Bad Company Ruins Good Morals

“What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’ Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:32-34 ESV)

The discussion that Paul was having with the Corinthian church was on the subject matter of the resurrection of the dead. Some believed in the resurrection, but some did not, so he was making a case for the belief in the resurrection from the dead, as Jesus Christ had been raised, and as all of Jesus’ followers will one day be raised when Jesus Christ returns for his faithful ones and he takes us to be with him for eternity. But I am not going to enter into that subject in detail as he did, so please read chapter 15.

“For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19 ESV)

“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52 ESV)

So, what is the overall message being taught here? It is that we cannot just believe part of the gospel message and not all of it. We cannot pick and choose what we want to believe and accept while we reject the rest. And that is what is largely happening today, at least here in America, and perhaps in other nations, too. So many people are just picking out the parts of the gospel that they like, those which give them comfort, while they choose to ignore anything that does not agree with their human theologies.

But what is the result of that? Many indeed have this mindset of “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” And this isn’t just about whether or not they believe that the dead will be raised, but it is about whether or not they believe that they will die in their sins and that they will not have eternal life with God if they continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and if they do not surrender their lives to Christ as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, in walks of obedience to his commands and not in sin.

For this really is the BIG issue plaguing the church here in America today. And it is the one that I must, by the grace of God, bring to the attention of those professing faith in Jesus Christ, in order to let all know that true faith in Jesus Christ results in us dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and it results in us walking in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in holy living. But if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of obedience to God, then we will not inherit eternal life with God.

But a lot of people dismiss that as “works salvation” even though it is what Jesus clearly taught, and it is what his NT apostles taught. And so the Lord is saying to the American church today: “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.” For Jesus said that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21-23; 1 Corinthians 15:34).

So, don’t be deceived. “Bad company ruins good morals.” Many are they today who are preaching an altered gospel message absent of God’s requirements for dying with him to sin daily and us walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, in practice, if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. So the Lord is indeed calling out to the adulterous church here in America (and perhaps elsewhere), and he is telling them to wake up from their drunken stupor and to not practice sinning.

For, if you do not die with Christ to sin, and if you do not walk with him in obedience to his commands, in practice, then your faith is futile and you are still dead in your sins. For if we don’t die with Christ to sin we are still of the flesh, and the flesh cannot inherit eternal life with God, only those who are born of the Spirit who are walking in obedience to the Lord and who are no longer making sin their practice. For flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to what is spiritual and is of God.

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV)

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

The Lord’s Anointed  

An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving. 

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to 

Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to wear, 

As the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior, 

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness, 

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations. 

https://vimeo.com/114836524