Sermon Date: 2009/4/5

DATE: 2009/4/5
SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 19:28-40
SERMON: Walk with God and cry out for Christ
講道題目: 與神同行向主歡呼
Apart from Easter, no day is more joyous than Palm Sunday. Yet we hear other noises sounded in this event of Christ’s life. Luke tells us that when Jesus entered the city, some of the Pharisees urged him to keep his disciples quiet. Then Christ answered in the words of the text which seem strange even to this day. “Jesus said, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”(Luke 19:40)
The words reveal that underneath all of the outward commotion, Jesus saw something else. He knew that time was running out. There were decisions which had to be faced and made. Is there really anything in the Christian faith that is as urgent as Jesus expressed it?
I. There is urgency in the fact that your life is always changing one way or the other. Every day character is in the process of becoming better or worse. There is urgency about the direction in which it is going. How urgent it is that we look to those things that make for an expanding, unfolding life as against the things that close it and keep life from its fullness.
II. There is urgency in our personal relationships. They do not stand still either. If we are really acclaiming Christ in our hearts today, it could well lead us to re-evaluate the way in which we have given ourselves or neglected ourselves in the basic relationships of life.
III. There is urgency to acknowledge our walk with God. Today is Palm Sunday. It marks the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. People were waving palm branches to welcome him. Christians should do the same today even though the unbelief world tried to stop us from doing so. Those who walk with God can not help it but to cry out their salvation from Jesus Christ. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.”(I John 1:7) Thank God that since we are saved we have fellowship with God. Before, we merely had fellowship with people. People could be selfish, hypocritical and unintelligent. They hurt us more then they comfort us. But having fellowship with God gives us the assurance of love and heavenly benedictions. Many Christians lose sight of this blessing. We are too occupied with relationships in worldly things. Even though we spend time with God, it becomes nominal and superficial. We only ask what we want in our prayers and don’t bother to wait for an answer. We don’t worship in spirit and in truth. Thus we never experience the joy, peace, grace and blessedness. To have real fellowship with God takes certain pre-requisites. If we can not speak from heart to heart with God, there must be some obstacles which have to be cleared out of the way. Light and darkness; holiness and filth; honesty and deceit etc. are contradictory terms. If we still walk in darkness, filth and deceit we can not walk with God. Only when we walk in true light and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit we can walk with God. If our life, deeds, thoughts and words were not in accordance with God’s word in the Bible, we are walking in darkness. Especially when we know we have sinned and we don’t want to confess our sin, God’s fellowship can not prevail, not to mention fellowship with other Christians. No wonder when the world stops us from crying out for Christ we become silent.
IV. The need to shout for joy for Christ has hope in it. Why was it so urgent that Christ should be proclaimed? It was because in him God was bringing a new life, a new way of living, a new world for the sons of men. The alternative to Christ’s way becomes unthinkable, so God confronted us with the decision in the clearest way possible in One who came and said, “Follow me.”Surely it must have been the very grace of God that made it possible for all of us to understand the answer to the urgent decisions with which we are confronted. To see the hope that is in Christ means that we cannot keep silent, for even the stones would cry out.
Amen
Synopsis
The Pharisees urged Jesus to keep his disciples quiet. Then Christ answered in the words of the text which seem strange even to this day. “Jesus said, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”(Luke 19:40)
I. There is urgency in the fact that your life is always changing one way or the other.
II. There is urgency in our personal relationships.
III. There is urgency to acknowledge our walk with God.
IV. The need to shout for joy for Christ has hope in it.
To see the hope that is in Christ means that we cannot keep silent, for even the stones would cry out.

讲道大纲
耶稣荣耀的进耶路撒冷，人们夹道欢迎。法利赛人对耶稣说："夫子，责备你的门徒吧！" 耶稣说："我告诉你们，若是他们闭口不说，这些石头必要呼叫起来。"（路19：40）
甲． 有一种催逼告诉我们生命每一刻都在改变中。
乙． 有一种催逼叫我们正视人的关系。
丙． 有一种催逼要我们立志与神同行。
丁． 向基督欢呼包含了一个盼望。

当我们看见基督给我们希望时，我们不能闭口，否则石头也要呼叫起来了。