1 Corinthians 15:29-34 Moral implication of Christ Resurrection

Well, today we're on the, notice we've been in 1 Corinthians 15 since the end of October, so this is the fourth lesson, and we've got two more to go. So, 15 is a pretty important chapter. It really has a lot of interesting things for us to talk about. So, I've been utilizing this outline from Chester McCauley.

So, the first five verses talk about the gospel, and he's labeled the gospel of the resurrection, which is perfectly fine. Because resurrection is the focus of this chapter. Proof of the resurrection in 5-11 and then the objectors to resurrection. We're going to find that today we're going to return to that topic about the objections and the people that said, I don't think they doubted Christ's resurrection, but they doubted that men could be resurrected, that a normal man. So that seemed to be a part of the problem. Last week we talked about the glorious resurrection and all the positive things about that and what that implies for now and for the future. Then today we're going to talk about the implications of the denial of the resurrection. So it kind of feeds back to the C part of 12-9. And then we're going to go beyond that in the following weeks. So there's three parts to this. implications of those baptized to the dead.

That's always an interesting topic. I have an interpretation for you on this one. I noticed in Vern's notes on this, over 200 different opinions about what that verse means. I didn't survey 200, I just looked at what I thought was the best. That's verse 29.

Then we're going to talk about the implications of those who suffer. If there's no resurrection, if this is all there is in life, then there's a verse, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. That's talked about in this passage. If there's no life beyond this, we just have a gay old time and that's it. But there's not. For the believers, there's not. This is just the beginning. And then lastly, there will be some obligations or some direction for believers. Act in accordance with who you are. Act like who you know. You know the Lord. You've been saved. Act in light of that. That's the last part. Can someone read these verses from your Bible?

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 affirm, 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, let us eat and drink. 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. Yeah, actually, did I get shame? Oh yeah, I dropped that. I knew I missed that. Thank you, Tom. You filled in the blank for me. I caught that mistake. Yeah, there's a mistake on your hand. Did I catch it on your hand? I don't think I did. It was a mistake. Somehow I'm cutting and pacing. I lost the word shame. He was ashamed. He was ashamed of me.

If you look in your Bible or your electronic device or whatever, the previous verse, verse 29, we're talking about what the Lord has done and is going to do. The previous verses, 27 and 28, totally are looking toward what God will accomplish. In verse 27 it says, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 27, For He has put all things in subjection under His feet, But when he says, all things are put in subjection, it is evident he is expecting to put all things in subjection to him. And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son shall also be subject to the one who subjects all things to himself, that God may be all in all.

So he's talking about this glorious what's happening. Also, this is like, OK, stop. We're going to change direction here. And he says, otherwise. So what's going on here? So I have a whole chart in otherwise. So it seems like in looking at this and looking through some things, the word seems to mark a departure.

Because he's going to come back to this part here, if the dead are not raised at all. So if you're going back on that mentality and you're thinking that they're not raised at all, you're not going to have a very positive view about what you're doing now and your future. And that's going to be much about what we're talking about today. So this otherwise kind of marks that transition. So it's going along with this glorious things that are going to happen and then all of a sudden, otherwise, we have all these things. So what follows will be an examination based on the assumption that there is no resurrection of the dead. So three divisions.

Really, the tough verse that's coming up here, I'm sorry, the rest of this verse, is really talking about baptism. Why be baptized if there's no resurrection? Is that of any value to be baptized? Because we're going to talk about what is baptism? What's baptism about? So if we understand that, we'll see that without the resurrection, baptism loses its meaning. And the other part is, why should we suffer if there's no resurrection? Paul suffered an incredible amount. If you read his sufferings, you would think he would have given up on the Lord a long time ago.

If I had a tenth of what he had, I don't know. Would I say, Lord, this is too much. I can't be beaten. I can't be left for dead half. I need to go through this list and we're going to read that. He suffered tremendously for the Lord. But the motivation there is, in addition to the fact that we have the Holy Spirit, is the fact that we have a promise of being resurrected and to be with him forever. And the last one, in a negative sense, well there's no resurrection unless we eat and drink for tomorrow we die. A very fatalistic kind of thing.

It's funny, I remember somewhere on the line, the word drink got in there. I don't know where that's not, you know, drink is not in the text. But it's interesting as you look at this, I kind of thought back, you know, I've heard that quoted. It hasn't been quoted from scripture, possibly. But anyway, they've added an extra word in there in those kind of situations.

So that's kind of the rest of what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about this being baptized. And it's going to be actually focused on baptized for the dead, which seems to be an interesting phraseology. And hopefully we can unpack that. So that's where we're headed. So now the rest of the verse. Now the easy part of the verse. So I kind of took this last part of this verse and looked at it. Let's take the supposition of the two other questions that are asked.

If the dead are not raised at all, that's the supposition. And literally this says, assuming it's actually true, the dead persons are not raised. So that's kind of what they're focused on. So they're returning back to what we had before. Come on Bobby, come up front if you want. The assumption here is that the dead are not actually raised at all. This word actually is a word that is used in other places. We saw it back in chapter 5. It is actually reported that there is immorality among you. That is a pretty strong word.

Two questions are asked based upon that assumption. So I thought it would be better to do this than to take it in a flow. Here's the two questions that are asked. The first question is, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? So we're going to slowly get into answering that question. So let's just look at this piece by piece. this bothered me for a while, what will they do? So I was sort of saying, what will they do?

In light of the fact that the assumption is there is no resurrection for the dead, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? So looking at the word, and looking at this translation in the Amplified Bible, it seemed like it might be better translated, unlike what the Amplified did. What do people mean by being themselves baptized in behalf of the dead. That seemed to be a better rendering of that verse.

It kind of hangs on what will they do. It seems like they have to do something. I don't think that's really in view here. Possibly it's what do they mean, or possibly what do they profit, what do they gain. What advantage is there? That seems to be the thrust of that question.

What will they do who are baptized for the dead? Does someone else have another translation of that little phrase right there in that passage? Something besides what will we do? If not, that's fine. I was just curious if you had one. Anyway, like I said, what does it mean?

And the next question is, Why then are they being baptized for them? So if there is no resurrection from the dead, which is the assumption going into this passage, What does it mean to be baptized for the dead? And why are they being baptized for the dead? So those two questions seem to be in view in this phraseology. So now let's see if we can try to tackle what this idea of being baptized for the dead means.

So first of all, and it seems like I think there's some assumptions you need to make in this passage. I'll tell you the assumptions that I think are true. First of all, I think this is water baptism. If you have something that you think I'm, you know, shout out and wouldn't talk about, I think it's water baptism they're talking about.

And I think also that implicit here is the fact that they call it the dead in here. It says, why are they baptized? What will those who do who are baptized for the dead? The dead here seem to be believers and most likely they were baptized. So they don't need, I think in a proper translation of this verse, they don't need this baptism.

There's got to be something else going on. I think also in looking at, Verne taught this, I'll look back at what he said, I don't think we really understand the full context of what's being said. We just don't know. Like with the head coverings, we don't know the culture and what this really implied. But some things we do know from other parts of scripture. So what's water baptism? What's the purpose of water baptism? Off the top of your head. It's a symbol. It's a symbol of our renewing of who we are because of God. Does water baptism accomplish salvation?

No. Now there's a bunch of folks out there that think that. So if they think that, when they come to this verse, you can see where they're headed. You actually can see and where the culture takes. Brother Joe died, and I'm somehow going to save him in the grave. If you're on that path, you're diverging from scripture big time. You're just going off and making a right turn. That's what the Mormons think. That you can save people who are already dead. I wonder if that's sort of how that came about. I think this verse is key in their thinking. I think that's why it's important to understand.

What does water baptism do? We see in scripture, you can go through Acts, And there are case after case where a person believes and they're baptized. I don't think that's ever reversed. They believe first and then they're baptized as evidence that they have believed. So if we have a proper understanding of water baptism, then we avoid a lot of bad interpretations of this passage.

Bob, you had something? baptized for the dead? That's going to be a key thing. Hang on here. The preposition. In English it's different than in Greek. After studying this, that unlocks this verse. The rendering of that four unlocks this verse. We're going to get to that next.

On water baptism, you're clear that nobody is going to be saved by water baptism. It's a symbol that you have been saved. It's a symbol that you When a person is baptized, they go down in the water, it pictures the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus as we have water baptism. As you're washed in white as snow, because you're a new creation. It doesn't accomplish salvation, that only is a picture.

Well, I was just going to say, it seems to me too that water baptism is for people around, to show people around you like a symbol, not just for yourself, but you do in a group of people. people or in a church or whatever to show them what you have decided. Exactly. So with a proper understanding of Waterbat is a picture of what's happened to you. Okay, so now let's look at the key word.

It appears twice in this verse. Word four, it appears in those two questions What will those do who are baptized for the dead? And it appears again after this assumption passage, if the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? So this word for is a word in the original called huper. So let's look at three verses, four verses, that use this word huper and see what we kind of get out of that. Let's look at John 10. Could someone read John 10, 11, and then verse 15? I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

In both those cases, if you look at the literal translation of the word huper, is on behalf of. So if you look at that, it says, I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. That's in the original. So we see in here, we see it's substitution, right? his life for our life. And then in 15 it says, even as a father knows me, I know the father, and I lay down my life for or on behalf of the sheep. It's his life that makes the difference.

And then if you look at Romans chapter 5. Could someone read verse 8? But God commandeth his love toward us In that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Or, you take the original, on behalf of us. Here at Holly Hills, we go over that. That's a substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus.

And then the last one is in Galatians 2.20. If you memorize it, you can just go through it.

It's the very last part of Galatians 2.20. Wendy knows that well. Can someone recite it?

Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live, live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. The very next to last word, for me, on behalf of me. So, if you take that definition I listen to Macaulay, and Macaulay has been a great help. I know Bob likes him, and I would recommend if you have time to listen to him.

He has gone through all of Corinthians, and is very helpful. He utilizes that definition. Four isn't always that definition, but that's a primary definition of huper. First, the word four is a preposition indicating substitution, taking the place of another. Living believers are seen as taking the place of dead ones. As believers die, new ones come along and fill up the ranks. They are baptized in place of dead believers.

Among all the opinions about what this verse means, I think this is probably the easiest and most straightforward and it fits with the language. I didn't go through all 200, like I mentioned before. The concept here is that it's like remembering, just like Ben. So another person is baptized, we say, well, thank you Lord, you took Ben home and now you've raised up another person in our body. He's come, he's been baptized, he's now part of our body.

To me that seems fairly reasonable, but we don't know the culture in that time period. So that's sort of, I think to me that's a fairly satisfying explanation of what was going on in that verse. But you know what Roger, if you don't understand Romans, if you haven't started through that, because if you just get to this verse out of the blue and don't have that understanding of identification and substitution and all those things, yeah, it's like those verses that talk about snake handling. I mean, you know, you can pick any verse, but if you're not grounded, if you don't know, because you haven't gone through the way the word is set up. Sure, so I think Paul is assuming at this point that we have this other teaching and that we understand to some extent what is meant by this. Right, now I agree. You come to this verse without, you just dive into that verse and look at that. Right, no wonder people can be confused. Bob?

The issue about commentators and Bible study at our home on Friday night, 2 Thessalonians 1, of course that follows the description of the rapture shortly there before. Here we are dealing with potentially the coming of Christ's rapture, the day of the Lord, the eternal judgment. And so if you look at all the commentators, you got a wide variety of opinions exactly what's being referred to. This verse is exemplary of that kind of look at all the wisdom of the world and nobody has a perfect understanding, only the Lord. So we do our best. and the commentators can be helpful, but they're all over the board too.

They are, and you know, I think the more you try to take a, you ever watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? And they ask the audience to vote, you know? Yeah. Sometimes it's really, some of the audience knows what they're talking about, so you'll get like, you know, 95% think it's this thing here.

Well, if you did something on this verse, it would be, it's all over the map. In that case, you, I don't know. So I think this is understandable. And you look at the other verses and say, yeah, I see. This kind of makes sense. On behalf of, OK? And I like the concept of man goes home to be with the Lord, and we get a new person being baptized. They fill up the ranks of the body of Christ here at Holly Hill. I mean, to me, that's pretty comforting. So that's my take of this verse. All right, good. Good discussion. All right, so let's go on.

So now he's going to start in this section about suffering. He's going to make his case. I have three charts, three verses. They're going to talk about suffering. And the whole context, why should a believer be suffering if there's no resurrection? It seems futile. So he's going to go through and make his case. He says, why are we in danger every hour?

So he doesn't really give much. It's kind of a short verse. Basically, once a given, there is no resurrection of the dead. So actually, I took the Amplified again here. For that matter, why do I live dangerously as I do, running such a risk that I am in peril every hour? So I think it's good to kind of look at, let's look at this passage.

This is only the last part, but let's read the whole section here. Could someone read, turn to 2 Corinthians A little editorial, a little advertisement. 2 Corinthians 11, and this is what I was talking about, this is just incredible. Can someone read 2 Corinthians 11, 23-26. Are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I am 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 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Oh boy. A night and a day I've spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among faults. Brethren. I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights and hunger and thirst. often without food, and cold, and exposure. Can you imagine if you gave that as a... Here's what potentially can happen to you as a believer. You think you can say, well, maybe I don't want that. Maybe I won't sign up for that. Just an incredible...

The Lord told Paul when he saved him, Paul, you're going to suffer for me. And Christ said that too, that we're going to suffer for Him. So in some ways we shouldn't be, and it tells us, we're not to be surprised when all kinds of trials and tribulations come into our lives. Okay, so why are we doing this? That's question one in that verse, and it keeps going. I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus, our Lord, I die daily.

I had a little hard time connecting up I die daily, but we'll just go through this here. Boasting is the idea, and I may have left out part of the... I kind of cut and pasted here. I think it is more like... The word I left out, I think, is denotes the matter or cause for glorying or boasting.

I think a really good verse here is Romans 15, verse 17. I'll go ahead and read that. Romans 15, verse 17. It talks about how should a Christian boast. 1517. Go ahead Tom. Not of ourselves, but how Christ is working through any kind of difficulty we have. Okay, good. Hold that thought and let's read this verse here. Verse 17 in Romans 15.

Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. So it's in It's in Christ. That's how we can boast. We boast because we're in Christ and what He's done, what He's accomplished. Bob, you had something? Yeah, I mean, we boast of our position.

Absolutely. I mean, in effect, I die daily means that Paul recognizes that in his flesh he has no capability and his death daily is him being co-crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I mean, it's a great application. This verse is a great application. Good, okay. Great, Bob. That's good. We boast in our position.

That's what we boast in. And that's all of him, not of us. It reminds us of our citizenship, doesn't it? When things come our way that we don't want or don't expect or really feel like we're suffering because of them, where's our citizenship anywhere? We boast in our citizenship in heavenly places.

So here's the Amplified again. I think they picked up on part of that too. I assure you by the pride which I have in you, your fellowship and union with Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. I faced death. They kind of put that part in there which I didn't exactly like. But I died a self. They didn't pick up what Bob actually had.

And then basically Constable kind of had that Christians they're boasting the fact of them being as believers which is good. Let's read This is somewhat a parallel verse, I think. Romans 8, 35 and 36. So go back to Romans 8, because I'm going to read 35 and 36. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter."

Alright. So let's go on to the next verse here. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts to Ephesus, what does it profit me if the dead are not raised. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. So here's sort of the fatalistic looking at this. Here's the idea that if there's no resurrection, and he's going to talk about this struggle he had in Ephesus here. If from human motives I fought with the wild beasts of Ephesus. So this is a case in court. Human motives. I wonder about this.

When he said, I fought from human motives, I thought, well, you know, are we to fight from human motives? So that really could be what we're fighting from. Are we to be fighting, counting upon the Lord? So I was a little confused by the phrase, I fought from human motives.

I'm hoping some other... But that's if I fought. And maybe it's really if. Okay. Actually, it is assumed to be true. But what you're saying is... He's kind of using that as, you know, Wake up, people! If this is what I was doing, fighting for human motives, then what does it profit me? Nothing! That's a good point. I fought with wild beasts, probably figuratively of ferocious men. I have a verse for that. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Let's look at verse 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8.

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 despair even of our lives. So if you look at when they refer to Asia in scripture, there's a footnote in my Bible that talks about Ephesus would be included. That's considered Asia Minor. If you look at pictures of Asia Minor, Ephesus is included on the west coast of that. So it seems like in that verse, he's referring to the wild beast in Ephesus.

So there are other passages that talk about the struggle he had. Actually, at one point he was asked not to go to Asia. So there obviously were difficult times in that part. So he said, but Mark, I think you had it nailed just right because he's being... Sort of facetious here. Exactly. If I did that and there's no resurrection, why did I do all that? Why?

Well, in 2 Peter 2.12 and also in Jude 1.10, it talks about humans as being beasts. Okay, that's good. That's great. So these are humans, these are not like animals. He wasn't out fighting tigers. He can go to a tiger hunter. What does it profit me if the dead are not raised? I kind of threw it here. It gets very fatalistic toward the end here.

In Ephesians 2.12, Let's just look at that for a second.

It talks about the loss before we know the Lord Jesus. Or a believer before we became a believer. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world. So it seems like Paul, in his thought process gets down to the point where he says, well, if there's no resurrection, I mean, hey, let's just go out and have a good time.

And so that's where we get, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And that actually comes from Isaiah. If you look at, let's turn to where it comes from. It's kind of interesting to read. It's pretty much verbatim. Isaiah 22. Actually, I just had someone read it to me. Isaiah 22, let's read 12 to 14.

In that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth. And behold, joy and gladness slain oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you until you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

So it looks like to me, I didn't really go to spend a lot of time, it looks like in this context he's asking them to basically to mourn and it seems like that it must be so overwhelming, they just said, well, we're not going to mourn, we're just going to go out and party. We're just going to have a good time. And the Lord said, well, no, I didn't want you to do that. I wanted you to mourn, because you needed to mourn. But they said, hey, we're just going to go out and have a good time, and drink, and what else?

Actually there is a reference in Isaiah 56 verse 12 has a similar thing about giving up on things and just go out and have a party. Isaiah 56 verse 12 says Come, they say, let us get wine, let us drink heavily, a strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only more so. So pretty fatalistic.

So basically, back to his point, without the resurrection, There isn't point in living. Why live? But the thing is, as we learned last week, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is alive. And we're going to be with him forever. And he has a plan, a purpose. Christ is going to put all things, as we read last week, put all things under the Father's feet. Everything will be put back as it was before man was created. And so God may be all in all. So we read all the positive parts.

So it's interesting how Paul goes through kind of a section here about denying the resurrection. Then he has the truth about the resurrection. And now we have sort of a return back to this theme about, well, what if there is no resurrection? So it could be this is a dialogue that he had with the Corinthians.

Okay, so these next two verses are going to be kind of admonitions about, you know, live in light of who you are. Live in light of who you are in Christ. Don't be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. And you know, if you had kids in here, I mean, that's a no brainer, right? Don't go over to so-and-so. Don't go out and do that. It's not a wise thing to do.

If you've lived on this earth for any time period, you see the wisdom of the statement. Our grandparents told us that all the time. They would quote from the Bible. Almost these exact words. Don't you know? But really, this is so critically important. If I have one prayer for my children, it's that they learn who to hang out with. There is something very important about fellowship with other believers. Absolutely, and we see that in our kids' life.

When they did hang out with people, and when they didn't do that, they went off and did their own thing. And we see the result of that many times is not very good. Many times it'd be for a short time or for a long time. So it's sad when they didn't listen.

And of course, Proverbs is all about that. In fact, there's several Proverbs that are quoted here in a little bit. Actually, it assumes that you're being deceived. It's literally, stop being led astray. The verse assumes the action is already going on. And it says, stop what you're doing. So deceive is the idea to lead into error, to seduce. And there's a couple of verses that we can look at here.

1 Corinthians 6.9. This is where Paul warns about this before.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, should read on. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Actually, what's cool is, he gets down later on in 11, he says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. in the spirit of our God.

So, that's not to say those things don't happen. His plans and purposes can't overcome that. But those paths do lead to bad things happening to you. Okay, and then one other one. Let's just look at Galatians 6-7. If ye are not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. If you're going to spend your time in that arena, what benefits will you reap from those people? You're going to reap bad behavior. It's not going to be good.

Just like in our time, Paul was a very well educated man, so apparently he quoted, even though we're going to see shortly, I was curious, this is quoted from this meander, he was a Greek dramatist for Athenian comedy, and that's a quote from him. But I wondered, okay, that's a quote and that's fine. So in scripture we're going to see the culture of the time. We see what he was exposed to. So he quoted this, but there's other admonitions that we've seen that this is true. Bad company corrupts morals. So he did quote that.

But let's look at a couple other, like in the Proverbs. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 4. I don't have this on the chart there, I apologize. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 14. Can someone read that? Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Proverbs, if you go through it, it has all this counsel to the young man. Go this path, go this path. Don't do this. It has a lot of wise counsel.

Proverbs 13.20 says, He who walks with wise men will be wise. Oh, I know what happened. I know what happened. It was having a seizure. Okay, I'll put it over here. Thank you.

Proverbs 13.20. He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

I mean, it's just the obvious stuff. This Greek dramatist didn't actually pull this from? Well, and that's a good and I don't and that, you know, I I don't know if he will look at his time period. This is, you know, he died long before, you know, 290 years. So maybe this is just common sense. Well, actually, and you're right. And the question is, of course, the Old Testament. I hadn't actually gone through and thought through that. I don't know.

You know, it says that Moses was well informed about all the ways of the Egyptians. That doesn't mean we have to be ignorant. It just means, and Moses, you know, we don't need any more description of Moses and what the Lord accomplished through him. But he was knowledgeable in the ways of the Egyptians.

We're knowledgeable about the world system we live in. Exactly. But that doesn't mean that's who we hang out with. Exactly. I mean, we should be knowledgeable enough to make wise decisions and to walk away from the things that are not going to be helpful to us. And that's what the Lord would have us do, to evaluate those things and say that's just not going to be profitable for me. We'll walk away from that. In our world today there's just so much vying for our attention. Just think about it. So many things want our attention, but so few things are valuable. So few of those things are valuable to us.

Many of our best friends, Margaret and myself, are not believers, but yet I think when we're with them, we still perhaps give God the glory or witness to them in some way but yet no fellowship with these people. We don't meet with them to fellowship with them but we meet with them because they're friends and that's as far as it goes. You find that with people that aren't believers, you can only go so far. The discussion can only go to a certain extent.

You like to go so far, you like to bring in, what about this, and what about that, and I'll pray for you. don't want you to pray for them. They get offended if you say I'll pray for you. No, that's for you. I have this and you have that. They don't want that. They'll talk about the Broncos. The Nuggets. Less about the Nuggets. Less about the Nuggets, there you go. That's good. It's good to have a winning team, right?

So the last chart here, be sober minded as you ought, stop sinning, for some have no knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame. So this actually speaks to Margaret's point, I think. He just goes through this, I don't have much to say about this. He says, keep your mind sober about this. you may be light to them. Don't interfere in what they are doing. You may be light to them. Come to your senses. Wake up. Come to your senses. Stop sinning.

If some have no knowledge of God, you are it. You may be it. You may be the only person that they have They come across. As Hal used to say all the time, you may be the only Bible they read. That's why he said, basically, watch what you do. Be sober. For certain ones possess an ignorance of God.

I speak this to your shame. Basically, I don't have to explain shame too much. Some verses about shame in there. Any last thoughts? So we've kind of seen here, like I said, the three parts of this. We had the explanation about being baptized for the dead. Hopefully you're a little more comfortable with that. We had about the suffering, false suffering. And then we had about these admonitions to live in light of who you are. Because maybe the only Bible may be you.

Pretty amazing stuff. So we have two more weeks to go in chapter 15. So we get down to the good part, the better part, the more exciting part. Let's close. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day. Thank you for the blessings we have, Lord. We thank you for the promises we have. Thank you for the assurity we have that we'll be with you, we'll be resurrected, and we'll be with Christ for all eternity. We ask it in his name. Amen.