The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
"INWARD CONFLICTS"
Why does God not remove the old sinful nature out of the Christian?
SIN REMAINING IN THE BELIEVER--
drives him humbly to confess his own nothingness, excludes all boasting from his tongue,
compels him to trust in his God,
takes away from him his propensity to trust in himself,
leads him to value the precious blood which cleanses him,
to prize the Holy Spirit who sanctifies him, to rejoice in the faithfulness, and patience, of God who still continues to be gracious to him.
And oh! what songs will the man of God sing when he gets to heaven!
How much sweeter will be the music, because of the conflict!
How much more glorious the victory, because of the warfare!
If I could be totally delivered from sin, root and branch, I
certainly would; but yet am I conscious that no Christian would glorify God so much in heaven as he now does, if there were not sin to be contended with.
A creature that could not sin, could scarcely show forth much of the praise of God by its holiness;
but that the creature can sin, nay, that there is a strong
drawing towards sin, and yet the divine grace keeps a man from
it, and sanctifies him even to perfection, why this will make
the song come swelling up of "Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah!"
If no adversaries had been fought, then no victories could have been won; if there were no temptations for us to struggle with, then there would have been no elbow-room for our faith, and no power for the display of the bare arm of God.
Many believers would have grown too proud to be borne with, if some infirmity had not plucked the plume from their helmets and made them mourn with brokenness of heart before God.
God can bring good out of evil by his overruling grace,
while on the other hand our good works have often been
the greatest curse we have ever had!
Good works have puffed us up, and so have led us into pride;
while our sins, though pulling us
down, have, through almighty
grace, led us to work for eternity.
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