God's altar had to be built with uncut stones. No trace of human skill or effort could mark it. And oh, how human wisdom loves to take a chisel to the gospel! We trim it, polish it, arrange it into neat systems that suit our fallen tastes better. But instead of improving the gospel, our clever hands pollute it until it becomes something else entirely. Not God's truth at all.

Every edit we make to God's Word defiles it. Every "improvement" is pollution.

The proud human heart is desperate to have a hand in its own salvation. We dream up ways to prepare ourselves for Christ. We trust in our tears of repentance. We parade our good works. We boast about our natural abilities. By every possible means, we try to lift our tools to God's altar.

Listen well! Your self-confidence doesn't perfect the Savior's work. It pollutes it. It dishonors it. The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement. Not a single mark from your chisel or hammer will be tolerated.

There is blasphemy at the heart of every attempt to add to what Christ declared "finished" as he died. There is arrogance in trying to improve what satisfies the Lord Jehovah perfectly.

Trembling sinner, away with your tools! Fall on your knees! Accept the Lord Jesus as the altar of your atonement, and rest in him alone.

Many who profess faith should take warning about the doctrines they believe. Too many Christians feel compelled to smooth out the rough edges of Scripture, to reconcile its tensions, to make it all fit neatly together. This is irreverence. This is unbelief. Fight against it! Receive the truth as you find it. Rejoice that the doctrines of God's Word are uncut stones. That's exactly what makes them fit to build an altar for the Lord.