All right I'll just read to you 1st Corinthians 5 11 but now I have written
unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator
or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with
such and one known not to eat. Yes this is sins that will get you kicked out of
church part five. Okay sins that will get you kicked out of church part five. The
best title I've got for this sermon is drunkenness just just that one word
drunkenness again if you guys have a fancy name for the sermon tonight let me
know and I might change it. Okay but um so we're gonna be talking about alcohol
about drunkenness because obviously what we just read there is that someone that
is a drunkard ought to be kicked out of the church. Okay now you might say yeah
but a drunk is just hurting themselves. Yeah but you know what they will bring
an influence into the church and they will cause others to drink with them.
Okay because it appeals to the flesh it is something that appeals to flesh
something that God commands us to kick people out of the church. Now when it
comes to this topic I've got to talk about a few things here let me just let
me just start off by saying this the topic of alcohol just for me personally
I've got a very low interest in it okay and you might say well why why do you
have a low interest? Simply because I hate the stuff I mean I don't need to
read the Bible to despise it I just don't I've I've never just just
personally I've never liked the taste I've never had an addiction to it I've
never had an interest in it I gave it I gave it a go I'll be honest with you I
confess in my sins to you you know when you turn 18 now you've got you're of
that legal age and you know you have your buddies you have parties you drink
and all that kind of I gave it a go I tried to force myself to like because
everyone else seemed to like it I tried to force myself to like it I just wasn't
interested I got to a point I was like yeah this is this is rubbish this is a
waste of time I didn't even have a conviction of it being a sin or anything
like that I just I just didn't like it there's something like it's like I don't
like olives you know it's not because I think it's sinful anything I just don't
like I just don't like olives you know there are certain things that you just
can't acquire a taste for and when I met Christina you know she saw the the
impact that alcohol can have on a family and and she had no desire for alcohol as
well you know just the smell of wine made her disgusted so you know I married
a woman that just had no interest I personally had no interest it was never
something that I really thought I really wanted to stay but one thing that I
found interesting is not so much the doctrine but just an interesting just
how many people I want to know what the Bible teaches about this because I used
to think it was pretty straightforward I used to think that was just yeah just
don't drink I mean that because you find many passages teaching this but what I
find amongst Christians there are basically three positions out there
number one that you know pretty much everyone agrees drunkenness is a sin
okay but then you have you know whether you should even you know how far do you
go as far as abstinence goes with alcohol you know even if you just look
at alcohol is that a sin you know that's that's one extreme and the other the
other area is well we know drunkenness is wrong but you know maybe we can just
have you know moderately you know drink alcohol moderately as long as we don't
get drunk that kind of thing so I want to cover all these things and with a
material that I got together for this I could have easily preached three sermons
like a series of three things and alcohol I didn't want to do that so I've
what I've done I've tried to keep the main points here so the main arguments I
wanted to to touch you know be thorough with the topic but not going to the
detail that I feel that I need to though if you do have questions if you do feel
there's a need for us as a church to go through this in great detail let me know
and it's probably something I can dig out and do a whole series on but unless
is that there is a problem in the church with alcohol I'm probably going to keep
that on the side for now and just just cover some of the basic truths but when
it comes to the topic of wine in the Bible so the Bible talks a lot about
wine okay and he mentions other kinds of alcohol products like strong drink and
and things of this nature but when it comes to wine you basically fall into
one of two camps as a Christian there's the first camp well I don't know if it's
the first camp I can't say it's the first but there's two camps one camp is
that the word wine in the Bible always means alcoholic wine that's one view
okay and my sending church had that view that it basically every time it's wine
it's it's alcoholic wine that's that's one camp that you can sort of fall into
so whether whether it's a positive mention whether it's a negative mention
doesn't matter it's always alcoholic wine okay the camp that I thought I
personally fall into and I think most of you do I think from the discussions
we've had is that wine in the Bible can either mean alcoholic or non non
alcoholic beverage one or the other it's wine is just the product of of the grape
vine okay so like in Spanish for example wine is vino and the vine is vina so
wine and vine basically the same root words so pretty much any product that
comes from that grapevine could rightly be called wine okay now please turn to
Genesis chapter 9 Genesis chapter 9 verse 20 Genesis chapter 9 verse 20 I
want to just look at first of all the first mention okay the first mention of
the word wine in the Bible the first mention of the word wine and because a
lot of people teach this concept or it's called the first mention principle or
the law of first mention and it's basically if you want to know how God
feels about a topic then you know it's good to go to the first mention of that
word okay and so this is the first mention of the word wine and I let me
just say I don't fully subscribe to the first the law of first mention okay but
anyway let's look at this Genesis chapter 9 verse 20 this is the story of
Noah so after God destroyed the world with a flood you know Noah came off the
ark and then it says here in verse 20 and Noah began to be a husband's man and
he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine so that's the first mention of
the word wine he drank of the wine and was what drunken and he was uncovered
within his tent so he falls drunk and then he's not he's naked okay and ham
the father of Canaan saw the drunkenness 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 were backward and they saw and they saw not their father's nakedness
and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done unto him
and he said cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren so this is the first mention of wine Noah drinks of it he falls drunk he
falls asleep and if you follow the story it's not in any any any sort of great
detail but it appears here that Ham one of his sons molested him okay did some
sort of a you know some sort of sexual act on him or something I don't know
okay the Bible doesn't really clearly lay it out for us but when you look at
verse 24 it says and Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son
had done unto him so he had done something he didn't just notice that
Noah was naked but he had done something something wicked to him which is why in
verse 25 he curses the family he curses Canaan which is which is the son of Ham
but he curses that family and that they would be servants of the brethren there
okay so that's the first mention of wine and it's linked with drunkenness okay
and it's also linked with the lewd lewd act okay a sexual perversion something
something disgusting I don't want to really want to go into that right now
now that's the law of first mention we could say well you know yep we see this
is the first mention of wine and we see that it that it's um it's alcoholic okay
but that's why I prefer not the law of first mention but the law of all
mention okay I would rather just go through the Bible and look at every time
you know that word is referenced and just read every part of it to get a
fuller picture so if you can please turn due to Deuteronomy Deuteronomy chapter 11
verse 13 Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 13 because when you take the law of all
mention you start to notice that the word wine yes yes in our society today
the word wine is alcoholic but you'll soon see once you read through the Bible
and pay attention to the word it doesn't always refer to a drink that's been
fermented that's taken time for it to turn into an alcoholic beverage okay
you'll see that it'll it'll it is also fresh grape juice fresh juice that's
come from the grapevine Deuteronomy chapter 11 verse 13 this is referring to
here the land of Canaan to the Promised Land so you know God sent Israel into
the Promised Land and he said look I'll take care of you there I'll make sure
that land is blessed and takes care of your needs look at verse 13
Deuteronomy 11 verse 13 God says to him and it shall come to pass if you shall
hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day to love the
Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul that I
will give you the reign of your land in his due season the first rain and the
latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn and look and thy wine and thine
oil okay and I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayest
eat and be full so God is saying look if you keep my commandments I will bless
the land and it'll be fruitful to you you know you'll be able to gather the
corn he says and the wine well hold on God you know does wine just automatically
you know that does that does great just automatically just become wine you know
are they just going into the land and just just taking the wine no if he's
talking about the land being blessed you know the corn growing and they're being
wine for them because why because it's freshly squeezed grapes okay it's not
something they've got to take ferments put it in barrels and wait for a time of
you know processing now God this is something that God will be able to
provide to them straight from the land okay and that's not an alcoholic
beverage that is fresh fruit and fresh juice that comes from that fruit I'll
just read to you Proverbs chapter 3 verse 10 Proverbs chapter 3 verse 10 it
says so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out
with new wine so what's a press what's a wine press you know when people want to
make great juice they'll take the grapes and they'll have equipment to squash
those grapes to press those grapes so that the juice will flow or you know in
in some of the you know in France and things like that they would trample you
know some European countries would trample on the grapes with their feet
and press it that way you know so the juice would flow but again that's
freshly squeezed juice God calls it here new wine so that would be non alcoholic
wine right because you don't get alcoholic wine straight out of grapes
otherwise when you go to the fruit market and eat grapes you know my kids
will all be drunk or something like that right that's not going to happen because
it's freshly squeezed new wine and I'll read to you also Isaiah 65 verse 8 you
don't need to turn there Isaiah 65 verse 8 just the first part it says thus say
if the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster so what's a cluster if you
talk about a cluster of grapes it's grapes that are still on the vine right
a cluster or something that you've taken out something that has not yet been
squeezed or pressed God calls what's in there new wine so we can see I think
it's pretty easy I don't know how people fall into that camp where every mention
of wine is alcoholic I don't really understand that because this is just a
few there's many more references that you can look you can see yep the word
wine also refers to our freshly squeezed juice okay without it being fermented so
I just wanted to prove that to you now some people say well you know you've
Kevin you've been influenced you know you've been influenced by the
independent fundamental Baptist or you've been influenced by fundamental
Christianity to to come up with this idea that wine can also mean non
alcoholic wine okay so what I did just to combat that idea that it's just this
sort of fundamental you know legalistic view of Christianity you know I well I
had a look this didn't take me too long to find on Google but there are there
writings of people in history referring to the word wine as freshly squeezed
grape juice this isn't just something that's in the Bible you know this is
something that was common in people's writings so I'll just give you some
examples of this not that this matters but just to reinforce the fact this
isn't just something Christians came up with you know to you know hide the fact
that you know you can drink alcohol or something like that but 300 BC so 300
years before Christ there was a there was a Greek politician called Callie
Callie Zenas Callie Zenas and he was a contemporary of Socrates a lot most
people know who Socrates was a philosopher but he was he lived in the
same time and he was a Greek politician he wrote about that he wrote that they
were trampling on the grapes and the new wine ran out over the road so it's
something that grapes that are on the road people steep people ask stepping on
those grapes and new wine coming out of those grapes and could you use the word
wine there okay that's uh that's before Jesus Christ now 350 to 400 AD there
were there was a writing in in the Torah okay the Jewish Torah there's there's a
part of the Torah called the Gemara which is like a commentary on the Torah
and within that commentary it talks about wine being preserved in its grapes
so within the grape itself like the cluster that we read about earlier
there's there's wine okay so even even then they use wine to refer to you know
juice that's still in the grapes you know not non-alcoholic non-fermented and
then something closer to the King James Bible in 1670 AD there was an English
author called Edward Phillips and he wrote about wine that was newly pressed
from the grapes okay newly pressed from grapes he called that wine okay didn't
have time to be fermented just newly pressed wine he caused that and of
course there's the 1828 Noah dictionary Noah Webster's dictionary and he refers
to new wine being wine pressed from the grapes but not fermented okay so we can
just see just through history and I found a lot more I just wanted to give
you a taste of it you know before Christ a bit after Christ King James Bible and
something a little bit closer to our time you know the word wine could have
been used for alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage you know it's kind of like the
word gay right you know if the Bible refers has that word gay you know gay
clothing something that's happy something that's that's joyful right and
but most people today this generation I think my kid generation would probably
think of gay as a faggot gay as a sodomite as a homosexual and that's what
they think about today but you know I grew up in the 80s and the Flintstones
the Flintstones was a 60s cartoon but I watched it in the 80s I don't know if
the rest of you guys if you're about my age and remember that that song right at
the end it goes that we'll have a gay old time so you know I kind of grew up
knowing okay that word gay it does not necessarily mean homosexuals you know it
also means being happy or a joyful time or something like that okay so but you
know I guess people don't really watch those cartoons now and and you know just
because a word loses its meaning over time doesn't mean that's what you know
it did have that meaning in the past so you can't just necessarily take today's
meaning and apply that everywhere in the Bible okay so I just wanted to show you
a few things there that wine can mean alcoholic and non-alcoholic and why I'm
in that camp okay I don't think that's a difficult one I don't think that's a
controversial I think that's pretty straightforward okay now the question
that comes a lot to me and ever since I became a pastor I get random people
asking me I've told a few of you guys just people calling me up I don't know
who they are and one of the main questions they asked me is is alcohol a
sin you know is alcohol a sin and I've kind of learnt that that's a bad
question okay that's a bad question the reason it's a bad question is because I
can give you free answers to that question okay and this is what I want to
preach about today I kind of thought a bit of structured around these free
questions free answers to this question and what I feel like is sometimes people
ask a question that can mean different things in order to make you trip over
yourself okay so my answer to that question is is alcohol a sin they don't
ask is beer a sin they don't ask is is wine a sin they ask is alcohol a sin
okay very or you know yeah that question and the answer to that is no
yes and yes no yes and yes so I'm gonna walk through these answers with you okay
so don't panic when I said no just give me the time to explain so let's just
talk about the no first is alcohol a sin no okay because all alcohol is is a
liquid created by fermentation that's all it is if you buy fruit juice and you
leave it off you know if you buy fruit juice it says consume it within two to
five days or something like that but if you leave it longer than that guess
what's going to happen because of the sugars in it it's going to start to
ferments okay it's been exposed to oxygen it's you know the bacteria and
start to flies in the air the sugar it's going to convert it it's going to
ferment and there's going to have traces of alcohol in it okay so did that
great just all of a sudden become sinful well you know no it's just a chemical
compound that's all it is it's just it's just fermentation when yeast or bacteria
breaks down sugar and generate and creates alcohol okay a chemical compound
is not a sin it's just a chemical compound it's just something that exists
okay there's alcohol in your body okay there's a certain part in you that
there's just naturally in your body there's a bit of alcohol does that mean
you're a sin because you've got alcohol in you know okay it's just it's just
something okay it's just a chemical compound and I look this up the most
common type of alcohol is a product called ethanol ethanol okay that's your
that's what you drink if you drink a beer or wine or something like that
you're drinking ethanol that's a type of alcohol because alcohol alcohol can fall
into different categories okay now all ethanol is is two carbon molecules one
from I've written this down run from one from the methyl group and one from the
methylene group which is attached to one oxygen oxygen molecule from the high
hydroxyl group okay so that's what it is it's just chemicals that are generated
through fermentation and in of itself it is not a sin it's like cannabis it's
like marijuana it's just a plant it's just a herb it's just something that
grows out of the ground it's not a sin in of itself okay it can be used for
good and it can be used for evil okay and I'll put it to you as well alcohol
can be used for good and it can be used for evil so in of itself it is not a sin
okay and I think this is important to drive home because you know people that
that you know as parents we might have concerns about kids being taught
drinking alcohol in moderation may cause them to become drunkards in the future
because they'll be like I can drink alcohol and start drinking alcohol and
then they increase the intake they get addicted to the staff and they become
you know derelicts or something like that that that is one true concern but
another concern that I've seen amongst fundamentalism is when people teach that
basically alcohol in of itself is a sin like like to the extreme that you can't
even look at it kind of thing okay but then what happens is and this is what
what causes kids to rebel is when they see the inconsistencies when they say
hold on it's supposed to be a sin but you've got it all over your house you
use alcohol in many many ways and I'll just show you I'll give you a list of
what they are in a minute because if I say if I went to your house right now I
promise you I'll find alcohol in your house okay I'll find alcohol it doesn't
matter how how against you are on alcohol I'll find in your house because
alcohol can be used for good like I said let me give you some examples of
this moisturizing cream if you if anyone uses moisturizing cream guess what it's
got alcohol if anyone uses sunscreen it's got alcohol in fact any kind of
creams like toothpaste has alcohol in it okay because the thing about it breaks
breaks it down so it remains smooth and runny otherwise without it your products
will harden up okay what else mouthwash let's mention toothpaste your mouthwash
if you use mouthwash has alcohol in it superglue if you use superglue again so
it doesn't harden as you know it's got alcohol in it I don't know if if ladies
if you make dessert and bake cakes and stuff if you if you use vanilla extract
that's got a high high amount of alcohol it's about 35% vanilla extract if you've
eaten vanilla ice cream most more often than not that vanilla ice cream has been
made from vanilla extract so it's got some some percentage of alcohol in it
okay antibacterial products I mean the list goes on if I went to your house I
will just find a number of products that have alcohol in it does that mean you're
in sin well no the first answer to that is no it's not a sin okay because it's
just a chemical okay and if you I don't know if you guys want to save a little
bit of money like I do when you put fuel into your car I put the e10 stuff
that's ethanol that's alcohol that's the same alcohol that is in beer and wine
okay it's an ethanol based fuel so I mean are you committed sin by putting
that kind of fuel into your car no I mean of course not okay so that's the
first answer I know that might seem silly but I think it's important okay
because again you know when kids grow up in the teenagers and and they find
inconsistencies that's when they rebel honestly that's what causes them to
rebel and they'll be like well forget this I'll just go and drink anyway
because mom and dad have alcohol-based products
Oh mom made you know vanilla muffins you know using vanilla extract and that had
alcohol in it what why is it fine for them not fine for me so I want to make
sure that's well understood okay I think that's important the second quit the
next question again is is alcohol a sin well the second answer is yes it's a sin
we've already seen that drunkenness will get you kicked out of church and
sometimes people are just referred to drunkenness because obviously when you
fall drunk it's because of alcohol okay it's because you've lost your sobriety
you've drunk too much alcohol you've absorbed too much into into your body
and you've become a drunkard okay yes drunkenness is a sin this is less
controversial I think most Christians I think every Christian across the board
admit yeah drunkenness is a sin even if they think it's it's okay to drink
moderately they still acknowledge that drunkenness is a sin and it'll get you
kicked out of the church now please turn to Leviticus chapter 10 Leviticus chapter
10 verse 8 Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 I could feel this sermon we've we've
we've passages about drunkenness and how bad it is and I do have some passages
about that but I just want to draw some truths here okay so first thing I want
you to understand is in the book of Leviticus Aaron was the first Levitical
priests right and then his family became priests for Israel okay now God says
something to them in Leviticus chapter 10 verse 8 let's look at this Leviticus
chapter 10 verse 8 and the Lord spake unto Aaron saying do not drink wine nor
strong drink was Aaron allowed to drink wine no was he allowed to drink strong
drink that's other varieties of alcohol based products no he wasn't allowed out
nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest
ye die it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations they say
well why what's the problem with the priests drinking alcohol now it's God
saying don't get drunk it's God saying don't get drunk no he's saying don't
drink it he's not he's not talking about drunkenness he's just saying don't
drink it right verse number 10 why are they not to drink it and that ye may put
difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean so their job
was to teach Israel what was holy and what was unholy what was clean and what
was unclean they had to pass judgment they had to teach the Word of God to
Israel so if they would drink in alcoholic products guess what that means
it would have messed up their judgment it would have would have interrupted
their understanding of what was clean and unclean right then judgment would
have been impaired had they drunk alcohol again God's not saying hey drink
but make sure you don't get drunk he's saying don't drink at all because God
knows even just a little bit will make your judgment impaired okay now turn to
Proverbs if you go back to Proverbs Proverbs chapter 31 Proverbs chapter 31
so the truth I wanted to grab out of Leviticus is that priests were not
allowed to drink alcohol let alone get drunk okay but they were not allowed to
drink alcohol turn to Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 verse 4 Proverbs 31 verse 4
this is I believe Solomon's mother speaking to Solomon okay and this is
recorded to us as the Word of God it says the mother speaking to Lemuel which
is a nickname for for Solomon it is not for kings a Lemuel it is not for kings
to drink wine nor for princes strong drink kind of the same instructions that
were given to the priests no wine no strong drink why why verse number five
lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the
afflicted so again we see the same reason because if you drink alcohol you
drink wine or string strong drink it's going to impair your judgment okay and
the kings make judgment back then right they were the law they weren't just you
know the kings that we have today you know the monarchy in England just just a
face you know no they they actually partook in in in putting laws into place
and and judging between right and wrong okay so kings were not supposed to drink
alcohol okay not just it's not just again let alone for drunk if the
instruction is not don't fall drunk be careful how much you drink no it's don't
touch it at all to both the priests and the kings turn to Revelation chapter 1
verse 6 Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 and I think some of you guys probably know
where I'm going with this already but Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 so it's not
for priests it's not for kings to drink alcohol okay and you might say to me
about yeah but you know Kevin we're not kings and priests well according to
God's Word in Revelation chapter 1 verse 6 look at this and have made us kings
and priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion forever and
ever amen so what did God make us what are we in his sight we are his children
we're saved but he makes us priests and kings priests and kings in his kingdom
okay so if if if an earthly Kingdom the priests and the kings of an earthly
kingdom are not to touch alcohol not to drink alcohol then how much more the
kings and priests of the kingdom of God that's what we are okay we can take
these principles from the Old Testament and apply it to us because we are
priests and kings okay now let me just say this to you okay I like I said to
you you know I've tried alcohol you know growing up and you know I would
drink one standard beer which is like 5% alcohol and my behavior didn't change I
didn't start babbling I didn't start throwing up you know one beer is
probably not going to do that to you right nobody from the outside could see
any different I behaved and acted the same way but after one beer I could tell
that when I walked my steps weren't 100% I could tell just within myself that I
was no longer 100% sober there was just something that was off and when I walked
I could tell there was just something but again on the outside nobody would be
able to tell the difference and it's then that I realized wow this isn't
about getting drunk I'm already drunk there's already something about me that
has changed in my body and some people say well you're just weak you know
you've got it you have to drink more to get to a point where your body can
resist I mean it's not really that is that what God wants from you think God
wants us to drink to a point where we can just resist it and then you know we
we get to a point where we just we're fully drunk right I mean it's just it's
just it's a silly concept and I'm going to show you this a bit later on but that
was just one standard beer which is 5% alcohol most standard drinks of wine is
somewhere between 12 to 15 percent alcohol three times as much alcohol than
a standard beer okay now think about think about our world do we live in a
godly nation do we live in a nation that cares about the laws of God or they
trying to dismantle the laws of God they're dismantling like they're
destroying they destroyed they're trying to destroy marriage they already have
destroyed marriage in a way okay with this homosexual marriage but even this
world knows that you shouldn't drink and drive okay now if you're a learner
driver how much alcohol are you allowed to drink if you turn 16 you get on your
L's you get your learner's license how much alcohol does anyone know Lily how
much zero exactly why this is an ungodly nation shouldn't they just say hey just
just drink it up I mean no because they know if you operate a vehicle that even
one drink is going to impair your judgment even one drinks gonna affect
you that's the truth okay and I I experienced that don't you can't tell me
that that's not the case for you I promise you if you're someone that's
that's that's got used to be it's probably that's the first be that you
had you probably realize that but after a while your senses got dull and you
didn't realize and we'll see you later on that your senses do get dull and you
don't even realize the impact the alcohol is going to have on you but I
just wanted to look this up I wanted to see what kind of impact on a driver
does having more than one be you know what kind of impact does it have on a
bottle on a normal stand person a body someone that drinks let me see one two
three four five six seven seven beers okay seven beers has substantial
impairment in vehicle control has loss of auditory information processing so
even their hearings off has a major loss of balance and vomiting may occur okay
that's seven beers someone on five beers has clear deterioration of
reaction time reduced ability to maintain lane position reduced ability
to break appropriately and slurred speech okay what about four beers so
we're reducing the amount of alcohol that's being consumed but four beers a
reduced ability to concentrate short-term memory loss lack of speed
control impaired perception and self-control well what about freebies
maybe freebies is good freebies reduced coordination reduced ability to track
moving objects moving objects I mean you're in a car that's moving anyway
difficulty steering slower response to emergency driving situations that's after
three beers what about two beers just two beers a decline in visual functions
inability to perform two tasks at the same time loss of judgment altered mood
okay this is just this is from the senses of disease control and prevention
disease control cuz that's what it is you know alcohol is is toxic to your
body okay it and that's two beers so you can't tell me one beers got no effect on
you of course it does okay I don't have the effect of one beer but I I know it
has an effect on you okay so is drunkenness once you lose your
perception and understanding of things you know don't don't think drunkenness
is just vomiting and off your face forgetting what what you what you did the
night before no as soon as you lose the ability to function you are drunk you
were drunk and I'll prove that to you soon so we know yes absolutely this is
not controversial drunkenness is a sin and it'll get you kicked out of the
church okay the third answer is you know is alcohol sin yes this is the more
controversial one yes even just drinking one bottle of beer even just
having a sip of beer or wine is a sin yes okay yes it is and this is a
controversial one because we're thinking oh in moderation it's okay but again
just think about what we just spoke about how much alcohol do you need to
impair your judgment just immediately okay you just one beer okay and you
know people use this cute word well I'm not drunk I'm tipsy you know I've had
just just a moderate amount of alcohol you know and yes it affects a little bit
your body yes it does but that's why I'm just tipsy I'm not drunk I'm tipsy well
I just looked up what tipsy means in the dictionary but the definition of tipsy
means slightly drunk so you're drunk you're just slightly drunk okay so should
we drink it in moderation should we just drink it as a casual thing once in a
while thing no it's a sin that that's a sin as well and you're slightly drunk
according to the world's dictionary okay I probably wouldn't have used that that
that I like it though it works works well for my swimming I probably wouldn't
have defined it as slightly drunk but that's what the that's what the world's
dictionary defines it as slightly drunk and again drunkenness will get you
kicked out of the church now turn to the book of Titus please Titus chapter 2
Titus chapter 2 and again I hope I'm giving enough information on some of
these points because again I had to cut out a lot of stuff but Titus chapter 2
verse 1 Titus chapter 2 verse 1 now the reason this this um topic of alcohol
never really interested me yes again first of all I just I didn't care for it
anyway so it doesn't it's not something that impacted my life you know when
something impacts your life you're more interested to know about it but the
other thing is what I felt in the Bible is that we're commanded so often to be
sober to be so to be sober minded and I already knew that one bee affected my
sobriety I already knew that one bee put me a little bit off okay so I knew the
Bible spoke about being sober and so when someone would ask me that question
about alcohol and some of the challenging passages I'll just be I'll
just point him to two passages about being sober right being clear minded
being sound in mind because we know just a little bit of alcohol has that impact
on you but let's look at Titus chapter 2 verse 1 Titus chapter 2 verse 1 so Titus
being a pastor here but speak now the things which become sound doctrine now
it's saying this is what you need to teach the people in your church that the
aged men so the older men in the church be what be sober okay grave temperate
sand in faith in charity and patience now I know being sober isn't just not
being drunk I know that okay obviously being just being sound being serious you
know you know not getting high on other drugs you know that also would be not
being sober so but the instruction is being sober and we know alcohol will
take away that sobriety but the older men were instructed to be sober and look
at verse number three the aged women likewise what's likewise well the same
thing that we just said for the men applied to the aged women there okay so
the aged women should also be sober that they be in behavior as become of holiness
not those accusers not given too much wine teachers of good things look at
verse 4 that they may teach their what the young women to be what sober so the
old man you need to be sober old ladies you need to be sober young ladies you
need to be sober to love their husbands to love their children to be this street
chaste keepers at home good obedient to their own husbands that the Word of God
be not blasphemed and look at verse number six young men likewise exhort to
be sober minded so we see just these first six verses young old man woman be
sober okay and for me that was enough for some of that wasn't even interested
in alcohol just reading about being sober all right I'm not going to take
out to drink alcohol I'm not going to take drugs that put you high I'm going
to try to maintain my sobriety so I can be right with God and that's what I was
concerned about okay and sometimes I wonder people that just are trying to
justify alcohol why you know just just the fact that you need to be sober
should make you realize hey this is not for me I shouldn't be drinking this
stuff because it has an impact upon my mental state it has an impact on my body
turn to Proverbs 23 so that the chapter that Jason read to us Proverbs chapter
23 Proverbs 23 let's have a look at these verses now Proverbs 23 Proverbs 23
verse 29 Proverbs 23 29 who have whoa what does well mean misery who's who's
miserable who have sorrow that's depressed depression who's miserable and
depressed who have contentions that's strife and struggles right who have
babbling what's babbling it's like foolish talking like talking nonsense
who have wounds without cause so you're injured for no reason okay who are these
people who have redness of eyes that's like inflammation in the eyes who are
these people right chapter verse 30 they that tarry long at the wine they that go
and seek mixed wine so people that are constantly drinking wine they tarry long
at the wine these are drunkards these are drunkards that have the woe the
sorrow the contentions the babbling the wounds without cause the redness of eyes
verse 31 now verse I want to expand on verse 31 a little bit because I've seen
some crazy teaching on this verse 31 look not thou upon the wine when it is
red when he giveth his color in the cup when it moveth itself are right so first
of all those that teach complete abstinence and kind of teach that even
though they probably wouldn't use these words but it's almost like the chemical
compound itself is a sin so you can't even look at it they'll take this verse
I say it says not to look upon it not to look upon the wine and it doesn't say it
does say that let's give them credit it does say that but I don't believe that's
the actual context because again alcohol can be used for positive purposes okay
and you've got you've all got alcohol somewhere in your house I promise you
that okay so does that mean looking at your toothpaste makes you you know a
sinner no of course not okay but let's get the context see let's stick to the
context the other version I heard is that those that support moderate
drinking okay moderate drink let's say well this is just about someone that's
drunk okay so when it says look not there upon the wine when it is red and
then it says when he giveth his color in the cup the same they're so drunk that
when they look at the drink at their alcohol it's changing color you know it
goes from red to blue to purple or something right that's how drunk they
are and then it says when it moveth itself all right so not only is the
drink changing color but it's moving and that's how drunk they are that's what
they say now so it's kind of like that's the definition of being drunk that's
when you realize you're drunk so are you telling me these people that say that
are you telling me that you can drink alcohol to the point where your drinks
change in color and moving itself and you like I never had enough I mean if
if your drink is changing color and it's moving you're off your face you are more
than drunk you you've completely lost it right you're you're just having you know
illusions like you're seeing illusions and you've lost your mindset I mean
you're well drunk before this even happens but you see how silly that is
right how silly it is to think that and to teach that I believe the context is
this yes it's about alcohol and drunkards but it says look not there
upon the wine when it is red so what it's the what does it mean to be red
wine when wine is red so if you took a white if you took a grape and you just
squeeze the grape and you just drank the juice it's you know if you peel the the
the skin it's white isn't it it's like a clear white color and if you drink the
juice it's kind of clear white color okay and you guys probably heard of red
wine and white wine okay and so red wine to make it red what they do when
they when they are when they press it when they when they squash it it's not
just the juice it's not just the fruit but the skin which is a dark like brown
brown or dark red color and the seeds of the of the of the grape which is dark in
color as well mixed together the juice makes it red and so on the skin of the
grape there is usually a yeast already just natural produced what yeast on that
skin which is then used to ferment that drink and again you know you know
distributors of alcohol will usually add more yeast and more sugar in it anyway
for their purposes but that's why it's red it's red because it's been squeezed
with the with the skin and the seeds and the fermentation process has taken place
because the yeast is mixing in with that breaking down that sugar that's there so
this is an alcoholic beverage okay and then you've got white wine and the
difference with white wine not that it matters but just to tell you is they
they press it without the skin and without the seeds and they usually use
the white grapes as well okay so that's why it remains that color it remains
white anyway that's not important but then it says this when it moves itself
all rights so this is definitely drink that's been fermented because when that
bacteria breaks down the sugar and it ferments it causes a gas or bubbly you
know substance to develop in that in that drink again if you've left fruit
juice out for too long you'll start to notice that it starts to bubble up have
you ever drunken fruit juice that was off and then you kind of drink it it's
like it's bubbly and it's like man that's it that's alcohol it's got a bit of
alcohol in it yeah because you taste that bubbly fizzy feeling in your mouth
that's because the fermentation process has taken place so it's moving itself
it's turned red in the context of wine this is an alcoholic wine okay so when
are we not to look upon it is it just alcohol in general no it's when you've
got that cup of alcohol and you're going to consume that that's to get away from
that just don't even look at it okay and that's where the sin is is when you've
got that cup and you're going to partake of that alcoholic beverage okay that's
when you're not to look upon and especially if you've been addicted in
the past if you've been a drunk in the past I mean yeah maybe just don't even
don't even look at a bar yeah probably that's probably good good wisdom anyway
okay though I don't think that's the context of what this is teaching look at
verse 32 look at verse 32 and at last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like
an adder so it's like a venomous snake because alcohol is toxic that's why we
use that word intoxication is because it's toxic to your body it's dangerous
to your body it attacks especially your liver it can totally destroy your liver
because your liver tries to break down that alcohol he panics and it can
destroy your liver verse 33 thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine
heart shall utter perverse things if you get drunk you're gonna start looking at
women that are not your wife you're gonna start having lustful eyes and it
says in thine heart shall utter perverse things I think out of abundance of the
heart the mouth speaker you know you're probably gonna be that flirtatious you
know you know trying to get that woman you know whatever that's that's what
drunkards do and and often you hear about people that have slept with you
know committed adultery or fornication and they say I was drunk yeah that
because that's what alcohol does to you we can't blame the alcohol you blame
yourself you blame yourself for the senior that you've done verse 34 yay
thou shall be as he that life down in the midst of the sea or is he that life
upon the top of a mast so think about if you just lying in the middle of the
ocean you know you're being carried about with the waves or if you're on a
ship and he's been moved by the waves it's going to be most rocky and most
movement there's gonna be most movement if you're on top of the mast because
you're gonna be moving the most from that from that sort of heights compared
to just on the floor so basically it's saying here is is alcohol will make you
unbalanced and we know that okay we know that people that are that drink alcohol
and especially that are drunk lose their balance and can fall okay and can hurt
themselves verse 35 they have stricken me shout they'll say and I was not sick
they have beaten me and I felt it not so a drunk person can be beaten can suffer
wounds and not feel it because that's that's stupefied they made dumb okay and
they can hurt themselves they're taking advantage of by other people and then it
says look at this when shall I awake I will seek it yet again so even though
they're miserable even though they have wounds without cause even though they
throw up and and they destroy their lives on alcohol when they wake up the
next morning what do they want they want it again they're addicted alcohol is an
addictive substance and it will destroy your life okay especially kids listening
please stay away from that junk okay if you're saved you're a priest and king of
the Lord God and he tells you not to drink this stuff okay problems 20 verse
1 says wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise wine can deceive you okay to deceiver it's a mocker okay I
mean how foolish you have to be to be mocked by a drink that can't talk a drink
that has no power of you and yet by drinking it it does have power of you
and it does mock you and it says you will not be wise okay those are the key
things I wanted to cover today is alcohol a sin no I don't believe the
chemical compound what alcohol is is a sin okay and and this is where especially
fathers you need to make judgment in your house you know what what kind of
alcoholic products you would want in your house okay well I personally for
example I don't have a problem with vanilla extract though it's like 35%
alcohol like if you took that and drank it you you would get drunk especially a
little kid you know would drink that they'd feel drunk and you know your
conscience may be you know what I don't want that in my house and that's fine
you know again some of these things you're gonna have to dictate by your
conscience and you need to make sure that you know your your your you know
you protect your family okay now give you another example if I went to a
restaurant and I've done this before where I've ordered spaghetti spaghetti
bolognese and I didn't know I didn't notice at the time but wine was used for
the sauce right and I like I don't you know it's being cooked you know if
there's any trace of alcohol it's so you know my new it's not not anything but
you know III was fine it's not against my it's not against my conscience to eat
that but now that I'm a pastor I gave a church and if I ate out with some of you
or other Christians especially especially newer believers I would be
more careful not to take food like that because you know you might cause that
weaker brother to stumble they might look at that go well he doesn't seem to
have a problem with alcohol being used to make that sauce does that mean
alcohols are right and then they go out and get themselves drunk or something
like that okay so obviously you know where you stand where your position is
you maybe want to be more careful about these things and again I'm gonna leave
those those thoughts of conscience for you know I'm not going to tell you every
little thing of how you should manage your house and manage your life so you
know this is something fathers and and and husbands ought to take control of in
their house okay now how do I decide who gets kicked out of the out of the church
on this on this issue on drunkenness I'm not going to kick you out if there's
reported you know if it's reported that you've got alcohol in your house okay
because again I've just told you I've got vanilla extract in my house okay so
I'm not that's not the thing that you get kicked out of okay I'm not
necessarily even going to kick someone out just for having if we find out they
had they had a beer or something okay but if they get drunk okay if they get
off their face drunk and we have confirmed reports of that I'm not going
to talk to you about that you're just going to get kicked out of the church
okay because that is the command that we're given in first Corinthians chapter
five okay and again you can repent you know apologize and get back into church
that's fine but if there's confirmed reports of you getting off your face
drunk you're getting kicked out of the church but I take it one step further as
well and that's if someone in the church invites another believer in the church
to come out for a drink okay I know they're not drunk at that point in time
but let me just read to you Habakkuk 2 verse 15 Habakkuk 2 verse 15 it says
this woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink that put aside bottle to
him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakedness so
this is a serious thing you offering your neighbor to drink it says here
you're making him drunken also okay and it's my responsibility as the pastor of
this church the bishop of this church to look after this church and to oversee
this church I mean if you're taking as far as I'm concerned if you're inviting
someone out to the pub for a drink you you you've been you you are a drunkard
as far as I'm concerned you know I don't need to confirm reports I know you're a
drunkard otherwise you would not be trying to influence your fellow brethren
to come have a drink with you okay you're just trying to make them sin so
you can feel better about yourself and what's what do we really need to have
back act they may look upon their nakedness you know this person wants to
take advantage of another person and this is two men that by the way it is
two men right this is homosexuality anyway I don't want to go there right
now but obviously you know people that call that cause you to go and have a
drink are trying to take advantage of you so one way or another and I've seen
this in business I've seen business practice where you take a colleague or
you take someone out for a drink hey you know just just catching you know just
just friendly drink but then you do it so they can get stupid and and and do
some sort of business deal in your favor I've heard of that before I don't know
if you guys have heard of that but yeah people try to take advantage of one
another and actually the sin number six that will get you kicked out of church
we'll talk about that some other time is extortion when you force you know
someone to make decisions and it's kind of the same idea getting someone drunk
making them stupid they can't discern probably and taking advantage of them to
me that will also get you kicked out of the church that's all I've got let's
pray