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Series Code: CR
Program Code: CR001841A
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00:04 Many revolutionaries have changed nations
00:06 with guns, tanks, bombs, and execution squads, 00:12 but amazingly there was a gentle revolutionary 00:15 who changed the world with words of peace and love. 00:19 While the bloody revolutionaries are dead 00:22 and for the most part forgotten, 00:24 this man lives on and His revolution continues. 00:30 There's a better way 00:33 than guns and bombs. 00:38 We're going to talk about that today. 00:40 We're going to talk about the gentle revolutionary. 00:46 Now, as you know, most revolutions, 00:50 most revolutionaries 00:52 are not very, very gentle. 00:56 Most revolutionaries and revolutions 00:59 are very, very violent and bloody. 01:04 But today, we're going to talk about a person 01:06 who was completely different. 01:07 We call Him the gentle revolutionary, 01:10 because He was a revolutionary. 01:13 Would you take your Bible today 01:14 and come with me to Matthew 5:44, 01:20 dear hearts and gentle people? 01:23 Matthew 5:44. 01:31 Jesus said, "But I say to you, 01:35 love your enemies, 01:37 bless those who curse you, 01:41 do good to those who hate you, 01:44 and pray for those who spitefully use you 01:48 and persecute you." 01:54 Some folks would say, 01:56 "That's a craziest statement that was ever made." 02:01 Absolutely preposterous, just doesn't work. 02:05 Jesus said, "Love your enemies. 02:09 Do good to those people who are bad to you." 02:13 An amazing statement from the gentle revolutionary. 02:18 We should not just distain it though or caste it aside 02:21 because God said it, 02:23 and who we're say it's not going to work 02:26 and it's impossible. 02:28 You see, God said it. 02:30 I want you to notice for a start today 02:32 some of the bloody revolutionaries. 02:36 I know a little bit about this first one personally, 02:39 Lenin 02:41 who led the Great Russian Revolution. 02:46 He was a great revolutionary. 02:50 And the communist revolution took place, my friends, 02:53 because listen to this, 02:55 "A corrupt church and a corrupt government." 02:58 Revolutions don't just happen by themselves, 03:03 but the Russian Church had ground the Russian presence 03:08 into the frozen mud. 03:11 Lenin was inspired by Karl Marx who was a German Jew, 03:17 and he set up the communist state. 03:19 You know, it sounds tremendous, socialism, communism, 03:23 everybody is going to be equal. 03:27 Do you remember the book, 03:29 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. 03:34 There are some of these statements 03:35 that still come into our minds. 03:37 Big Brother is watching you. 03:40 No freedom, Communist Russia. 03:43 Big Brother is watching you. 03:45 Then there was doublespeak 03:46 where the president or the chairman of the board, 03:49 whenever he spoke, 03:50 even though he was telling lies, 03:52 hey, that's fine, because what he said 03:54 it was the truth because he said it. 03:57 Orwell also wrote the book Animal Farm. 04:02 There's a great quote. 04:03 "All animals are equal, 04:05 but some animals are more equal." 04:09 That's how it was under communism. 04:11 All animals are equal, 04:13 but some animals are more equal. 04:15 And, I think he also said, 04:18 "And the pigs are the most equal." 04:22 So if you went to Russia as I did 04:24 during the days of the Soviets, all animals were equal. 04:29 The Soviet Union was atheistic. 04:31 Imagine if, if we had it here in America, 04:34 God forbid, 04:36 it caused the brutal deaths of millions of people, 04:39 I said millions, yeah, 04:41 tens of millions torturing them to death. 04:44 I've spoken in Kiev in a great, great auditorium, 04:48 and they took me into the basement 04:50 of that great auditorium 04:52 where the blood oozed 04:54 out of the stones and the rocks, 04:57 murdered thousands of people in those rooms 05:00 under that auditorium. 05:03 It was communism and atheism. 05:05 I've been there. 05:07 I've been to the cemeteries in Siberia. 05:11 Then there's Magadan that you ought to go online 05:14 and look up Magadan, 05:16 an atheistic city run by the communists. 05:19 The roads of the city, look at me, 05:23 were paved with human bones. 05:28 Human bones, that's how they made the roads. 05:31 All animals are equal. 05:34 Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a great martyr, 05:38 and a great Christian, great patriot. 05:42 And he was being tortured by a communist 05:44 because of his faith. 05:48 A woman was torturing him, 05:50 and he cried out and he finally said, 05:52 "Don't you know I'm a human soul." 05:54 And she said the words of Stalin, 05:56 "You can't help breaking eggs 05:58 when you're making an omelet." 06:02 So human beings don't count when there is no God, 06:06 because the death of God 06:08 always leads to the death of man. 06:11 Most people don't realize that, it is true. 06:14 But look at the gentle revolution 06:16 and the gentle revolutionary. 06:19 Come with me to Matthew 5:38 and 39. 06:22 Matthew 5:38 and 39. 06:26 You've heard that it was said, 06:27 "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 06:30 Some people still say the same. 06:33 But I tell you not to resist an evil person, 06:37 but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, 06:40 turn the other to him also. 06:45 Now you say, "It doesn't work, it's absolutely impossible." 06:49 What would happen 06:50 if we Americans were to follow these rules in America? 06:57 Well, it just might be a far better place 07:00 because many people think today, 07:02 there's lots of hate and poison circulating in America, 07:08 and the politicians have shown us the way. 07:11 I want you to look at some of these people on the screen. 07:15 There is Gandhi. 07:16 He was not a Christian. 07:18 He led a bloodless revolution. 07:23 And he did it on the basis of the teachings of Christ. 07:27 He said, "I believe in the teachings of Christ 07:29 as far as how you treat people," Gandhi. 07:33 One of my heroes, 07:34 Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa, 07:39 Nelson Mandela, all of these people, 07:42 Martin Luther King 07:44 named after the great Martin Luther, 07:46 all Christians. 07:49 And they believed that grace was greater than guns. 07:53 What a heresy. 07:56 Grace is greater than guns. 07:58 Who said that? Well, Jesus said it. 08:03 Let me mention some other bloody revolutionaries. 08:07 Maximilien Robespierre, the French Revolution, why? 08:13 Because of a corrupt church 08:16 and a corrupt government. 08:19 Whenever you have a corrupt church 08:22 and a corrupt government, 08:24 you're going to have a revolution. 08:27 And so they had the French Revolution 08:29 which became atheistic. 08:33 And during the reign of terror they used, of course, 08:37 the guillotine. 08:38 You remember the stories of the knitting ladies. 08:41 The ladies who would sit and knit 08:44 as they watched their heads being chopped off. 08:48 Atheism. 08:51 Then not very far 08:52 from the United States of America, 08:54 Cuba, was Fidel Castro. 08:58 You know why you had the Cuban Revolution. 09:01 You know why this? 09:02 You'll say, "Oh, it was just something 09:04 that happened out of the blue." 09:05 No, because of a corrupt government, 09:09 the Batista regime. 09:13 Bad, bad, bad. 09:17 And so, he overthrew them in 1959. 09:23 In 1962 we had the missile crisis 09:26 when the world came this close to oblivion. 09:32 Remember it? I do. 09:35 But after he got into power, 09:39 he took away the freedoms from the Cuban people, 09:42 that's why they had a mass exodus. 09:47 He was an abuser of human rights. 09:51 One dictator took the place of another dictator 09:56 like Mao Zedong. 09:59 He overthrew a corrupt government. 10:02 He was a communist, an atheist. 10:04 The atheist need to answer to these crimes 10:07 because I've heard the atheist say, 10:09 "If we were in charge 10:11 and we got rid of the Christians, 10:13 we would have a better world. 10:15 We would have hell on earth. 10:19 Look where the atheists have been in charge. 10:23 They've been as bad as the corrupt Christians. 10:28 And those who claim the name of Christ 10:31 are not necessarily Christians, remember this. 10:34 More sins have been perpetrated in the name of Jesus 10:38 than perhaps any other individual. 10:42 But Mao Zedong, the great atheist, 10:46 he caused the deaths of 45 million Chinese. 10:50 Is anybody listening to this? 10:53 More than the whole state of California 10:55 even with the illegals, 10:58 45 million Chinese between 1958 and '62. 11:07 He caused the deadliest famine in history. 11:13 The communist Chinese government is built on blood. 11:18 He said this, 11:19 "Revolution is not a dinner party, 11:21 not an essay, not a painting, 11:25 nor a piece of embroidery, 11:26 it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, 11:29 so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. 11:35 A revolution is an insurrection, 11:37 an act of violence 11:38 by which one class overthrows another." 11:41 Violence comes from the pit of hell. 11:48 I have met with some of the victims 11:50 of the Cultural Revolution one-on-one. 11:54 They told me 11:55 because they were Christians, 11:57 they were beaten, starved, imprisoned. 12:01 The communists' revolutions around the world 12:03 have been bloody and dreadful. 12:07 Look at some of the states even today, in Latin America, 12:12 corrupt government, corrupt church. 12:18 Revolutions are generally not gentle, 12:21 but today we're talking about 12:23 the greatest revolutionary of them all, 12:26 the gentle revolutionary. 12:28 Listen to this statement, 12:29 my atheistic friend, if you dare. 12:35 Jesus' life and teachings have overthrown evil empires, 12:41 without guns. 12:43 Freed millions of slaves, 12:45 uplifted oppressed women, 12:50 and positively changed millions of lives, 12:54 without a single shot being fired. 12:57 No violence, no armies, 13:00 no guns. 13:03 Now listen to this. 13:04 Don't confuse Jesus with many people 13:10 who profess His name. 13:12 Atheists will say to me, 13:13 "What about the great crusades?" 13:17 Hey, they had nothing to do with Jesus. 13:21 That was a show that was put on by a corrupt church. 13:27 But Jesus was a gentle revolutionary. 13:32 I want you to notice his quite gentle revolutionary teachings. 13:38 Most professing Christians like us 13:41 have never read them. 13:45 A few years ago during a presidential debate, 13:49 one of the presidential contenders 13:52 who is a good man and a doctor. 13:56 When he made his speech and they were talking, 13:59 "How are we going to deal with this problem here? 14:01 How are we going to deal with this problem?" 14:02 He said, 14:04 "I wonder if we should show our enemies love." 14:11 You know what happened? 14:13 And the people sitting in the audience 14:15 were all probably, all professing Christians. 14:20 They laughed, and they laughed, and then they booed him. 14:28 So I tell you, most folks know nothing 14:32 about what He taught, do you? 14:36 I want you to notice 14:38 the greatest revolutionary of them all. 14:40 Matthew 5:1. 14:43 Matthew 5:1, 14:46 "Seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain," 14:49 which represents the kingdom, 14:51 "when He was seated His disciples came to Him." 14:56 The teachings of His gentle kingdom 14:59 are established on the rules of heaven, 15:03 not the rules of earth, 15:06 and are quite contrary to what happens in Washington, 15:11 or Moscow, or Canberra, or London. 15:16 I want you to notice the greatest sermon 15:19 ever preached and the least known. 15:22 The greatest and the least known. 15:26 Matthew 5:2 and 3, 15:28 "Then he opened His mouth 15:31 and taught them saying, 15:35 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, 15:41 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 15:45 This word blessed 15:49 is aptly translated happy. 15:53 If you want to be happy, 15:56 this is the way to true happiness. 15:59 Blessed are the poor in spirit. 16:02 What on earth does it mean? 16:06 It means happiness through spiritual poverty. 16:09 What does it mean? 16:11 It is not condemning riches. 16:14 In of themselves riches are a blessing 16:19 if those riches are used for the glory of God 16:23 and the up-building of the human race. 16:26 If you use riches just for your own soul, 16:29 they will get inside your soul and your soul will rot. 16:34 But blessed, Jesus said, 16:36 are the poor in spirit. 16:41 The world, of course, is full of very proud people. 16:45 The words that most people 16:46 use more than any other words are I, me, mine. 16:52 Jesus told the story of two worshipers. 16:55 One of them was a Pharisee 16:57 and the other one was a publican, 17:00 not to be confused with a Republican. 17:06 There was a Pharisee, he was a really churchy guy. 17:10 He was a super, super churchy guy. 17:13 He knew the Old Testament out by heart. 17:16 He was great on paying tithes, 17:17 and keeping all of the commandments, 17:19 and lots of other stuff as well. 17:22 Now, the publican was pretty bad guy. 17:27 He was a sinner. 17:30 Most of us would not invite 17:32 a publican to come into our homes. 17:34 And so, both of these guys go off to the temple, 17:37 and the Pharisee, 17:39 the Bible says, prays like this, 17:40 "Lord, I thank you, but I'm not as other men are, 17:46 or even like this publican. 17:49 I fast so many times a week. 17:51 I give tithes of all I've got. 17:53 I keep the commandments." 17:56 And then you got this other guy, 17:58 he comes in, 18:02 publican. 18:04 He doesn't even lift up his eyes to God. 18:06 He puts his head down, and he says, 18:08 "Lord, be merciful. 18:11 Be merciful to me, a sinner." 18:17 He hit a home run. 18:19 You know why? 18:21 He had a sense of his spiritual poverty. 18:25 He saw himself 18:27 as a sinner. 18:32 Now Jesus said, "If you want to be saved, 18:35 you've got to realize your spiritual need." 18:39 It's not easy to understand 18:42 that you and I are sinners. 18:48 And we're standing in need of the mercy 18:51 and the grace of God. 18:56 So Jesus said, 18:57 "Happiness doesn't come through money. 19:00 It comes through spiritual poverty. 19:03 Verse 4. 19:05 Look at verse 4, "Blessed..." 19:07 And look at the text. 19:09 "Blessed are those who mourn, 19:13 for they shall be comforted." 19:15 He's not talking here about crybabies. 19:19 We say happy are the wealthy, the partygoers, 19:23 the world connected, 19:25 the rich, the famous and the powerful. 19:30 There's a prominent politician, 19:32 well-known in the United States of America. 19:34 He's famous for this statement. 19:38 He said, "I never confessed my sins." 19:43 I guess he believes, he doesn't have any sins. 19:46 How far can you get from God? 19:51 Blessed are those who mourn. 19:53 He's talking about mourning for your sins 19:56 and knowing that you're standing 19:58 in need of the grace of God. 20:01 Verse 5 says. 20:04 Verse 5, look at it. 20:07 "Blessed are the meek, 20:10 for they shall inherit the earth." 20:12 Jesus didn't say, "Blessed are the weak." 20:17 He said, "Blessed are the meek." 20:23 Now Jesus was not a namby-pamby. 20:30 Jesus could get mad. 20:34 Jesus could get angry, not like our anger. 20:42 Jesus, because He was God, had righteous indignation. 20:45 You and I haven't had it for one second in our lives. 20:49 But He went into the temple and He saw people there 20:54 doing things in the temple, 20:56 prostituting the temple worship. 20:59 And Jesus was a sun tanned strong young man. 21:03 He wasn't an old man with white hair. 21:06 And Jesus got a whip, and He took out the whip, 21:09 and He drove them out of the temple. 21:15 So you need to realize this. 21:18 Meekness 21:20 is not weakness. 21:25 We are not called to be crybabies. 21:30 We're not called to be namby-pambies. 21:36 One young man said to me, 21:37 "Well, I was brought up in a home 21:39 with my mother just... 21:41 She just didn't let me have any problems at all. 21:44 I was sort of covered all the time in cotton wool." 21:49 I said to him, "It's about time you grew up young fellow" 21:52 because he used to be... 21:54 He cries so easily. 21:55 Anything that happened, huh-uh, he's crying. 22:00 Soldiers don't go into battle 22:02 and win battles by crying. 22:09 Where do we get that from? 22:13 Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek." 22:15 Moses was the meekest man on earth, 22:18 but he was no pushover. 22:20 Moses was a humble person. 22:22 He'd seen the greatness of God 22:25 and the passing glory of the Pharaohs. 22:27 He had a sense of his own inadequacy. 22:31 You and I have got to have a sense 22:33 of our own inadequacies. 22:35 I'm not good enough. 22:37 I'm not strong enough. 22:39 I can't do this in my own strength. 22:42 I'm not worthy to go to heaven. 22:47 So Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek." 22:51 A proud person cannot be saved or go to heaven 22:55 because there are no proud people in heaven. 22:57 God is not proud. 23:00 Jesus was the strongest of men, 23:02 but Jesus was also the meekest of men. 23:07 Look at verse 6, the revolutionary teachings. 23:12 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 23:16 for they will be filled." 23:17 Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 23:23 Have you ever been thirsty? 23:26 Have you really been hungry? 23:28 Bit hard here in this great country 23:29 where we live. 23:31 Now I'm told, 23:32 there's lots of people in America 23:34 or other places who are hungry. 23:38 But I spent two days in the desert 23:41 in the south of Iraq. 23:47 I've never felt so lonely 23:50 because I ran out of water and I ran out of food. 23:54 I was just drying up. 23:58 When I finally got to Basra, south of Iraq, 24:01 it's a terrible place to go today. 24:03 I went there when there was no fighting. 24:05 I just crossed over from Iran, 24:08 crossed over the River Euphrates, 24:10 and I was travelling for two days in the desert. 24:13 I saw the caravans of camels going through in the desert. 24:18 When I got to that place, Basra, 24:21 I was hungry and I was thirsty. 24:23 My mouth was dry. 24:24 Jesus said, 24:26 "When you get that hungry and thirsty for God, 24:30 then you're going to be happy. 24:32 Blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty 24:36 to be better, and to do better, 24:42 and to have the righteousness of God. 24:45 That means, the thing about this, 24:49 this is why these teachings are so different. 24:52 No lying. 24:55 No cheating. 24:57 No slandering. 25:00 No boasting. 25:02 This is the very, very opposite 25:05 of our Washington politics, 25:12 Hollywood. 25:16 Not blessed are the well connected. 25:20 Not blessed are the people with political power. 25:23 Not blessed are the people who are sitting on thrones 25:28 and lording it over the American people. 25:33 The blessed are those 25:34 who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. 25:40 You say, "Hey, oh, just a lot of talk. 25:45 Just a lot of talk." 25:46 So what? Let me tell you. 25:49 When earthly kingdoms pass way, 25:53 the kingdom of God 25:55 that is based on these gentle teachings 25:58 will endure for ever. 26:01 And we'll be back in a moment with the gentle revolutionary. 26:08 Stay with us. 26:23 There's only one thing 26:24 that really counts in this lifetime, 26:27 your relationship to Christ. 26:30 And then if you have a right relationship with Christ, 26:33 you want to tell people about Christ. 26:36 That's why Jesus said, 26:38 "Go into all the world 26:39 and preach the gospel to every creature." 26:43 By the grace of God, we're going to do that, 26:46 we are doing that. 26:47 That is why we're going back to Cuba 26:50 to this communist land to preach Christ. 26:55 We're accepting an invitation to go to the vast, 26:59 huge city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, 27:03 been there before, 27:04 but by the grace of God, we're going back. 27:08 Please support us. 27:09 And please stand with us 27:12 in the preaching of the everlasting gospel. 27:15 You say, "How do you do it? 27:16 Who pays the bills?" 27:18 We do. 27:19 "Do you get any help, 27:21 financial help from the church?" 27:22 No, my friend, we don't. 27:24 But we get a lot of help from God and from His children. 27:29 Please support us 27:30 in the preaching of the everlasting gospel. 27:33 It's the most important work in all the world. 27:36 Everything else is almost trivia. 27:40 So would you please write to me? 27:43 John Carter, P.O. Box 27:46 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 27:51 Do your best for Jesus. 27:53 Do your best for the gospel. 27:56 And in Australia, write to me at Terrigal. 28:00 And we promise you this, 28:03 every dime, every dollar 28:05 is going to be used to win souls 28:07 to our Lord Jesus Christ. 28:10 Please write to me today. 28:14 Thank you and God bless you. 28:25 For a copy of today's program, please contact us 28:29 at P.O. Box 1900, Thousand Oaks, California 91358. 28:35 Or in Australia, contact us at P.O. Box 861, 28:40 Terrigal, New South Wales 2260. 28:44 This program is made possible 28:46 through the generous support of viewers like you. 28:49 We thank you for your continued support. 28:52 May God richly bless you. |
Revised 2019-01-21