We shall now consider, in the third place, the persons for whom, and for whom alone, the Lord’s Supper was instituted.
The Lord’s Supper, then, was instituted for the church of God — the family of the redeemed. All the members of that family should be there, for none can be absent without incurring the guilt of disobedience to the plain command of Christ and His inspired apostle, and the consequence of this disobedience will be positive spiritual decline and a complete failure in testimony for Christ. Such consequences, however, are the result only of willful absence from the Lord’s table. There are circumstances which, in certain cases, may present an insurmountable barrier, though there might be the most earnest desire to be present at the celebration of the ordinance, as there ever will be where the mind is spiritual, but we may lay it down as a fixed principle of truth that no one can make progress in the divine life who willfully absents himself from the Lord’s table. “All the congregation of Israel” were commanded to keep the passover (Ex. 12). No member of the congregation could with impunity be absent. “The man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin” (Num. 9:1313But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin. (Numbers 9:13)).
I feel that it would be rendering really valuable service to the cause of truth and a furtherance of the interests of the church of God if an interest could be awakened on this important subject. There is too much lightness and indifference in the minds of Christians as to the matter of their attendance at the table of the Lord, and where there is not this indifference, there is an unwillingness arising from imperfect views of justification. Now both these hindrances, though so different in their character, spring from one and the same source — selfishness. He who is indifferent about the matter will selfishly allow trifling circumstances to interfere with his attendance: He will be hindered by family arrangements, love of personal ease, unfavorable weather, trifling or, as it frequently happens, imaginary bodily ailments—things which are lost sight of or counted as nothing when some worldly object is to be gained. How often does it happen that men who have not spiritual energy to leave their houses on the Lord’s Day have abundant natural energy to carry them some miles to gain some worldly object on Monday. Alas that it should be so! How sad to think that worldly gain could exert a more powerful influence on the heart of the Christian than the glory of Christ and the furtherance of the church’s benefit, for this is the way in which we must view the question of the Lord’s Supper. What would be our feelings, amid the glory of the coming kingdom, if we could remember that, while on earth, a fair or a market or some such worldly object had commanded our time and energies, while the assembly of the Lord’s people around His table was neglected?
If you are in the habit of absenting yourself from the assembly of Christians, ponder the matter in the presence of the Lord before you absent yourself again. Reflect upon the pernicious effect of your absence in every way. You are failing in your testimony for Christ, you are injuring the souls of your brethren, and you are hindering the progress of your own soul in grace and knowledge. Do not suppose that your actings are without their influence on the whole church of God: You are at this moment either helping or hindering every member of that body on earth. “If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.” This principle has not ceased to be true, though professing Christians have split into so many different divisions. In fact, it is so divinely true that there is not a single believer on earth who is not acting either as a helper to or a drain upon the whole body of Christ, and if there be any truth in the principle already laid down (that the assembly of Christians and the breaking of bread in any given locality is, or ought to be, the expression of the unity of the whole body), you cannot fail to see that if you absent yourself from that assembly or refuse to join in giving expression to that unity, you are doing serious damage to all your brethren as well as to your own soul. I would lay these considerations on your heart and conscience, in the name of the Lord, looking to Him to make them influential.
But not only does this pernicious indifference of spirit act as a hindrance to many, in presenting themselves at the Lord’s table, imperfect views of justification produce the same unhappy result. If the conscience be not perfectly purged, if there be not perfect rest in God’s testimony about the finished work of Christ, there will either be a shrinking from the Supper of the Lord or an unintelligent celebration of it. Those only can show the Lord’s death who know, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the value of the Lord’s death. If I regard the ordinance as a means whereby I am to be brought into a place of greater nearness to God or whereby I am to obtain a clearer sense of my acceptance, it is impossible that I can rightly observe it. I must believe, as the gospel commands me to believe, that all my sins are forever put away before I can take my place with any measure of spiritual intelligence at the Lord’s table. If the matter be not viewed in this light, the Lord’s Supper can only be regarded as a kind of step to the altar of God, and we are told in the law that we are not to go up by steps to God’s altar, lest our nakedness be discovered (Ex. 20:2626Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. (Exodus 20:26)) — the meaning of which is that all human efforts to approach God (the stairs) must issue in the discovery of man’s sinful condition (the nakedness).
Thus we see that if it be indifference that prevents the Christian from being at the breaking of bread, it is most blameworthy in the sight of God and most injurious to his brethren and himself. If it be an imperfect sense of justification that prevents, it is not only unwarrantable, but most dishonoring to the love of the Father, the work of the Son, and the clear and unequivocal testimony of the Holy Spirit.
But it is not infrequently said, and that, too, by those who profess spirituality and intelligence, “I derive no spiritual benefit by going to the assembly; I am as happy in my own room, reading my Bible.” I would affectionately ask such, Are we to have no higher object before us in our actings than our own happiness? Is not obedience to the command of our blessed Master — a command delivered on “the same night in which He was betrayed” — a far higher and nobler object to set before us than anything connected with self ? If He desires that His people should assemble in His name for the express object of showing forth His death till He come, shall we refuse because we feel happier in our own rooms? He tells us to be there; we reply, “We feel happier at home.” Our happiness, therefore, must be based on disobedience, and, as such, it is an unholy happiness. It is much better, if it should be so, to be unhappy in the path of obedience than happy in the path of disobedience. But I believe the thought of being happier at home is a mere delusion, and the end of those deluded by it will prove it such. Thomas might have deemed it indifferent whether he was present with the other disciples, but he had to do without the Lord’s presence and to wait for eight days until the disciples came together on the first day of the week, for there and then the Lord was pleased to reveal Himself to his soul. And just so will it be with those who say, “We feel happier at home than in the assembly of believers.” They will surely be lacking in knowledge and experience; yea, it will be well if they come not under the terrible woe denounced by the prophet: “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened” (Zech. 11:1717Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. (Zechariah 11:17)). And again, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Heb. 10:25-2725Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:25‑27)).
As to the objection upon the grounds of the barrenness and unprofitableness of Christian assemblies, it will generally be remarked that the greatest spiritual barrenness will always be found in connection with a critical and complaining spirit. And I doubt not that if those who complain of the unprofitableness of meetings and draw from thence an argument in favor of their remaining at home were to spend more time in secret waiting on the Lord for His blessing on the meetings, they would have a very different experience.
And now, having shown from Scripture who should be at the breaking of bread, we shall proceed to consider who should not. On this point Scripture is equally explicit. In a word, then, none should be there who are not members of the true church of God. The same law which commanded all the congregation of Israel to eat the passover commanded all uncircumcised strangers not to eat. And now that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us, none can keep the feast (which is to extend throughout this entire dispensation) nor break the bread nor drink the wine in true remembrance of Him except those who know the cleansing and healing virtues of His precious blood. To eat and drink without this knowledge is to eat and drink unworthily — to eat and drink judgment, like the woman in Numbers 5 who drank the water of jealousy to make the condemnation more manifest and awfully solemn.
Now it is in this that Christendom’s guilt is specially manifest. In taking the Lord’s Supper, the professing church has, like Judas, put her hand on the table with Christ and betrayed Him; she has eaten with Him and at the same time lifted up her heel against Him. What will be her end? Just like the end of Judas. “He then, having received the sop, went immediately out; and” —the Holy Spirit adds, in awful solemnity — “it was night.” Terrible night! The strongest expression of divine love only elicited the strongest expression of human hatred. So will it be with the false professing church collectively and each false professor individually. And all those who, though baptized in the name of Christ and sitting down at the table of Christ, have nevertheless been His betrayers will find themselves at last thrust out into outer darkness — involved in a night which shall never see the beams of the morning — plunged in a gulf of endless and ineffable woe. And though they may be able to say to the Lord, “We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets,” yet His solemn, heartrending reply will be, while He shuts the door against them, “I never knew you. Depart from Me!” I urge you, if you are still in your sins, defile not the Lord’s table by your presence, but instead of going there as a hypocrite, go to Calvary as a poor, ruined and guilty sinner and there receive pardon and cleansing from Him who died to save you.