This message was first preached on Palm Sunday, 1995, and a stone was used during the message on which the following words were written: “Keep Praising The Lord, and I’ll Stay Quiet”.
Luke 19:28-40
This portion of scripture gives the beautiful account of the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem as the prophet Zechariah prophesied about many years before...
Deliverance day for the Jews had finally arrived, (or so they thought)
Their King and deliverer was riding in to take His crown and set up His kingdom...
They would overlook the lowly colt he rode for now...
The Roman Yoke would soon be broken, and God’s Kingdom would be set up on earth...
Finally, they’d be in charge...
Excitement charged the air around them as all their dreams and aspirations began to look like they would soon come true...
The Great Conqueror was in their midst, but they didn’t realize that his conquest had to be in the Spirit Realm, before He could set up His earthly Kingdom one day...
He came riding on a lowly colt that day, but one day He’ll return on a white horse arrayed in power and majesty and glory, and all eyes will behold Him...
He will rule with a rod of iron for 1,000 years on this earth with justice, truth, and righteousness...
If ever there was a Praise service, this was it...
As the procession moved on, and the crowd grew, the disciples, inspired by an enthusiasm which was caught up and prolonged by the multitude began singing loud praises to God...
The whole city is moved as Jesus of Nazareth makes His soul-stirring entry through the gates...
We notice first of all that
II. THE PEOPLE HAD A REASON TO PRAISE
They were praising Christ because they believed He had come to free them from Roman Oppression and rule...
All their burdens, shame, reproach and misery was on the shoulders of the man on the colt...
We know that for anyone to really praise the Lord, there first of all must be a reason...
These people really believed they had a reason to praise...
Jesus was not misled or deceived by the shouts of the people...
He knew they were praising Him for many different reasons, and in a few days, the very same ones would scream even in a louder crescendo to Crucify Him!
Hardly anyone had the right reason to praise Him...
They were mainly looking at what was in it for them...
But Christ didn’t stop them, and as a matter of fact, He accepted their praises as we see in vs. 40..
Do we today have a reason to Praise God?
These were praising because of their hopes of escaping the physical bondage they were in...
But we have been given spiritual freedom from Satan’s oppressive rule in our minds and spirits...
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
If anyone ever had a reason to praise God it’s the Saints of today, and especially those of us who have been blessed to live in America!
Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Why should we praise Him?
A few reasons are:
We’ve been redeemed, set free, made to be joint-heirs with Christ, more than conquerors, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, called out of darkness into his marvelous light, justified, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit, and are headed to Heaven to live with Christ for eternity
Do we have a reason to praise God?
May Christ ever be welcome to ride in through the gates of this house, and hear the Praises of His people...
Sometimes, we need to recognized our blessings we do have, especially in America:
"Count your blessings!" That is excellent counsel, but sometimes we have to recognize them first!
A man who owned a small estate wished to sell it. Sending for a real estate agent, he asked him to write an advertisement describing the house and land.
When the ad was ready, the agent took it to the owner and read it to him. "Read that again," said the owner. The agent read the description of the estate once more. "I don’t think I will sell after all," said the owner. "I have been looking for an estate like that all my life, and I did not know that I owned it!"
Count your blessings -- yes, but start by asking God to open your eyes to see your possessions in Christ. Begin by recognizing all that you have in Christ. That will change your entire perspective and enable you to praise God for what you have.
We see that not only did they have a reason to praise God, they also had...
II. THE ENVIRONMENT TO PRAISE HIM
As Christ rode through (vs. 37) the city the whole multitude was praising the Lord with a strong voice as one...
There is something about praise that is exciting and contagious...
Psa 100:1-4 tells us to come into His presence with singing, thanksgiving, praise and blessing.
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Psa 22:3 tells us that He inhabits the praises of His people... But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
One of the most effective tricks of the enemy is to take the praise out of the Christian and the church...
A praising church is a powerful church, because God inhabits or dwells in those praises...
The weaker the praise, the weaker the presence, the stronger the praise, the greater the presence...
Our hearts open up to Him, and become sensitive to His presence around us...
An environment of praise will always usher in the presence of God...
Look at yourselves as Ushers today...
2Ch 5:13-14 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the
LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
The atmosphere was filled with praise, and the praise invited the presence of God, and the Presence of God filled the people...
Praise should be on our lips as well as in our hearts...
This doesn’t happen all the time as we know, but there are times that God moves in His power and glory in a special way, and we need to be open to those times...
It’s up to each one of us to provide the environment for the Holy Spirit to feel welcome, and move in our midst...
Not only did they have the Reason to Praise, and the Right Environment, they also had...
III. THE APPROVAL OF CHRIST HIMSELF (vs. 39,40)
As the praises began to rise, and the noise became stronger and stronger...
There was a group of nervous people that had assembled..
Was it the Romans who feared this new king?
Was it the demon-possessed?
Was it the hardened sinners?
No, it was the Religious Pharisees who came with the words, "Rebuke thy Disciples"
I looked at this and I wondered why they were so nervous or fearful of what was going on...
Perhaps it was because they saw the Roman Garrison of troops in full view poised for action against any disloyal Jews...
Perhaps they were nervous of a crackdown that could come from the Romans, and they would be caught up in it...
But more likely, I believe it was because they sensed their power being stripped away and given to another...
No longer did they feel they would be admired by the people as God’s representatives, but now another would be...
The power play was on, and as far as they could see, they were coming up losers, so they wanted to squelch the praise that was going on...
The religious crowd will always try to squelch the praise, because it takes power away from them, and restores it to it’s rightful place...
When God is exalted in our churches, human kingdoms are abased and revealed for what they really are...
This is what the Pharisees feared then, and this is what the Religious crowd fears now in our churches across America...
As Jesus looks at the faces of the impassioned multitude waving their branches and shouting praises, He calmly says these words...
"If I could silence all these, the very stones on the ground would cry out..."
Imagine a rock rising up in Praise to the King of Kings instead of you!
Thousands of churches across the world are celebrating Palm Sunday, but wouldn’t think of allowing a peep of praise to be heard in their midst...
We must always be on guard that we don’t become like the Pharisees, proud and pompous as they were in attempting to silence the crowd...
Many churches have become to prestigious or full of society to allow praise a place...
or often don’t want to deal with the increased attack of the enemy as he gets nervous...
Many churches may try to break out of obscurity, and into freedom, but see the Garrison of the Enemy threatening any advances in God, and it becomes easy to settle back into a Religious Gospel...
Putting on a good front, and looking alive, but denying the Power of God to move in their services...
2 Tim 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
As misguided as this group seemed to be, Jesus never rebuked them...
And He will never rebuke you or I for praising Him either...
Psa 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Psa 92:1 A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
One obvious fact is that no one is exempt! Nor should they want to be exempt!
Let everything that Hath breath, Praise the Lord...
C.H. Spurgeon once said, "Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk at the rope. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might."
There is only one kind of person, who doesn’t praise the Lord.
Those that are dead...
Put Faith into action, and begin to Praise the Lord and experience the joy that comes as a result...
This message was first preached on Palm Sunday, 1995, and a stone was used during the message on which the following words were written: “Keep Praising The Lord, and I’ll Stay Quiet”. This was then trademarked and offered as Quiet Stones, and has been offered in Book Stores, Christian Book Distributors, and can also be found at http://www.quietstones.com - These Quiet Stones express the idea that it is our privilege to Praise God, and that Stones should never take the place of a living, breathing, God-created human being!
