August 26

Now the Lord has enacted a law, called the law of faith, for saving sinners through Christ; and He is under an oath to make it good both in the salvation of everyone who believes on Christ and in the damnation of everyone who does not. To make sure this plan works perfectly, God has given His Son an oath to be faithful, trusting Him as a priest to procure redemption and as a judge to pronounce the sentence at the great day of victory or condemnation.

So do not let anything draw you away from placing complete confidence in Christ the Son of the Most High-- God and man in one Person-- who laid down His life to atone for the sin of the whole world. Now He offers this blood as a price for you to carry in the hand of faith to the Father for pardon and peace.

Even if false teachers should come and call you from one Christ to another, from Christ outside you to a Christ within you, know this direction is not from God. The mouths of these reputed saints may quote Scripture, but their design is as dangerous as it is clever. When someone calls you from a Christ without to a Christ within, strip the doctrine of its pleasing disguise. In plain English, the false teacher calls you from trusting the righteousness of Christ (His objective work done for you and made yours by faith for your justification) to trusting in an alleged work of the Spirit within you. Now you are not a new creature in Christ-- you are not saved-- if you let go your hold on the living Christ to rely on something within yourself-- on some creature, even if it is the "new creature." Unless your conscience has already been given over to believing a lie, you can tell that this "new creature" is only a vein of gold enclosed in much dirt and imperfection; and these outward trappings will never fully be purged until you have been put into the refining pot of the grave.

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