Let us take heed to ourselves in the matter of the Lord’s supper.
It is easy to err about it on either side. On the one hand, we are not to be content with staying away from the Lord’s table under the vague plea of unfitness. As long as we so stay away, we are disobeying a plain command of Christ, and are living in sin.
But, on the other hand, we are not to go to the Lord’s table as a mere form, and without thought. As long as we receive the sacrament in that state of mind, we derive no good from it, and are guilty of a great transgression.
It is a dreadful thing to be unfit for the sacrament, for this is to be unfit to die. It is a no less dreadful thing to receive it unworthily, for this is most provoking to God.
The only safe course is to be a decided servant of Christ, and to live the life of faith in Him. Then we may draw near with boldness, and take the sacrament to our comfort.
From “Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark” by JC Ryle (1856)