Satan, Limit of his Power – Charles Spurgeon

THE fair and lovely dove may fall into the mire, but the mire has not any dominion over her, for she rises up as quickly as she can, and away she flies and seeks to cleanse herself at some crystal fount. As for the duck, put that into the mire, and the mire has dominion over its nature. So the believer may fall into sin that he hates, and defile his garments with impurity that he loathes. Let a sheep tumble into a ditch, and it scrambles out again, but let the swine go there, and it rolls in it, for the mire has dominion over its nature. There is nothing here to excuse you from watchfulness, no reason shown nor any pledge that sin may not sometimes terribly overcome you. It may carry the war right into the province of your spirit, and ravage it, and the whole of your nature may for awhile seem to be subdued, except the heart. Happily a limit is prescribed. Though the enemy may seem to conquer the territory of your manhood, yet it cannot establish a kingdom there, for it shall be driven out again in due time, and that before long. When the enemy comes in as a flood, the Spirit of God will lift up the standard against him, and the enemy shall yet be worsted in the combat.