Raymond Leung 讲道集

Intro: a Palm Sunday to welcome the king, yet the crucified king (38). The crucified king is in control (unlike the secular film about the passion), because it’s all under God’s plan. 1. Mixed events at His crucifixion . a group of morning women (27) . the mocking soldier and ruler (35-37) . the insulting and supporting criminal (33, 39-43) . the concluding words from the centurion . and the believers who stood at a distance, powerless 2. All in God’s hand . the judging God (23:28-29) . predicted death among the criminals, the casting lots for his clothes (Isa 53:12; Ps 22:18), the mocking from the rulers and soldiers (Ps 22:7) . the suffering of the servant king (Isa 53:7) . the display of God’s power (44-45) 4. Beyond ordinary people’s perception, God is at work to carry out His own plan. Today is the Palm Sunday, a day to remember the glorious time when Jesus entered Jerusalem as a king. At that moment, Jesus rode on a donkey to enter the city gate. People were excited about hi...

引言：教会会不会慢慢变成了一个社团而看低和排挤罪人？ 一． 试探耶稣 1． 摩西律法与习俗、法律 2． 邪恶的动机（8：6） 不能不尊重摩西律法，也不能不守当时的法律 3． 耶稣在地上写的是什么？ 二． 耶稣用摩西的律法回应 1． 耶稣对他们的反挑战（8：7） 用摩西的律法作反要求 神的话直达人的良知 2． 戏剧性的胜利（8：9） 人人都犯了奸淫吗？ 当我们指责别人的错误时，我们也曾经错过吗 三． 耶稣的宽恕（8：10－11） 1． 罪不定了，也不要再犯了 2． 我们对有犯错的人应有的态度 总结：基督有莫测丰盛的爱，他不定那妇人的罪，也我们的罪，甚至不定钉他十字架的人的罪，因为我们都是罪人。『父啊，赦免他们，因为他们所作的，他们不晓得。』 我们来自不同的背景。有学生，有工作的。有做研究的，有做工厂的。有退休的，也有照顾家庭的。我们也有不同的信主经历，有长有短。我非常的高兴，彼此是那么的不同，但我们却在主里是一家，一起在这里很和谐的事奉神，这都是神的恩典，让从神而来的爱心将我们连在一起。但耶稣对门徒说过，我们要防避法利赛人的酵。酵是什么意思？就是一点点的酵母，就可以改变一整团的面团的性质。就是说法利赛人的酵能够改变了基督徒团体一整团的面貌。那这个法利赛人的酵够厉害了，但实际上它指的是什么？有一次主耶稣讲了一个比喻，他说有两个人在圣殿里祷告，一个是法利赛人，一个是贪污、剥削同胞的税吏。（路18：9－14）法利赛人自言自语的祷告：『神啊，我感谢你，我不像别人勒索、不义、奸淫，也不像那个税吏。我一个礼拜禁吃两次，凡我所得的，都捐上十分之一。』但那个税吏只是远远的站着，祷告说：『神啊，开恩可怜我这个罪人。』耶稣于是总结这个比喻说，那个税吏回家去，比那个法利赛人还算为义了。为什么犯罪的税吏还要比那个法利赛人更为义？为什么？圣经在这个比喻以前就先解释了，因为那个法利赛人自以为义，自以为他自己比其他的人在宗教上、道德上高人一等。问题是法利赛人在信仰上是否真的很高，真的很爱神？不，在另外的地方，耶稣将他们的内心分析的很清楚了，他们只是有表面，没有内心，外面是道德的教条，一道一道的很清楚细节，但里面没有真心听从神的话的心，道德规矩代替了顺服的心。耶稣说这是假冒为善（我不再说圣经的细节了）。可见自以为义和假冒为善常常是双生兄弟，看不清楚自己里面的心，就以为自...

There is a central message in the whole Bible. In biblical terms, we call this central message the gospel, or the good news. This good news is centred at a historical person, whose name is Jesus. Without Jesus, there will be no such good news; and without this good news, the whole Bible has lost its centre, and so is our Christian faith. That is why the following question is very important: “Who is Jesus?” Yes, who is Jesus? This question seems to be very easy for some people here that we often take it our granted. We may answer that Jesus is Christ, or in more details, he is the Son of God, or he is the king, the prophet, or the high priest. While these answers are all correct, we cannot take the answers as pure knowledge, just like any other knowledge which may help you to survive in this modern world. The question itself demands more. It demands that once we recognize who Jesus is, the next step is to think about our relationship to him. Therefore we may be able to change...

I think many of us have witnessed the rapid change in Bankstown area in these days. There are more and more beautiful shopping malls, dirt roads changed to be main roads, and last Tuesday I was surprised to see the how splendid was the Sports Club in our CBD. With all its luxurious interior design and lightings, it shone, as if it wanted to persuade me how magnificent is today’s entertainment life. Thanks to the modern technology and fossil energy. Modern life seems getting brighter and brighter. However, the Scripture tells us a different story. It tells us that no matter now and then, modern day or ancient times, this world is still in darkness! And this darkness will prevail unless there is intervention from the Almighty God. As said in 3:19, Then, what is this darkness? Why loving darkness is evil? Let me explain this darkness by using again last Sunday’s example, the poster in the London bus. Isn’t the humanist trying to tell people with the poster, saying: “...

This weekend is the time to remember those who have fallen. In the mean time, this week is still the time to remember the one who has risen, Jesus Christ our Lord. For those who have fallen, and for those who are their families, I think the greatest comfort to them comes from our Christian hope, the hope that in the end we will all be raised from the dead just like Jesus. According to the Bible, Jesus’ resurrection is the first fruit of our resurrections. Because of His resurrection, in the end we will all be raised. That is why St. Paul said in 1 Cor: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Back to today passage in 1 John, today let us learn more about our relationship with the risen Lord. Many of us may think that since Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and now he is back to heaven, He is far away from us. However, this is only part of the situation St. John has said in today’s passage. Another part in t...

In our calendar, today is the time to celebrate the Pentecost, the historic moment when the Holy Spirit descended onto the believing congregation. At this moment of celebration, perhaps it is also the right moment to think about what exactly is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which He conducts in this world. By all means, there is nothing wrong seeing the Pentecostal event as a time of jubilation, a time of gaining special power and experiencing aspiration. However, we can’t celebrate just for our own enjoyment, and then forget that there is something important for the Holy Spirit to do. Indeed there are some very important tasks in the world awaiting for Him, and not just that, His ministry is very focused. Without the understanding of his ministry, our celebration may be too self-centred, if not ungodly. And to understand His ministry, I think there is no better place than today’s passage, where our Lord Jesus Christ introduced the Holy Spirit to us. It will not be comprehens...

Within a series of Trinity Sundays, today we have another piece of passage which is also about the Trinity, or the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as one God. The teaching of Trinity seems to be difficult for some of us; and because it is difficult to grasp, the teaching is always under attack. I think some of the obvious attacks in recent days are from Jehovah Witness, and those people actually have knocked almost all the doors of the Chinese families in Sydney. However, we have to remember that although the teaching of Trinity is difficult, it is from the Bible. These teachings were passed down by the apostles and then written in the Bible. Therefore it is wrong to reject the teaching simply just because we find it difficult to understand with our modern mind. This kind of rejections arises from a mind using human experience and logic as the final authority, and that is exactly the problem Jehovah Witness. Well, let’s go back to our passage, of course today we can’t touch ...