Passage: Luke 19

Luke 19:37-40
37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:
“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

We need to have this kind of attitude, to take off our garments before Jesus, to celebrate His presence, to worship Him and honor Him every day. We need to honor Jesus every day. We need to take off our garments before Him every day.
The devil will always try to stop God’s children from speaking the truth. Satan will do everything in his power to keep you from praising God, from studying His Word, from serving God, from praying. Why? When you stop serving God, you will die spiritually. That’s what Satan wants. His goal is to destroy you, to kill you. His goal is to take you to hell.

When we study the Bible, we see that three different things cried (and still cry) out to God:
1. Blood
2. Donkey
3. Rocks

#1 Blood

Cain abused the grace of God but Abel honored the grace of God. God accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s offering. Cain became very jealous of his brother, so jealous that he killed him.

Cain tried to hide his sin, but no one can hide his or her sin. God heard the voice of Abel’s blood crying out to him from the ground.

Genesis 4:5-10
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

The eyes and ears of God hear and see everything in this world. God knows every sin in your heart and life. God knows when you are looking at sinful things. God knows when you are dealing with hatred, anger, jealousy, pride, or perversion. He knows your thoughts and sees your actions. He knows you.

When people try to cover their sin, refusing to repent, they will die and go to hell. When you cover your sin, your sin will persecute, destroy, and condemn you.

God wants to communicate with your eyes, your lips, your body, your hands, or your actions. But when you refuse to communicate with God this way, He will communicate with your blood.

#2 Donkey

In the Bible, God used prophets to bless and curse people. When the prophet blessed them, they were blessed. When the prophet cursed them, they were cursed. The king of Moab knew this truth, so he asked the prophet Balaam to come and curse Israel. God told him not to curse the nation of Israel because they were blessed by God.

If you curse someone who is blessed by God, someone who is chosen by God, that curse will come back upon you. But if you bless someone chosen and blessed by God, you will be blessed as well.

God warned Balaam not to curse the nation of Israel because they were His chosen nation. But the king of Moab gave him money, so he went to him. He was blinded by money so he went to curse Israel. He disobeyed God. On the way, his donkey cried out.

Numbers 22:27-30
27 And when the donkey saw the Angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam’s anger was aroused, and he struck the donkey with his staff.
28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
29 And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!”
30 So the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?”
And he said, “No.”

God used a donkey to stop Balaam. Scientifically, a donkey could not speak a human language, but God makes all things possible.

#3 Rocks

When Jesus came into Jerusalem, the people of Israel cried out, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of Lord.” The Pharisees rebuked them. Jesus told them that if they didn’t cry out that the stones would.

Jesus needs to receive praise. God created us to worship Him.

It’s your choice: who are you going to praise today? Praise and worship to God is our honor, our privilege. We need to teach our children to praise God. We need to teach them the meaning and power of praising God, of prayer, of obedience.

When the Romans arrested and crucified Jesus, no one praised Him. The disciples scattered. The women wept. The crowd mocked and jeered. No one praised. So the rocks cried out. When Jesus died on the cross, the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The rocks cried out and praised God.

Matthew 27:50-52
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

When we stop praising God, the rocks will cry out.

God bless you,
Pastor Sun Hui East

More in this series:
Part 1: Is Jesus your Lord?
Part 2: Lay your garments before Him
Part 3: The day the rocks cried out