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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...