What about- Drinking?
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Introduction
Introduction
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Be not among winebibbers;
Among riotous eaters of flesh:
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty:
And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine;
Nor for princes strong drink:
Lest they drink, and forget the law,
And pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
When it giveth his colour in the cup,
When it moveth itself aright.
At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
And thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,
Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick;
They have beaten me, and I felt it not:
When shall I awake?
I will seek it yet again.
1. The Bible warns against drinking
1. The Bible warns against drinking
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
2. Drunkenness is a sin
2. Drunkenness is a sin
So we know it is a sin to be drunk, because your reality is altered and you no longer have control over yourself, the alcohol is controlling you. So if the alcohol is controlling you then that means the Holy Spirit is not controlling you. So anything that alters your mind to where you don’t have control and the spirit doesn’t have control, is a sin.
The main argument we hear today is it’s okay for Christians to drink as long as they don’t get drunk. Getting drunk is explicitly condemned in Scripture, but drinking isn’t. Why?
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
3. Wine in bible times is different from wine today
3. Wine in bible times is different from wine today
Two wines mentioned in the bible:
Old wine- alcoholic, grape juice that has been fermented
New wine- fresh grape juice, also called fruit of the vine
“Wine” is a general term and can be referring to either, depending on the context.
there is also strong drink- which is fruit juice or barley that has been fermented for an extra long time.
So why would God allow His people to drink?
In Bible times, they did not have refrigerators. There was no way to keep things like milk or juice fresh. The water from their wells a lot of the time was not super clean, they’re literally getting water from underground, its going to be dirty. They didn’t have water purifiers like we do today, the only thing they could really do is run the water through rags and strainers to get the big particulates out, but obviously that doesn’t necessarily purify it. So the easiest source for them to drink from was juice from grapes and other fruits.
But obviously, grapes and other fruits aren’t always in season, so for the majority of the year, these fruits and juices wont be available to them, so what do they do?
They would harvest a lot of extra grapes and make juice, and then they would store it in wine skins, sort of like canteens made from a sheeps stomach, and they would store it. Obviously its hot in israel, and that hot juice would begin to ferment. So because water and milk werent always available, wine was usually the best beverage option to drink.
The natural fermentation would make the juice become alcoholic, but it would not have the same amount of alcohol as wine today. Most conservative scholars believe that wine back then would have an alcohol percentage of around 5 percent, and wine today can have more than 4 times that amount.
So what does it mean to ferment, what is fermentation?
Fermentation is when the natural sugar and yeast in the wine sits in the heat for a long period of time and that produces a chemical change in the liquid and basically produces alcohol.
That’s why old wine, has alcohol in it, and new wine doesn’t. With strong drink, they would actually add extra sugar to the liquid to make it even more alcoholic, then they would let it sit for longer, and this is why it was so strong.
Yeast in the bible is always mentioned as a bad thing. It is known as leavening. Thats why Jews ate unleavened bread.
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Here Paul is comparing sin in the church to leaven, saying the same way that a little leaven leavens the entire loaf of bread, is the same way that a little sin in the church can infect and affect the entire congregation. Keep that in mind
One of the most common Bible narratives that talks about wine is Jesus’s first miracle in John 2.
People, pastors, scholars, theologians, will argue day and night over this passage whether the wine that Jesus created had alcohol in it or not. I believe there is simply no way to know for sure, however, i do believe that there is one particular argument that is convincing that it wasn’t alcoholic.
A marriage in Jewish culture was a religious ceremony. Leaven and yeast was not allowed in religious ceremonies, even more than that, it was the time of the passover, another religious ceremony and a holy holiday. Leaven and yeast would not be consumed during the time of these religious ceremonies, because it represents sin.
So we know it is a sin to be drunk, because your reality is altered and you no longer have control over yourself, the alcohol is controlling you. So if the alcohol is controlling you then that means the Holy Spirit is not controlling you. So anything that alters your mind to where you don’t have control and the spirit doesn’t have control and isnt leading you, is a sin, so this can also be applied to drugs as well.
So like drugs, wine does have some medicinal properties. In 1 Timothy 5 Paul tells Timothy to drink a little wine to ease his stomach.
In the Old Testament, priests were not allowed to drink any wine.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
Now in the New Testament, every Christian is a believer Priest
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
There’s no reason for a priest to drink.
So people in biblical times drank for medicinal purposes and because there weren’t any other consistently viable options. Sometimes they may have milk or water, but most of the time they wouldn’t, so grape juice was the best option.
4. Nothing good ever comes from drinking
4. Nothing good ever comes from drinking
It breaks and ruins people
story of me at wedding
it breaks and ruins families
story of mom
and tons of others I get to see as a pastor
Consequences of drinking
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
When it giveth his colour in the cup,
When it moveth itself aright.
At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
And thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,
Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick;
They have beaten me, and I felt it not:
When shall I awake?
I will seek it yet again.
1) They have troubles (woe), and arguments (contentions) - (Prov 23:29)
2) They don't make sense when they talk (they babble, 23:29).
3) They have wounds from fights they don't remember (23:29)
4) They look terrible - not healthy and robust (23:29)!
5) Alcoholic drinks have a hypnotic affect (23:31) when you stare at it for a while.
6) Ultimately, the drinker finds himself in all sorts of trouble:
7) Bitten with addiction to its poison (23:32)! Its effect is disastrous, not beneficial!
8) Lustful, and remorseful for all the things you end up doing and saying when you drink (23:33)!
9) Physically sick: dizzy and unable to stand or walk straight (23:34).
10) Emotionally sick: blaming everything and everyone around you instead of blaming yourself (23:35)! You will wish it was all a bad dream!
11) Addicted - dependent upon it, and not able to escape its hold on you! (23:35)!
Drinking period is unwise.
So drinking in moderation is unwise.
Even if you can drink in moderation without getting drunk, you have to find out your tipping point at least once so that you can know how much you can drink, and for some people it only takes one drink.
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom:
And with all thy getting get understanding.
That means wisdom should be a top priority in our lives. It should come at the beginning and be the starting place for how we take in and process knowledge, and be the starting point for our choices and decisions.
bottom line
If wisdom is the principal thing (Proverbs 4:7), and drinking is unwise (Proverbs 20:1), then there is no reason for me to drink.
Questions if time:
