MAXIMIZE DIVINE STRENGHT IN YOUR WEAKNESSES:KEEP DOING EXPLOITS INSPITE OF ISSUES-3

THE PROGRESSIVE REVELATION OF GRACEHave you noticed how conscious young believers in Christ are about sin? They try to separate themselves from old friends and family, trying hard to let them know that they too need to be saved or born again; they need to change from their old ways. Many times the radicalism of these new believers, and sometimes, their zeal without much knowledge, ultimately causes a rift between them and relatives and friends. Some who have hardened parents who are not saved, and friends who are not yet ready to quit sinning, end up quarrelling seriously with them, and throwing them out or are thrown out themselves.
Many of these believers literally want to live inside the church, they are there almost 24 hours a day, praying and reading the Bible, trying their best to stay ‘closer’ to God, and far away from sin. They want to stay as close to the Pastor as possible, because that will help them to be holy? I am for all these, because the exposure actually helps some of these young believers to learn as fast as possible, the kingdom principles and the kingdom life.
The irony of this is that these young believers get to a point where their zeal for the things of God, begin to make them feel that they have become champions. Some of these young believers begin to despise the older ones who are now not apparently as zealous as they are. Secondly, these young believers, after sometime discover that they still cannot stop sinning completely, as they thought should happen since they are now saved. Thirdly, for some of them, they discover that they have not yet gone to hell in spite of their sins, and that Jesus has not yet come after all these months or weeks or years and they have equally noticed that some older Christians and even Pastors are still struggling with sin, if not enmeshed in it. These things ultimately make some of them to backslide, especially where there is no guidance. They now become terrible sinners; some will keep trying to live the Christian life but will lose their zeal and their first love.
I still remember remember the teaching that I received on the above subject a few years back from one of my most revered mentors on how this played out in the life of Paul the Apostle. When Paul the apostle realized that he could not do it on his own he said it in the book of Romans, chapter 7 from verses 15 to 25. It seems to me that Paul the Apostle had understood at this point that his spirit had been saved, his soul was being renewed by the word, but his body refused to get saved. Let us look at Romans chapter 7 verses 15 to 18.
15 “For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not: but what I hate, that I do.
16 If then I do that which I would not, then I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me, (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”It seems that he said that his flesh had no good thing dwelling in it because; his flesh was not acting saved, and struggled to make him act fleshly. However, before this revelation, Apostle Paul thought that he was a super champion compared to the Apostles that came before him. Galatians chapter2nand verse 6.
2:6 “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person :) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference, added nothing to me.”He discovered their weaknesses, and he chided them for it seriously, and if you go down to verse 14, you see this clearly. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 14
14 “ But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou , being a Jew, liveth after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”Here we can see the boldness of Paul the Apostle, as he fiercely rebuked Peter for not living right. He probably thought or concluded that he was better, and more committed to the gospel than Peter.
Some years later, the same great Apostle was said to have grown in his understanding of grace, and he made another statement in humility, after now understanding things better. In the first book of Corinthians, chapter 15 and verse 9, we read as follows:
9 “For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, for I persecuted the church of God”The apostle now understood that he was not really the champion he thought he was, but rather, he was supposed to be considered the least of the apostles.
He did not stop here, but after some more years, or at a later time, as Pastor David Duplessis taught our dear Pastor Benny Hinn in his early days as a believer, Paul understood that“ It is not your ability, but His ability in you; goodnight”.
He then went on to make the statement below in 1 Timothy chapter1 and verse 15.
15 “This is a faithful and saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief”.Paul the apostle now understood that there was nothing he could really do as such. He therefore surprises everyone by assuming the title of Chief of sinners at a time he was at the pinnacle of ministry. This is shocking and amazing to me, I don’t know about you. All the same, remember all that the apostle still instructed in his writings about living holy and living right. Let us not get it twisted by thinking that he was saying one thing and doing another. He was only trying to emphasize that only God is free from sin.