Your honest confession has reached a gracious ear, and it is well that you do not hide your sin but lay it open before God. You tremble and shake for fear, and with a penitent heart you desire forgiveness, and to such a heart the word of the Lord comes with a blessed whisper, There is forgiveness.
You ask, will Jesus save me, though I have fallen again and feel myself a fool. Hear this, there is forgiveness with God, and it is a divine forgiveness. I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions. Were all men to hiss at you and you felt yourself the chief of sinners, you may yet have the chief of sinners forgiveness, for where God draws no limit, do not you draw any. However sinful your life has been up to now, there is forgiveness with God even for you, and it is to be had through Jesus Christ His Son alone, the Just who died for the unjust that He might bring us to God.
This forgiveness is surprising, so surprising that the Lord repeats, I, even I, lest any should doubt it. It is complete, as when a creditor forgives the whole debt to one who has nothing to pay. It is eternal, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. And it is present, now, at this moment. Whether you are very young or very old, there is forgiveness now if you will come with repentance and faith and put your trust in Christ. The tally is destroyed, the record nailed to the cross, when a man believes with his heart that Jesus is his Redeemer.
Yet do not think lightly of the snare that has taken you. You say lust follows you around, and you look lustfully at everything. Take heed, for lust when it has conceived brings forth sin, and sin when it is finished brings forth death. That is the pedigree of sin, it is born of lust and it brings forth death. Any sin, whatever it is, if we cling to it and love it, will bring forth death, rest assured of that. Charity and purity are the two great garments of Christianity, and charity without purity will be of no use, for without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
You are not free to remain in lust, but you may be freed from its dominion by the blood of Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. He not only forgave us at the first all our sins, but He continues daily to forgive as we walk humbly before Him, yet that same grace teaches us to deny ungodliness. Do not remain in the place of temptation as if you must be overcome. Pray as our Lord taught us, Lead us not into temptation, which is a prayer that God would not suffer you to be led where the trial becomes a snare, and that if trial must come, you may not stain your garments but stand fast at the end of the day.
Therefore come again to Christ, not with an excuse but with confession. Believe in the forgiveness of sins for yourself, as a man believes that his own debt is cancelled. Turn from the lust of the eye and flee youthful lusts, make no provision for the flesh, set a watch over your eyes and your thoughts, and seek the company and the employments that help purity rather than inflame it. If you fall, fall not into despair but fall before the mercy seat, for there is forgiveness, there was forgiveness, there will be forgiveness as long as life lasts for the penitent believing soul. Let that whisper drive away despair, and let it also lead you to hate the sin that made the whisper necessary.