There is great reason to give glory to the Lord Jesus Christ with you for what He has already wrought in you, and to join our thanksgiving to yours. That you have been brought to see these sins as sins, to hate them, to cry out against them, and to find by grace a measure of deliverance, is itself a token of His mercy. Let Him have all the praise, for He alone has brought you forth thus far, and He must have the honour of bringing you yet further.
You do well to feel that your own strength will fail you if you lean upon it. Whatever strength a man has of body or mind or spirit, if it be his own it will one day fail him. The sin that dwells in us drags us down, however high we may have ascended in the light of God, and still we need that the blood of Christ should cleanse us from all sin. Purity is one of the two great garments of Christianity, and we are called to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Be assured that lust when it conceives brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings forth death. Any sin whatever it is, if we cling to it and love it, will bring forth death. Therefore you are right to pray that these defilements may be put far from you, not for a season only but forever, and that your heart may be washed as well as your outward life.
Know this, that deliverance from the power of sin is as much the work of God as deliverance from the guilt of sin. Where we look for justification there must we also look for sanctification, for as we are justified through Jesus Christ we must also expect to receive sanctification from a heavenly source. It would never have occurred to any mind but the mind of God Himself to save sinners by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. He has found a ransom. The prisoner is ready to be executed, but there comes to him undeserved deliverance from all punishment, for the King's own Son has borne the penalty of all his iniquities. This deliverance came when the Lamb was slain. Pharaoh held Israel captive during all the plagues, but he could not go beyond the point where the blood was sprinkled. So your hope is not in your tears, though you have prayed and cried much, nor in your resolutions, but in free grace only. He can do nothing and he knows it who is truly taught of God, and then he learns that God has said, I have found a ransom.
Take comfort also that the Lord hears the cries of those who seek Him. It is of small use to spread griefs to the pitiless sea, but the ear of God is open to the broken heart. He has delivered His people from worse enemies than those of flesh, and saved them by a greater salvation than that wrought by Barak. He brings them forth and makes their deliverance effectual. They do not share the honour of their deliverance with Him, but willingly own that He has done it.
Let us pray for you as you have desired.
O Lord our God, look in tender pity upon this soul who confesses his sin and seeks to be made clean. Thou hast in mercy given him to see progress by Thy grace, now perfect what Thou hast begun. Renew his mind according to Thy Word, make him very wise to discern the snares of the enemy, to flee from youthful lusts and to keep himself pure as a vessel meet for Thy use. Thou hast ordained marriage to be the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and hast set all other union outside that covenant as sin against Thee, help him to honour Thy holy ordinance and to keep his body and spirit chaste before Thee, whether Thou leadest him to that estate or callest him to serve Thee in singleness. Speak to him, give him understanding, wash him yet more in the precious blood, and by Thy Spirit so renew his strength that he may wait upon Thee and mount up with wings as eagles. Grant him not only to be delivered from the guilt of sin but from its power and dominion, that sin may no longer reign in his mortal body. Let him undertake fresh work and do it to a nobler tune, with more expectancy, more confidence, more faith, more God reliance, and not with self reliance. Keep him unspotted, preserve him from the rust of this world and from the deceits of his own heart, and cause him to live to declare the works of the Lord. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and Ransom. Amen.
Go on, dear friend, to wait upon the Lord for daily renewing. Use the means of grace, the Word, prayer, and the table of the Lord, which never loses its freshness to those who come in faith. Flee every occasion and appearance of evil, make no provision for the flesh, and seek that wisdom which comes from above. If your burden does not yet fit your shoulder, bear it till it does, for time will reconcile you to the yoke if grace abides with you. He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, and you shall yet have more to declare of His works because you have known both affliction and deliverance.
