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I guess they have another pastor that comes through there,
but he's kind of been missing action, I guess.
So pray that God would have us go there.
That'd be a great opportunity.
Obviously, to preach the gospel
and get those guys saved and on the right track.
And for some of our guys who wanna preach a little bit more,
that's a great opportunity in those kind of ministries.
But the thing about it, it's important too,
because a lot of these guys that are in that position
in life where they're in a halfway house,
where they're in trouble with the law,
and there's a lot of times drugs and things involved,
there's a lot of times they get snatched up
by a lot of these ministries around here
that are gonna use eternal security like a carrot,
or a scared cat.
So that's something that's really bothered me.
I've seen a lot of that here
with these different outreach ministries.
So pray that if we get a foothold in there,
if we can get in there before they get in the dock
and we provide some of these other ministries,
where we can teach them in those salvations
by grace and faith, not at work.
So then they turn,
and Brother Adam was here and he's just one of the guys
who was preaching in the gospels,
and said, wait, so I can go out and have a score?
He's like, yes, but, you know.
You gotta go out and have a score and still be saved.
And it's just funny,
because that's the illustration that we use,
sometimes I use.
So you're going, hey, you can hurry up,
and you can have a score,
and you have to illustrate that you can still be saved.
You can see it is actually going through this guy's mind,
and you're like, hmm.
You're not saying there are any consequences, all right?
There's still consequences.
So just pray for that.
Pray that we can get in there on Sundays
and we can have the Holy Minister, those men there.
And also, just a couple other notes about the church.
Be sure to silence your cell phones.
On the mind that the ladies' room is inside,
the men's room is outside.
The two DPs can you by the ladies' restroom doors,
the restrooms on either side of the building opposite us.
And then you've got the New Testament 90-day challenge.
Keep working on that.
Don't forget the movie night coming up,
April 1st at 7 p.m.
It's gonna be a double feature
with our paid scientists and Truth About Hinduism.
I've only seen the Truth About Hinduism, I think, one time.
I think it's not, oh, I said it was cool.
I started watching it again,
but I just remembered it being a really cool documentary,
because Hinduism is, it's pretty far out.
It's crazy what some people believe in things that they do.
So you're not gonna wanna miss that.
I'll have a silent sheet for that up here shortly,
but keep that on your schedule if you can.
Over on the back, we've got the weekly Bible
memory passage for this next week.
So that's where the children and young people recite.
They burn an ice cream bar in the freezer.
We've got the cross-country soloing marathon
for El Paso, Texas coming up.
That's this Saturday.
So speak with me if you wanna go.
I know a speaking brother, David, about going out to that.
Is there anyone here that wants to go there?
I thought you mentioned a couple minutes, okay, so.
Are you going, are any of you going, too?
Yeah, are you gonna come for sure?
Maybe.
I talked to brother Daniel Ryder.
There's three spots available as of this afternoon.
In the church again, they're gonna be coming
right through here in El Paso.
It's only about four and a half hours from here.
It's actually a shorter trip than the San Diego trip.
But, you know, and so if there's room there,
I'd probably just say, hey, you guys can hop in there
if you want and tag along with them.
But if not, you're not, and either way,
even if there isn't, I'm considering pretty strongly
just going myself and taking a trip, okay?
These have been fun reviews, so.
I'll keep you posted about that,
but if you wanna go, just let me know
so I can follow up with you tonight.
If anybody else wants to go,
please let me know so I can get your ratings.
And then we've got the other upcoming events coming,
upcoming events there.
Men's Preaching Night and the birthday is over on Sunday,
if you wanna miss that.
Let's go ahead and sing one more song
before we begin preaching tonight.
We're gonna sing a song, 343.
Song 343.
Revive us again.
Let me hear it.
["Praise Me, O God"]
Amen.
All right, good singing.
Great this time.
We're gonna be going there.
If you wanna see off your plate.
While we're running, if you follow along with brother,
give us a reading of Titus chapter number two.
Titus chapter number two.
Titus chapter two.
Verse one of the Bible reads,
if you speak out of things, you become sound doctrine.
If the agent of your soul is a great attempt
at sound faith and chariot of patience,
the agent would likewise,
let it be a behavior that has become the holiest,
without false excuses.
I give you not much wine,
because these are good things.
They may teach the young woman to be sober,
to love their elders, to love their children,
to be discreet, chaste, to keepers at home, good,
or be into your own husband.
Let the word of God be my last theme.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded,
and all things showing thyself the power of good works
and doctrine, so that thou corruptest,
and fattens to savor sound speech that cannot be condemned,
that he is of the contrary part to be ashamed,
having no evil thing to say of thee.
Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters,
and to please them well in all things.
I'm not achieving them again, not permanently,
but showing in all good fidelity
they may adorn the doctrine of God our savior in all things.
For the grace of God, I think its salvation
hath appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying godliness and worldly lusts,
we should live sober, righteous,
and godly in this present world.
Clicking for that blessed hope and glorious superior
to the great God, our savior, Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us,
that he might redeem us from all unrighteousness
and purify himself to a human people,
and tell us of good works.
We stay steep, and desert, and rebuke with all authority,
and no man despise him.
Lord, our team, would you pray for us?
The Lord, thank you for the day,
for the opportunity that we have to be in church this evening
and pray your blessing for preaching.
We love you and be the saints of man.
Amen.
My sermon tonight is Saint Stupor's Day.
Saint Stupor's Day.
So, that's of course a play on the fact that this week,
I think it's Thursday or Friday, I'm not sure.
I really don't keep track.
I squinted at my calendar and saw,
I think that says Saint Patrick's Day.
So, it's a play on that.
And this is a sermon, you know,
I like to preach a sermon on alcohol
about this time every year.
So you can kinda, you know, you can know year by year
when that alcohol sermon's coming.
But just because of the fact that, you know,
Saint Patrick's Day, as they call it,
or as I like to call it, Saint Stupor's Day,
it really is just a day where people revel in the fact
that they're gonna go out and they're gonna do the pub crawl
and they're gonna end up in a drunken stupor.
And, you know, it's a real shame.
You know, I don't know much about Saint Patrick.
You know, I'm sure when he started out,
when that day was named after him or whatever,
that probably wasn't the legacy he had in mind.
That a bunch of, you know, Irish Americans,
whatever that means, are gonna paint their face green,
they're gonna dump 50 pounds of dye in the Chicago River,
and then everyone's gonna just go on a pub crawl
until they, you know, literally are just crawling
and puking their guts out.
And, you know, that is something that goes on.
I mean, I remember in my hometown,
we hung out downtown a lot as kids,
and of course there were a lot of bars in the area.
And you always knew when it was Saint Patrick's Day,
because it was just the sidewalks were just filled
with people going from pub to pub.
And, you know, it's just, and really all it is
is just people getting into a drunken stupor
on Saint Patrick's Day.
So let me just define for you first of all
what I mean by stupor.
You know, you might not have heard that term,
but basically being in a stupor is to be in a condition
of greatly dulled or completely suspended sense
or sensibility, a drunken stupor.
So it's the condition of being greatly dulled, right?
Or completely suspended sense of your sensibility, right?
When you get into a drunken stupor,
your senses are dulled or they're completely suspended.
Your good judgment is gone.
A chiefly mental condition
marked by absence of spontaneous movement,
greatly diminished responsiveness to stimulation,
and usually impaired consciousness.
That's what it means to be in a stupor.
And really this is something that goes on.
You say, no, they're just going out there,
just have a few drinks.
No, Saint Patrick's Day is a day of drunken,
just stupidity of just being in a drunken stupor
where people are literally what has been called
binge drinking.
So everyone's probably heard of binge drinking, right?
Where they're just going out and just drinking
as much as they can for as long as they can
until they're just, you know,
completely blackout, blind, drunk.
It's being in a drunken stupor.
And Saint Patrick's Day,
I'm just gonna read very briefly from this article,
is a day that is synonymous with binge drinking.
That's what this article says.
And this isn't coming from an IFB news outlet.
This is just a worldly outlet.
The most costly and lethal type of alcohol use
in the United States, which is binge drinking,
which is what is promoted and practiced and embraced
on Saint Stupor's Day, according to the CDC.
Let me just give you some quick facts, okay?
I won't take long.
Every 30 minutes on average,
and this is from a study that they did in 2018,
every 30 minutes on average, someone dies
because of an alcohol-related car crash on Saint Patrick's Day.
So think about that.
That's just in the US.
On Saint Patrick's Day, every half hour,
someone is dying because of a alcohol-related car crash.
And of course, that's something that's taking place
all the time throughout the year.
You know, people are being drunks every day of the year
throughout the United States and the world.
But on Saint Patrick's Day, those numbers skyrocket
because people go out with the intent
of getting into this stupefying state of being drunken,
being in a drunken stupor.
They die about every 30 minutes in a car accident.
62% of fatal Saint Patrick's Day car crashes
involve a drunk driver.
So if you wanted to just cut out 62%
of the fatal car crashes on Saint Patrick's Day,
all you'd have to do is take out the alcohol.
You'd just have to not drink,
have those people that were drinking not drink.
62% of the auto-related fatal car crashes would not occur.
I mean, let that sink in.
Every 30 minutes, someone's dying in a car accident
on Saint Patrick's Day because someone went out
and got drunk, got in a drunken stupor.
And like you say, well, that's not what we're doing.
We're just gonna go out and just have a few drinks.
Look, nobody goes out saying, I'm gonna get so drunk
that I'm gonna get behind the wheel of a car
and kill myself.
But that's what happens.
Because one of the first things to go
when you start drinking is your good judgment.
You go, I'm just gonna go out and have a drink or two,
and then you have that drink or two,
and it's already had an effect on you.
It's like, well, I've already had two.
I might as well have three or four.
And then you're really lost all sense of good judgment,
and now it's like, well, I've lost track
of how many I've had.
I might as well just keep on going.
And then it's just shot after shot, beer after beer,
drink after drink, and then next thing you know,
you're getting behind the wheel of a car.
You're getting in a car with somebody.
Or you're just an innocent bystander.
You're just somebody who's not even out drinking.
You're just going about your life to running an errand,
coming home from work or whatever,
and next thing you know, you're being killed
because of some drunken idiot in a stupor
on St. Patrick's Day.
And it takes a bigger toll than just the death.
The binge drinking cost the United States,
it cost the United States $191 billion in 2010
because of lost workplace productivity.
Everybody calling in with what,
the brown bottle flu the next day, right?
You know, they say, oh, I can't make it into work today.
Oh, that's funny, St. Patrick's Day was yesterday,
and all of a sudden you can't make it in.
You know, and it cost companies $191 billion in productivity,
healthcare expenditures, you know,
those people that got in the car wreck
that now need to drain on the healthcare expenses,
the criminal justice costs, you know,
the people that get busted for the DUI
or the drunken intoxication
or get in the bar fight or whatever.
It all piles up, you know.
But really, you know, $191 billion,
that's really nothing compared to the loss of life
that takes place.
And not to mention the things that aren't reported,
all of the shameful things that take place,
all of the lives that are permanently damaged and scarred
because of people getting into a drunken stupor
on St. Patrick's Day.
And you say, well, you know what,
I'm against being a drunken stupor,
but you know, there's nothing wrong,
is there really anything wrong with, you know,
just having a few drinks?
You know, just catching a buzz.
Look, our standard, the Bible does not hold us
to a standard of, you know, God's just saying,
oh, just don't be in a drunken stupor.
That's not a really high bar to set.
You know, our standard is soberness, to be sober.
You say, what's sober?
It means to be free of any kind of intoxicants,
to be free of any kind of, you know,
mind-altering substances, like alcohol and drugs.
You know, this is mainly about alcohol,
but you could apply this to marijuana.
You could apply this to pot.
You know, and I do.
I think, you know, if you're somebody who's smoking pot,
you've impaired yourself.
I mean, how could you not admit that's true?
How could you say, oh no, you know, it's from the earth.
You know, it's good, God created it.
You know, it's, yeah, but the Bible says
that every tree yielding herb shall be meat for you.
You know, not for you to roll up into a paper and smoke.
You know, and anyway, that's a whole nother topic
right there, the pot in this country.
It's just off the charts.
You know, we're living, you know,
St. Stupor's Day is bad enough,
but you know, now we've got people
just that are constantly under, you know,
the influence of pot driving around.
I mean, yeah, maybe it's not as bad
as being drunk behind the wheel, but it's still not good.
I mean, I can't stand it when I'm driving around
and I pull up to a stoplight,
you're there for a minute or two,
and all of a sudden you just get this big whiff
of someone burning the devil's lettuce, amen?
That's what it smells like.
You're like, great, who am I on the road with?
Now who am I on the road with?
And people are just so open and carefree about it,
about smoking pot.
Well, you know what, that's fine.
Society can just go ahead and be carefree
and go ahead and just smoke their pot and all of that.
You know what, our stance here is to be sober,
because that's the biblical standard
that God has given us, to be sober.
Not have a couple drinks,
not have a glass of wine with dinner,
not just, you know, smoke a joint at the end of the day,
take the edge off.
No, our standard is to be sober.
I mean, that's what we read there in Titus chapter two.
He said in 1 Peter five,
I'll get back to Titus two, just stay there.
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary,
the devil as a roaring lion,
walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
How are you gonna resist the devil?
The very first thing you have to do is be sober.
You know, and I know sober has different connotations
in scripture and it means to be serious.
But look, if you've been around potheads at all,
you know they're not exactly the most serious people.
You know, I'm pretty sure we're not gonna go consult
Cypress Hill, you know, on foreign diplomacy
or something like that.
You know, find out what, you know, Cheech and Chong,
what their thoughts are on some, you know,
political matter.
You know, they're not gonna be the ones
to help you with your homework.
They're not sober, right?
They're not serious people, however you wanna cut that.
However you wanna interpret sober, it's not that.
You know, whether it means being serious
or whether it means, you know, just being,
having a clear mind free of drugs and alcohol.
Either way, you know, if you're smoking pot
and drinking alcohol, you're not sober.
And look, what's the point?
Why do you need to be sober?
Because the devil walketh about as a roaring lion
seeking me one maid of hour.
And that's a pretty serious, you know,
that's something to be concerned about,
that you have an enemy.
You know, if I walked up to you and told you,
hey, I ran into so and so,
and he told me that he's coming for you.
You know, that he's got beef with you and he's carrying,
and he said it's on site, right?
When he finds you, it's on.
I mean, you'd probably be like,
oh man, where's this guy gonna come from?
You know, but that's exactly what the Bible's telling us
is that, you know, and it's not just, you know,
some guy off the block who's got a beef with you,
it's Satan himself.
You know, it's the devil who wants to gun you down
and take you out and beat you up and devour you.
You know, and the first thing you need is to be sober.
Be serious about the fact that you have an enemy
and keep a clear head.
Because, you know, alcohol, it just,
from one thing leads to another with alcohol.
It just opens up into other sins.
And we'll see that here in a minute.
But look at Titus chapter two.
Again, soberness is our standard.
I know I'm gonna get on the drunks on St. Patrick's Day
for being in a drunken stupor,
but I don't wanna be misconstrued as saying,
oh, you know, it's okay to drink
as long as you just don't end up, you know,
face down in a gutter somewhere.
You know, our standard is to be sober, period.
Not a drop of alcohol, none of it.
He says in Titus chapter two, verse one,
but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Well, why are you preaching on this?
Because that's what we're told to preach,
the things that become sound doctrine.
And then he gives a list of the things
that become sound doctrine in verse two,
that the aged men be sober.
He says, hey, preach the things that become sound doctrine.
Here's something to start out with,
that the aged men be sober.
You know, that the older guys are, you know, clear-headed,
they have their wits about them,
and that they're not a bunch of drunks,
they're not a bunch of potheads.
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate,
sound in faith, charity, so on and so forth.
Look down at verse three, the aged women likewise,
that they be in behaviors become with holiness,
not false accusers, not given to much wine.
And that doesn't mean you can drink a little,
that's talking about, you know,
I'm getting ahead of myself, but, you know,
there's more than one type of wine in the Bible.
This isn't referring to, oh, just have a little,
just have a glass of wine with dinner.
You just keep it to one glass.
No, it's talking about, you know,
not being given, not being gluttonous.
Okay, and I'll explain that here in a minute.
Teachers of good things, verse four,
that they may teach the young woman to what?
Be sober.
To be sober.
To love their husbands, to love their children,
to be discreet chase keepers at home.
Look at verse six, young men.
You say, oh, this is for the older people.
Yeah, it makes sense, you know,
their livers aren't as strong.
They should be sober.
You know, they can't sleep off the hangover
like a young guy can.
It's all right for the young guy to go out and get drunk
because I'm a functional drunk.
You know, I can still get up in the morning and go to work.
Well, you know, the Bible says young men likewise
exhort to be sober.
To be sober-minded.
You know, and if that wasn't enough,
he just, verse 12 says,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust,
we should live soberly, righteously,
and godliness presently.
That's everybody.
Young, old, man, woman, boy, girl, you know,
the standard is to be sober.
You say, well, I'm not gonna go out on Saint Stupor's Day
and get, you know, and binge drink.
Great, I'm glad, but you know what?
You shouldn't have the six-pack in your fridge.
You shouldn't have the bottle of wine at your house.
You shouldn't have the doobie in your ashtray in the car.
You know, all of it needs to go, you know?
And obviously there's a lot of other things
we could go down the list, you know,
but I don't suspect anyone here is, you know,
shooting heroin or snorting Coke or, you know,
popping pills or anything else like that.
Those are, you know, some more hardcore things.
But you know, would it really surprise me
if there was someone, even in our congregation,
that, you know, they just like to smoke a little weed
every now and then, like to just kick back
and have a beer, you know, every now and then?
Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me at all.
And you know, I'm not gonna say that that necessarily
makes that person a drunkard that's worthy
of being kicked out of church, but you know what?
The standard is soberness, to be a sober-minded individual
and to not rely on any of these things.
Go to Isaiah chapter number 28, Isaiah chapter 28.
And look, I'm preaching this because there's plenty
of the people out there that are gonna teach you
that it's perfectly all right to go, as you as a Christian,
as God's child, in spite of everything we just read
in Titus, to not be sober.
Let's say, oh, sober just means to be serious.
You know, sober doesn't mean to abstain
from drugs and alcohol.
It's okay for you to have a little bit.
And I'll talk a little bit more of their proof texts.
But look, you know, there's plenty of people out there
that do that, you know, these prophets of drunkenness,
the prophets of being a drunk and everything else.
Isaiah 28 verse seven.
But they also have erred through wine
and through strong drink, are gone out of the way.
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink.
It's the priest and the prophet, you know,
the spiritual leaders, the people who should be preaching
God's word and saying, hey, be sober, are the very people
who are given over to using alcohol,
to wine and strong drink.
They're the drunks.
You know, it's pretty hard as a preacher to get up
and preach against, you know, alcohol
when you're tipping back when you get home.
You know, they wanna do that.
And look, I said in another sermon,
there's churches out there, they'll teach you
how to brew beer at home.
They'll have a beer night at church.
And that's where we're at in this country.
So it makes sense that days like St. Patrick's Day
or St. Stupor's Day, as I like to call it, are so popular.
Because even the priest and the prophet
have erred through strong drink.
They are swallowed up of wine.
They are gone out of the way through strong drink.
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
And look, here's the real picture of alcohol.
Verse eight, for all tables are full
of vomit and filthiness.
Say, oh, you shouldn't talk like that.
This is the Bible's language.
The Bible says.
The Bible says that these guys, when they hang out,
all tables are full of vomit and filthiness
so that there's no place clean.
You know, that's a perfect description of the bar.
You know, the bars are disgusting places.
You go into the bathrooms, there's vomit and piss
and everything else all over the floor.
And there's people out there say, oh, nope,
there's nothing wrong with that.
It's perfectly all right to just be a drunk
because after all, I am one.
You know, I'm up here preaching the word of God
and I like to drink so it's plenty fine for you.
If you would, go over to Proverbs chapter 23.
Proverbs chapter 23.
Look, it's important to get a real picture
of what being a drunk is or what goes along
with the lifestyle of drinking
because today the world glorifies it.
Oh, it's Mardi Gras.
You know, it's just everyone getting together
and woo and having a good time
and nothing bad happens.
You know, nothing bad happens.
You know, it's just St. Patrick's Day.
You know, it's just, you know,
we're all just pinching each other
for not wearing green and drinking.
You know, it's just all about cabbage,
you know, and Bailey's and Guinness.
It's harmless.
But is that the picture that the Bible paints
when we talk about being drunk?
Look at Proverbs 23 verse 29.
I know we all know it but let's pick it apart tonight.
Let's look at this.
Who hath woe?
You know, woe is like regret.
You know, woe is like deep shame.
That's what he's saying.
Who has woe?
Who's just in a really bad spot in life?
Who has sorrow?
You know, who's regretting the decisions they made?
Who's regretting the things that they did?
Who's regretting the position they find themselves in?
Who is it?
Who hath contentions?
You know, who's getting in the fist fight?
You know, who's getting drug out into the back alley
and having their teeth kicked out and their ribs broken?
You know, that doesn't happen.
I know somebody that happened to.
It's called my dad.
Went and got drunk at a bar, ran his mouth,
and the next thing you know,
you know, people beat you up.
Contentions.
I'm gonna get drunk and go blow my mouth off
to some bouncer somewhere
and get picked up over my head
and thrown across the street.
Who hath contentions?
Who's ever had a gun pointed at them
and fired over their head?
Oh, that was my stepdad at a bar.
Was a cop that did it.
Was in there beating his wife
and my stepdad, a couple other guys,
stepped in to get this drunken cop from beating his wife
and take him outside.
He pulled his piece out.
He pointed at my stepdad's friend,
pointed at his other friend,
and then pointed right at him.
And then he lifted it about three feet in the air
and fired a shot right over his head, downtown.
Then he took it apart and sat down on the curb
waiting to get arrested.
But you know, who has contentions?
The guy who's down at the bar.
The guy who's drinking.
Who hath babbling?
You know, people get drunk
and they just say the stupidest things.
And drunk people are the most annoying people to be around.
They are.
Unless you're drunk too.
You know, I feel bad for the designated driver.
Look, I'm glad there's somebody that's looking out for you,
but you shouldn't be putting somebody
in that position to begin with.
I mean, that's gotta be like a,
that should be like part of Dante's, you know,
inner circle of hell or something like that.
You know, what's hell like?
It's being stuck in an elevator with a bunch of drunks.
Who hath wounds without cause?
Wounds that you didn't have to have.
You know, but it'd be nice to keep those teeth
that you were born with.
It'd be nice to not have those cracked ribs.
It'd be nice to not have that black eye.
It'd be nice to not have, you know, that scar.
How about this?
It'd be nice not to have that tattoo of,
you know, of whatever you got that you woke up one morning
and it's like, what in the world have I done?
You know, love mom or whatever.
Somebody's name, who is that?
I know this person, right?
Oh, it's cause you got drunk and you went in there
and you got a wound without cause.
Now it's permanently etched on your body
for the rest of your life.
That happens, you don't think that doesn't happen?
People get drunk, they say, let's go get tattoos.
Look, he says, they that, well, we find out
who all these people, who it is.
We find out who it is that has will,
who it is that has sorrow, who it is that has contentions
and babbling and wounds, who has redness of eyes,
you know, the hangover.
They wake up, it's like, oh, what did I do?
They that tarry along at the wine,
that's who has all these things.
They that go to seek mixed wine.
And here's the thing, you know,
if this is an alcoholic wine, you know, or, excuse me,
obviously this is referring to alcoholic wine, okay?
I mean, that's the kind of wine
that's gonna get you here, right?
But here's the thing, does the Bible use wine
in a different connotation?
It does, does it refer, you know,
wine also means juice in the Bible.
And you say that to people and they snick,
like, that's so silly.
Oh, that's so dumb, you think it means juice?
Why doesn't it just say juice then?
Well, here's the thing is that, you know,
is that we know there's another kind of wine
because there's a particular kind of wine
we're being told not to look at here,
but it's stupid to sit there and think that juice
isn't something that's mentioned in the Bible.
I mean, it talks about milk, it talks about water,
it talks about all kinds of different foods,
things they can't eat, they can't eat, right?
It talks about all these things,
but God's just like, oh, I forgot about juice.
I forgot that was the thing.
No, it's in there, you know?
So you have to read the context when it says wine,
you know, the context is what telling you,
is this alcoholic wine or is this just fruit juice?
And look, he's saying in verse 31,
look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
when it giveth its color in the cup,
when it moveth itself aright,
and that's talking about fermentation.
The release of the carbon monoxide, right?
The fermentation when it's moving itself aright.
And look, he's saying, don't look at it.
Don't look at it.
He didn't say don't drink it.
He didn't say drink a little bit of it.
He said, don't even look at it.
You shouldn't even be around it.
Be tempted with it.
Don't even look at it.
So, you know, if that's not alcoholic wine,
you know, then what drink is this talking about?
Is it talking about juice?
Don't look at the Welch's.
You know, that simply pure orange juice,
that simply pure grape juice that you like so much,
you shouldn't be looking at that.
No, it's obviously talking about alcoholic wine,
wine that moves itself aright.
You say, why?
What's the big deal?
Verse 32, at the last it biteth like a serpent
and stingeth like an adder.
Say, look, you wanna go down to the liquor store
and get a bottle and go home?
You might as well just go and pick up a venomous snake
and play with it.
That's what he's saying.
I mean, if I walked up to you and said,
hey, I got a Diamondback Rattler in this bag,
it's all yours, you can take it home and play with it.
Yeah, you'd be running the other direction, right?
But someone will hand you a bottle of wine,
someone will hand you some liquor,
someone will hand you a beer,
and you'll say, oh, no problem.
And at the last it's gonna bite you
and you're gonna be stung,
just like you would one of these venomous serpents.
You say, well, I mean, that's a lot of real poetic speech,
but what exactly is gonna happen if I drink alcohol?
Thine eyes, it says in verse 33,
shall behold strange women.
And it's not just talking about that weird looking girl,
the strange woman.
It's talking about women that are not your wife,
women that do not belong to you, right?
That's what it means to be strange, foreign.
You know, you get drunk and next thing you know,
well, they talk about,
I mean, all the country songs talk about it, right?
Get your beer goggles on, brother.
She's looking pretty good after putting my beer goggles on.
They mock it.
The Bible says, look, you're gonna behold strange women,
and who knows where that's gonna lead?
You're gonna end up waking up in somebody's bed,
you won't even know their name in the morning.
Then you get that phone call a little time later,
oh, I'm pregnant.
Who knows where that's gonna lead, right?
See, you didn't think about that
when you're just going out to have a good time
with the friends.
You know, on St. Patty's Day or whatever,
you're just gonna kick back a few.
You didn't think the fact
that you were gonna start beholding strange women,
and if they were gonna be staring right back at you,
they'll be holding you,
and then it leads to where it leads.
And thine heart, it says, shall utter perverse things,
things that are not right.
I mean, you'll just start saying things
that you have no business saying.
Here's the thing, in the day and age we're living in,
you could do that in the past,
you could go to some party and get drunk,
and black out and take all your clothes off
and run around like a pervert.
Well, that never happens.
I know a guy, he did that.
And thankfully for him,
it was still in the age of flip phones,
when the cameras weren't that good.
You do that nowadays, everyone's gonna be like,
beep, you're gonna go viral,
just not the way you wanted.
Oh, look at this drunken idiot at our party.
Listen to what he's saying, look at what he's doing.
Thine heart shall utter perverse things,
yea, that shall be as he that lieth down
in the midst of the sea,
or he that is on top of a mast.
It's gonna feel like you're in the ocean.
You know, and all the people,
the young people and the kids who've never drank alcohol,
they wonder, I wonder what it's like to get drunk.
Well, that's what it's like.
You wanna know what it's like to get drunk?
When church is over, go stand somewhere
and just spin around as fast as you can
for as long as you can, and then stop.
And when everything's going woo, woo, woo,
and you feel like throwing up,
that's what it's like to be drunk.
Except you're not uttering perverse things.
You know, you're not gonna wake up with wounds without cause
unless you fall over or something, right?
But basically, that's the physical sensation.
You lay down in bed, it's like having vertigo.
Doesn't that sound like fun?
I mean, at least if you're just spinning around
and you're dizzy, that goes away within a few seconds.
Not with alcohol.
You're just gonna be keep going and keep going
and keep going till you turn green and puke
till all places are full of vomit.
Doesn't that sound fun?
Yeah, but that's not on the billboard, is it?
That's not the beer commercial on TV.
That's not what you saw in the magazine.
Bunch of people yakking their guts out,
can't stand up straight.
But that's what it is.
They have stricken me, thou shalt say, verse 35,
and I was not sick.
They have beaten me and I felt it not.
They're like, oh man, I didn't even know that happened.
I went out and I got in a fight
and I didn't even realize it.
They have beaten and I felt that when shall I weep,
I will seek it again.
Then you become an alcoholic.
That's when it gets real fun.
Because you get to go deal with all this
and now you're gonna seek it again.
You can say, oh, I'm just gonna do it again
and again and again, why?
Because you're addicted.
I wish I could be one of these people
that could say that I've never had alcohol,
I've never tasted it.
I really wish I could say that
because all the people that I know
that could say that in their life
don't have a lot of the problems
that people who have drunk alcohol do.
They don't have the memories
that a lot of people who have drunk and alcohol do.
They're not gonna grow up and have the broken home
that a lot of people who's drunk and alcohol do.
You know, but unfortunately, I'm just not able,
and don't ever think I'm up here glorifying that
or that I'm proud of that in some way.
But you know, just, you know,
since I've been there, I might as well make some,
get some kind of edification out of it.
Let me just go ahead and tell you some of the things
I've seen drunks do.
You say, oh, it's just all in the Bible.
Yeah, but I've seen drunks do things like this.
You know, I just shared a few stories with you.
I've seen drunks walk into a wall
and slam their head on the ground.
Just, I mean, they come to my door and I open it.
Hey, hey.
And then just, as they're just looking at me,
tottering, I'm like, what's going on here?
Just fall face forward, just fall.
Not even try to catch themselves.
And slam their head right into the corner of a brick,
right there in the corner of the wall, bam.
And then just fall backwards
and slam the back of their head on the pavement.
I've seen drunks do that.
I've seen drunks get so drunk that they go
and they punch a brick wall and break their hand.
You know, these are things
that are just starting to come back to me.
I've seen drunks vomit more times than I care to remember,
more times than I can count.
I've seen friends face down in their own vomit.
And if someone hadn't been there
to lift their face out of it, they would've drowned in it.
You know, that's how all the rock stars go out, right?
The lead singer of ACDC or Jimi Hendrix,
all these guys are so cool.
They, you know how they went out?
You know how they died?
They drowned literally in their own vomit.
I mean, it's bad enough to drown,
but to go out and drown in your own vomit,
that's not exactly how I want people to remember me.
You know, I don't care whatever cool things I did in life,
you know, that's kind of,
people generally tend to remember the last things you did.
And I've seen it.
I've seen people face down in their own vomit,
just passed out, drunk, just throwing up.
That sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it?
You know, I've known people,
and thankfully, and I wasn't there.
This is something I heard third hand.
I've known people that have been physically
taken advantage of while they're passed out drunk.
I was a thousand miles away when it happened,
but it happened.
You don't think that doesn't happen?
People get raped when they're passed out drunk?
Even without the date rape drug.
Well, I'll just protect my drink.
Well, I'm glad you're at least doing that.
But guess what?
Alcohol is enough to get you in that position
to begin with.
You drink enough of just what's already in the drink
that you ordered, you know,
you could find yourself in that position.
I've known more than one person
who has literally drunk themselves to death.
The doctor said, if you keep drinking your liver,
you have cirrhosis of the liver, it's scarred,
you must stop immediately or you will die within months.
But the addiction is so strong.
I mean, try to imagine that.
What is there, if I came to you and said,
hey, if you don't stop doing X, Y, and Z,
you're gonna die,
I mean, wouldn't you just give it up immediately?
You know, if I came and said,
if you chew another stick of gum,
I don't care what, Wrigley's, you know,
spearmint, Juicy Fruit, Big Red, I don't care.
You chew one more stick of gum, you're gonna die.
You wouldn't chew another stick of gum, would you?
Would it be that hard to give up the Trident?
You know, or whatever it is.
If I said, you know what, if you eat one more cookie,
that's it, you're dead.
Even the little kids in here would be like, no cookies.
But there's people that are told,
if you drink any more alcohol, you will die.
They go home and they drink.
And they literally drink themselves to death.
I've known several people like that.
I've known people that have died,
maybe not from drinking themselves to death,
but have gotten drunk, got in a car,
and then run into a telephone pole,
and then their whole car burst into flames.
There was a friend of mine in high school that did that.
I have known drunks who, a good friend of mine,
got drunk on a winter night, walked home,
and in his drunken stupor,
stepped out in front of a plow truck.
Like a big plow truck, like a county plow truck, and died.
You know, but that's not the picture the world paints
when it comes to alcohol.
Say, boy, you're getting pretty serious about this.
Yeah, you bet I am,
because this is what actually happens with alcohol.
At last, it stings like an adder.
It's like a viper.
You're taking your life in your hands
when you're messing with this stuff.
And yet, this week, everyone's just gonna go,
oh, it's St. Stupor's Day.
Let's all go out and get blind drunk.
And no one's ever gonna hear about these stories.
And every 30 minutes,
there's gonna be a fatality in a car accident.
People are gonna, you know, moms, dads, brothers, sisters,
are gonna die because of alcohol.
Because of something as stupid as that.
If you would, go to 1 Thessalonians,
keep something in Proverbs 23, we're not done yet.
But go to 1 Thessalonians chapter five.
You know, our standard is to be sober.
Not just be a little, not just, well, I'm not a drunk.
No, sober.
That's what our standard is.
You know, oh, I can't have a good time unless I drink.
You know what, then you're lame.
Then you're a boring, dull person.
If you can't have fun without alcohol,
if you can't have fun without staying up late at night
with a bunch of neon lights on
and thumping hip hop and getting drunk,
if that's the only way you can have fun in life,
you're lame.
You're not.
1 Thessalonians chapter five, verse five.
He said, ye are all children of the light
and the children of the day,
for we are not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore not let us sleep as do others,
but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night
and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
You ever wonder why they do it in the night?
It's because a lot of shameful things
can be concealed at night, can't it?
They're drunken in the night.
That's what they do.
But we, he said, verse eight,
but let us who are of the day be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love
and for helmet the hope of salvation.
I'm never gonna envy what the drunks do in the night.
I don't care how cool they try to make it look.
I'm not gonna sit there and envy,
turn green with envy in St. Paddy's Day.
It's not gonna happen
because I know the real story about alcohol.
And don't let, you know, and don't ever,
you know, those of you that maybe haven't seen
the dark side of it, the reality of it,
don't ever be envious at the wicked.
They, oh, they're having so much fun.
They're not having as much fun as you think.
Oh, they might be having a little bit fun
doing their keg stand at that moment,
playing their beer pong at that moment.
They might be having fun, you know,
doing what's the, you know, shotgunning a beer
or, you know, what's the one with the funnel?
Whatever.
They might look like they're having so much fun,
hooping and hollering, but you know what?
They're not having fun the next morning.
Waking up with some stranger in their bed, or worse.
We'll have them waking up with wounds without cause
or waking up with all these things.
They're not, that's not, it's not fun then.
You know what, I don't wake up in the morning
with a stranger or with wounds without cause
or wondering what happened the night before,
some strange tattoo or whatever.
And you know what, I wake up like that
and you know what I think?
My life's pretty good.
Because you know what, I didn't die in a fiery wreck.
I didn't drown in my own vomit.
So I don't sit there and get envious at these people
and neither should you.
You know, we should be sober, we are of the day.
You know, drunkenness, that's for people
that walk in darkness.
That's who that's for.
Now, let me just go ahead and make sure
that we understand that, you know,
there's two types of wine in the Bible.
And this is something that has to be taught
because people, because now we're even hearing
Christians, so-called, get up and try to tell
other Christians that it's okay for you to drink alcohol.
In spite of everything we just read.
In spite of the realities of alcohol,
they're saying no, no, it's okay to drink.
In spite of what we just read in Proverbs.
But there's two types of wine in the Bible
and how you determine what type of wine it is
is the context.
For example, if you would go to a Song of Solomon,
Song of Songs, go over there, Song of Solomon,
verse, chapter eight.
Let me just read to you a story about alcohol in it,
or excuse me, a story about wine in it.
And then you tell me if it's alcoholic or non-alcoholic.
We'll see if we can figure this out, okay?
Or if we need, you know, some liberal Christian
to come along and tell us what it is.
He said in Genesis 19, this is the story of Lot
and his daughters, right after they destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah.
Come, let us make our father drink wine
and we will lie with him,
that we may preserve seed of our father.
And when they made their father drink wine that night
and the first sport went in and lay with her father
and he perceived not when she lay down,
nor when she arose, and then they began the next night.
So it's literal incest.
You know, Lot doesn't even know what's going on
because he's so drunk.
Now let me ask you, is that, do you think that's a bottle
of Welch's just sliding across the table?
You know, there's a little sippy box of juice,
little sippy juice box before that happened?
No, it was liquor.
You know, it was wine.
It's fermented beverage.
They're getting them drunk
so that they could do those things.
I'll read to you from Deuteronomy 32.
For their vine is the vine of Sodom
and of the fields of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are the grapes of Gaul.
Their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the poison of dragons
and cruel venom of asps.
Saying, look, that's what their wine's like.
Our wine isn't like that.
There's a difference there.
How about this one?
Habakkuk wore unto him that giveth his neighbor drink
that putteth thy bottle to him
and maketh some drunken also
that he may look on their nakedness.
Now, do you think that's alcoholic or non-alcoholic?
That's alcoholic.
How do we know that?
Because of what's taking place in the story.
When you're seeing, you know, vomit and filthiness,
when you're seeing, you know, incest
and you're seeing, you know, perversion
and all these things taking place,
and when it's associated with strong drink and wine,
it's like, oh, well, that's talking about alcohol
because of what the connotation that, you know,
that it's in.
Excuse me, the context that it's in.
Look at Song of Solomon, or Song of Solomon, yeah,
verse eight, chapter eight, verse two.
He said, I would lead thee
and bring thee into my mother's house
who would instruct me,
I would cause thee to drink of spice wine
of the juice of my pomegranate.
So there's the one time the Bible mentions juice
in the Bible.
So the Bible does mention juice, but only does once.
So why doesn't it just use juice every time?
You know, why doesn't it say wine of the wine here?
Because that would sound stupid, right?
He just uses, you know, he uses the wine of the juice, okay?
So sometimes the Bible, and it's using it interchangeably.
So when the Bible uses the word wine,
it's either using juice or it's talking about alcohol.
And we have to just look at the context to know the truth.
Go to John chapter two, John chapter two.
We'll look at a couple of their proof texts here at the end.
Isaiah 65 says this, thus saith the Lord,
as new wine is found in the cluster,
and once saith, destroy it not for a blessing, isn't it?
So what will I do for my servant's sake?
He's saying, look, that the new wine is found where?
In the cluster.
It's talking about a cluster of grapes, right?
And what's found in the cluster?
The new wine.
What would we call that?
We would call it juice.
That's what it is.
Oh, the Bible, the wine doesn't mean juice.
I mean, it's the new wine in the cluster.
That's juice, friend.
John chapter two, verse one.
But there's people say, well, you know,
but Jesus, you know, he made wine, right?
He turned the water into wine.
But think about what they're saying when they say that.
You know, they like to try to turn this back on us.
And saying, oh, you're saying that Jesus is wicked.
No, I'm saying, you're saying Jesus is wicked.
You're the one who's saying Jesus is wicked.
Because we understand, you know,
because we understand, you know,
there's two different types of wine in the Bible.
Because they're saying, well, you know,
if Jesus turned water into wine,
and you're saying that drinking wine is wicked,
then you're saying that Jesus got a bunch of people drunk
at the wedding in Canaan.
You're wicked, you're trying to say Jesus is wicked.
Well, here's another option for you.
Maybe Jesus made non-alcoholic wine called juice.
Well, what fun is that?
Well, it's pretty fun when you don't have it every day.
You know, we're living in the United States of America
where we have every juice of every, you know,
I mean, vegetable and fruit there is in the world
at Beck and Call.
What juice do you want?
I'll have it here in 10 minutes.
Maybe 15.
You get my point.
I mean, we just take it for granted.
Just guzzle the stuff like it's water.
You know, it wasn't always like that.
There was a time when you had to like crush all the grapes
to get the juice.
It wasn't just sitting in, you know,
it wasn't sitting in a supermarket,
in a nice little container, all clean and ready to go,
and already chilled for you.
It's already cold, you don't even have to cool it off.
So back then, you know, if you got some juice,
that was a good day.
Because you didn't just drink that all the time.
You know, first the fruit had to come into season,
then it had to get made,
and then you had, you know, a very short time to drink it
before it turned into vinegar.
It's like, oh, well, you know, they had to preserve it.
You know, if you let juice ferment long enough,
it just turns into vinegar?
It's not like it just turns into wine and stays that way.
And that's another one of their dumb arguments.
Well, they had to ferment it just so they could preserve it.
It's like, well, how about they just drank it
when it was available, and then they didn't drink it
when it wasn't?
But look at John chapter two, verse one.
On the third day, there was a marriage in Canaan of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there,
and both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage,
and they went and wanted wine.
And the mother saith unto them, they have no wine.
Jesus saith unto her, woman, have to do with thee.
Mine hours not yet come.
His mother saith unto the servants,
whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
And there were set six waterpots of stone
after the manner of the purifying of the Jews,
containing two or three firkins of peace.
And Jesus saith unto them, fill the waterpots with water,
and they filled them up to the brim.
So it was completely full, so they can say,
oh, he just added water later.
It was full all the way.
And he saith unto them, or he added juice later,
and he saith unto them, draw out now,
and bear it to the governor of the feast,
and they bear 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 a good wine until now.
So get what he's saying.
Look, it's not that they didn't have wine,
it's that they ran out of wine.
And when she said they have no wine,
she wasn't saying, oh, they didn't have any.
It's that they drank it all.
It's already been drunk.
Because he's saying, look, when men have,
at the beginning, men doth set forth good wine.
And he's like, we already went through the good wine,
and you're doing things differently.
This was saying to the bridegroom.
You know, then that which is worse,
but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
And we're expecting the worse wine, you know,
the wine that isn't as fresh, the wine that isn't as good.
But you know, you're bringing the good wine out right now,
the fresh stuff.
And it's when men have well drunk.
So if you wanna say this is alcoholic wine,
basically you're saying that these people are already drunk,
and that Jesus is like, here, have more.
He just found a bunch of drunks and said,
here, have another bottle.
Here you go, drink up.
And you get into what, a drunken stupor.
Black out.
This is a really dumb passage for, you know,
the pro-alcohol proponents to turn to.
Say, well, Jesus made wine.
Yeah, you know, because they'll say,
oh, it's okay to drink in moderation.
But if that's your interpretation,
that's not what's going on here.
When you're filling up water pots full,
and you have to have literal servants haul them out.
Plural, servants.
You have to drag these giant water pots out.
They weren't just, you know,
they weren't just tapping a keg.
They were pulling out big water pots, right?
That's not moderation, friend.
You say, oh, you're saying Jesus is wicked.
No, I'm saying there's another type of wine
in the Bible called juice.
And that's what he made, non-alcoholic wine.
Go to Deuteronomy 14.
This is their other go-to verse.
Deuteronomy chapter number 14.
It's important to understand this
because they will try to trip you up.
And I would feel pretty bad if I didn't teach this,
and then some Christian that was in this congregation
later in life, or at some point in their life,
was told that, oh, it's okay to drink wine
and think about what Jesus did.
Or, you know, look at Deuteronomy.
And then say, oh, yeah, I guess it is okay
to drink a little bit in moderation.
You know, and then end up being a drunk
and have something horrible happen to him.
And then becoming another illustration
for my next alcohol sermon.
You know, that's not what I want.
So it's important to take the time to understand this
because there's people out there
that are gonna try and trip you up.
And say, oh, no, you can drink a little bit, it's cool.
You know, we just looked at, in John there,
that's like one of the worst examples
for drinking in moderation.
When Jesus is just like, hey, you drunks, drink up.
Okay, Deuteronomy 14, verse 26.
This is talking about, you know,
if a man has too far to go to bring his sacrifices
to the sacrifice in Jerusalem.
He said, and thou shalt bestow that money
for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after,
for oxen, for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink,
for whatsoever thy soul desireth,
and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God,
and thou shalt rejoice in thy own household.
So they'll see, see there?
He's talking about the fact that, you know,
if a guy was too far from Jerusalem,
instead of bringing all his cattle
and bringing all his sacrifices,
he could just sell those animals there
and then go to Jerusalem and then buy the sacrifices
and then sacrifice on the Lord.
And look, that's true, that's what he's talking about.
That if a guy was too far for them to go,
look, they could just sell it, get the money,
and go buy the sacrifices in Jerusalem
because it's just more practical.
And they'll say, but see, look,
he said you could buy wine and you could buy strong drink.
And basically, you know, that was just Mardi Gras back then.
That's what was going on at the feasts in Jerusalem.
And when they went to the temple,
that's what was really going on.
It was just a big party.
You know, it was just a big drunken fest.
That's what they're, like, see,
they're just going there hanging out with the priests,
everyone's drinking, it's a good time.
It's good for us, so we could be able to do that too, right?
Let's come on down to beer church.
We'll teach you how to microbrew.
We'll get tattoos.
They're doing that too in church.
Tattoo night in church.
It's ridiculous.
It sounds, you know, on the surface,
and people go, oh yeah, I never noticed that,
dude, around me, oh, what's going on there?
Well, notice that, first of all,
he doesn't say you're gonna drink any of it.
He says you're gonna buy this stuff,
and then he says, and thou shalt eat there
before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice in thy house.
He didn't say anything about drinking anything, did he?
He didn't say, oh, and you're gonna drink the strong drink,
and you're, you know, the strong drink is just,
you know, the stuff that didn't get drank that fermented,
and basically is too, isn't even drinkable.
It's just strong drink.
That's why I take it.
But he doesn't say you're gonna, you know,
whatever you believe about what strong drink is or isn't,
he doesn't say you're gonna drink any of it.
Because you have to remember,
these are all sacrifices, right?
Go to Numbers 28, Numbers 28.
We'll see what you're supposed to do with these things
once you get there and you buy them.
You're supposed to offer them unto the Lord.
That's what it was for.
Look at verse one, the Lord spake unto Moses,
Numbers 28, verse one,
command the children of Israel, and say unto them,
my offering and my bread for my sacrifice
made by fire for a sweet savor unto me,
shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due seasons,
and thou shalt say unto them, this is the offering
made by fire, which ye shall offer before the Lord
two lambs of the year without spot,
day by day, for a continual burnt offering.
The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning,
and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even.
And the 10th part, an eiffel of flour for a meat offering,
mingled with the fourth part of a hint of beaten oil.
It is a continual burnt offering,
which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a sweet savor,
a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord.
Verse seven, and the drink offering thereof
shall be the fourth part of an hint of one lamb,
and the holy place thou shalt cause the strong wine
to be poured out unto the Lord for a drink offering.
So in Deuteronomy, he's saying, look,
you're gonna buy all these sacrifices,
and you're gonna make sacrifices,
and you're gonna eat thereof.
But there's no mention of him drinking any of it.
But what is supposed to happen with the drink offerings?
And the wine and the strong drink
was supposed to be poured out unto the Lord.
It was a drink offering.
He's not supposed, they're not supposed to drink it.
They're supposed to pour it out unto the Lord.
You know, you could eat of the offering,
you know, a part of it was burnt,
part of it the priest ate, and then a part of it,
you know, the people ate with the priests.
But the, you know, but people wanna turn to Deuteronomy 14
and just read that one verse and say,
oh, see, it's okay for us to drink,
and then encourage everybody else to drink.
And, you know, that doesn't make any sense to say that.
When you have such strong warnings against alcohol.
When there's a wine that the Bible's saying,
don't even look at it.
Don't even look at it.
Oh, but here it's okay to,
but now it's okay to drink it?
It doesn't make any sense, folks.
Because, you know, back then, like I was saying,
you know, wine was basically, go to Proverbs 23.
Proverbs 23, wine is basically just a drink,
a very, for, you know, for one, for privileged people,
or, you know, it was just a special drink
that you got to have every now and then.
And look, let me tell you something.
If you're thinking, oh, why would juice
or, you know, anything like that be special,
you know, why don't you just drink water for a year?
Just drink nothing but water for a year.
And the next time you have a glass of orange juice,
it's gonna be like you died and went to heaven.
And I know because whenever I give up, you know,
the sugary drinks, the sodas and things like that,
if I have a glass, I get a glass of orange juice,
I'm like, man, this is good.
I remember I hadn't been drinking any of that stuff
for a long time, and then I was like, you know what?
I was on a flight somewhere, I was on an airplane.
So I was already feeling like, you know, a hot shot,
because I'm in an airplane.
So I was like, you know, the stewardess comes by,
excuse me, the flight attendant comes by,
and, you know, anything to drink, I'm like,
I'll have a ginger ale, you know?
It was ginger ale, there was no alcohol in it, all right?
I said, ale.
But man, I felt like I had that ginger ale,
it was all fuzzy and just bubbling and sweet.
You know, I had a glass, one time, another time I did,
I had a glass of orange juice.
And I felt like, you know, a big deal up there,
drinking my orange juice at 30,000 feet.
You know, because it was a special drink.
But look, if you're just drinking orange juice every day,
like we do today, every breakfast you're having,
you're gonna think, what's the big deal about orange juice?
You know, it's just, I have to drink it.
But back then, you know, they didn't just have it
lying around, it was a very special thing.
I mean, I'll read you from Genesis chapter 40,
remember when Joseph was in the prison?
And then the chief butler and the baker got sent down there,
they were imprisoned with him.
And then the butler told his dream to Joseph
and said to him, in my dream, behold a vine was before me,
and in the vine were three branches,
and it was as though it budded,
and her blossoms shot forth, and the clusters thereof
brought forth ripe grapes.
And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand,
and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup,
and I gave the cup unto Pharaoh's,
and that was this guy's job.
And then he interpreted the dream and said,
you know, within three days,
you're gonna be doing that again.
You're gonna be giving him the fresh wine.
I mean, that was Pharaoh, he got to do that, right?
He literally had a guy, his whole job
was just to crush grapes and give them, that was it.
He's the butler.
I mean, maybe he had other duties,
but that was one of his duties.
Your job is to crush my grapes into my cup
so that I can have fresh squeezed grape juice, right?
And I'm making the point that, you know,
back then, that was a big deal.
Because, you know, they weren't just bringing in grapes
from wherever they were being grown,
you know, in some hydroponic lab somewhere, you know,
where they mean they're growing these things
year round in places now,
and we just bring them in on by the truckload.
Back then, they actually had to go out
and grow it in the wild, cultivate it,
and then harvest it,
and then you had to have a guy squeeze in a cup for you.
You know, wine, it was a big deal for people.
Juice was a big deal for people,
because, you know, it was a privilege
to be able to drink it.
It was a special drink.
And there's other passages we could go to,
you know, where Ezra is only drinking it,
you know, and he tells the people to go,
and go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, right?
The people were mourning, and they were lamenting,
and he says, look, today is a holy day,
and, Lord God, don't mourn.
And he says, you wanna rejoice?
And he didn't say, go get drunk,
light up, you know, pack that bong,
let's smoke another bowl, let's roll a doobie.
You know what he said?
He said, go eat the fat and drink the sweet.
Go have some bacon, well, he didn't tell them to have bacon,
because they were jealous.
But he said, you know what, go eat,
go eat that fatty piece of meat.
Go eat something fattening and drink something sweet.
You know, and sometimes that's how we celebrate as Baptists.
Maybe we do that a little too often.
And maybe our senses are a little dull to that,
you know, but if we just, you know,
went on some strict diet, and then one day it was like,
cheat day, I'm gonna eat some fat and drink some sweet,
it would be a big deal to us.
You know what, and it wouldn't have to be intoxicating
for us to enjoy it.
And just that one thing alone, you know,
we would go up to Smokey Mo's and get the Kool-Aid, right?
And we'd get the,
because they got good Kool-Aid at Smokey Mo's.
And then we'd get the pulled pork sandwich or whatever,
whatever fatty piece of meat you like,
and, you know, that'd be a big deal to us.
It's like, man, what a great day,
we went to Smokey Mo's and we drank some sweet
and ate some fat.
It'd be a good day.
Other people are gonna go there and eat that,
oh man, I gotta, this, that was nice,
but now I gotta go get drunk.
You know, they get excited about St. Stupor's Day.
They can't get excited about something as simple
as going up to Smokey Mo's on a Sunday afternoon
before Soul Witted.
You know what, but we can't.
Because we don't need, you know,
our wine isn't their wine.
You know, our wine isn't, you know,
the poison of venom.
It's not the wine of Sodom and Gomorrah like they have.
You're there in Proverbs 23, verse 19,
he says there, Proverbs 23, verse 19,
hear thou my son and be wise and guide thine heart
in the way.
Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.
You know, being a winebibber and being a glutton
go hand in hand.
Be not among these people.
Be not among, what, the winebibber.
You know, that's a term we need to bring back.
Winebibber, wino.
Because people wanna act like, you know,
drinking wine is some sophisticated thing.
Even though it has higher alcohol content
than some six pack.
Where people are getting more drunk.
But you know, but it comes in a fancy bottle
and it has a fancy name.
And people are all fancy about the way they drink it.
You know, and they think they're just so, you know,
civilized and just upscale and just high class
when they're the biggest drunks there are.
The winebibbers.
I mean, in Europe, you know, before the Renaissance,
before the Enlightenment, before caffeine came in there,
before they got a hold of coffee, you know,
they drank a lot of fermented beverages
just throughout the day.
You know, they would just drink a beer.
I mean, kids.
Because it was safer than drinking water.
But they were still functioning.
You know, they would drink beer at lunch
when they're all out working in the field somewhere.
They'd get a bunch of calories.
They'd get a little bit of alcohol.
Because everyone thinks beer is the worst thing to drink.
Look, and I'm not condoning beer.
But everyone wants to act like,
oh, I don't drink beer, I only drink wine.
Because the Bible uses the term wine.
Well, wine's actually worse than beer alcohol-wise.
And people would drink it back then in Europe
and you know, they would still be able to function.
You know, if you drank too much of it,
though it would still have the same effect.
Don't be among the wine bibbers.
And don't ever envy these people.
You know, and they're gonna try to make it look so cool
on St. Stupor's Day, you know,
painting their shamrocks on their cheeks
and wearing their stupid hats, their sequins.
You know, they're gonna try to make it look so cool
with their green beads and the guy that's gonna dress up
like a leprechaun and dye his beard red.
You know, and just go bar crawling, pub crawling.
You know what, don't be among these people.
Because the truth is, is that a lot of those people
after St. Stupor's Day is over,
some people are gonna wake up with a hangover,
people are gonna wake up with a stranger,
people are gonna wake up with a disease,
people are gonna wake up knocked up,
people are gonna wake up having been violated.
You know what, and some people aren't gonna wake up at all
because they're gonna be dead.
Because they're gonna have died in a car accident.
They're gonna drink themselves to death
or they're gonna drown in their own vomit.
You know, so that's why you say,
why don't you wanna be around those people,
just because you don't like to have fun?
No, because I don't need to be, to risk things like that,
to risk my life and my wellbeing to have fun.
You know, I can just eat some fat and drink some sweet,
maybe a little bit more than I should.
You know, but that's all I need to have fun.
I don't need to be among these wine bibbers,
it's not worth it.
You know, you wanna go ahead and try doing that?
It's, you're playing Russian roulette with your life
and you're messing around with alcohol, you really are.
Say, oh, I can handle it, I can handle my booze,
I'm not gonna turn to that.
That's what every drunk says, you know,
and I know we've all heard that,
but that is what every drunk says.
You know, bright eyed young person walks into the bar
and says, you know what, I'm just gonna start out
with this beer until I end up just being a big and change
and sleeping in the gutter.
No one walks in, no one in that position
started out thinking that.
I wonder if I could just be a derelict
in the side of the road panhandling to support my habit.
That's not how they, they didn't walk out the door one day
and make that decision, that just happened to them.
Because they thought, oh, I'm so big and bad and tough
and that's, you know, I know mom and dad have said that
and I know the preacher goes on and on about that,
but it's not gonna happen to me.
That's what they said, that's what they said.
And then look where they end up.
They end up in the halfway house,
they end up with all the woe and sorrow
and everything else that goes along with it.
So the best way to avoid that
is to stay a million miles away from it
and to not be among wine bevers.
You know, don't be involved in St. Super's Day
or any other occasion for drinking.
Stay away from it, it's not for God's people.
Our standard is to be sober, that's it.
Not a little bit of alcohol,
not a glass of wine with dinner, none of it, it's sobriety.
If that doesn't sound like fun, well, you know what?
It'll get fun.
You'll be surprised what becomes fun
when you get rid of the drugs and alcohol.
You know, the things that you didn't think were fun
will become fun.
Get a hobby, you know?
Or just be sober so you don't end up, you know,
making a mess out of your life.
Who cares about having fun?
You know, well, you know what?
I ended up, you know, a drunk and throws us to the liver.
I ended up with a life of shame and remorse,
but at least I had fun.
Is that what you're gonna be saying in that,
you know what's saying that?
These guys in that halfway house, you know,
that are hooked on drugs, they're not saying,
oh, well, at least it was worth it,
because I had fun.
You know, I'd rather just live a sober life,
a clean life, and not have any of that,
you know what, and I'll find,
I'll have some fun along the way.
And life's not all about fun anyway.
You know, and we're living,
and I know I'm kind of going off here at the end,
but we're just, I'm so sick of it,
because we're just living in an age
where people just, they have to be entertained constantly.
Constantly.
You know, it's always gotta be on their phone,
it's gotta be on some screen somewhere,
they just, they can never have a dull moment.
You know what, go ahead and have a dull moment.
Have a dull day, have a dull week.
You know what, it'll make the less dull moments
all the brighter.
It'll make the fun all the funner.
All the clean fun will become even funner.
But I'm not gonna go on and on.
You know what, don't be among the wine beavers.
Don't be out there on St. Stupor's Day this week.
Don't even look at this stuff in the cup,
be sober, be vigilant.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the stern warning
that you give us in your word about alcohol,
and the call to be a sober people.
And Lord, I pray that there would be many in this room,
Lord, that can have the testimony
for their whole life that they've never touched the stuff.
That they won't have the stories that other people have.
That they will stay a million miles away
from this venomous asp called alcohol.
We ask that you would bless us as we go now,
in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we go.
We're gonna sing song number four.
Song number four.
The Way of the Cross Leads Home.
["The Way of the Cross"]
As we go home by the way of the cross
There's no other way but this
I shall let this night of the gates come back
In the way of the cross I face
The way of the cross leads home
It's dreamed to know that the young were gone
The way of the cross leads home
And the floods bring away the bad that will save your child
If I ever climb to the heights of black
Where no storm is ever gone
The way of the cross leads home
It's dreamed to know that the young were gone
The way of the cross leads home
And I've been there now to the way of the world
To walk in it ever more
Lord, my heart says come when I see
I know many things that we don't know
The way of the cross leads home
It's dreamed to know that the young were gone
The way of the cross leads home