This chapter contains one of my favorite stories in the Bible.
I love this story about Belshazzar.
He is very arrogantly having this great party
because he rules over pretty much the known world,
and he's the most powerful man in the world,
and he has a thousand of his lords with him,
and it's basically just a drunken party.
They get out the wine, and they're going to begin to drink,
and the Bible says in verse 2,
Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine,
and let me say this,
nothing in the Bible is incidental or coincidental or accidental.
Everything in the Bible is there for a reason.
The Bible makes it clear to us that while he tasted the wine,
he commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels
which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple
which was in Jerusalem that the king and his princes,
his wives and his concubines might drink therein.
A concubine is of course someone that he's going to bed with,
but is not his wife.
So he has multiple wives, which is a sin.
He has multiple other women that he's committing fornication with,
which is another great sin,
and he decides that it's not enough to be drunken.
It's not enough to party and commit all this wicked sin,
but he also has to desecrate the things of God.
He also has to blasphemously take the vessels out of God's house
and use them to get drunk with all these wicked women that are surrounding him,
and then he begins to praise the gods of gold.
The gods of gold are just made up gods that he made up out of his own heart in blasphemy.
And of course as he's partying and drinking and reveling,
there are fingers of a man's hand that come just a part of him,
not even a whole hand, and these fingers appear.
And I don't know if everybody saw it, but Belshazzar saw it.
He looked and he sees, just in the midst of the partying,
he looks and he sees these fingers of a man's hand,
and they begin to write on the wall.
And he begins to be very afraid, and he starts to get so scared
that his knees are actually smiting one into the other,
and it's just really shocking to him.
It wasn't just a hallucination, because when he points,
everybody can see the writing.
I don't know if everybody saw the finger, maybe many people did,
but he sees this writing and he's shocked by it, he's scared by it.
If you saw something like that, you'd be pretty scared too, right?
And he sees it, and he commands all the wise men, the astrologers,
language experts to come in and interpret it for him,
and they can't tell him what it means.
And of course he brings in Daniel, and Daniel interprets it to him
and tells him what it means.
But here's what I want to preach about.
I just wanted to give you that story because I like the story so much.
But I want to preach today about drinking.
And this is a great example of what drinking does to you,
and I'm going to use this as my first point.
Turn to 1 Kings 20, if you would.
1 Kings 20, back toward the beginning of the Bible.
You see, first of all, I want to say that drinking makes you prideful,
and it gives you the boldness to do things that you normally wouldn't do.
Sinful things, wrong things, stupid things that you'll do when you're drinking.
When he drank, it gave him the boldness to do something very wicked
that he might have thought twice about in a sober condition,
but while he tasted the wine, that's what led him to say,
hey, let's just make an abomination out of God's house and so forth.
He probably wouldn't have normally had the boldness to do that,
but drinking gave him that boldness.
You see, drinking can give you boldness.
You say, well, boldness is a good thing.
Well, boldness is a good thing when it comes to doing what's right.
But when it comes to doing what's wrong, boldness is a very bad thing.
Some people have a natural fear of God and a natural fear and cowardice
when it comes to God that's right.
You know, we ought to be afraid of God and fear God
and not just be bold to transgress his laws or to break his laws.
You see, the Bible says in Ephesians 5.18,
be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
You see, the fullness of the Holy Spirit gives boldness.
The Bible says in Acts 4.31,
and when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spake the Word of God with boldness.
And so being filled with the Spirit gives you the boldness to preach God's Word,
to do what's right, to go soul-budding.
That comes with being filled with the Spirit.
But alcohol is the exact opposite.
It also gives boldness to do that which is wrong, to commit sin.
It gives pride.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit gives you humility,
but it gives you the boldness to serve God through the power of God.
I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
Those who are drunk can just do all things,
and they'll do a lot of wrong things and a lot of wicked things.
Let's look at another example of this.
1 Kings 20.10,
And Ben-Hadad said unto him and said,
The gods do so unto me, and more also,
if the dust of Samaria shall suffice from handfuls for all the people that follow me.
Now this is where Ben-Hadad is threatening King Ahab, the king of Israel.
And he's mouthing off to him saying,
I've got more guys following me than there is dust in your country.
Like as many as the sand that's by the sea is how many people I have following me.
And the king of Israel answered and said, chapter 20 verse 11,
Tell him, let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it all.
He basically says, hey, you haven't won the battle yet.
You're boasting as if you've already won.
Why don't you boast about it after you win?
Well look what happens in verse 12.
And it came to pass when Ben-Hadad heard this message as he was what?
Drinking.
He and the kings and the pavilions that he sent unto his servants,
Set yourselves in a raid, and they set themselves arrayed against the sea.
Jump down to verse 16.
And they went out at noon, but Ben-Hadad was what?
Drinking himself drunk in the pavilions.
He and the kings, the thirty or two kings that helped him,
And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first.
And Ben-Hadad sent out and they told him saying,
There are men come out of Samaria.
And I'm not going to read the story, but basically his whole army gets destroyed, slaughtered, defeated by a much smaller force.
Seven thousand men, led by two hundred and thirty-two captains,
Ordered by one man Ahab, defeated, destroyed.
He had a much bigger army, but he just made a dumb decision,
Because he's drunk so he's really easily provoked.
You know, somebody says to him,
Nothing really that harsh, they just said,
Well let not him that puteth on the harness,
Boasteth him that taketh it off.
He got so angry and is drunk in condition,
Oh, let's go get him right now!
Probably didn't plan it right and just rushed into it.
Totally got defeated.
And the Bible says, Pride goeth before destruction,
And an haughty spirit before the fall.
And people who are drunk, they get prideful.
And they get puffed up.
And sometimes they even overestimate their ability to win a fight.
Listen to this, Habakkuk 2.5, you don't have to turn there.
Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine,
He is a proud man.
Did you hear that?
Because he transgresseth by wine, he's a proud man,
Neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell,
And is as death, and cannot be satisfied,
But gathereth unto him all nations,
And heapeth unto him all people.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 5, if you would,
Isaiah chapter 5.
See, drinking gives you boldness and pride.
You know, where do people get into those fights?
Bars, don't they?
They go to bars and they get in fights.
Why?
Because when you're drunk, any little insult will hurt your pride, right?
Whereas in a sober condition, somebody might criticize you or insult you.
You can just shake it off, you can just turn the other cheek,
You can just let it go, no big deal.
But when you're drunk and someone insults you,
They're like, ahhh!
And you have all this boldness.
And people are constantly getting in fights when they're drunk.
They get in brawls because they're drunk.
Because they overestimate their ability.
They can just beat anybody, you know, because they're drunk.
And they also cannot handle any insult.
Because they're in a prideful, proud condition.
God resisted the proud.
God hates a proud look, the Bible says.
Pride is a sin that God reviews many times in the Bible.
And the first point I want to make is that drinking gives you pride.
And boldness to do what's wrong and to do what's not right.
We're going to turn to Isaiah 5.
Look at verse 20.
Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.
That put darkness for light and light for darkness.
That put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine.
And men of strength to mingle strong drink.
Now, again, this is pointing out the fact that a lot of drinking involves pride.
People will make it a test of their manhood how much they can drink.
Isn't that true?
He says, woe unto you, men of strength to drink wine.
Yeah, you know, I can drink this much.
And it's a fool that will think that that makes them mightier, that that makes them strong.
How much they can drink and how much they can put away and to brag about that and to boast about that.
You're glorying and you're shame.
It's stupidity.
And if you would, I'm going to show you my next one.
Turn to Isaiah 19.
While you're turning there, I'll read for you a little more on this subject.
Matthew 24, 48 says, but if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord, delay it this coming,
and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken.
Notice, again, drinking is associated with them beating up his fellow servants.
Because we see people who get drunk, they get prideful, they get arrogant,
and they also have all this boldness and they just, how many husbands have beat their wives
or beat up their friends or beat up their children because they're drunk.
And it causes them to be prideful and arrogant and haughty and so forth.
But my next point is this.
First of all, it gives you pride and boldness to sin and do stupid things.
But number two, it makes you vomit.
Now, this is very biblical.
I have a whole page of scriptures on this.
You say, well, why are you talking about this, Pastor?
Well, because I have a whole page of scriptures on it.
And the Bible says, preach the Word.
And this is a whole page of scriptures that need to be preached.
And this is a constant reminder in the Bible that drinking makes you vomit.
Now, I've never been drunk.
I don't know what this is like.
And you might say, well, Pastor Anderson, this is common sense
because I used to drink and I vomited many times.
But that's something to be proud of, by the way.
But there are many here who haven't drunk, like myself, who have not drunk.
Well, we need the Bible to tell us about the vomiting associated with drunkenness.
And you know what?
If you're smart, you'll let the Bible teach you that drinking makes you vomit
and not have to go out and find out, oh, well, drinking made me vomit
and have to learn that on your own.
Learn it instead from the Bible.
But the Bible says this in Isaiah 19, 14.
The Lord had mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof,
and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof.
Listen to this.
As a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
So right there we see a drunken man staggering in his vomit.
Pretty mighty, isn't it?
Mighty man to drink.
I mean, there's nothing mighty or powerful or respectable or honorable
about a drunk man staggering in his own vomit.
Look if you would at Isaiah chapter 28 while we're in Isaiah.
That was Isaiah 19, 14, a drunk man staggering in his vomit.
Then in chapter 28 we see this in verse 7.
Isaiah 28, 7.
But they also have heard through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way.
The priest and the prophet have heard through strong drink.
They are swallowed up of wine.
They are out of the way through strong drink.
They err in this, and they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean.
Again, drunkenness leads to vomiting.
Jeremiah 25, if you would turn there.
It's close.
The next book in the Bible is Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 25.
While you're turning there, I'll read you Jeremiah 48, 26 for sake of time.
Make him drunken, for he magnified himself against the Lord.
Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
So there we have it again.
You say, well Pastor Anderson, I'm much too prim and proper for a sermon like this.
You know what?
This is the kind of sermon that you need.
I've seen some pretty prim and proper people get drunk and vomit.
I've seen it.
I've seen the most prim and proper prima donna drink and become drunken and vomit.
It's disgusting.
We need this kind of preaching.
When you're too prim and proper for the Bible, you know what you are?
You're too prim and proper.
You know what I mean?
When you're too proper and too dignified and refined for God's word,
you might just be a little too refined.
Because this is God's word.
This is the Bible.
We need this kind of preaching.
I'm glad that my children are here hearing this kind of preaching.
If I were you, I would say, well, I don't want my children to be here all the time to hear this kind of preaching.
Because they need to hear this so that they don't make these mistakes.
Because what would you rather have, my friend?
Would you rather hear a sermon about vomiting due to drinking?
Or would you rather have your children go out and live this?
I'd rather just hear the word vomit than to actually have to smell the vomit on my children's clothing.
Than to actually have to see them vomit and have to actually see them make these mistakes.
I'd much rather preach about it than to have to live it.
And so that's why we need this kind of preaching, in case you were wondering.
But Jeremiah chapter 25 verse 28 says this,
Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Drink ye and be drunken and spew.
Do you see that? It's spelled a little different than we spell it today.
He says drink and be drunken and spew.
This is another word for vomit.
He says be drunken and spew and fall and rise no more because of the sword which I send among you.
Go to Habakkuk chapter 2.
We have another scripture here on vomiting.
The scriptures just keep on coming, don't they?
On drinking and vomiting.
God's trying to send us a message here.
Look at Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 15.
The Bible says, Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and maketh him drunken.
What's the next word?
So is the person who's giving him the drink drunk?
He says you're already drunk.
And then you're giving your neighbor drink to make him drunken also.
You see, misery loves company.
People who are drunk, they're going to try to get you drunk.
It's not enough for them to drink.
They want you to drink with them.
And it's just like Eve gave the fruit unto Adam that he might eat thereof and sin.
Those who drink will try to get you to drink with them.
And he says give thy bottle to him and maketh him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakedness.
That's a future point that I'm going to get to.
But it says in verse 16, thou art filled with shame for glory.
It's not glorious. It's shameful.
And he says drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered.
The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful life spewing shall be on thy glory.
You think you're so tough.
You know, you think you're a big strong man because you can drink and get drunk and go get in a bar fight.
He said you are ashamed and when you're rolling in your own vomit and when you're staggering and drunken and spewing on yourself,
there's nothing glorious about that. It's wicked.
And it's disgusting. And it's foul.
And Christians have no business drinking or going to bars or hanging around with people that are drinking.
Because if you're hanging around with people that are drinking, they're going to put their bottle to you and make you drunken also.
And say you've got to stay away from it as far as you can.
But listen to this. Proverbs 26, 11. And if you would, turn to Proverbs 23.
That way we're in the ballpark of Proverbs because I'm going to show you a lot of scripture for Proverbs here.
Go to Proverbs 23 and listen to a famous verse. Proverbs 26, 11.
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Now let me explain this. Drinking is foolishness. It's folly. It's dumb.
But as a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.
Now you'd have to be a fool to participate in some activity that makes you vomit.
And then just keep going back to that same activity and doing it again. Wouldn't that be stupid?
I mean to keep going back to it again. It's like a dog.
And by the way, those of you dog lovers out there, I'm sorry.
But the Bible doesn't have a lot of positive things to say about dogs.
Just look up the word dog. And I'm not some kind of anti-dog person.
I have a dog. What I really don't like is cats.
I'm just not really big on either one of you, to be honest with you.
And you know what? I used to really love dogs.
But go soul-winning for about 13 years and you're not going to like dogs anymore.
Because dogs are the enemies of soul-winning.
Because when you're out soul-winning signs you get bit by dogs.
Or you try to get the gospel to somebody and there's a dog barking and they can't hear you.
And dogs just bark at you. Even if they're not attacking you, they just bark.
It just starts to drive you nuts after a while.
For the first few years of soul-winning, you don't care.
But finally something just snaps and you just get sick of dogs barking.
Who feels the same way about soul-winning? You just don't like dogs.
They are the enemies of soul-winning.
This is the thing that just cracks me up the most.
When I knock on somebody's door out soul-winning and they can't control their dog.
That's what blows me away. If I have a dog, I'm going to control it.
But I'll knock on the door and they'll open the door and they'll be in a wrestling match with their dog.
It's a huge dog.
They're just like...
Hi, I'm trying to yell at people from Baptist Church.
I'm like...
I can't really talk right now.
And they just kind of fall into the room.
As the door slams, I go...
It's unbelievable.
Dogs...
They don't have a lot of intelligence when it comes to what they eat.
And they will return to their vomit.
And the Bible compares us to a dog if that's how you are.
Where you just keep returning to your folly.
Like a dog returning to his own vomit.
He says, you know, it's really ridiculous. It's really disgusting.
But look what it says in chapter number 23.
I want to say this. Number three, drinking is an addiction.
So first of all, we see number one, it fills you with pride.
Which is going to lead you to do a lot of dumb things.
It's going to give you the boldest to do a lot of dumb things because of pride.
Number two, it's going to make you vomit.
Number three, it's an addiction.
Because it says in Proverbs 23, 29,
Who hath woe?
Now, nobody wants woe.
Now, we don't really use this word today, but it's just everything bad.
That's the only way to describe the word woe.
It's just woe.
Everything that you don't want to happen in your life,
everything that's a curse and not a blessing, is woe.
It's pretty much the opposite of the word blessing.
So he says, who hath woe?
Now, does anybody just go out looking for woe in their life?
I want to have woe in my life. I want to have sorrow in my life.
Who hath sorrow? And then look at the next point.
Who hath contentions?
Again, we talked about the bar fighting
and the constantly taking offense to every little thing
and getting in a fight at the drop of a hat.
Who hath babbling?
Babbling is not something to be proud of.
Babbling means you're just saying stupid things.
Who hath wounds without cause?
Basically just injuries that are totally preventable.
You've got this wound for no good reason.
Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine,
they that go to see mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
when it giveth its color in the cup,
when it moveth itself aright.
At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like a knife.
No one wants to be bit by a serpent.
No one wants to be stung by an adder.
No one wants woe and strife and contention and babbling
and all these sorrowful things.
He says, thine eyes shall behold strange women
and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
And that's a position that no Christian should want to be in.
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?
Look at the next phrase.
I'll seek it yet again.
That's kind of a weird way to end this chapter
because he's listing all these horrible things,
all these bad things, and then it's just like,
let's go do it again.
What? Do it again?
But it's because it's an addiction.
Just as the dog returns to his vomit,
the fool will return to his folly.
And then this is quoted in the New Testament, of course,
as 2 Peter 2.22, don't turn there, stay proverbs.
Go to Proverbs 20, verse 1.
In 2 Peter 2 it says, but it has happened unto them
according to the true proverb,
the dog has turned to his own vomit again,
and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Proverbs 20, verse 1, wine is a mocker,
strong drink is raging.
Again, he talked about the bar fighting,
the contentions, the pride.
It gets you in a rage over the smallest little thing.
What's rage?
Extreme anger, wrath.
And he says, mine is a mocker, strong drink is raging,
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
What does it mean that wine is a mocker?
What does it mean to mock someone?
To make fun of someone, right?
Wine will make a fool out of you.
It will put you in a rage and make you look stupid
and make you look foolish.
That's what the Bible's telling us in Proverbs 20, verse 1.
Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 11.
Go to Joel.
Turn to Joel, chapter 3.
Toward the end of the Old Testament,
Joel, chapter 3.
While you're turning there, I'll go to Isaiah 5, 11.
The Bible reads, woe unto them.
And again, there's that word, woe.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning
that they may follow strong drink.
You see what I mean by being an addiction?
People go out and drink at night.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5,
they that sleep sleep in the night,
and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But some people are so addicted to alcohol
that according to Isaiah 5, 11, they actually
get up first thing in the morning and begin to drink.
And I've seen people like this.
I've been on a dirt bike riding trip out in the desert
with a whole bunch of guys associated
with a certain motorcycle shop in Sacramento.
There were about 40, 50 guys.
And I remember standing around the campfire,
and they had coronas in their hand at 6 AM.
Yep.
And that was breakfast.
Breakfast at Chrono.
And they do it every day of their life.
They go through a case of coronas,
and they have a great big beer bill because of the damage
that they're doing to their body just physically,
let alone what they're doing to the mind and the soul
with the perverse things and the prideful heart and so forth.
But can you imagine never having a sober moment?
And there are people today who do not have a fully sober moment
ever because they just wake up and they drink all day long
and says they follow a strong drink that continue until night.
Till wine inflame them.
And they start in the morning, and they drink all day,
and they drink into the night.
They go to bed.
They wake up, and they drink again.
Now, I don't think that people set out to get to that point.
It starts out, they just do a little drinking for fun,
just special occasions.
They're just at a party.
You're just at this situation.
But it will take control of you and become an addiction
to where you're just drinking.
And they call it alcoholism.
The Bible calls it drunkenness.
When you start out in the morning and drink till night,
it's a really sad condition.
But look at Joel chapter 3.
It's sad that people would be reduced to that.
And by the way, it costs money too.
And people drink up hundreds and thousands of dollars
on something that's destroying their body.
It's destroying their life.
It's destroying their relationships.
It destroys them spiritually.
Look at Joel chapter 3, and look how bad it can get right here
with drunkenness.
And they have passed laws for my people
and have given a boy for a harlot
and sold a girl for wine that they might drink.
Now, can you imagine that?
How low down you'd have to be
to where you would literally sell your daughter
in order to get drinking money.
And look, I believe the Bible.
That's what he said they were doing.
These people had gotten so wicked and so low down
and they were so distraught and so anti, you know,
that they actually got to the point
where drinking had gotten them so addicted
that they would literally sell their child.
Okay, are you getting this?
Sell their son, sell their daughter
in order to spend it on alcohol.
That's what it says, that they might drink.
That's an addiction.
Go to Leviticus chapter 10.
So first of all, we see alcohol makes you prideful,
which leads to all other sins
that the boldness associated with that will lead you into.
Number two, we saw that drinking will make you vomit.
And don't learn from experience,
learn from the sermon this morning.
Number three, drinking is an addiction.
And we see that people get so addicted
that they drink it for breakfast
and continue all the way till night.
They'll even sell their child
to get drinking money.
And we see people who, you know,
don't provide for their family
and their family's eating top ramen today
at every meal because they want to buy alcohol.
That's a selfish person
who cares nothing about anyone else.
They don't even love their own child.
That's what alcohol does to you.
It makes you selfish
to where you care about no one else
and it's an addiction.
But number four, it also destroys your good judgment.
It destroys your judgment between what is right and wrong
and also between what is clean and what is not clean.
Look at verse 9 of Leviticus 10.
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.
He said, if you drink,
before you go into the tabernacle of the congregation,
the house of God,
he said, I will kill you.
That's what God is saying to the priests in the Old Testament.
That's a pretty serious offense.
He says, look, you know,
he's always been against drinking.
He's always against drunkenness.
But he says, if you're going to go to church drunk,
this is in the Old Testament,
he said, if you're going to go to church drunk,
I'm going to kill you.
And he said, why?
Because he said, it shall be a statute
forever throughout your generations.
Why?
That you may put difference
between holy and unholy
and between unclean and clean.
You know what that tells me?
That if you're drunk,
you can't tell the difference
between holy and unholy.
And if you're drunk,
you can't tell the difference
between what's clean and what's unclean.
Go to Proverbs 31.
You see, drinking
can lead you to do a lot of unsanitary things.
You know, I'm not going to go into it
just because I don't want to go down that road.
But if you can't tell the difference
between clean and unclean,
you're going to do a lot of unsanitary things.
You're going to be eating after
and drinking after a lot of really weird people.
You're going to be going to a lot of really dirty places
and doing a lot of dirty things.
The disease and the sickness
that you can get
from not telling
between clean and unclean.
And the sins that you'll commit
when you have no differentiation
between holy and unholy.
What will you do?
Who knows?
It's a scary thing
to be under the influence of alcohol
because you're taking yourself
out of the driver's seat.
And you're putting other forces at work.
And you won't even be able to make decisions.
You can be guided by other people,
like we saw in the back of 215,
because you're so drunk,
you don't know what's going on.
Other people,
hey, let's do this, okay.
I was talking to a guy,
a good friend of mine,
and he told me a story
about how he had gotten so drunk,
he had no idea what was going on.
He had no clue where he was,
what he was doing.
And basically when he came to himself,
he was walking down the street
with a bunch of VCRs in his hand
that he had robbed from a store.
He had no recollection of it,
no memory of it.
He had never made a decision,
hey, I'm going to go rob these VCRs.
He says, walking down the street
with an armful of VCRs,
and he just asked himself,
what am I doing?
How did I get here?
Why am I carrying these VCRs?
And then he felt a hand on his shoulder
of a policeman.
He got arrested for grand theft or whatever
because he had robbed something
without even being aware
that he was even doing it
because people had guided him and said,
hey, let's go do this,
hey, let's go rob this, okay.
And he just went right along with it.
That's a scary thing.
What kind of things
are you opening yourself up to
when you're drunk,
especially what kind of people
are you around when you're drunk
and what kind of things
are they going to get you to do?
And that guy,
he had to go to prison and everything
because of what?
Just because he what?
Just because he got drunk.
You see, it's not against the law
to get drunk today.
But when you get drunk,
you might do a lot of stuff
that's against the law,
and then you might end up
doing some serious time
for being drunk
because of the bad things
that you'll do while you're drunk
and the laws that you're going to break
while you're drunk
that are going to cause you
to have problems like that.
Go to Proverbs 31, verse 3,
it says,
Give not thy strength unto women,
this is a mother's advice
to her son,
nor thy ways to that
which destroyeth kings.
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 the afflicted.
So when you drink,
you're not going to know
holy from unholy,
you're not going to know
from clean from up,
and you're going to forget
God's law,
and you're not going
to be bound by it,
and you're going to do
whatever you want,
or whatever people tell you
to do.
And he says,
You will pervert the judgment
of the afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him
that is ready to perish
and wine unto those
that be of heavy hearts.
Let him drink
and forget his poverty
and remember his misery
no more.
You see,
drinking is for the failures
of this world,
is what she's telling her son.
She's saying,
You are a king,
you are a prince,
it's not for you to drink.
Give it to the low down,
deadbeat hobo
that's in the gutter somewhere.
Who cares?
Let him drink himself
into oblivion
because he's a fool,
he's a failure,
he's ready to die,
but that's not you son.
You are better than that.
Drinking is for failures,
is what she's saying.
Drinking's for losers.
Drinking is for those
that are at the end of their rope
and at rock bottom.
It's not for you.
And I've heard people
try to use this as Christians,
and I cannot understand
the logic
that would take the scripture
that I just read to you
and they'll use this
as a justification for drinking.
And the Bible says,
See?
Give it to the guy
that's of a heavy heart.
You know,
and so,
I'm of a heavy heart
so I'm gonna go drink.
That's what I've heard
Christians say.
Well I'm depressed,
so I'm gonna drink
and God told me to drink.
You know,
there's something called
sarcasm.
And the Bible uses it a lot.
I mean the Bible
uses a lot of sarcasm.
This is sarcastically.
She's not saying,
Let's all have a campaign
instead of feed the hungry.
Let's have a campaign
to duel out alcohol
to all the poor and destitute
and losers of this world.
Let's go find the biggest loser
we can and buy him a drink.
That's not what it's saying.
She's explaining to them
the difference between
those who drink
and those who don't drink.
She said,
The winners in life,
the princes,
the kings,
the great men,
the powerful men,
they don't drink.
And the ones who are fools
and losers and poor
and at the end of their rope
and rock bottom
and homeless
and living in the gutter,
let them drink.
Leave that stuff
for those kind of people.
That's what she's saying.
That's what she's explaining
to her son.
She's not saying,
Well, you know,
if you start feeling down,
just drink.
And you know,
a lot of people do try
to drown their sorrows
and drink.
And it makes them
even more depressed.
In fact,
alcohol is actually classified
as a depressant.
Do you know that?
It's a depressant.
And you see people they drink
and they become modeless.
And they start to,
I love you guys so much.
I don't know why I screwed up
my whole life.
Have you ever been around people
when they get to that phase
of drinking?
Because first they get drunk
and it's,
Woo!
And then later,
I don't know why I just
screwed up my whole life.
I'm wasting my life.
Have you been around people
that are like that?
Have you been around people
that are like that?
They start telling you
all this stuff
about their life
that you guys have said.
And they start whining
and getting down and sad.
That's all this is saying.
Now, look.
He said it's not for kings.
It's not for princes.
The Bible says that God
has made us unto his Father
kings and priests.
He says over and over
that we are kings.
Go to Revelation 1.
Keep your finger there.
You know I keep my finger there.
Go to Revelation 1
and see this.
It's actually stated
a few different times
in the book of Revelation.
I believe three different times
the Bible says this.
But I'll just give you one example
just to give you the idea.
It says in verse number 5,
And from Jesus Christ,
Revelation 1-5,
And from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness
and the first begotten of the dead
and the prince of the kings
of the earth,
unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins
in his own blood
and has made us what?
Kings.
So are we kings?
Yeah.
And is it for kings to drink wine
and for princes to drink strong drink?
No.
And God says we are kings.
Give wine unto those
that are ready to perish.
Well, the Bible says
that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish
but have everlasting life.
We're never going to perish.
Jesus said whosoever believeth in me
shall never die.
So I don't think that any believer
or child of God
should put themselves in the category
of someone who is ready to perish.
Someone who is not.
You are a king.
You are a priest,
according to the Bible.
You are a prince.
You are not ready to perish.
You have everlasting life.
So don't be a loser.
And drink is what the Bible
is telling you there.
But let me move on
to my last point here.
Go to Lamentations 4.
Lamentations 4,
if you're looking for Lamentations,
is right between Jeremiah
and Ezekiel,
those two big long books
at the end of the Old Testament.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
tucked in between the two,
you'll find Lamentations,
just a little short book.
And Lamentations is probably
the most depressing book
in the Bible.
You can probably tell
by the name Lamentations.
It's just all about
how bad things are.
Because Jeremiah
is a book,
52 chapters of warnings.
Warning, warning.
Well guess what?
They didn't heed the warning.
They failed to listen
to Jeremiah's warnings.
So these are the Lamentations
of Jeremiah,
where for five chapters,
he just explains
all the bad stuff that happened
and how sad it is.
And so it's a sad book,
but look what it says
in Lamentations 4,
verse 21.
It says,
Rejoice and be glad
with God or of Enoch
that dwellest in the land of us.
The cup also
shall pass through unto thee.
And watch this phrase right here.
Thou shalt be drunken
and shalt make thyself naked.
Now, this is an association
that's found throughout the Bible,
and my final point is this.
Drinking will lead you
into nakedness.
And also fornication,
adultery,
and other forms of perversion.
Now, you probably shouldn't
even really need me
to tell you that,
because I already told you
that it gives you the boldness
to commit sins
that you normally wouldn't commit.
That was the first point, right?
And then I also told you
how it destroys
your good judgment
and your ability
to differentiate between
right and wrong.
So that should kind of
lead to this
as a no-brainer,
that drinking is gonna lead you
to get naked
and to commit all kinds
of perverted sins,
fornication, adultery,
and whatever else.
He said right there
at the end of that verse,
thou shalt be drunken,
and as a result,
he says,
shalt make thyself naked.
Look at Genesis chapter 9.
Genesis chapter 9.
Now, here's the interesting thing
about Genesis 9.
Genesis 9 is the first time
that alcohol is mentioned
in the Bible.
And let me say this
while you're turning
to Genesis 9.
Every time that the Bible
says the word wine,
it's not talking about alcohol.
You see, wine,
the word wine in the Bible,
it's used just to mean juice
because that was the word
that they used 400 years ago
when the Bible was translated.
Just when talking about juice,
not even necessarily grape juice
because there are examples
in the Bible of other juices
that are not even grape juice.
Like, for example,
Song of Solomon,
chapter 8, verse 2 says,
I would lead thee
and bring thee
into my mother's house
who would instruct me.
I would cause thee
to drink of spiced wine.
Now, listen to this.
The word juice
is not used throughout the Bible.
This is one of the rare times
that juice is used.
The word juice is used
in Song of Solomon 8-12.
Listen to this.
8-2.
I would cause thee
to drink of spiced wine
of the juice of my pomegranate.
Okay?
So, a pomegranate's not a grape.
It's a totally different fruit.
And there she's talking about
spiced wine of the juice
of the pomegranate.
Why does it use the word juice
in Song of Solomon 8-2?
Because of the fact
that we have two words in a row.
Spiced wine of the juice
of the pomegranate.
Now, in Hebrews chapter 1,
the Bible says,
God who at sundry times
and in diverse manners
spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets.
The word sundry
is only used in the Bible
one time.
How many times
did the word diverse use?
Many, many times.
So, why is the word sundry
used in Hebrews 1-1?
Because it's a synonym.
And he didn't want to say
God who at diverse times
and in diverse manners.
That would sound funny
to just repeat the word
close together like that.
So, he uses a synonym there.
Only time in the Bible.
Sundry times, diverse manners.
Because sundry and diverse
mean exactly the same thing.
Well, here, the reason
that he uses the word juice
is because he just finished
using the word wine.
He says,
let me find my place again here.
He says,
I would cause me to drink
of spiced wine
of the wine of my pomegranate
would sound funny.
So, he uses a synonym for wine,
which is juice.
A less common word.
The word diverse.
Who's heard the word diverse
or divers in just everyday speech?
You know, celebrate diversity
or eliminate diversity
or whatever.
But anyway,
you hear that word.
But who goes around
using the word sundry?
You know, it's a less common word.
Well, when the Bible was written
or translated into English,
the word wine
was a lot more common
than the word juice.
So, the Bible uses the word wine
231 times.
Okay.
Synonymous with the word juice.
And he just only uses
the word juice there
because it's repetitious there.
So, it's the alternate word
that's used.
That's why you don't see
the word juice
throughout the Bible.
And I can prove it to you
because in Isaiah 65, 8,
for example,
you don't have to turn there,
but it says,
Thus saith the Lord,
as the new wine
is found in the cluster
and once saith,
Destroy it not
for a blessing is in it.
That shows that even the juice,
while it's inside of a grape,
in the cluster is called wine.
We know that, you know,
you're not getting
an alcoholic beverage
when you eat grapes.
You know,
I never had to show my ID
to buy grapes.
You know,
those grapes are a little old,
you know.
Are you 21?
No.
Because when it's in the cluster,
and it even says
in the cluster on the vine.
That's not an alcoholic beverage,
yet it's called wine.
So, that proves that
when the Bible says wine,
it's not always referring
to an alcoholic beverage.
Now, here's the other thing.
The word wine is used
231 times.
The majority of the time,
it's not talking about
an alcoholic beverage.
The majority of the time.
Most of the time it's not.
And it's clear from the context
of it.
So, you say,
well, how do I know
when it's talking about,
you know,
just juice that's not fermented,
whether it be the juice
of a pomegranate
or a juice of grape.
And notice,
spiced wine.
Who's ever had like
a spiced cider?
You know what I'm talking about?
Like an apple cider
that's spicy.
And you put cinnamon in,
or for example,
you know,
ginger or other seasonings
and spices.
So, see,
we automatically
see the word wine,
we think of alcohol.
And when we see the word
strong drink,
we just immediately
think alcohol.
But there are other ways
that a drink could be strong,
as in spiced,
as in powerful tasting.
Or, you know,
you could have
a strong cup of coffee.
That doesn't mean that
it's an alcoholic beverage.
You could have
a strong spiced cider
that doesn't mean
that it's alcoholic.
So, you can't just assume
when the Bible says wine
that we're talking
about alcohol.
You say,
well, how do you know?
Because there are a lot
of verses in the Bible
that are very positive
about wine.
And then there are other
verses in the Bible
that are very negative
about wine,
telling you
don't even look at it.
Look not upon the wine
when it's red,
when it giveth its color
and the cup would move
itself aright.
There are times
when he says,
woe unto him that
giveth his neighbor
a drink.
And then there's Jesus
handing his neighbor drinks
saying,
take, drink it all
at the Last Supper.
There's a time when Jesus,
the drunk the Bible says,
is giving them more wine.
He's not giving alcohol
to people who are already drunk.
Obviously,
you can tell by the context
if the Bible's talking
in a positive way,
it's just juice.
It's just a good drink
that's healthy for you.
If it's talking
in a negative way,
stay away from it.
Don't touch it.
Then we're talking
about the bad beverage.
But anyway,
I just wanted to clarify
that real quickly.
But we're on the last point here,
point five,
that drinking leads you
to nakedness,
which leads to fornication,
adults read, et cetera.
Look at Genesis 9.
This is the first time,
get this now,
the first time alcohol
is mentioned,
and that is significant.
When you start reading
your Bible,
this is the first thing
God wants you to see
about alcohol.
Genesis chapter 9,
and let's begin reading
in verse number 20.
And Noah began to be
an husband,
and he planted a vineyard,
and he drank of the wine,
and was drunken,
and he was uncovered,
and he was uncovered
within his tent.
So what did drinking
immediately lead to?
Just like in Lamentations 4.21,
he's drunk,
he's uncovered.
He gets naked right away.
It says,
And Ham the father of Canaan
saw the nakedness
of his father,
and told his two brethren
without.
And Shem and Japheth
took a garment
and laid it upon their shoulders,
and went backward,
and covered the nakedness
of their father.
And their faces went backward,
and they saw not
their father's nakedness.
And Noah awoke from his wine,
and knew what his younger son
had done unto him.
Let me ask you this.
Did he know what was done unto him
before he woke up?
No.
He didn't know what was done
until he woke up.
Okay.
This shows you the danger
of alcohol,
where you're totally unconscious,
and you're naked,
and you're unconscious.
I don't know about you,
but I don't want to be
naked and unconscious
in a strange place,
or around strange people,
meaning people that I don't know.
In fact, I don't really want
to be naked and obnoxious
around anybody
except my wife.
You know, I don't want to be
naked and unconscious
anywhere in any place.
And here, Ham was a pervert.
You know, his two brothers
were not pervert.
Their two brothers
respected their dad
and so forth.
Now, I'm not saying that
it's a sin for someone
to see another man naked.
The Bible's clear
that that is not a sin.
If we see the opposite
gender naked,
that is a sin.
But Ham had done something
unto his father.
The Bible doesn't...
The Bible spares us
the details, thankfully.
And uncovering the nakedness
is a term used
throughout the Bible
as a euphemism.
And when God says
so-and-so uncovered
so-and-so's nakedness,
it's kind of like
when he says, you know,
Adam knew his wife.
It doesn't just mean,
hey, I know her.
Hey, I know him.
No, it means more that
God is not writing the Bible
in such a way
to pollute our minds
with details.
So he uses vague wording
and just says, you know,
he still has nakedness.
Put it that way.
And he knew that
he'd done something to him
when he woke up.
This is disgusting.
This is a weird story.
I mean, you're in
chapter 9,
and you already are seeing
how bad sin is.
You know, that's what
God's trying to show us
in the Bible.
How a little sin, right,
can lead to a really big sin.
A little sin of just,
yeah, a little drinking
in my own tent, you know.
And I only drink,
you know, in my own house.
You know, I drink at night
and whatever, you know.
Hey, here was somebody
who invaded his house
and did something weird to him.
You know, and God spared us
the details, thank God.
Look at chapter 19.
Genesis 19.
So basically the first time
we see someone getting drunk
in the entire Bible,
basically some sodomite
comes in and abuses him.
That's what happens
the first time.
That should be a strong
warning right there.
And that's what the Bible says.
We'll revisit this quickly.
Habakkuk 2.15 says,
Woe unto him that giveth
his neighbor drink,
that putteth thy bottle to him
and makest him drunk and also
that thou mayest look
on their nakedness.
That's a him giving a him
alcohol.
Because my whole life
I read that scripture
and I thought it was just
talking about, you know,
getting women drunk or,
you know what I mean,
because that's something
that people will do also.
But then I memorized
the book of Habakkuk
when I was 17 years old
and I said, wait a minute.
It says woe unto him
that makes him drunk
and looks on his,
his nakedness,
that's sodomy.
That's queer stuff.
I mean, that jumped right out
of me.
And I saw that connection.
But in Genesis 19,
we see the second mention.
Surely it's going to get better.
Surely God's going to
lighten up on alcohol.
Second mention of alcohol
is in Genesis 19.
The Bible says in 24,
Then the Lord rained
upon Sodom and Gomorrah,
brimstone and fire
from the Lord out of heaven.
The Bible says in verse
30, And Lot went up out of
Joar and dwelt in a mountain,
and his two daughters with him.
For he feared to dwell in
Joar, and he dwelt in a cave,
he and his two daughters.
And the firstborn sent
unto the younger,
Our father is old,
and there is not a man
in the earth to come in unto us
after the manner of all the earth.
Come, let us make our father
drink wine, and we will lie
with him, that we may
preserve seed of our father.
So here's what happened.
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah,
rained fire and brimstone.
He also destroyed
Abba and Zebulah.
And then he also wanted
to destroy Zoar,
so they got out of Zoar.
So in these girls' minds,
they don't know the Bible,
they don't know what God's doing.
They didn't listen to the warning
when Lot warned them and said
he's going to destroy this city
because of the wickedness.
They're not listening
to any of that,
so this is what they think.
Oh, the whole world
has been destroyed.
We're the only people
left on the planet.
Because they just see
fire and brimstone raining,
they escape into a cave,
and they think that
the whole world's wiped out.
They say we might be
the only people left,
and we've got to preserve
the human race here.
You know, there's two of us
and we've got Dad here.
I mean, what kind of a disgusting person
would even concoct
something like this?
But they grew up in Sodom,
they went to Sodom Unified
Elementary District,
and they went to Sodom
Junior High and Sodom High,
and they went to
the University of Sodom,
and so they went,
and this is how their mind
has been so warped
from living in Sodom,
a wicked place,
that it says that they
knew that their dad
isn't going to participate
in such a filthy, wicked sin
because Lot was saved.
Lot was a righteous man.
Lot was a normal person.
His daughters were not saved.
They were not righteous.
The Bible says that Lot
was the only righteous man
in that city,
and none of his family
was even saved.
And by the way,
you say,
well, I'm saved,
but, you know,
if you don't live
a godly life, though,
your wife and your children
might not get saved.
Because I know people
that might be saved
and I think are saved,
but then their family's not saved
because they're not setting
the right example
and they're not preaching
the work of their family
properly.
And so Lot was never
going to participate in this.
So they said,
hey, let's get him drunk.
Where do you think
they learned that?
Sodom.
That was the method in Sodom.
Hey, you want to get somebody
to do something
they don't want to do?
Just get him drunk.
And so I don't think
they made this up
of their own accord.
They said,
well, let's just get him drunk.
So they got him drunk,
and it says in verse 33,
and they made their father
drink wine that night,
and the firstborn went in
and lay with their father.
Another euphemism.
She didn't just lay with them.
I mean, there's more there,
obviously.
God's sparing us the details.
She went in and lay
with her father,
and he perceived not.
This is the key.
He perceived not
when she lay down
nor when she arose.
He had no clue
that that activity
even took place.
That is a scary thought.
When you're under
the influence of alcohol,
you don't even know
what's going on.
You say,
well, you know,
I can control it.
I'll know what to do.
No, because the first thing
that'll go
is your good judgment,
and the judgment that said,
I'm only going to drink
this much,
eh, I'll drink a little more,
eh, a little more,
a little more,
till you're totally
unconscious with alcohol,
and then who knows
what will happen to you?
And again, I had a good friend
that I worked with
in the fire alarm business.
He told me a story
that he got so drunk,
and this made him
quit drinking.
He said to me,
he said,
I don't drink,
and he said,
here's why I don't drink,
because one time
I became so drunk
that I passed out
in my front yard on the lawn,
completely unconscious,
and he said that his brother,
you know,
his brother was not a bad guy.
His brother, you know,
loved him and stuff,
so his brother finds him
in that condition,
completely passed out drunk,
takes him into the house,
strips him down in his boxers,
puts him in the shower,
showers him, shampoos him,
washes him,
and all the while
he's unconscious.
Showers him, cleans him,
dries him,
puts him in his pajamas,
puts him in bed,
and he took pictures of him
along the way.
He took a picture of him
in the shower.
He took a picture of him
laying there,
took a picture in bed,
because he said,
I wanted to be able to prove
to you that you were
totally unconscious,
because he could have
just said the next day,
yeah, I put you in the shower,
I did all this stuff,
and you didn't wake up,
and he would have said,
ah, you're exaggerating.
He said, no, here's the pictures.
This is you being showered
in your underwear,
and having no clue
that that's even happening.
I mean, water hitting you,
cold water hitting you
in the face,
and you're not waking up.
And he said,
after that,
I never drank again,
because he said,
it scared me.
What could happen to you
when you're just
totally unconscious?
Thankfully it was someone
who loved him and cared about him
and didn't do anything wrong.
They just cleaned him up,
put him in bed.
But he said,
hey, if that's what
my brother could do,
what could some
wicked person do?
And that said,
he said,
I'll never drink again.
So the Bible rings true.
See, kids,
you don't have to learn
this stuff from experience.
That guy could have
read it in the Bible
and said,
drinking could make me
go unconscious,
and I won't know
when somebody lies down
or when they get up.
Other people have lived this
and said,
that's why I quit drinking.
But you can just
never start drinking
if you listen to the sermon
and hear that that is
what the Bible says
will happen.
Amen.
And Jeremiah 51, 39
is where I'll close with this.
Jeremiah 51, 39
is the last place
we'll turn.
Jeremiah 51, 39.
The Bible says this.
In their heat
I will make their feasts,
and I will make them drunken,
that they may rejoice
and sleep in a perpetual sleep
and not wait,
saith the Lord.
I will bring them down
like lambs to the slaughter,
like rams with egos.
So the Bible says,
you know what,
I'm going to make them drink
that they might sleep
a perpetual sleep
and not wake up,
and they'll be like
lambs to the slaughter.
Look,
drinking can make you
completely unconscious.
Do things that you don't
even know that you did.
You're robbing VCRs.
You're drunk.
You're naked.
You're lying with people
that you didn't want to lie with
and that you didn't even know
you were lying with.
I mean,
this is,
you say,
well, drinking's not that bad
of a sin.
First of all,
it is a sin,
but you know what,
you say,
well, it's not the worst sin.
It's not the worst thing
I could be doing.
Well, you know what,
you're right,
but it'll lead you
into the worst things.
Drinking's not that bad.
Yeah,
but adultery is that bad.
Drinking's not that bad.
Yeah,
but fornication is that bad.
Drinking's not that bad.
Yeah,
but robbing a store
with a gun is bad.
And you see,
it's going to lead you
into every sin.
Anything is alcohol related
and I mean,
can basically be started
with alcohol.
Once you're drinking,
well, then that's where
the sin really begins.
That's when the perverted
things start coming
out of your mouth.
That's when you start
committing the adultery
and fornication and sin.
So,
all that to say this,
don't drink.
And not only that,
I would never let
my wife drink.
Never.
And of course my wife
doesn't want to drink,
but I would never
let my wife drink.
And you know,
people today,
they have wives
and they let them drink
and they let them
go out and drink.
You know what,
you're saying,
I don't care if my wife
commits adultery.
If you let your wife
go to a bar
and you let your wife
go out to some
drinking party,
what you're saying is,
I don't care if my wife
commits adultery.
I don't care about
my wife's purity.
That's what you're saying.
Because even if she is
as pure as the driven snow,
when she gets alcohol in her
and people put alcohol
to her,
she can commit sin.
And not only that,
one, don't drink.
Two,
don't let your wife drink.
Three,
don't let your children drink.
Do not let your children drink.
Obviously once they're
married and on their own,
they're going to do
what they're going to do.
But when they're in your house,
when they're under your control,
do not let your children drink
or hang around with
a bunch of drunks
because they will be
led into sin.
And people will try to
justify and say,
oh well this verse,
you know,
they'll try to twist verses
that are just talking about
juice, you know.
And do the research
on what I explained to you
about that juice
of the pomegranate verse.
This is either what I'm
saying is true.
You're not going to find
the word juice in the Bible
except just certain instances
grammatically where it's necessary.
The word is wine.
For both alcoholic
and non-alcoholic,
people try to twist scripture
to try to justify drinking.
But tell me what good thing
comes from drinking.
Tell me what good thing
comes from you
downing a Budweiser.
Oh, it makes me feel good.
If it feels good,
do it or what?
There's a lot of other
ways to feel good.
Drink a nice glass
of spiced apple cider
and call it good.
That'll make you feel good too.
Cinnamon and apple juice
and warm it up.
It'll make you feel good.
Okay, you know,
you don't need alcohol.
And people say,
well, the health benefits
are great.
You know, doctors will
try to tell you,
oh, it's good for your heart.
Yeah, that's because
grape juice is good
for your heart.
And I remember
this doctor was saying
to this guy, you know,
drink wine.
And his wife said,
well, wait a minute.
Can you get the same benefit
from grape juice?
And he said,
oh, yeah,
it's the same benefit.
So it's not the alcohol
that's good for you.
It's the fruit juice
that's good for you.
So it's not some health
benefit in alcohol.
It's just, yeah, okay,
if you don't eat any fruits
and vegetables
and then you drink some wine,
oh, wow, you're getting
a health benefit because
you're actually ingesting
a fruit product
for once in your life.
But if you eat the fruits
and vegetables and juices
that you're supposed to be
ingesting anyway,
then you can skip the wine.
So it's not a health benefit.
It's poison.
You go to the bar and say,
you know, what's your poison?
It's called being intoxicated.
That's what being drunk is.
It's poisonous.
It damages your cells.
It damages your brain.
It poisons your body.
And listen to me,
if you drink it up,
it will kill you on the spot.
If you right now,
if you were to bring in
the hardest liquor,
you know, some kind of vodka
or some kind of hard liquor
and just have you just drink
as much as you could drink,
you would die right now.
It's true because once
your blood alcohol concentration
hits a certain level,
you die.
And that's why vomiting
takes place.
That's why you pass out.
It's your body trying to stop you
from drinking more.
Because your body wants
to survive at all costs.
That's why when you get
really cold,
your fingers will start
to have no circulation
because your body is saying,
I'd rather lose a few fingers
than die.
So I'm going to stop
warming my fingers
because I've got to keep
my internal organs warm.
And that's why your extremities
in your limbs begin to go numb
because your body wants
to stay alive.
And so when you keep
drinking alcohol,
your body is saying,
No!
You're poisoning me.
You're killing me.
And you vomit.
And then you're drinking,
you're drinking,
your body is saying,
No!
And your body will
put you unconscious
to stop you from drinking.
And so there's nothing good
that can come of it.
And you can try to take
a verse and twist it.
But the bottom line is
that God condemns it
and warns about it.
And if you're deceived by it,
you're not wise.
You're a fool.
Let's bow your heads
and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much
for your word, dear God,
and for the warnings.
Thank you that we don't have
to learn these things
from experience.
But rather, we can just learn
from the Bible.
And help every young person
who's here who has not yet
reached the point where
they've begun to drink,
help them to just decide
right now,
You know what?
I'm not going to be a loser.
I'm not going to be
a loser.
I am not going to drink.
And those who've already
drunk in the past,
help them not to be offended
by what I'm saying,
but rather to stop and think,
You know what?
I'm glad that he's warning
these young people
not to do it.
And in fact,
I'm never going to do it again.
And I pray that every single person
in this room would decide
that they're never
going to drink again
and that they're going to stay
as far away from alcohol
and keep their loved ones
as far away from alcohol
as possible.
In Jesus' name we pray...