The Possibility of Falling
THERE is no one on earth who is beyond the reach of temptation; consequently there is no one who is beyond the possibility of falling into sin. The aged saint who has long been an example “in word, in conversation [daily manner of living], in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity,” may, if he ceases his watchfulness, fall into the snare of the enemy. Even the holy apostle Paul said that unless he kept up the warfare with self continually, he should himself be a castaway. When a good man falls into sin, it is no argument against Christianity, nor against its power to purify the life; but it is an evidence of the weakness of the flesh when the individual is not abiding in Christ. There is no occasion for glorying over such ones, or for regarding them as hopelessly lost. “Thou standest by faith; be not high-minded, but fear.” “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in again; for God is able to graft them in again.”