveness doesn't mean you've got to go and meet him no steer clear of him don't ever see him but forgive him what can you do already he's done some evil by retaining your bitterness against him you're doing yourself more evil so you can't undo the evil he did at least don't make it worse by having an unforgiving spirit so forgiveness does not mean you have to go and meet or fellowship or any such thing most difficult people it is best never to meet them you can sit here and in a moment forgive everybody say lord i want to forgive so and so and so and so and so i want to be ready to meet you when you come in the air let's pray as we bow our heads in prayer in the presence of jesus christ our lord i believe the lord has been here with us the whole day you heard him speak to you throughout the day and now we have come to the end of the day and we need to do some practical things before we leave for home say lord jesus we know you're here you can hear me i'm saying before you that i forgive everybody lord these two or three people particularly come to my mind i forgive this person this person this person lord i don't wish any evil for them i wish good for them i forgive them because you have forgiven me so much and help me lord to keep this attitude of forgiveness until the end thank you for forgiving me and lord help me to keep a good conscience that what i've heard today will really help me to be ready for your coming i believe you brought me here to hear this because you love me and you wanted me to be ready to meet you lord i want to be ready to meet you forgive me my sins cleanse me in the blood of jesus and you promised you will never remember my past again thank you for hearing me in jesus name amen god bless you all