Okay, what I want you to realize here in Proverbs 23 is this,
He's actually going to explain to you in the next three verses how wine is made.
Now here's the thing about this,
most of us don't drink any alcohol,
and probably most of us have never really tried to ferment juice into wine.
So I think we've read over these verses and we didn't even realize,
oh, He's actually explaining how wine is made and how it's produced.
Okay, I really didn't have any idea.
Quite honestly, I've listened to a lot of sermons against drinking alcohol
from this passage.
And you know, it's because people don't drink, they don't really realize,
or they've never fermented alcohol,
they never realized that this is actually what He's talking about.
When He's saying, if I tarry along with the wine,
what we're going to see is,
He's going to talk about the process of how wine is made,
and He's saying, if a long time is spent,
you go from something that is a very tasty,
beautiful substance made by God into something that's a poison.
And He's going to explain it in these next three verses.
To understand this, I want you to understand something.
Think about if you were to eat a banana.
Once you take the peel off, what is the color of the banana?
White, right?
If you eat an apple, you take the skin off, what's the color?
White.
Did you realize that if you take the skin off these grapes,
this is not green once you take the skin off.
This is not purple once you take the skin off.
In fact, the color of a grape is actually very clear.
There's really no color to it.
The color comes from the grape skin.
In fact, all of these grapes essentially taste the exact same
until you add the skin.
The skin gives the color and the flavor for the grape.
The difference in flavor and the difference in color
depends on what type of grape you have.
Now, He's going to explain to you the process
of making red wine, which is the most famous type of wine.
Now, He doesn't explain making vodka or gin or rummy,
but look, pretty much all alcohols,
they have a pretty similar process.
They use different things, but they have a similar process
for how they're turned into a poison, a fermented beverage.
Obviously, when He's talked about red wine,
that's different than white wine.
That's not what you'd get from this green grape here,
but I would say that if you turn this into a wine,
it would apply as well.
Okay, but He specifically refers to red wine.
Now, here's the thing.
If a farmer decides he wants to have some grape juice
and he says, I'm going to take this grape,
which is a very common grape, to make grape juice
and I'm going to crush that grape,
what color is the juice going to be?
Clear.
There's no color to the inside of a grape.
The skin is what gives us this color.
So if a farmer crushes that grape,
he's going to drink something that looks like bucco.
In fact, you can go on YouTube
and watch people make grape juice.
It's like, man, it looks like he's drinking bucco.
Here's the thing, though.
When they mass produce grape juice, what do they do?
Well, they don't individually crush all the grapes.
What they do is they boil the grapes
and what happens is the skin will separate
from the grape itself and it will give a purplish color.
However, they still add food coloring
to make it look more masa-rap.
So there's multiple ways to make grape juice,
but if you just were to crush grapes,
there is no color to a grape.
It looks like bucco.
If you were to boil it, it's going to give you
kind of a lightish purple color,
obviously depending on the grape you use
and how long you boil it and stuff like that,
but basically some of the color of the skin
bleeds out into the grape,
but a grape itself is not purple.
That's just the skin.
Now, why is that important?
And it's going to give you something like this.
This is what we have is grape juice.
You buy Welch's grape juice or whatever,
but generally they're going to add food coloring
to make it look more tasty,
but it is a purplish color
and that comes from a purple grape, okay?
Now, notice what it says here in Proverbs 23.
It says in verse 30,
they that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine, okay?
Now, I want you to understand,
when you make grape juice, it's not mixed.
When you make grape juice,
you separate the skin from the grape.
Whether you boil it or whether you crush it,
you separate the skin from the grape.
You don't mix it.
However, when you make wine,
you mix the skin with the grape itself.
And the reason why it's going to get a reddish color
is because slowly over time during the process,
some of that color will bleed out into that juice.
Not as much if you were to boil it,
but some of that color will bleed out
and guess what the color ends up being?
Red.
Hence we have red wine and hence the Bible says
they that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to seek mixed wine,
and when you're making wine,
you mix the skin with the grape itself.
Then it says in the next verse,
look not thou upon the wine when it is red.
Now, here's the thing.
If you're a farmer who likes grape juice
and you got 50 grapes that you turn into juice,
you're like, well, when I make this, it's clear.
There is no color to it.
It's obvious when he says look not upon the wine
when it is red, it's giving you the process
of when you're making red wine, not grape juice,
because it's a different color.
That's why the Bible's specific,
look not upon the wine when it is red
when it giveth his color in the cup,
because this is the sort of color you're gonna have
with wine when it's finished, okay?
This is different than grape juice,
which will either be clear
or it's gonna be a purplish color
where they'll add food coloring
because it doesn't really look as tasty
unless you add food coloring, okay?
So look not upon the wine when it is red
when it giveth his color in the cup.
When it moveth itself aright,
you say, what does it mean to move itself aright?
Well, let me give you a picture of wine
while it is being fermented.
This is wine.
You're like, what in the world is going on here?
This doesn't look very tasty, does it?
And look, obviously we should avoid wine,
but what is taking place is this.
A couple different things are gonna form.
Ethanol, which is drinking alcohol, and carbon dioxide.
Now imagine you had a Coca-Cola
and you pour a glass of Coca-Cola
and you look down at that Coca-Cola,
what are you gonna see?
You're gonna see these bubbles go up, right?
Isn't that true?
When you have carbon dioxide, it moves itself aright, okay?
During the process of making wine, this is what takes place
and once the carbon dioxide evaporates,
it's ready to drink for fermented alcohol, for wine, okay?
Drinking fermented alcoholic wine, okay?
This is part of the process
and eventually the carbon dioxide is going to evaporate.
Now look, I'm giving you a very simplified version of this.
For one, I just read articles to understand this
because I've never tried to ferment a drink.
I will say this though, I looked online
and apparently a bunch of people in college
have nothing to do.
They're like, man, I had a Coca-Cola
and I tried to ferment it
and then they had Mountain Dew, they're fermenting
and it's like, what in the world
is wrong with these people, right?
But apparently a lot of people actually try to do this
but not Bible-believing Christians.
But this is actually wine during the fermentation process.
Can you see why it says moveth itself aright?
Doesn't that make sense?
Because here's the thing,
wine at the end stage is not moving itself aright.
The carbonation is gone.
It's talking about during the process.
Now what's interesting is that in modern versions,
they decided to change it from moving itself aright.
We take a stand here that the King James Bible was perfect
and look, the more you read the Bible,
the more you realize that's true.
This is what it says in the NIV.
Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
Is that the same as moveth itself aright?
I mean, even if you're not King James only,
are those the same thing, goes down smoothly
versus moves itself aright?
I mean, the NIV is basically saying,
hey, this is gonna taste really good, but don't drink it.
It's like, are you trying to get people drunk, right?
What does it say in the New King James?
Actually, let's read the ESV.
The ESV, do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
Goes down smoothly.
Now the New King James is just an update
on the King James, right?
Just changing the wording a little bit.
I mean, it doesn't line up with the NIV.
It lines up with the King James.
Isn't that what people say?
Do not look on the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it swirls around smoothly, right?
New King James, NIV, ESV, they all say,
hey, this substance, it goes down smoothly.
Man, it is tasty.
What a beverage this is.
No, the Bible says that moveth itself aright.
And when you're understanding that with making wine,
you mix the skin with the grape, it becomes red,
and then it will start to bubble as carbon dioxide forms,
which ends up evaporating.
You can tell he's actually giving you the process
of making alcohol.
And he's saying avoid this substance,
because you know what?
You're gonna turn something that was made by God,
that is a wonderful thing,
that tastes great, into a poison, okay?
Because notice what it says
after it says moveth itself aright.
At the last, it biteth like a serpent
and stingeth like an adder.
What is he saying in verse 32?
He's saying at the last,
at the end of the tarrying long stage,
at the end of the process
of making this alcoholic beverage,
that alcoholic beverage bites like a serpent
and sings like an adder.
He's not saying, hey, if you drink a lot of alcohol,
it will bite like a serpent.
No, no, no, no, no.
He's saying once you make this,
this bites like a serpent.
He's not saying you have to drink 20 glasses
before it bites like a serpent.
No, once you finish the process,
this bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
It's a poison.