Men with Chests

“Whenever I feel that I have sinned and desire to overcome that sin for the future, the devil at the same time comes to me and whispers, ‘How can you be a pardoned person and accepted with God while you  still sin in this way?’  If I listen to this I drop into despondency , and if I continued in that state I should fall into despair, and should commit sin more frequently than before; but God’s grace comes in and says to my soul, ‘Thou hast sinned; but did not Christ come and save sinners?  Thou art not saved because thou art righteous; for Christ died for the ungodly.’  And my faith says, ‘Though I have sinned, I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and I am a child of God still.”  And what then?  Why the tears begin to flow and I say, ‘How could I ever sin against my God who has been so god to me?  Now I will overcome that sin,” and I will get strong to fight with sin through the conviction that I am God’s child.”

~ Charles Hayden Spurgeon,  (source unknown) taken from “John MacArthur, “Saved Without A Doubt”, Victor Books, Cook Communications, 2006, pg. 124