Salvation from the Pleasure of Sin

From A. W. Pink:

"The sincere Christian is often made to seriously doubt if he has been delivered from the love of sin. Such questions as these pain-fully agitate his mind. Why do I so readily yield to temptation? Why do some of the vanities and pleasures of the world still possess so much attraction for me? Why do I chafe so much against any restraints being placed upon my lusts? Why do I find the work of mortification so difficult and distasteful? Could such things as these be, if I were a new creature in Christ?...

"How may one be assured that he has been saved from the love of sin? Let us point out first that the presence of that within us which still lusts after and takes delight in some evil things, is not incompatible with our having been saved from the love of sin, paradoxical as that may sound. It is part of the mystery of the gospel that those who be saved are yet sinners in themselves. The point we are here dealing with is similar to and parallel with faith. The divine principle of faith in the heart does not cast out unbelief. Faith and doubts exist side by side within a quickened soul, which is evident from words “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24), In like manner the Christian may exclaim and pray, “Lord, I long after holiness, help Thou my lustings after sin.” And why is this? Because of the existence of two separate natures, the one at complete variance with the other within the Christian.

"How, then, is the presence of faith to be ascertained? Not by the ceasings of unbelief, but by discovering its own fruits and works. Fruit may grow amid thorns — as flowers among weeds — yet it is fruit, nevertheless. Faith exists amid many doubts and fears. Not-withstanding opposing forces from within as well as from without us, faith still reaches out after God. Notwithstanding innumerable discouragements and defeats, faith continues to fight. Notwithstanding many refusals from God, it yet clings to Him, and says, “Except Thou bless me I will not let Thee go.” Faith may be fearfully weak and fitful, often eclipsed by the clouds of unbelief; nevertheless the devil himself cannot persuade its possessor to repudiate God's Word, despise His Son, or abandon all hope. The presence of faith, then, may be ascertained in that it causes its possessor to come before God as an empty-handed beggar beseeching Him for mercy and blessing.

"Now just as the presence of faith may be known amid all the workings of unbelief, so our salvation from the love of sin may be ascertained notwithstanding all the lustings of the flesh after that which is evil. But in what way? How is this initial aspect of salvation to be identified? We have already anticipated this question in an earlier paragraph, wherein we stated that God saved us from delighting in sin by imparting a nature that hates evil and loves holiness, which takes place at the new birth. Consequently, the real question to be settled is how may the Christian positively determine whether that new and holy nature has been imparted to him? The answer is, “By observing its activities, particularly the opposition it makes (under the energizings of the Holy Spirit) unto indwelling sin.” Not only does the flesh (the principle of sin) lust against the spirit, but the spirit (the principle of holiness) lusts and wars against the flesh."