Celebrate the Lord

Will you please turn with me to Psalm 111, Psalm 111, verse 1. Hallelujah! I will celebrate Jehovah with my whole heart in the Council of the Upright and in the Assembly. Let me repeat it. Hallelujah! I will celebrate Jehovah with my whole heart in the Council of the Upright and in the Assembly.

Thank God He gathered us together this morning to remember the Lord at His table. The one thing that is upon my heart is concerning this matter of the atmosphere. When we come together, under what kind of atmosphere are we in? Because the atmosphere affects us very deeply.

You know, when a dear one passed away, we usually have a memorial service, but gradually you find among God's people, we do not call it a memorial service. We call it instead a celebration. You know, when you come to a memorial service, you come into an atmosphere of loss, sadness, depression, very negative, because we are thinking of what a loss we have.

But when you come to a celebration, the whole atmosphere is different, because it is joyful, cheerful, hopeful, very positive. So, when we come to remember the Lord at His table, what kind of atmosphere do we enter in or do we bring in? You know, when our Lord Jesus instituted this Lord's table at the Passover feast, so far as the disciples were concerned, they were sorrowful, very depressed, big loss, because they realized they would lose the Lord. They were self-centered, thinking of their loss.

And our Lord Jesus come and said, Cheer up! Let not your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in Me. And He ends up with saying, Well, in the world you have tribulation, but be of good courage, for I have overcome the world.

Now that our Lord Jesus has accomplished this work of redemption on the cross, it is finished. He has risen from the dead. He is now at the right hand of God, waiting for all His enemies to be His footstool, bringing His own kingdom in, and rule and reign throughout the world.

As the church come together to remember Him, I believe the atmosphere will be very different from when His disciples had the first Lord's table, because we came together in the finished work of Christ, in the glorious victory of Christ, in His resurrection and ascension, and with the hope of His coming. So, it is a celebration. We remember Him by celebrating Him.

And that's what we are doing. Now, when you come together to celebrate, what do you really do? Everyone who come to this celebration has a story to tell. Every one of us has a personal experience of our Lord Jesus.

Every one of us knows what He means to us, what He has done to us. How glorious, how wonderful, how faithful is our Lord Jesus to every one of us. Not only throughout the days after we have been saved by Him, but even the past week, there is much we can say of Him, much that we can praise Him, much that we can testify of Him.

And this is what the Lord's table is for. Can we be silent in celebrating Him? Is there nothing to tell about Him? Nothing to testify of Him, of His faithfulness, goodness to us, of what He has done for us? Is there no appreciation? Is there no appreciation? This is not a time for us to think about ourselves, to tell of ourselves. No.

He occupies our heart. We are here. Our hearts are full of Him.

How gratitude, what gratitude we have of Him. If it's not because of Him, we will not be here this morning. So, brothers and sisters, let us celebrate our Lord with our whole hearts.

In the midst of the upright, we are supposed to be upright, by His grace, and in the assembly, in the church. You know, this reminds me of the Shulamite in the Song of Songs. That virgin, bethrothed to His beloved, her heart is all for Him.

And she was asked a question, what is your beloved that is different from the other beloved? Now, brothers and sisters, this is the time. We should tell the world. What is the difference? Our beloved is to us than any other beloved.

He is the cheapest of the ten thousands. He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved.

This is my friend. Brothers and sisters, this is your opportunity to exalt Him. Don't miss this opportunity.

Many brothers and sisters have never opened their mouth at the time of remembrance. You have nothing to remember. You have nothing to tell.

How it must have hurt our Lord. Let the old and the young strive for the opportunity. To just express our appreciation, our love of Him.

And that is the way to celebrate the Lord's table. Amen.