I urge you to ‘examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith’. I would do nothing to rob any true believer of the joy of confident assurance. But I must warn all men to guard against religious presumption. It is Satan’s cheap counterfeit.

False faith can be very deceptive. False faith produces good works. It excites the emotions. It reforms the outward life. It performs deeds of religion. It causes sorrow for sin. It speaks well of Christ. It does works of charity. It trembles under the preaching of the gospel. False faith gains high offices in the church. It secures peace of mind. It walks in the company of great preachers. False faith even holds out to the Day of Judgment (Matt. 7; 22–23). My friend, beware of false faith! Remember Lot’s wife, Judas, Simon, Demas and Diotrephes. Be not numbered among them.

 Donald S. Fortner, Grace for Today: Daily Devotional Readings, (Danville, KY: Grace Baptist Church of Danville, 1986), 48.