If we be Christians [let us] persevere, and take heed lest we fall… Not lest we fall from our election, but lest we fall from our righteousness… We must have confidence towards God, but diffidence towards ourselves.

The Israelites fell… they flitted from sin to sin, like a fly which shifts from sore to sore They tempted the Lord, murmured, lusted, committed idolatory, [and] served the flesh.. As they fell away, so may you But by their fall, you may also learn to stand.

Who can say what he will do when he is tried?

The best men have had their slips, but always they rose again—as though they had sinned to teach us repentance… Therefore, their sins are written… to admonish us… We must behold the sins of others, to learn by them… These things are not written for our imitation, but for our admonition.
–Henry Smith “Food for New Born Babes”