by C.H. Spurgeon
Do not tell me about your orthodoxy, do not come and tell me about your private prayers and secret piety; if your life be bad, you are bad altogether. A good tree cannot bring forth anything but good fruit, and a corrupt tree will bring forth corrupt fruit. There is no questioning that; what your life is, that you are—for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, so out of the abundance of the heart the man lives. It is all in vain for you to deprecate so strong a sentiment as this is, and to say, “The best of saints are fallible”. I know they are; I know that even the best of men will sin, but they do not sin willingly; if they sin publicly, it will be but an exception; their lives, under the power of divine grace, will be holy, and pure and upright. I believe the devil likes Antinomianism, and says to the Romanist, “Preach on, you priest; I do not mind what you preach, for you will enter my dominions. You tell people that they may live in sin, and then procure absolution for a shilling! Fine doctrine that!” And he pats the priest on the back, and gives him all the assistance he can. Then comes the Antinomian minister into the pulpit. The devil says, “Ah, though he rails against the Pope of Rome, I like them both, the one as much as the other.” Then how he preaches! He begins preaching justification by faith alone, and he carries his argument a step too far, for he begins railing at good works, calls them legalists who think it is their duty to lead a holy life, and hints with a smirk and a smile, that the excellent conduct of a man is of little importance, so long as he believes the truth and goes to his chapel. “Ah,” says the devil, “preach away; I love the two things, Antinomianism and Popery, for they are two of the finest quacks for canting souls.” Again I say, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” By our works we are not to be justified, but still by our works we shall be judged, and by our works we shall be condemned. So saith the Scripture, and this we must receive.
(From Sermon on I John 3: 2.)