Musnad Ahmad 1060:18

Ishaq ibn Isa narrated to us, Layth narrated to me, Muhammad ibn Qays—the storyteller of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz—narrated to me, from Abu Sirmah, from Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, that he said when death approached him: "I had concealed from you something I heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, saying: 'Were you not to commit sins, Allah would create a people who would commit sins, so He would forgive them.'"