Sinless Perfection. Why do so many teach against what Jesus taught?

[Judge Hardcastle]

Like all the people in the churches that don't believe they can conquer sin through Christ and His grace power. They have no faith in His power...so they are in unbelief.

If lack of faith in God's provision for daily living condemns a born again believer to the damnation of the unrighteous then none of us can be saved. God is leading born again believers to lean more and more in faith on his provision for life, not condemning them for having to learn that.

 

[amigo de christo]

I was lied to about Christ's standard. They were trying to comfort me (so Id fund them). But I'd rather know what the standard actually is, so I can run the race as to win the prize. It's way beyond "just believe". Christ gave us entry into the race through the cross but did not run it for us. We have to run.

its known as BELEIVE or beleive . And while one was captilzed and the other was not
That is because one is TRUE BELEIF and the other be a , LIP ONLY .
And now a word .
WHO we BELIEVE IN is whose words we would have beleived .
ISRAEL did not get shut out from entering into the promised land
because they shouted WE DONT BELEIVE IN GOD .
It was because they DID NOT BELIEVE HIM .
And now a word .
WHO did and WHO does GOD command us to BELIEVE IN . WHY JESUS THE CHRIST of course .
And thus if even I came along and preached about holiness , righteousness and picking up the cross ,
YET went after those who preached the dire need to FIRST BELIEVE ON JESUS
sister all that i do and all that i taught , WAS ALL IN VAIN .
FOR sister , WITHOUT CHRIST WE CAN DO NOTHING .
HE who BELEIVES IN JESUS THE CHRIST will DO call upon HIM
and beleive that GOD rose him from the dead . AND THEY WILL
FOLLOW HIS teachings as well .
But someone amongst us have made VOID BELEIF IN HIM
by preachin inclusivism and actually believes a lie
that any religon , even atheist , can still follow him EVEN IF THEY BELIEVE NOT ON HIM .
THAT IS YOUR LIE OF ANTI CHRIST and this is nothing more than a false w orks sold as love unto them all .

 

[Marvelloustime]

Sister , many now suffer from a very very deadly syndrome . And it can indeed and will indeed
lead to death twice told .
Selective amnesia syndrom , OR SAS .
And it is a syndrome of their own making and of convience .
For how this people seems to , cough cough , conveintely forget the parts of scriptures and even words of JESUS
that gets in the way of a harlots love , her all inclusive love .
And from that have devloped stage two of the disease
which somehow has them beleiving in make beleive things that JESUS NEVER said .
In fact about the only THING JESUS said about this broad path , WHICH HE DID NOT SUPPORT ,
was IT LEADETH TO DESTRUCTION .
But they believe the inclusive broad path leads to GOD and is even his plan for their own peace n safety .
But what would you do if i told y ou
that satan can indeed appear as an angel of light
And that so too can his ministirs appear even in wool
But it is only to decieve and to fool .
And to lead them to the broad inclusive path which calls the preaching of the true gospel religious extremism .
And gives them only over , NOT to the day of great peace n safety , BUT UNTO the very day
of their own SUDDEN DESTRUCTION .
And as like king ahab , so do with this inclusive generation and its prophets that are in all religoins now .
TO call unto them all and to gather them all to a day it promises them will give them peace n safety ,
BUT IS ONLY A LYING SPIRIT that has been sent to DECIEVE all tribes , all false religoins to include
many in christendom , to the day of their own sudden destruction .
And for this cause GOD shall send them STRONG delusion to believe a LIE and to be damned .
A day wherein though they cried peace n safety , SUDDEN DESRUCTION came upon them all
and they WILL NOT escape . oH Its a delusion all right and notice whos buying it
THOSE who loved not the TRUTH ., but rather had pleasure in ............................

@amigo de christo

 

[Episkopos]

I was lied to about Christ's standard. They were trying to comfort me (so Id fund them). But I'd rather know what the standard actually is, so I can run the race as to win the prize. It's way beyond "just believe". Christ gave us entry into the race through the cross but did not run it for us. We have to run.

Amen. It's about that very RARE commodity called FAITH. People confuse faith with beliefs. But faith is VERY HARD to find.

Jesus said when the Son of Man returns will He find faith on the earth? TONS and TONS of beliefs, but faith? Not too many mountains being cast into the sea these days.

When we realize how difficult the race of faith truly is, we tend to learn the fear of the Lord and humility...and learn about righteousness and God's mercy.

God goes easy on the righteous...but hard on the saints...and those who claim to speak for Him. The purpose of the training that so many will fail, is the fruit of righteousness on the level of Christ. The righteousness of saints. To compare that to what we see today...is laughable if it wasn't so tragic.

 

[Marvelloustime]

its known as BELEIVE or beleive . And while one was captilzed and the other was not
That is because one is TRUE BELEIF and the other be a , LIP ONLY .
And now a word .
WHO we BELIEVE IN is whose words we would have beleived .
ISRAEL did not get shut out from entering into the promised land
because they shouted WE DONT BELEIVE IN GOD .
It was because they DID NOT BELIEVE HIM .
And now a word .
WHO did and WHO does GOD command us to BELIEVE IN . WHY JESUS THE CHRIST of course .
And thus if even I came along and preached about holiness , righteousness and picking up the cross ,
YET went after those who preached the dire need to FIRST BELIEVE ON JESUS
sister all that i do and all that i taught , WAS ALL IN VAIN .
FOR sister , WITHOUT CHRIST WE CAN DO NOTHING .
HE who BELEIVES IN JESUS THE CHRIST will DO call upon HIM
and beleive that GOD rose him from the dead . AND THEY WILL
FOLLOW HIS teachings as well .
But someone amongst us have made VOID BELEIF IN HIM
by preachin inclusivism and actually believes a lie
that any religon , even atheist , can still follow him EVEN IF THEY BELIEVE NOT ON HIM .
THAT IS YOUR LIE OF ANTI CHRIST and this is nothing more than a false w orks sold as love unto them all .

@amigo de christo

 

[amigo de christo]

@amigo de christo
View attachment 91147

MANY there be indeed . And their god was UNBELIEF .
And they , like false religions and even an athiest DID NOT BELIEVE it was necessary TO HAVE to B ELIEVE ON JESUS .
that is the lie they all have in common . HEY this can be done without FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST .
And me oh my what a lie that one is and was .

 

[TitusTwoWife]

Yet without BELEIF IN JESUS THE CHRIST , this ol race leads only to the second death .
And how i see a foot race of such an event .
Because without FAITH , WELL it always was and always shall be IMPOSSIBLE to please GOD .
SO while its true we have our part , as in OBEY THE SPIRIT and heed not the flesh .
What do you suppose is going to come upon one
who MADE VOID the very gospel of JESUS which DID say YE HAVE TO BLEIEVE ON JESUS .
I dont run no race that the serpent sets before me . WE must run the race OF and IN and BY JESUS CHRIST .
For if any cometh and preaches any other gospel , well then , let them be accursed .
And if any man cometh and calls one who preaches the gospel to an atheist or any other
a religious extrmiest , BECAUSE INCLUSIVITIY teaches ITS NOT NECESSARY to have had to BLEIVE ON JESUS .
that in fact the preaching of the gospel IS IN THE WAY . Not necessary and if one does preach it
WEL then RELIGIOUS extremist b e their name . I , like paul and others before me ,
WILL surely expose a false gospel and any who does so tell it .
Now i aint saying YOU believe in a false gospel . But many do . And some of them
are amongst us RIGHT NOW , claoked even in wool
and only using the name of JESUS with the cliam they believe in JESUS
but only bring us a false gospel . dont marvel sister . it can and it does happen .
If any cometh and preaches any other gospel
another jesus , another spirit, YEAH lets NOT HEED such at all .

I appreciate you looking out for me but I don't think Episkopos is preaching a false gospel. His teaching that non believers can possibly inherit eternal life is not common but I agree. I don't think he's preaching universalism which is the belief that everyone is getting to heaven. He's saying that they will be judged by Christ by their works, which lines up with

2 Corinthians 5:10

New King James Version
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Jesus said No one come to the Father except through Him. Given that He will judge every last person, that's still true, even if they never heard of Him during their life, they're still judged by Him in the end.

 

[Marvelloustime]

Yet without BELEIF IN JESUS THE CHRIST , this ol race leads only to the second death .
And how i see a foot race of such an event .
Because without FAITH , WELL it always was and always shall be IMPOSSIBLE to please GOD .
SO while its true we have our part , as in OBEY THE SPIRIT and heed not the flesh .
What do you suppose is going to come upon one
who MADE VOID the very gospel of JESUS which DID say YE HAVE TO BLEIEVE ON JESUS .
I dont run no race that the serpent sets before me . WE must run the race OF and IN and BY JESUS CHRIST .
For if any cometh and preaches any other gospel , well then , let them be accursed .
And if any man cometh and calls one who preaches the gospel to an atheist or any other
a religious extrmiest , BECAUSE INCLUSIVITIY teaches ITS NOT NECESSARY to have had to BLEIVE ON JESUS .
that in fact the preaching of the gospel IS IN THE WAY . Not necessary and if one does preach it
WEL then RELIGIOUS extremist b e their name . I , like paul and others before me ,
WILL surely expose a false gospel and any who does so tell it .
Now i aint saying YOU believe in a false gospel . But many do . And some of them
are amongst us RIGHT NOW , claoked even in wool
and only using the name of JESUS with the cliam they believe in JESUS
but only bring us a false gospel . dont marvel sister . it can and it does happen .
If any cometh and preaches any other gospel
another jesus , another spirit, YEAH lets NOT HEED such at all .

@amigo de christo

 

[Episkopos]

If lack of faith in God's provision for daily living condemns a born again believer to the damnation of the unrighteous then none of us can be saved.

It is lack of faith in God's provision that causes people to sin and fail the grace of God. For the believer it is the damnation of the filthy...the unclean that awaits those who fail the grace of God. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

God is leading born again believers to lean more and more in faith on his provision for life, not condemning them for having to learn that.

It's the smug attitude that God rejects. Always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

You must understand that many will have to be rejected from the kingdom. It is only those who fear that change their ways and avoid such an ending. Are you inclined to fear the Lord?

 

[Marvelloustime]

MANY there be indeed . And their god was UNBELIEF .
And they , like false religions and even an athiest DID NOT BELIEVE it was necessary TO HAVE to B ELIEVE ON JESUS .
that is the lie they all have in common . HEY this can be done without FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST .
And me oh my what a lie that one is and was .

@amigo de christo

 

[amigo de christo]

Amen. It's about that very RARE commodity called FAITH. People confuse faith with beliefs. But faith is VERY HARD to find.

Jesus said when the Son of Man returns will He find faith on the earth? TONS and TONS of beliefs, but faith? Not too many mountains being cast into the sea these days.

When we realize how difficult the race of faith truly is, we tend to learn the fear of the Lord and humility...and learn about righteousness and God's mercy.

God goes easy on the righteous...but hard on the saints...and those who claim to speak for Him. The purpose of the training that so many will fail, is the fruit of righteousness on the level of Christ. The righteousness of saints. To compare that to what we see today...is laughable if it wasn't so tragic.

what a lie that was yet very cleverly claoked with some truths .
That sounds just like someone else .
DID you say GOD goes easy ON THE RIGHTEOUS , but hard on the saints .
Oh dear dear epi . THE ONLY ONES GOD COUNTS RIGHTEOUS ARE THE SAINTS
who are counted RIGHTEOUS , MADE RIGHTEOUS BY JESUS CHRIST , for by faith they believe GOD .
And GOD , not this other inclusive god , has commanded ALL to bleieve on JESUS .
SO when one comes along and tries to make the YE MUST BLEIEVE IN HIM part , SEEM as RELIGIOUS extremism
WELL , You gots to know I WONT HEED a w ord one outta his or her mouth .
ODD epi . And sister lizbeth and others can back up what i say . SEEING they have known me for years .
I TOO preach out against a false walk that many christains do have .
I have always warned out .
ITS JUST UNLIKE YOU , I DONT MAKE FAITH IN JESUS VOID . That will be to your own destruction
ON JESUS day . UNLESS epi , now hear this , UNLESS you repent of it
and start remiding all that IT IS necessary to FIRST BELEIVE ON JESUS and then you can expound
on holiness and righteous living . But if not , you will go down on JESUS day .
And that my friend is not the end i desire for you . But you have sold a false inclusive gospel
and you will pay a deep price for it . UNLESS again you repent of it .

 

[Marvelloustime]

what a lie that was yet very cleverly claoked with some truths .
That sounds just like someone else .
DID you say GOD goes easy ON THE RIGHTEOUS , but hard on the saints .
Oh dear dear epi . THE ONLY ONES GOD COUNTS RIGHTEOUS ARE THE SAINTS
who are counted RIGHTEOUS , MADE RIGHTEOUS BY JESUS CHRIST , for by faith they believe GOD .
And GOD , not this other inclusive god , has commanded ALL to bleieve on JESUS .
SO when one comes along and tries to make the YE MUST BLEIEVE IN HIM part , SEEM as RELIGIOUS extremism
WELL , You gots to know I WONT HEED a w ord one outta his or her mouth .
ODD epi . And sister lizbeth and others can back up what i say . SEEING they have known me for years .
I TOO preach out against a false walk that many christains do have .
I have always warned out .
ITS JUST UNLIKE YOU , I DONT MAKE FAITH IN JESUS VOID . That will be to your own destruction
ON JESUS day . UNLESS epi , now hear this , UNLESS you repent of it
and start remiding all that IT IS necessary to FIRST BELEIVE ON JESUS and then you can expound
on holiness and righteous living . But if not , you will go down on JESUS day .
And that my friend is not the end i desire for you . But you have sold a false inclusive gospel
and you will pay a deep price for it . UNLESS again you repent of it .

@amigo de christo

 

[amigo de christo]

I appreciate you looking out for me but I don't think Episkopos is preaching a false gospel. His teaching that non believers can possibly inherit eternal life is not common but I agree. I don't think he's preaching universalism which is the belief that everyone is getting to heaven. He's saying that they will be judged by Christ by their works, which lines up with

2 Corinthians 5:10

New King James Version
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Jesus said No one come to the Father except through Him. Given that He will judge every last person, that's still true, even if they never heard of Him during their life, they're still judged by Him in the end.

That same paul preached the dire necessity to Believe on JESUS and warned that all who heard and failed to do so
WOULD be damned .
How come paul , james and all the other apostels went about to every jewish synagogue
as well as to gentiles
Preaching the dire need TO BELIEVE ON JESUS
and yet epi DONT . he claims too BLEIEVE ON JESUS
but he is inclusivain sister . And i learned all about that . ITS A LIE sister .
Do not buy into it .
IT is a false gospel . OF course he dont preach universalism
ITS Inclusivsim .
ANd if you dont think he does . THEN why sister , WHY has he always came after me
EVEN THOUGH i warn against the same hyper grace HE do .
FOR simply reminding us that we must FIRST believe ON JESUS .
And then why o why did he tell an athiest , WHO DARN SURE DONT bleieve on JESUS
NOT THE GOSPEL of ye must believe on JESUS
but the idea that atheist is okay , so long if you give etc to a righteous man you will recieve a righteous mans reward .
NO JESUS . OH ITS OKAY he dont bleieve on JESUS . just do some good .
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE THE ONE TRUE GOSPEL TO YOU SISTER .
THen when i came on to preach it , RELIGIOUS extremist . DO NOT buy into this guy sister .
He does teach JESUS words , JUST NOT ALL OF HIS WORDS , meaning NOT THE PARTS
that ACTUALLY SAID YE MUST BELEIVE on HIM . because inlcusivity does NOT beleive it necessary .
HE DOES preach a f alse gospel sister . And i aint just falsey accusing him .
I know well what inclusivsim teaches . AND BOY it does it using a powerful TRUTH
but does so to Actually make void the GOSPEL of ye MUST BELEIVE . dont be fooled sister .

 

[TitusTwoWife]

That same paul preached the dire necessity to Believe on JESUS and warned that all who heard and failed to do so
WOULD be damned .
How come paul , james and all the other apostels went about to every jewish synagogue
as well as to gentiles
Preaching the dire need TO BELIEVE ON JESUS
and yet epi DONT . he claims too BLEIEVE ON JESUS
but he is inclusivain sister . And i learned all about that . ITS A LIE sister .
Do not buy into it .
IT is a false gospel . OF course he dont preach universalism
ITS Inclusivsim .
ANd if you dont think he does . THEN why sister , WHY has he always came after me
EVEN THOUGH i warn against the same hyper grace HE do .
FOR simply reminding us that we must FIRST believe ON JESUS .
And then why o why did he tell an athiest , WHO DARN SURE DONT bleieve on JESUS
NOT THE GOSPEL of ye must believe on JESUS
but the idea that atheist is okay , so long if you give etc to a righteous man you will recieve a righteous mans reward .
NO JESUS . OH ITS OKAY he dont bleieve on JESUS . just do some good .
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE THE ONE TRUE GOSPEL TO YOU SISTER .
THen when i came on to preach it , RELIGIOUS extremist . DO NOT buy into this guy sister .
He does teach JESUS words , JUST NOT ALL OF HIS WORDS , meaning NOT THE PARTS
that ACTUALLY SAID YE MUST BELEIVE on HIM . because inlcusivity does NOT beleive it necessary .
HE DOES preach a f alse gospel sister . And i aint just falsey accusing him .
I know well what inclusivsim teaches . AND BOY it does it using a powerful TRUTH
but does so to Actually make void the GOSPEL of ye MUST BELEIVE . dont be fooled sister .

Ill be in my Bible testing everything, even what I said earlier.

 

[amigo de christo]

Ill be in my Bible testing everything, even what I said earlier.

When you do . i want you to notice what the main focus of the apostels who went about preaching was .
And you gonna see real quickly it was not about finding common ground
nor giving out unbelieving jews or gentiles messages about why it might be okay TO NOT bleieve .
THEY preached JESUS . and notice how seriously they warned all they spoke too
about the dire damnation that did await all who heard and beleived not .
IN Fact
look at what john the apostel who spoke more about love in his letter than did any other apostel.
HE did not say as does the incluisivian ,
Oh other relgoins are following the same GOd we do , if they are keeping the beatitutes .
JOHN said this . WHO SO EVER does NOT BELEIVE the TESTIMONY OF GOD
That HE , as in GOD ALL MIGHTY , gave on the SON
CALLS GOD A LIAR .
And guess who john sat under .
And guess who JESUS said , in the gospel of john , about WHO CALLS GOD TRUE .
Ready ,
HE who RECIEVES HIS TESTIMONY has set to HIS SEAL that GOD IS TRUE .
EVEN cornlieus who did much good , many alms
and beleived in THE ONE TRUE GOD OF the jews . HE still had to hear
the words of the gospel of JESUS and BELIEVE in order to be saved .
AND let us take a real good notice about what CORNLEIOUS NEEDED TO DO .
What did cornleious NEED TO DO .
HEAR WORDS OF PETER and he will TELL you what YOU MUST DO .
ANY guesses on who peter preached to cornelious .
AND THANK GOD peter was not an inclusiviain . or he had told cornelious
OH BUD you good , and no mention OF JESUS and having to bleieve on HIM would have been said .
BUT RATHER PETER preached the gospel .
NOW you might be wondering THE WHY behind it all .
WELL .
HOW DID GOD choose to save the world . OH YEAH , by the PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL
to save THOSE WHO . DO BELIEVE .
I have never gotten epi to say that ONE MUST FIRST BELIEVE ON JESUS .
GOOD LUCK IF YOU CAN . GO ahead . look around at every single one of his posts .
YOU wanna know what is missing . ITS ALWAYS the same thing too
whether he tells it to the ChURch or an atheist .
THE YE MUST BELIEVE ON JESUS . HE Preaches a false gospel sister . And if i did not love you i would not have warned you so .
DO not heed this man . HE can twist better than anyone i have ever seen . HE rivals TORRO who i talked to in person
years back at the library . SISTER THEY DO BELEIVE A LIE .
And they darn sure can say JESUS IS THE SAVOIR OF THE WORLD while they bring the lie to us .
But go ahead , YOU REMIND the man that it is dire necessary we BELEIVE ON JESUS .
NOW dont buy his ususal line that he says . OH I BELIEVE says epi . BUT HE WILL NEVER GIVE THE ANSWER you ask .
ASK HIM . ASK HIM SISTER .
IF HE TRULY BELEIVES an atheist must repent and BELIEVE ON JESUS or any other religoin .
SEE what line he comes up with to you . probably more mumbo jumbo .

 

[1stCenturyLady]

A believer is 'off the hook' in that he has the forgiveness of God that he believes and trusts in to keep him from the eternal penalty of their sin. Unbelievers don't have that. So the sin they commit condemns them to the eternal punishment of the unrighteous.

Well, lets see. That's not Catholicism. That sounds like the doctrine of the beginning of the Reformation. Luther preached "sin boldly," and Calvin preached "once saved, always saved" no matter how much you sin. Jesus said of them, "you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." Then about 200 years later John Wesley fought your false doctrine and Jesus said of him, "You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy."

Judge, you can still walk worthy if you ask Jesus to take away all desire to commit sins against His holy commandments. When He does you will be born again of the Spirit, a MUST if you ever want to see heaven.

 

[Lizbeth]

I can relate, and I'm sorry if I came off impatient. It is the Reformers I'm mad at and their doctrine of defeatism. Maybe this will help.

The first eight chapters of Romans is a whole teaching on the Laws of God and how they've been handed down to mankind. Chapter 4, Abraham was before the Law, and obeyed God who spoke to him directly. Then because of transgressions running rampart in the world, Galatians 3:19. God gave his laws to Moses engraved on stone to be kept by the letter of the law, and His Sabbath as a sign to them. In chapter 5, David was under that set of laws and the Old Covenant. This was all leading up to an introduction of the New Covenant of the Spirit of Christ in chapter 6. Romans 7 is a conclusion on the history of God's laws, showing all three time periods and as verse one says, Paul is writing specifically to those who know the law, like the Jews. Verses 5-6 is a continuation of chapter 6 and the New Covenant. Verse 9 refers to the time period of Adam to Moses when their sins were not imputed to them and overlooked so left us alive, but in the same verse the Law was given to Moses and accountability came and mankind was culpable of their sins and received death. But Paul didn't want them to think He was saying there was something wrong with the Laws of God, as if God did anything wrong. NO! The problem was mankind's weakness to sin. So verses 14-25 are all about sinful Jews who knew the Law in their minds, but it only pointed out how they were all too weak to not sin. Oh my! What to do! What to do? That is why he wrote verse 24, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" which refers back to chapter 6 on the New Covenant. Then the last verse of 25 is the concluding verse regarding the Old Covenant Law, and sinful man. "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

Now the glorious chapter 8! The New Covenant and the baptism of Christ's Holy Spirit cleansing us of all unrighteousness from our "old man" from chapter 6, the sin nature we inherited because of Adam's sin way back at the beginning. Verses 8 and 9 shows mankind's weak nature in the Old Covenant, and then NOT being in that weak nature any longer because of the infilling of God's own Spirit inside of us. He does all the heavy lifting. He even writes all His laws on our minds so they are now part of us and we can by our new nature finally be right with God.

I hope that helped. I know that the Jewish eastern style of writing with all the personal present pronouns can be hard and confusing to the western mind. John uses "we" in 1 John 1 too. They just mean mankind, not Paul personally, nor John.

These are not easy passages to get hold of, but with respect, I still believe they are addressed to and talking about all believers, whether Jewish or not. People can genuinely know and have received the Lord but be trapped or fall into a religious carnal mindset (of the flesh) of the letter that kills instead of being in the Spirit with things. It takes time after receiving Christ, to grow into being more spiritual in thought and understanding of His word, etc. The carnal mind is enmity with God and we are sometimes battling it, or maybe more precisely needing to put it to rest.

As I understand it, all true believers "live in the Spirit" (Gal 5) because of "having" the Spirit (Rom 8).....but not all are yet "walking" (or even understanding) in the Spirit. That is why we as believers who have the Spirit (and therefore living in it) are instructed or admonished to also walk in it. (Just repeating myself in different words, I wasn't sure I had made the point very well.)

 

[Lizbeth]

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. Matt. 10:41

That can go so wrong so fast with that when one is not in spirit with it. Somebody pointing it to themselves as being the righteous man and prophet that others should receive is not in spirit. Especially talking with an unbeliever...? Oh dear. It is Jesus who should be lifted up, not ourselves.

And hope you don't think that receiving someone in that context means to invite them over for dinner or have a nice living room chat with them. It goes deeper than that surely. It must mean to receive their message (of the gospel), in which case they will receive the reward of eternal life same as the righteous messenger. Nobody is going to receive eternal life just for being welcoming or kind to a prophet/righteous man if they reject Christ.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

Do you really think 'Spirit' means the Holy Spirit in vs.16 and vs. 18, but suddenly doesn't mean that in vs. 17?

Galatians 5:16-18
16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The context and flow of the discourse does not allow your interpretation. Paul is contrasting walking by the Spirit of God with walking according to the flesh.

Of course! Romans 7:25 is the last verse about what life was like for the Jews who knew the law, but had to attempt to keep them with a raging sin nature. "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." That is the same as Galatians 5:17 about our own mind. It is a false statement when read with Spirit. Read 8:8-9 for the contrast, "8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, IF indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." Can you understand now what Jesus accomplished in us! We are FREE FROM SIN! Demons want you to be fooled into thinking you can sin now and not go to hell. John Wesley had eyes to see the truth, and fought Calvinism.

Keep reading. These verses contrast each other - saved and unsaved. What do you think about the next verses 19-21 that you believe will not give you condemnation? But the last verse says "those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God"! I have the Spirit of Christ in me controlling everything about my thoughts and actions. I continuously walk in the Spirit. I don't turn it off like a faucet when I want to sin! Why, because I no longer have any desire to sin! Did Jesus sin? No! Did he struggle and strain not to? No! He was conceived with the SEED OF THE FATHER. Read 1 John 3:9 "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for HIS SEED REMAINS IN HIM; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." He is conforming me into His inner image. I walk with a clear conscience, just like Paul.

 

[Lizbeth]

I was lied to about Christ's standard. They were trying to comfort me (so Id fund them). But I'd rather know what the standard actually is, so I can run the race as to win the prize. It's way beyond "just believe". Christ gave us entry into the race through the cross but did not run it for us. We have to run.

Kind of a two sided coin, as I think of it...there are things that comfort and encourage us, but at the same time we do have our part and a race to run, by faith. But it's a mistake to over-emphasize one side at the expense of the other, which is what we too often see.