Our Old Covenant reading is taken from the book of Ecclesiastes, the eighth chapter. We will read beginning with verse 10 through verse 17 and then we will turn to our text, 1 Corinthians 15. When you have found your place, please stand as we show our respect to God as he speaks to us in his inspired, infallible, inerrant, and sufficient word. Give your attention to hear the word of God. Ecclesiastes 8 and verse 10. So that I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus, this too is futility. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, and therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil. Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear him openly. But it will not be well for the evil man, and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God. There is futility which is done on the earth. That is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say this, too, is futility. So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. from the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. To get the context, I want to read beginning with verse 12. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 12. Now if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He raised Christ whom He did not raise, if, in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins, then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, after that those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death, for he has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, It is evident that He is accepted who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Why are we also in danger every hour? I protest, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does the prophet mean? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. Become sober-minded, as you ought, and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. It is a season for eating, drinking, and being merry, and there is a place for that. The Apostle Paul uses this phrase in a different sense, however, in the text which we read today. Just to remind you of where we are, the Apostle Paul is dealing with the necessity and the reality of the resurrection of the body. The resurrection of Christ's body is assumed. It is not the focal point of the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, it is necessary and presupposed, but what is the focus of 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection of your body, the body of believers at the end of time, and it is linked closely and inextricably, they can't be separated from the resurrection of the body of Christ. The Apostle Paul goes to great lengths to demonstrate that if Christ has been raised from the dead, then it is necessary for the bodies of believers, the bodies of each one who is a member of His body, to be raised on the last day. The Lord is telling us here that not only are your souls important, but your bodies are important too, because He made us body and spirit. And so Paul had summarized the very real consequences for believers that necessarily attend Christ's resurrection from the dead, having given the consequences if Christ has not been raised. In verses 20 and following, he tells us about the consequences of Christ's resurrection from the dead, that we shall be raised. The preaching of the gospel is not an empty thing. It's not a teaching of lies. The Apostle Pauls were not lying, that they are not the enemies of God, but rather the servants of God, that those who trust in Christ can expect the resurrection and those who have died in Christ are not in torment. They are not most to be pitied, but rather they are to be envied because they are in the nearer presence of God. Now Paul returns to his previous subject of demonstrating the inconsistency of those who deny the resurrection of the body. Why do some among you say there is no resurrection from the dead? What are the implications of that? Now, this passage is one that is one of the most difficult to understand in the scriptures. I was very tempted not to deal with it at all. I'm still tempted to skip over it. But to show you some of the difficulties here, scholars have identified up to 40 different interpretations of verse 29. In fact, one scholar wrote an entire book on verse 29 exploring the history of its interpretation. And no, I haven't read it, and I don't intend to read it either. But having said that it's difficult to understand this one verse, I think we can learn the basic lesson from it, and that's what we want to do today. Basically, there are three arguments the Apostle Paul gives to us, and then he applies those three arguments with regard to the overall teaching. The first argument is the practice of baptizing for the dead would be senseless. The second one is that the devotion of believers, especially martyrs, is incomprehensible. Paul's life would be pointless and hard to understand. And the third argument is that the lifestyle of this sinful world would be preferable if the dead are not raised. And so that's the premise behind it. If the dead are not raised, These are questions that have to be asked, and so the first thing that we look at here is verse 29. If indeed the dead are not raised, the practice of baptizing for the dead would be senseless. I'm not going to advocate for the institution of the practice, and there are reasons for that which will become very obvious, I think. But I do want to make some observations about the Apostle Paul's using that. And it's very obscure as to why he is doing this. But the thing that we do want to know and what we are sure of is that this practice was observed by some in Corinth and probably by some who were professing Christians in Corinth because he tells us, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? It was something that was familiar to them, something that was familiar to the Apostle Paul. So this was something that was going on in Corinth. The identity of those engaging in the practice is not revealed to us. But there's something else, even though we see the practice was observed by some, there's the intimation, and I think it is fairly clear here, that this practice of baptizing from the dead was not observed by the Apostle Paul, nor was it observed in other churches. It was not something that was widespread. It was something that may have been unique to Corinth, but certainly was a minority practice in the first century church. And the reason that I say it wasn't observed by Paul, notice how he distances himself. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized from the dead? Will those do, not that we do, not something that was practiced by Paul or the apostles And the third thing that I think we can surmise from this, not just from the Scriptures but from Church history, is that the practice was short-lived. We know very little about it. The reason that we don't know very much about it is because it vanished from view except in some of the heretical cults. There were some who continued to do that based on their errors in their understanding of Scripture. But with regard to the Orthodox Church, it quickly vanished from view, and so we know very little. about it, but the practice was observed by some. Second thing, that's what we know, but the second thing is the nature of the practice is not clear. This is what we don't know. What was going on with the baptism from the dead? Well, 40 different interpretations. No, I'm not going to go over them all, but I'm going to give you some broad outlines here and express some things that may help us to understand something, but in the final analysis we simply don't know. But there are some major categories of those things that were taking place. One of them is that believers were being baptized on behalf of those who died in unbelief. In other words, this may have been some error in the Corinthian church that somehow there was some virtue in the act of baptism that actually conferred new life and justification upon others. And they thought, well, I can vicariously, or I can take the place of somebody that I love and be baptized on their behalf and they'll receive the benefit from it. Now, that is a view that has been adopted by some in saying that the Apostle Paul is here taking an erroneous practice, and he's simply asking why would people do that if they didn't believe in the resurrection from the dead? Could it be, and I simply ask this question, that this view may have been held by some of those who denied the resurrection from the dead? They were those who are misunderstanding the whole concept and the rejected it. And yet in perfect inconsistency, they were being baptized for the dead. And the apostle Paul may be saying, why in the world would you all do that if you don't believe in the resurrection from the dead? The question that I have and the problem that I have with that is that it's hard to believe the apostle Paul, who was so emphatic about justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone should, would not even address that if it were such an error. But that is one of those that is held forth. A second view is that believers were being baptized on behalf of believers who died before being baptized. And so we know there was the practice of people being instructed in the faith before they would be baptized and admitted to the church. These were catechumens. Those were being catechized Or it may have been those who were converts who had a very clear profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet who were martyred. And so there were those who were being baptized, as some would say. They were receiving baptized in their behalf as a public profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That was very clear by the giving their lives for the sake of Christ. simply a testimony to their dying in the Lord Jesus Christ. It may have been those who were as good as dead. In other words, they were being baptized on behalf of those who were as good as dead. A third view is that converts were being baptized over the graves of Christian martyrs. The word here is hupere. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized over the dead? Usually it is translated in behalf of. But there were those who were martyred who were then buried. And then again, as a witness and a testimony to them, believers who wanted to identify with Christ and with the martyrs would stand over the graves of the martyrs as a witness and a testimony that they wanted to be united to Christ and be faithful to the end. They would be baptized over the graves of those who had died baptized over the dead. And a fourth view is that there were those who were brought to faith by the example of dead believers who died well, whether martyrs or those who were faithful in the last days of their lives with serious illness and were so convinced by the way that they died, wanted to testify that not only were they trusting in Christ themselves, but they had been greatly influenced by the confidence in the resurrection that these saints had exhibited in dying well. They were baptized and confessing that, I came to the Lord Jesus Christ by the hope of the resurrection that was exhibited in these people who died. I will say that this particular, this last one appeals to me, but I can't be dogmatic of any. One of the things that I will say just by way of application, I pray that we might die in such a way that our death would commend the Lord Jesus Christ to others, that others might see the way that we die and say, If that's what the hope of the resurrection does for those who are dying, I want to be in Christ, who is the resurrection and the life. And you see, you see, I think one of the things that helps us here is the Apostle Paul is asking, what will they do who are baptizing for the dead if there is no resurrection from the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, will those who are baptized in behalf of those who witness to them in their death, turn away from the faith? If there is no resurrection, if the hope of the resurrection brought them to faith in Lord Jesus Christ, what will they do if there is no resurrection in the dead? Will they turn away from the faith? Just food for thought. Okay, practice is observed by some, but the nature of the practice is not clear at all. But then we also have the substance of the argument, and that is the practice, whatever it was, presupposes the resurrection of dead bodies. What will those do? You see, baptism symbolizes the believer's identification with Christ, and that identification with Christ includes both his life, his death, and his resurrection. In Romans 6, verses 3 through 5, we read, Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. The very nature of baptism is that it symbolizes the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and also our being raised up with him spiritually and the resurrection of the dead that is coming. Why would you be baptized if there is no resurrection from the dead? So baptism then expresses an expectation of bodily resurrection. And that's what we do by our public profession of faith, or when our children are baptized in infancy, we are holding before ourselves and them the promise of eternal life, the resurrection of the body. And if there is no resurrection, the practice is frivolous. It has no meaning at all, and yet central to the Church in the first century. First argument. Second argument. The devotion of believers is incomprehensible. The Apostle Paul just states the first, but then he goes on and he says, I protest, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me if the dead are not raised? What's the benefit? Look at my life and particularly the life of the apostles and the early martyrs and the martyrs ever since then. How do we make sense of their testimony? How do we make sense of their enduring great hardships in life and even voluntarily giving themselves up to death? Stop and think about the witness of the apostles and the martyrs of the early church and those since then. You see, the apostles faced the constant threat of death for preaching the gospel, and they did so voluntarily. The heart of the gospel is resurrection. So the Apostle Paul says, I swear an oath before you, I am dying daily. My life is characterized by the threat of death, and I am doing this voluntarily. This is not something that I am compelled to do except that I must preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So you can think about the early history of the Church in the book of Acts. You can think about the treatment of Peter and John by the Jews in Jerusalem. Imprisoned, threatened with death, and ultimately, of course, Peter was martyred because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, refusing to acknowledge any lord but him. John was exiled to the island of Patmos and died there of what might be called a natural death, although he also was tortured for the faith. And all of the disciples faced these things, and you can read about these things, that they were threatened day by day, living under the threat of death. We can think of the martyrdom of Stephen and of James, the apostle. They suffered death for the sake of the gospel. And we can see the experience of the Apostle Paul himself. Keep your fingers there in 1 Corinthians 15, and let's just read a couple of passages from 2 Corinthians where he enlarges on this that he said in his first letter. 2 Corinthians 1, verse 8, he reminds the Corinthians, For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we have the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. You can see the Apostle Paul labored under the threat of death. He said, every day, every moment of every day, my life is threatened. So burdened was I by the oppression that came to me in Asia that I despaired. I didn't think I was going to live another day. And this came about in order we might trust in ourselves, but in God, what? What was his hope? What kept him going? The hope of the resurrection kept him going. Turn over a few pages to chapter 4, verses 11 and 12. And here the Apostle Paul tells us, for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake. The life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. And then a few more pages to the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians, verses 23 and following. Listen to the afflictions the Apostle Paul reiterates in his own life. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I more so. In far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles. dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren. I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there are the daily pressures upon me of concern for all the churches." Is that something you want to volunteer for? That's what characterized the life of the Apostle Paul. How do you account for that? The Apostle Paul says, if there is no resurrection from the dead, what's the benefit? Why would anybody do such a thing if there is no resurrection from the dead? The Apostle Paul faced constant the threat of death, the preaching of the gospel, the heart of which is the resurrection of the dead. And he cites a particular instance in Ephesus. He says, if from human motives, in verse 32, human motives meaning if all there is in this life, if there is no resurrection, if just from the human perspective without revelation of the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, if from human motives, and just the things of this world. I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus. What does it profit me?" What is he referring to? Well, we don't know. This may be taken in a literal sense. The Apostle Paul was writing from Ephesus, we think, as he wrote to Corinth. We do know that he suffered a great many things in Ephesus. Whether he was actually subjected to fighting with wild beasts, we know that this was something that was done in the Roman Empire. They could be arranged for the entertainment of the masses, where this is not Christians being fed to the martyrs. This would be something of a contest, where they would be something of gladiators. They may not be trained, but they would be armed, they'd be led into the arena, and then beasts would be released, and they would fight the wild beasts for the entertainment of those around them. Often it was done because of punishment, but they figured, well, if we're going to punish someone, we may as well entertain the crowds as well. But as soon as the gladiator, if a Christian was victorious over the beast, over the animal, whatever it was, often lions, then they would simply release another one. Christian continued to be victorious. They'd simply release enough beasts until finally they simply couldn't fight. And, of course, the crowd loved this. It was a great sport. Now, was the Apostle Paul subjected to this? Well, I personally think it's unlikely. It may have been, but it would be unlikely for a Roman citizen to be subjected to that type of thing without being tried. We have no record of that. What we do have, however, the record of Ephesus is the crowd crying for the Apostle Paul's head because of his preaching the gospel and undermining the sale of the statues of Diana and the tumult that came here. So it may be taken in a metaphorical sense, in the sense that that the Apostle Paul was battling with those who were acting like animals. And we get this, for instance, from Titus 1.12. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. And so he's simply saying that sometimes people apart from Christ act like animals. And I've been doing battle with animals in every city that I go to, or Jude chapter 10. But these men revile the things which they do not understand. And the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals by these things, they are destroyed. The Apostle Paul simply says, my whole life in dealing with a pagan world is battling with wild beasts that threaten my life. So he looks at these things and then he challenges his hearers to explain his motives. Why would I do such a thing? Would the apostles voluntarily expose themselves to death? for a lie, there would indeed be no incentive for them without the hope of the resurrection. There would be no personal benefit to the Apostle Paul, and as he was a selfless man, if he did these things, if there is no resurrection, there would be no benefit for the Corinthian believers either. No benefit. His life would be a total waste. We have to ask ourselves the question, why did the disciples and the martyrs do these things. And again, I'll go back to that first thing. This is one of the reasons why I think that that interpretation that says it might be for those who want to identify with Christ so that they could die a death in the hope of the resurrection like those who were influenced by those who did. The third argument, the lifestyle of a sinful world is superior. If indeed the dead are not raised, then the lifestyle of this fallen world with all of its debauchery, with all of its licentiousness and with all of the misery that comes with that is superior if the dead are not raised. You see this again in the 32nd verse. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. That's all there is. Why would anyone follow Christ when it brings the abandoning of what the world would say are all the good things of life? Why would we do this? Why would we discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness? Why would we even suffer martyrdom for these things. If there is no resurrection, there is no future for the body after life. And, of course, this would go along with that notion that there is no resurrection would go along with the Greek dualism, body bad, spirit good, so it doesn't matter what you do with your body. That was one of the things that was promoted by the Greek philosophies. Just eat, drink, because it doesn't matter what you do. Even as believers, it's the soul that matters, so sinning with the body, that's perfectly alright. The Apostle Paul is saying, no, that's not the way the Christians do things. We recognize that we keep our body under. We don't allow the desires of the body to dominate us. We are dominated by the Spirit of God. If there is no resurrection, there's no future for the body. after death. And if there is no resurrection, this present life is all there is for the body. So why not eat, drink, and be merry? Because after all, at the end of this life, the body goes into the ground and there's nothing left. It may as well, as the old Budweiser commercial said, may as well grab all the gusto that you can get in this life because there's no There's no future for the body at all if the dead are not raised. I remember many years ago, I can't remember when, probably back in the 60s, there was a song that was sung. It was a very gloomy song, and yet I think it captures the spirit of the age and the spirit of, if there's no resurrection, the woman is singing, is that all there is? Talking about the pleasures of this life, she says, is that all there is? If that's all there is, then let's just keep dancing. Because that's all there is. Present pleasure. And yet it's unsatisfactory. Even to her as she sings that song. Or I think of another movie around the same era. Maybe you've seen it. Maybe you haven't. I don't particularly recommend it. It's rather depressing. But it speaks about a couple who is living in depression. They're desperate and they're thrown together in a dance contest because in the dance contest, there was some money to be made if you won. And so they're desperate for money. They don't know each other. They just come together and they dance and they dance and they dance and it goes on for a long time and they basically exhaust themselves and they actually win. And at the end, they find out that they didn't read the small print. The organizers of the dance contest charge them for room and board and everything else and they receive nothing at the end. At the end this couple goes out and they're standing by themselves and one of them asks the other to kill them. And the other person, I can't remember if it was a man or a woman, I think it's the woman but I'm not certain, it doesn't matter. And this person can't understand, why would I do something like that? And the response is, well, they shoot horses, don't they? You're worth nothing more than the life of a horse if there is no resurrection from the dead. Life is empty. There is no resurrection in this present life is all there is for the body. And so why not eat, drink, and be merry? I don't think that this quotation is from Ecclesiastes. I read it, but I think it's actually taken from Isaiah 22, verses 12 and 13, where God pronounces judgment upon Jerusalem when Sennacherib is coming up against them. And it was a judgment that should have awakened them, but in chapter 22, verses 12 and 13, We read these words, Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead there is gaiety and gladness, killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat, drinking of wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. You see, even in the face of judgment, these people wanted to ignore everything that was going on around them and just satisfy themselves with temporary pleasures. Paul is saying, that's all you've got. All you've got is the expectation of judgment and so you may as well just ignore it all and distract yourself with the pleasures of this world. And if there is no resurrection, there is no reason for self-control. That's what he's saying. There is no reason at all. There were those who promoted licentiousness because the body was nothing. And this is the dominant view of our own day. This is what we call the moral hazard, that men throw off all moral restraint. Men will live for pleasure alone. And when men live for pleasure alone, that means that they will pursue that pleasure at the expense of everything else. And so when men live for themselves and have no expectation of a future, They throw off all restraint and they just live for themselves. And when men live for themselves, there's nothing they won't do to advance themselves in this life. We have two dogs and ordinarily they're pretty good. But one of the things that gets them going is if one of them finishes their food before the other one. and then goes over and tries to eat the other one's food. It doesn't happen very often, but all they can think of is just getting their food, and they don't care if they steal it from the other one, and they will fight and bite and devour for that pleasure of a meal. You don't think we don't act like wild beasts Well, that's what happens. That's what's happening in our world today. There's no hope of the resurrection. Let me apply these things because we come to the application of Paul's instruction in verses 33 and 34. It says, Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning, for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this And so he comes and he applies these things about if there is no resurrection, how do we explain these things? We know that the baptism for the dead is senseless and the devotion of believers is incomprehensible and the lifestyle of the world is superior if there is no resurrection from the dead. But he's asserted previously, but now Christ has been raised from the dead. So how do we apply it? Well, first of all, beware of deception. Interesting. We often think of We often think that we're off the hook if somebody deceived us. The Apostle Paul doesn't let us off the hook. He says it's your responsibility. Beware of deception. It's your responsibility to keep from being deceived. We go back to the Garden of Eden and certainly we know that Eve was deceived. I think Adam was simply rebellious. He perverted the pleasures of this life and to please his wife rather than pleasing God. But they were deceived. Did God cut them slack? Oh, I understand completely. It wasn't your fault. That was what they were saying. Adam said, the woman that you gave me, she's responsible. Eve says, no, it's the serpent. He deceived me. And God says, oh, well, that explains it all. If you've been deceived, you're not... No, it didn't work that way, did it? And so it is with the resurrection from the dead. If you don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, you can say, well, all of my teachers didn't believe in it, and none of the things that I've ever read, I've never seen it, and so I have no reason for believing this. You're deceiving yourself. You have no excuse if you don't believe in the resurrection of the dead, because you have the resurrection of Christ. You have the testimony of God's Word. You have the testimony of God's Spirit. You know there's a spiritual part of you, and you know there's a judgment to come, and you're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. No. Adam and Eve had no excuse, and we have no excuse. for not believing in Christ and the resurrection from the dead. And so when he tells us to be aware of deception, I think he tells us a couple of things under this. First of all, avoid the common sources of deception. Notice he says, do not be deceived, and then he gives us this proverb, not a proverb from the book of Proverbs, something that was well known in the community and to believers as well. Bad company corrupts good morals or good communication. Avoid the sources of deception. Bad communication corrupts good morals and bad company corrupts good morals as well. Be careful about the companions that you choose. It should not be lost upon us that the influence of unbelieving education has had a profound influence upon our culture. It has promoted unbelief and rebellion and this notion, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But, you know, it is not just instructors. I think the more significant influence is peer pressure. peer pressure. The people that we hang out with have a profound influence. It doesn't mean that the others don't either, but you need to be careful about the companions that you choose. Proverbs 13.20 says, He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. Fools, not in the sense that they are dumb. In fact, many biblical fools are quite intelligent Rather, it's those who don't believe God, who trust in themselves. A companion of fools is going to suffer harm. If you want to be wise, be with wise men. Be with those who trust in the Lord, who believe that there is a future for body and soul. And be careful about the teachers that you follow. The Lord Jesus said that a man will be like his teacher. And here he's warning, he's saying to these Corinthians, there are those who are teaching you that there's no resurrection from the dead. Be careful about who you listen to. Always go back to the scripture. And that's the second thing. Actually, the third thing. We'll see that. You need to understand the link between doctrine and practice. A sound doctrine is essential to godliness. You can't just say, Well, doctrine is not important, it's the way you live your life. No, what you believe affects what you do. So you need to understand that. Bad company, bad communication corrupts good morals, the practice. Sound doctrine is essential to godliness. And recognize the root of deception is ignorance of God. How is it that we can be deceived about these things? He says, some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. Some do not possess the knowledge of God. I think there's a deficiency of knowledge of the Bible's revelation of God. For instance, Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 22 and 29 with regard to the resurrection of the dead. with regard to the Sadducees. And remember, the Sadducees were those, that sect of Judaism that did not believe in the resurrection from the dead. And what did Jesus have to say after they came to try to trap him? Talking about the man who had the woman who had seven husbands because the husbands died. And they asked the question in the resurrection, whose life shall she be? Snarky type of thing, trying to trap him. And Jesus' answer said, you are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures, nor the power of God. You having trouble with the resurrection? Because you don't know God. You don't know the word. You don't know God. So the Apostle Paul prays in Colossians chapter 1 that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will and increasing in the knowledge of God. So they were deficient in the knowledge of the Bible's revelation and deficient in experiential knowledge of God as well, knowing about him but no communion with him, hearing the word but not believing. So that's the first thing, beware of deception. Avoid the common sources, understand the link between doctrine and practice, and recognize that the root of that deception is ignorance of God and His ways. And then finally, engage the practices that protect you from deception. Cast off your delusions. If you don't believe in Christ, if you don't believe in the resurrection of the body that Christ has been raised from the dead and your own resurrection, cast off your delusions because you are living in them. And so he tells us, become sober. Wake up! And the picture here, the language suggests the throwing off the effects of sleep or drunkenness. Have you ever been awakened from a very deep, sound sleep and you don't know where you are? And you don't know what's going on? And particularly if you've been awakened by some type of a loud noise. I don't remember my dreams very much, and Bunny tells me that's because I'm not sleeping well, but at any rate, I don't remember things. But I do remember, it wasn't too long ago, I was awakened out of a sound sleep, and I was so confused, I thought I was somewhere else and doing something else. The Apostle Paul says, Wake up! Wake up! You're delusional. And I couldn't help but think again about C.S. Lewis and his book. I can't remember which book it is right now. I'll think of it probably this evening. But anyway, you'll recall they go underground, Eustace and Jill and Puddleglum, and they're underground and the green witch is there. And they're trying to explain about the world above where there's a sun and there's light and everything's green. And the witch has a fire going there, and she throws some incense on there. And as the incense goes up, the children and Puddle-Glum begin to think, huh. The green witch says, oh, now, what a nice little fantasy, that there's a sun up above. How quaint. Well, you know, you're just being deceived, and the children are starting to get drowsy. And they're thinking, oh, yeah. He can't remember it now, maybe that's right, and Puddle-Glum is beginning to think that, and then Puddle-Glum puts his feet, his webbed feet, into the fire, and it shocks him, and it wakes him up, and he says, No! There is Aslan, and there is a sun, and there is a world above, and there's a world to come, and they wake up no longer deceived. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. Cast off your delusions and the lies that are surrounding you. and then order your lives by the word of God. Not your experience, not the opinions of men, but you order your life according to the sure word of God. Christ has been raised from the dead. This is the source of truth. He's written to us these things that we might know that he is. And then encourage one another in the knowledge of God. Well, that's a good conclusion to apply these things. Embrace by faith the Bible's doctrine of the resurrection of the body and all of its implications. And be on guard against every threat that undermines your trust in the risen Lord. And then I said there is an improper eating, drinking, and being merry that is expressed in Isaiah. There's a proper one. I would encourage you also to enjoy all of life's temporal blessings with a view to the internal. a proper way. Solomon commends physical blessings as they are viewed as God's gifts and exercised with gratitude to the giver of the gifts. We're to do that. We're not to be those who despise this life and say that we're just not going to enjoy any of it. We're not those who put off all of these things. We simply are those who enjoy the good things but recognize who gives them and who wants us to enjoy them in remembrance of Him. But Solomon also warns the futility of enjoying those physical blessings when they are viewed and practiced as an end in themselves. That's all there is. There is no resurrection of the dead. Instead of these good things pointing us to the greater good that comes, then you and we, if that is our view, we are most to be pitied, not the ones who believe in the resurrection. Let's pray together. admit that one verse in particular is difficult for us to understand, and we don't know exactly what was going on, but we do know the implications. That if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our baptisms that are legitimate are useless as well. And we also have no explanation for the lives of the apostles and martyrs, and we would only have life in this world. would throw off all restraint. And so, Lord, we pray that we would awaken, we'd be careful about our companions and our teachers, and that we would indeed cast off every delusion and come back to Your Word as the sure word of prophecy which is confirmed and will never fall to the ground because it's spoken by the God of truth. And that we might encourage one another in the knowledge of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.