The Problem of Alcohol, Part 2

When it comes to alcohol, drunkenness, being intoxicated, wine, what exactly does the Bible say? The biblical instruction is that drunkenness is disallowed. You can't do it. The Bible speaks against it. We need to have enough compassion and concern to take our brothers, our sisters, our family members, and lead them in a path that will help them come to grips with what the Bible says.

1 Corinthians 6, verse number 9: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you." Here is Paul talking to those in Corinth. You are this kind of person. But he says, "you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God."

You see, there is a solution, there is an answer to those who engage in habitual drunkenness. It is the Spirit of God who's able to wash us and cleanse us and put us aright again. The Spirit of God can change the heart of a man. But you need to understand that the Bible denounces it.

You see, we need to understand that to be involved in those things begins to discredit our life. To be drunk and to hang around with people who are drunk discredits our life in the testimony of Jesus Christ our Lord. That's why Paul says over in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 these words. Verse 11: "Actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, covetous, idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one."

Paul says, if you know somebody's a drunkard, I don't care if he claims to be your brother. Paul says, I'm writing you don't even associate with that person. Why? Because it discredits your testimony and it discredits the testimony of the church you attend, in this case, the Church of Corinth. If you associate with them, you associate with them to preach the gospel to them.

People say, "Well, you know, Jesus was a friend of sinners, and Jesus was always around the sinners. And so I go to the bars and I sit with sinners in the bars and I talk to them there and I just go and do what they do." Folks, let me tell you something. You got to be careful because the Bible says that we are to abstain from any appearance of evil. Any appearance.

See, we forget—he's God. You're not. He is the perfect sinless one. We're not. Okay? We will succumb to temptation. He could not succumb to temptation because he's the light of the world. He is the perfect holy God. There is a difference there. We need to understand that.

So, those are some practical implications. But let's say that drunkenness isn't your issue, but drinking is. Drinking is. Let's look at what the Bible says concerning its commendation as well as its caution. Because Ecclesiastes 9, Ecclesiastes 10, and Psalm 104, there is a point where the Bible commends drinking wine. But we need to understand what the Bible says.

So let's look at, first of all, the challenge for Christians. And then we're going to look at some checkpoints for Christians. Eight checkpoints you can go through to help you understand what it is you should be doing as a Christian. But first of all, the challenge for Christians.

The Bible says in First Timothy 5, verse number 23, Paul says to young Timothy, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities." Now, people read that verse, they'll say, "Well, you know what? See, Jesus is commending drinking. Not drunkenness, but drinking. Because Paul told Timothy that he could take a little wine for his stomach's sake and for his infirmities. Drink no longer water." So evidently, the water he was drinking was causing some kind of problem.

I want you to know something that if you go to Yates today, you will not find one person in the medical profession who condones any alcoholic beverage for any stomach infirmity. They have one thing they give you. It's called pure grape juice. That's it. And you can go to Israel today and you can find on tables bottles that look like wine filled with 100% pure grape juice.

You see, we forget about what Jews did with their wine. The Hebrew word for wine, yayin, good word. It means to bubble or to boil over. People say, "Well, it means that because when you pour the wine, it bubbles up." And that's not what it means. It means this: Jews, in order to preserve their wine, would boil it. They would get the juices, the grapes, they'd squeeze the grapes, they'd get the juices, and then they would boil the wine, taking most of all of the water out of it and killing all bacteria in it. And it would come to a paste. Did you know this? Probably not. It would come to a paste. And that's how they would store their wine. You know why? Because they didn't have any refrigerators. And that's how they kept it from fermenting.

See, fermenting is a decaying process, and they didn't want it to decay. And so, when they wanted to drink it, what they would do would mix that wine with three parts water. Three parts water. Now, you know as well as I know that alcohol today, that is wine today, beer has a little bit over 4% alcohol in it, and wine has somewhere between 9 and 11 percent alcohol in it. That's today. Even if it was back then, which it's not, but even if it was back then, you would have an alcohol level of mixed three parts water, one part wine, of about 2.25 or 2.75% alcohol. For something to be called an alcoholic beverage, it has to be 3.2% alcohol.

There is absolutely no way, in any way, shape, or form, that you can compare today's wine with the wine in the days of Jesus. It is absolutely, listen, historically impossible. Culturally impossible. You cannot do it. When they wanted strong drinks, they would mix that wine with grains and with honey and with all kinds of stimulants to make it a stronger drink. And strong drink is raging, and you can't be deceived by that. But that's the wine they drank.

And when they had the wine, after 40 days of preserving the wine, the wine would begin to rapidly ferment. In the wine tithe back in the book of Deuteronomy that the rabbis would use in the temple, it could not be any older than 40 days. It had to be marked, had to be mixed. You see, you have to understand that what we drink today is not like what they drank back then. And that's why you had to drink all day long over and over and over and over again if you at any time were going to get drunk. Why? Because the alcohol level was so minimal. It wasn't even in our category, what we understand it to be, even called an alcoholic beverage. We need to understand this. We need to get a grip on what the Bible teaches. Instead of going around and saying, "Well, you know, we can drink socially and, you know, we can have drinks and toasts at our weddings and all that kind of stuff."

You know, I stopped going to wedding—what happens? What happens at the wedding after they get married? The reception. I stopped going to wedding receptions. I stopped going to all of them because too many people drank at wedding receptions. I just stopped going. So I made it a policy. I never attend a wedding reception. It's just my policy. So if you come to me and say, "Pastor, I want you to marry me and I want you to do something, give a toast at the wedding," it's not going to happen. I should stop going to all wedding receptions because there's too many open bars, too much wine, too much alcohol. And you know what? I just choose not to be associated with that. If that's what you want to do, that's fine. But I don't want to be associated with that. And that's the stand that I've taken.

Now, you might not agree with that, and I might offend you by saying that, but I'm sorry. You need to know where I stand. My father was an alcoholic, my father's father was an alcoholic. I grew up in an alcoholic family, and I know the ramifications of those who drink. I'm not going there. I'm not going there. I don't want to be tempted to even go there. And if you might say, "You know what, I'm not going to drink for any biblical reason." I'm not going to drink because there might be something that happens to my children. It might affect my children. You might be able to hold your alcohol. You might be able to take a few drinks a day, but it might not be the same for your kids. They might not be able to handle it. Are you able to risk it? The risk is too great to even go there. You need to be careful. Very, very careful.

You see, once wine begins to ferment, it loses its nutritional value. All Jews knew that. And so that's why, when Paul says, "Take little wine for your stomach's sake," you got to take that which has the highest nutritional value. And it's not the wine that ferments over years and years and years. You know what? Jews never kept wine beyond three years. Never. We look at it and say, "Wow, man, 1842, 1670, wow, wow, man, this is age, this is great wine." They didn't keep it over three years because he knew of its effects. See? We didn't understand what the Bible says.

The Bible says in Proverbs 31, "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that are of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more." Scripture says for those who are about to die, those who are about to perish, you give them a strong drink to numb the pain, to help them as a sedative. We have other drugs that we give sedatives today who are people who are in great pain. But the Bible does say if someone's perishing and they're dying, you give them strong drink to act as a sedative. Not for nutritional value, not for social value, but that they might be able to be relieved from their pain.

In Luke chapter 13, when the Good Samaritan found the beaten man beside the road, the text says that he went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. There again, wine is commended. In terms of its medicinal value, in terms of someone who was beaten and left on the side of the road.

So, what are the questions that we ask? What are some of the checkpoints that we need to go through? The challenge for Christians is to understand that in the Bible, yes, wine is used. We must understand what the wine was that they drank and what they approved of. What is that wine tithe? What is that good wine? What is that new wine? As opposed to the mixed wine, the strong drink. And what is it that's commended, and what is that that's condemned? So we can make an intelligent decision.

But let me give you eight checkpoints that you can ask yourself: checkpoints that you can use with other people when they talk about drinking. Number one is this: Is the wine today the same as in Bible times? The answer to that is no. And I've already talked to you just a little bit about that, and hopefully you took notes enough to understand that. But there's a good book written by a man by the name of William Patton. The book is entitled "Bible Wines: Laws of Fermentation." This book is so historically accurate in terms of its documentation. It'll blow your mind to understand the wine of Bible times versus the wine of today. And I've told you before, there's absolutely no way you can look at today's wine and say it's the same as in the day of Jesus because it's not. Absolutely not.

Another checkpoint that you must look at is this. Is it necessary for me to drink wine? Is it necessary? You have to ask that question. The answer to that is no, it's not. We don't live in a society where the water is impure. And if we did, if you go to a country where the water is impure, what you do? You buy bottled water, right? Sure. It's always available. Anybody take a couple of bucks from you for some clean water? It's always available. But is it necessary for us to drink wine? No, we do it for social gatherings, we do it at weddings, we do it at fun, we do it, we go out to dinner, we have it at at night in our homes at times. You know, we do it different times. But is it necessary? No. It's a preference. It's what people prefer to do.

Eating food is necessary. You have to eat, or you'll die. You don't have to drink wine in order to live. It is a preference. And because it's a preference, you have to make a choice on what's best for you physically. What's best for your family, and what's best for your testimony. We need to come to grips with the fact that it's not a necessity, it's a preference.

The third checkpoint, I'll spend a little bit of time here, and that is this. Is it the best choice? So let's say it is a preference. And I choose to drink. Let's just say that the drinking of the wine today is exactly the same as it was back then. Now it's not, but let's just say it is. For the sake of argument. And let's say, check number two: I decide, or I prefer to drink wine with my family, at birthday celebrations, whatever it is. You see? Now we've got to ask checkpoint number three. Is it the best choice? And let me help you understand how to make the best choice.

What is it we know? You can always make a good choice or the best choice based on facts in what you do know, right? We know that according to Leviticus chapter 10, verse number 9, that the priest, get it, the priest was not allowed to let wine touch his lips while he performed his priestly duty. Okay, that's Leviticus 10, verse number 9. You die if you do that. Death. We know that, right?

We also know that in the book of Proverbs, the thirty-first chapter, verse number four, it says this. "It is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire strong drink." Verse 5. "Lest they drink and forget what is decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted." So we know that priests cannot let wine touch their lips while performing priestly duty. We know that kings are not to let wine touch their lips because they're involved in decision making and they can't have their minds cluttered when they make proper decisions. You with me so far? Good. I don't want to lose you. Some of you dozed in the back.

But number three, Numbers chapter 6, verses 1 to 5, tell us about the Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow is that word "nazir," which means the consecrated one. When someone made a Nazarite vow to God, they made a vow for wine never to touch their lips. They also made a vow never to cut their hair, but one of the aspects was that wine would never touch their lips. It was a consecrated vow. There were three men who made the vow for life. Samuel, Samson, and J.B. That's John the Baptist. Okay? We'll talk a lot about him when we get to the book of Luke. Those three men made a Nazarite vow for life. God says that John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived. You follow me so far? Good.

In Isaiah 28, verse number 7, a verse we read earlier, prophets were condemned if wine would touch their lips, and they were. And Ephraim was judged because the prophets and the priests found themselves drinking too much wine. So if you're a prophet, you're not supposed to let wine touch your lips. If you're a priest performing priestly duty in the temple, you can't let wine touch your lips. If you've taken a Nazarite vow, that is, to consecrate your life to God, you are not to let wine touch your lips. You with me so far? Good. I'm glad we're all together. If you're a king, Proverbs 31:4, wine was not to touch your lips.

Let me read to you what the Bible says in the New Testament. Okay? We know what the Old Testament says. Let me read to you what the Bible says in the New Testament. When the Bible, in 1 Peter 2, verse number 9: "You are a royal priesthood." In speaking of the identity of the believer, a chosen nation, a royal priesthood. But, listen to this. 1 Peter 2, verse number 4 says this "And coming to him as to a living stone rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Let me help you understand how you make the best choice. Because the Bible says your identity is that you are of a royal priesthood. Revelation chapter 1, verse number 5, I believe it is, says that when Jesus Christ washed us, he made us a kingdom of priests. So every one of you in this room is a priest. 1 Timothy—1 Peter 2, verse number 4 says, "As living stones, we are building up this temple." You, you, as a priest, are in your own temple. But the Bible says that your body is the temple of the living God.

Here's the point: the point is very simply stated. In the Old Testament, the priests would not be allowed to let wine touch their lips while they were performing priestly functions in the temple. In the New Testament, we don't have a priesthood. We are a priesthood. In the New Testament, we don't go to the temple. We are the temple. And therefore, our lives are to be presented to him as living sacrifices, wholly acceptable unto God, because we are to be the consecrated ones as those who took Nazarite vows in the Old Testament.

When you read the Bible and compare scripture with scripture, the best choice is never, ever to let alcohol touch your lips because you are a priest in the kingdom of God, and your body is a temple of the living God. From my standpoint, the biblical evidence is absolutely undeniable and absolutely overwhelming when you understand what the Bible says in the Old Testament and our identity in the New Testament.

My time is running thin. I knew it would. Is drinking habit forming? Yes, it is. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6, verse number 12, that he would let nothing control him. He said in 1 Corinthians 6, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." Paul was not going to allow himself to be controlled by anything other than the Spirit of God and the Word of God. For alcohol to control any aspect of your senses is absolutely phenomenal. And you've got to be careful about the controlling aspects of what alcohol can do to you as an individual.

Is drinking destructive? We read over in Proverbs 20, verse number 1, and Proverbs 23, verse 21. We looked at Noah in Genesis 9. We looked at Lot in Genesis chapter 19. You can read Hosea 7, verse number 5, Amos 2, verse number 8, Habakkuk 2, 15 and 16, Deuteronomy 21, 20, Isaiah 28, 7 and 8. All those verses talk about the destructive nature of drinking. It is potentially destructive. Potentially destructive. Not talking about drunkenness, talking about just the drinking of wine. And we've got to be careful about that.

Number six, is drinking offensive to others? In other words, does you drinking cause another brother to stumble? 1 Corinthians 8, verse number 9 says it this way. Paul says, "Take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." The Bible doesn't say you cannot drink wine. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. And so, as a Christian, your liberty, your freedom, allows you to make a choice based on what you think is best for you and for your family. And yet Paul says you got to be careful about the weaker brother and causing him to fall into sin.

Over in Romans chapter 14, he says this: "It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything by which your brother stumbles." It is the best thing for you to do. It is to refrain from something that could cause another brother to fall into sin. You see, you could have another brother that was saved out of alcoholism, and you take him out to dinner, and you decide to have wine because you're just having a get-together, and you want to be able to celebrate the fact that he's no longer an alcoholic. See, you bring a little bit of wine to the table and cause another brother to fall into sin, see? We got to be careful about our lives and and what is we do.

I know I'm a little whack about this, but you know, I—you know, years ago I used to drink virgin pina coladas and virgin strawberry daiquiris. Used to go out to dinner and drink those things until I came to realize, you know, my daiquiri and virgin daiquiri and my virgin pina colada looked just like the other everybody else's. And so, people walking by, they don't know. They don't know. So, somebody can say, "Hey, Pastor, what are you drinking there, man? What you got?" You know, I don't want to be put in that situation. See, we got to ask those questions. Is it the best choice? Is there a possibility of causing my brother to stumble? Is there a possibility of causing your children to stumble? Bring it home that way. What about my kids? What do they see? How they handle it?

And number seven, does drinking ruin my testimony? Does it ruin my testimony? It says over in Romans 14, 16, "Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil." Just because you think it's a good thing, and in your freedom and in your liberty, you can do it, it might be perceived by someone else as something that is totally and absolutely wrong and could really damage your testimony. Most of us, we don't think about our testimony much when we go out, do we? You can tell by the way you drive your cars, you don't think much about your testimony, you know? And let alone what we drink at the restaurant or what we buy at the grocery store, all those things.

It's always amazing to me when I go into the grocery store and I run into somebody from church and they're buying wine. They scramble around, you know, they're trying to, you know, get it through and hide it, you know, and I just walk them by, "Hey, how you doing? Good to see you," you know. I don't say anything. I don't have to say anything. Just walk by and say hi. You know? That's all I got to do. But we got to ask ourselves those questions. Does drinking ruin my testimony? 1 Corinthians 10 says, "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Does what you do honor God, glorify his name, make sure it offends nobody else? And does it make sure that the unsaved sense a difference in your lifestyle? The unsaved must know your lifestyle is different.

And lastly, am I certain that my drinking wine is right? The Bible says in Romans 14, verse number 23, "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats or drinks, because he is eating or drinking, not from faith. And whatever is not from faith is sin." Do you do what you do with doubt? That doubt is a God-given conscience to tell you, you know what? If you doubt it, if there's any tinge of doubt, the answer is always no. Always no. Because every time you say yes, when you doubt something, your conscience becomes seared and it becomes harder and harder and harder to convict.

Those are some questions you've got to ask yourself. What's best for you? What's best for your family? Based on what the word of the Lord says this evening? Let's pray.