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And the title of my sermon is The Vine of Sodom. The Vine of Sodom. Now as you read the Bible, you'd have to be blind or you'd have to just be willfully ignorant or just refuse to see the truth to read the Bible and to actually think that there's only one kind of wine in the Bible. It's pretty clear if you just use common sense and read the Bible that there's a good kind of wine in the Bible and there's a bad kind of wine in the Bible. And even just from this scripture alone, that is very obvious today. Look down if you would at Proverbs 23 verse 29. It says, Who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes, they that tarry long at the wine, and they that go to seek mixed wine. Now look at this next phrase, Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. Now obviously if God's telling us don't look at the wine when it's red or when it's moving, that that means that there would just by implication be a time when you could look at the wine, right? When it's not red, when it's not moving itself aright, when it's not giving its color to the cup. So that right there should just show you that there's a certain kind of wine that's the bad wine and then there's other wine that's not bad, even just from this scripture alone. But as you go throughout the whole Bible, you'll see that over and over again. Very positive mentions of wine and very negative mentions of wine. You got to go by the context when you're reading the Bible because there's not just one kind of wine. There's another kind. Now why does he say don't look on the wine when it's red? Does that mean that we should only drink the chenin blanc and the champagne and the chardonnay or what? What does he mean there? Well, when he says here not to look on the wine when it's red and when it gives its color in the cup and when it moves itself aright, just an easy way of saying that would be just don't look at the wine that's fermented. So what he's saying is stay away from the fermented wine. And the reason why he says red and moving itself aright is if you actually study how wine is made, if you study the fermentation process, basically there are two ways to ferment something. You can ferment something with bacteria or you can ferment something with yeast. So if you ferment something with bacteria, you end up with vinegar. If you ferment something with yeast, you end up with alcohol. This is a simple explanation. There's another drink that I enjoy frequently called kombucha. Who's ever drunk kombucha before? Now kombucha is fermented with both bacteria and yeast. So the thing that you make kombucha with is called a SCOBY. And SCOBY is an acronym for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. SCOBY, aright? So it's both bacteria and yeast. And so when you ferment the kombucha, the bacteria and the yeast fermentation, they sort of cancel each other out and all the alcohol goes away and you end up with a non-alcoholic beverage. Obviously, there are ways to make alcoholic kombucha, but in general, kombucha is a non-alcoholic beverage because of the way it's fermented. Obviously, apple cider vinegar is fermented, but it's not alcoholic. It's the yeast that will make it alcoholic. Now when it comes to grapes, have you ever bought grapes from the store and noticed they have a white film on the outside of them? Have you ever wondered what is that white stuff on there? And you wonder like, is this okay? Do I need to wash these again? Is there something wrong with it? But that white film is the yeast living on the outside of the grape. So when wine is made, in order to make alcohol, you have to use that yeast that comes from the outside of the grape, the skin of the grape. Well, red wine gets its red color from that outer skin. And so the wine that was fermented with the skins is going to become red wine, and it's going to have all that yeast in there, and it's going to become quite alcoholic. Okay, now in Bible days when they made wine, even if they were making booze, even if they were trying to make it alcoholic, it still was not as alcoholic as the wine today at the store because today modern technology has allowed them to make wine that has a much higher alcohol content. So if you just take grapes and smash them up and you leave the skins and the yeast and all that to ferment, the most alcohol content you're going to get is up to around 11, 12%. That's still very alcoholic. So in the Bible days, they could definitely get drunk with that. I mean, that's very alcoholic. That's still more alcoholic than beer, okay? But today's wine that's purchased at the store is usually 13 to 17% alcohol. And the reason for that is that they use industrial type yeast. It's not the yeast from the outside of the grape. They introduce yeast that will yield an even higher alcohol content. Now, I'm not here to give you a seminar on wines, okay? But the reason I want to explain that is because this verse can perplex people. Why don't we look at the wine when it's red? Or why don't we look at it when it gives its color in the cup or moves itself right? I want you to understand that what he's saying is when it's fermented. That's what he's explaining. Don't look on the one that's fermented. Why? Because the redness from the skin, that's from the yeast and that's all related to the fermentation process. Not only that, but when he says it moves itself right, you have to understand that when you ferment things, bacteria or yeast, they give off carbon dioxide. Just like we breathe in oxygen and then we put out a byproduct, a waste product of carbon dioxide blowing out of our mouths. Well, all these tiny little microscopic bacteria and yeast, they're doing the same thing. They're putting out carbon dioxide. That's why, you know, whether they be soft drinks or alcoholic drinks that have been fermented will be naturally carbonated. So when he talks about it moving itself right, he's talking about carbonation and that's a natural process from the fermentation process. Okay, so I don't want to get too complicated, but God's clearly saying, look, there's a type of wine that you don't look at. He brings up the redness and the moving around because he's trying to let people know. I'm talking about fermentation. I'm talking about fermented wine. He says that this wine will cause you, verse 33, and I shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things. And isn't that the truth that when people are drunk, they behold strange women and their mouths utter perverse things. You know, just the other day I was flying back from Mexico and I was stopped off in San Diego and I had to spend the night in a hotel and then fly out. And somehow I ended up on a hotel shuttle bus with a whole bunch of people coming from a wedding and they were all just totally drunk. And I was only with this group for about five minutes. You should have heard the perverted things that came out of their mouth in those five minutes. I can't even begin to repeat it to you from the pulpit. I can't even begin to even allude to what they were saying. And here I am just a complete stranger. The driver's a complete stranger. These people just had no shame to just say the filthiest, most perverted, adulterous, just sensual things. And I couldn't even believe what I was hearing. But that is par for the course when people drink alcohol. Their mouth utters perverse things and they start looking at women other than their wife and beholding strange women saying perverse things. Verse 29 says they have, whoa, bad things happen in their life. They have sorrow. They get in fights. They have contentions. They babble. They say stupid things. They have wounds without cause. They have redness of eyes, tearing long at the wine, going to seek mixed wine. And obviously we're talking about a fermented alcoholic beverage here. He says in verse 34, 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've stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They've beaten me and I felt it not. But in spite of all this, when shall I wake? I'll seek it yet again. Talking about the addictive nature of drinking. Now flip over to John chapter two. John chapter two is that famous passage where we have Jesus turning the water into wine. Now those who are the apologists for drinking, the people who want to say that we as Christians should be drinking alcohol, we should have a beer, we should drink wine. Okay, those people will try to say that Jesus created an alcoholic beverage in this story. Okay, well let's look at the story and see if that's really what happened. And what's funny is whenever Christians are trying to promote drinking, they never tell you to drink beer. They never say drink beer. They always say drink wine. And what's stupid about that is that the wine today, as I mentioned earlier, is 13 to 17% alcohol. It's more alcoholic than anything that was in Bible days. It's a higher technology. Whereas beer is like 3% alcohol. So beer is like 3% alcohol, you know, could be give or take. And then wine's like 13%, but the Christians, they drink wine because it's so much more civilized and it's just more, you know, it just seems more Christian. Because of the fact that the Bible says wine and the Bible doesn't say beer, except where Jesus touched the beer. But that means coffin, you know, he pulled the guy. That's another story, you know. That's the only beer Jesus touched was a coffin, B-I-E-R. But the point is that, you know, they hide behind the name wine. That word wine to drink a hardcore alcoholic beverage, but it's called wine and then they'll look in the Bible, wine, wine. And then they'll act like we're twisting scripture like, well wine means wine. Yeah, wine means wine, but you don't know what wine means. Wine means wine, buddy. I mean, then I could say, well, beer means beer. You know, Jesus touched that beer. I mean, you're just being dumb at that point, you know. We got to go to the Bible for a definition. And in this story, it's clear, this is not an alcoholic beverage. Let's look down our Bibles at verse 9. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was, meaning he didn't know the source of it, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor of the feast called the bridegroom and said unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk than that which is worse, but thou hast kept the good wine until now. Now in this story, the Bible is saying that at the time when Jesus makes the water into wine, that the people have well drunk. They've well drunk. Everybody got that? Now is well, if we just took the word well by itself, is that a good word or a bad word? Good, right? How are you doing? I'm doing well. That's good, right? So this is a good word. They're well drunk, but it also means they drunk a lot, okay? Now let's back up a little bit. And the Bible says in verse 2, both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. Verse 3, and when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour has not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six, and it explains how he made the water into wine. But stop and think about this. If this is alcohol that's being consumed, and everybody has well drunk to the point where they run out, and they come to Jesus and say they have no wine, you know what he'd say? Good, they already drank too much. They're already drunk. We need to cut them off anyway. But instead, he specifically makes this huge quantity, these six gigantic keggers, according to the world's crowd, right? So he's going to take people that are already well drunk. If you're going to take the interpretation it's alcohol, they're drunk. And he's going to say, give them more. Give them six giant, drink up. This bud's for you. I mean, do you really think that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is giving booze to people who are already drunk? That's ridiculous. That's nonsense. But you know what? That's exactly what the NIV will say. If you turn to this in the NIV, it'll tell you when the people are drunk. It doesn't say they have well drunk. See, they don't understand. When it says well drunk, drunk there is just the past tense of drink. It's not saying, because see, when the Bible wants to talk about people being drunk, it calls them drunken. Have you seen that word in the Bible, drunken? So it's drink, drank, drunk. It's not drunken or drunkenness, right? So right here, he's saying they have well drunk, meaning that they have drunk to their heart's content. And you say, well, that's hard to believe. Well, we just had a wedding a few minutes ago, and I saw glasses of some pink beverage going around, and I'm assuming that was totally non-alcoholic. You know, people could drink a fruity drink at a wedding and be happy, and the people who can't understand that are the kind of people whose only happiness is found in sin and drunkenness. You know, people who live a godly Christian life, they can be happy with a glass of apple juice. They can be happy eating a candy bar or eating a piece of cake or smelling a flower or going to the zoo or holding their wife's hand. They can be happy from the normal things of life. But the world is so miserable today, their only happiness is found in the bottom of a bottle. And then they take that perverted view of the world and life, and they take that to scripture. And they say, well, the Bible says wine makes glad the heart of man. That's got to be liquor. No, you know, some of us get happy just eating a good meal. Now if you would flip over to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy chapter 32. And you know what I've noticed too? This is just kind of a side note. I've noticed it seems like the Calvinists. They're always so into drinking. But I was listening to a sermon recently, and the preacher said, you know, the Calvinists really just take the joy out of soul winning. They take the joy out of serving God. They take the joy out of life. And I was thinking, that's why they have to turn to drinking. And I was thinking about, you know on Amazon, it'll say frequently bought together. And it'll show you like a few items. I was thinking about making a meme for Facebook. Frequently bought together. Put like James White's book. And then like a bottle of Jack Daniels or something. You know what I mean? Like frequently. Because it seems like these Calvinists are always so into drinking. Or maybe like James White's book on the King James. And a beer making kit or something. You know, whatever. You know, just frequently, these items. We thought you might also like some beer to go with all your Calvinist theology. You know, I don't know what it is. But you know, we have the joy of the Lord. We don't need that stuff. Amen. We don't want the woe and sorrow and contentions that come with it. But in Isaiah, you're in Deuteronomy. But in Isaiah 65 verse 8, it says, Thus saith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the cluster. So notice the word new. New wine found in the cluster. And once saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it. So will I do for my servant's sakes, that I may not destroy them all. So if the Bible talks about new wine being found in a cluster. What's a cluster? It's a cluster of grapes. That clearly shows that wine is just referring to a fruit juice. And by the way, if you actually study your Bible, you realize it's not even always grape juice. It's any manner of fruit. Any type of fruit juice in the Bible is called wine. But again, in Deuteronomy 32, we see a scripture that strongly shows that there's a good wine and a bad wine. Just as we saw in Proverbs. Look at Deuteronomy 32 verse 32. It says, For their vine, their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. So in this scripture, a little earlier, he says, their rock is not as our rock. Their God is not like our God. Their wine is not like our wine. Their wine is what? It's the vine of Sodom. It's the poison of dragons. And you know what dragons are? Well, who's the great dragon? The devil. Demons. Dragons. It's the poison of dragons. People go into bars and the bartender says unto them, what's your poison? It's literally poison. If you drink enough wine, you could literally fall over dead on the spot. You could drink yourself to death tonight. Once your blood alcohol concentration hits a certain percentage, you will die. That's why you start throwing up because your body's saying, we got to get rid of all this poison before it kills us. Expell it. Get it out. Because once it hits that certain percentage, you know, 0.278, I don't know what the number is, but when it hits that certain number, you're dead at that point because it's poisonous. It's poisoning your blood. It's poisoning your body. And it's the vine of Sodom. You think that Jesus Christ took clean, refreshing water and turned it into the vine of Sodom? You think Jesus turned water into the poison of dragons? Because that's what their wine is. Now, why would it be called the vine of Sodom? Why bring Sodom up? Well, go if you would to Genesis chapter 9. See, Sodom is actually brought up in the Bible. I forget the exact number. I want to say it's mentioned 50 to 60 times in the Bible. The word Sodom, if you just do a search on the word Sodom or Sodomite, it's like 50 or 60 times. So it comes up quite a bit, actually. It's mentioned frequently as a bad example. Well, what's interesting is that Genesis chapter 9 is the first time that the Bible ever mentions wine. So if you start reading the Bible at the beginning, the first time you're going to come to the word wine is this passage. Look at the first mention of wine in the Bible. Genesis 9 20, and Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine. Now, what kind of wine? Is this just a fruit juice or is this alcoholic? Well, it says, and was drunken. So that right away, we know what kind of wine this is, the bad kind. The kind you're not supposed to look at. The kind that gives you woe and sorrow. And it says he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without. And Sham and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were 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. And he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. So Noah is so drunk that he's completely passed out. He doesn't even know what his perverted younger son did unto him. So the first time that we see alcohol being mentioned in the Bible, it's perversion, it's disgusting, it's the... And look, uncovering the nakedness is a euphemism for something worse than that. And you say, well, what exactly happened? I don't want to know. I'm glad God spared us the details. I don't want to know. Whatever it was, it was so perverted that Ham and his descendants are cursed because of it. So it must have been bad. Whatever it was, I don't care what it was. Whatever it was, it wasn't normal. Whatever it was, Sham and Japheth didn't think it was normal. They didn't want anything to do with it. And he woke up and he knew at that point what his younger son had done unto him, meaning that while it happened, he didn't have a clue what was going on because he was that drunk. Now look, we're living in some strange times in the United States of America in 2017. Now is not the time to be drunk. Now is the time to be sober and to be vigilant because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. I mean, can you imagine in 2017 with all the perversion and all the freaks and the trannies and the weirdos, can you imagine getting drunk at a party of worldly people to the point where you're passed out? I mean, good night. What kind of scary things are you? Who knows? You're an idiot. You're foolish. I mean, I want to be sober. I want to be ready to defend myself and be on guard against the devil and his minions at all times. Look, that's the first mention of alcohol. Sometimes the first time God mentions things, he kind of is trying to set the tone or introduce a subject to you. So he brings out one of the sickest, weirdest stories as the introduction for wine. I mean, look, I don't care how you interpret that story. It's weird. I've heard people argue about the interpretation. All the interpretations are weird. Whatever happened, it was perverted. Okay. But then it's interesting because the second mention of wine in the Bible is a good mention. Go to Genesis 14. So right away, if we start reading the Bible, we'll see this dichotomy between bad wine, good wine, bad wine, good wine. There's different kinds of wine. Don't look on the bad one. Don't drink it. It's going to make you say sick things. Okay. Genesis 14 verse 18 says, And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which had delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Now this statement here about the bread and wine, this is actually a foreshadowing of the New Testament where Jesus Christ is going to break bread and drink wine with his disciples at the Last Supper. Okay. That's already being foreshadowed here. The bread represents the body of Christ, right? And the wine represents the blood of Christ. Now what's interesting is that the bread in that supper was to be unleavened. Now what is it that leavens bread? Yeast. Okay. What is it that makes alcohol? Yeast. So if God is telling them to do unleavened bread, no leaven shall be found in your house. You can't even have any leaven in your whole dwelling. Isn't that what he said? He said no leaven bread and don't even have it in your house. Okay. But have all that leavened wine. Because see the Bible doesn't use the word yeast, the Bible used the word leaven. Leaven is yeast. Modern word, yeast. Archaic word, leaven. Okay. So therefore, you know, it would make zero sense to say, yeah, have all the wine that was fermented with yeast, but don't you dare eat that bread that was risen with yeast. Look, the yeast represents sin in that context. So obviously if the body of Christ is pure and without sin, obviously the blood of Christ is going to be pure and without sin and without leaven. Hey, let's keep the feast, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5, without the leaven. Without the yeast. Okay. That's the yeast that makes alcohol. Same stuff. Okay. So let's go to Matthew. Or no, no, no. Go to Genesis 19. You're already in Genesis. While you're turning there, though, in Matthew, this is what it says at the Last Supper. It says, He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. Now what's interesting about that statement in Matthew is that he never calls it wine. You know, when we think of the Roman Catholic Church or other even Protestant churches where they use actually an alcoholic beverage in the church service, right? When they have the sacrament or the Eucharist or communion or the Lord's Supper, they'll actually use an alcoholic beverage and they'll actually scoff at and mock Baptist. You Baptist with your grape juice. You want a bib, you know, for your little grape juice drink box there, buddy? Over here we're drinking a more sophisticated beverage, more adult beverage. You know, don't they? You've heard that, right? Where they kind of make fun of or scoff at, oh yeah, you know, grape juice, communion or whatever. But what's funny about that is that it never even says once. It doesn't even say Jesus had wine at the Last Supper. It doesn't even use that word once. What it actually says is the fruit of the vine. So what's he emphasizing? It's a fruit juice. That's what he said. He said, I'm not going to drink of this fruit of the vine. And then the next thing out of his mouth is until I drink it new in the kingdom of heaven. So what's he saying? He's saying it's a fruit juice that's brand new. But then they're going to turn around and say, well, if we're going to be really authentic about it, we're going to drink booze. And then the priest, you know, it's one for him, one for you, one for him, one for you, one for him, one for you, you know, as they all line up and go through the line. And these Catholic priests are a bunch of drunks anyway. Plenty of stories about that. Bunch of drunks and whoremongers and sodomites. They're certainly not celibate. Their celibacy is just that they abstain from any normal relationship with their wife, right? They indulge in all manner of sinful relationships. But the Bible says in Genesis 19, so let me just stop review real quick. Genesis 9 was a bad mention. Ham and the nakedness and whatever. Okay. 14 was a good mention. Foreshadowing Christ drinking of the fruit of the vine new. Well, if Christ is drinking of the fruit of the vine new, then it stands to reason that Melchizedek's drinking the same thing in Genesis 14 because he's foreshadowing that. Then when we get into 19, we're on another bad mention. Genesis 19 30 and Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelled in the mountain and his two daughters with him for he feared to dwell in Zoar and he dwelled in a cave, he and his two daughters, and the firstborn said unto the younger, our father is old and there's 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. And they made their father drink wine that night and the firstborn went in and lay with her father and he perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose. Then it came to pass on the morrow that the firstborn said unto the younger, behold, I lay yesterday night with my father, let us make him drink wine this night also and go thou in and lie with him that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also and the younger arose and lay with him and perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. You know, these are the type of scriptures you almost blush to even read the scripture. But you know why God put such a graphic story in there is just to make a really strong impression. First mention was a weird story. Second mention, super weird. Why? Because God's trying to show you what alcohol can do right away. First book of the Bible, first thing out of the gate is he's saying, look at the filth, look at the perversion, the incest, the sodomy, the horrible things. Go to Habakkuk chapter two. Habakkuk chapter two, these are strong warnings is what they are, warning us to stay away from alcohol. Habakkuk chapter two, this is a pretty famous verse. And usually when this verse is preached, usually you only hear the first part. You'll often hear pastors say, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink. But they usually don't quote the whole scripture. And I've heard people who are defending alcohol or the apologists for alcohol. They try to say, well, they need to quote the whole verse. You know, because it doesn't just say woe to him to give his neighbor drink. It says, you know, these other things, but hold on a second. When you quote the whole verse, it gets worse. It doesn't get better. It gets worse. Let's quote the whole verse. Look down at your Bible, Habakkuk 2.15. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink that put his thigh bottle to him and make us him drunk and also that thou mayest look on their nakedness. Now, you know, I've been in church my whole life. And I got saved when I was six years old. I've heard a lot of preaching. I've been an independent Baptist my whole life. I've heard tons of Bible preaching and my entire life. I never heard anybody preach on this, never. But I was reading this and it just jumped off the page at me one day. And I'd never noticed this and I'd never heard anybody point this out. Then it says, woe unto him. Is that a man or a woman? Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink and put his thigh bottle to him and make us him drunk and also that thou mayest look on their nakedness. Now, that's a him giving a him drink to look on their nakedness. That's sick. And you know what? By the way, this is the modus operandi of sodomites. This is what sodomites do. This is another reason why in 2017, with these freaks everywhere, you better stay sober. You better watch out. I mean, I remember one time I got in an airplane. Usually if I was next to a sodomite, I would ask to be reseated because I used to fly a lot and I would ask to be reseated or I would just purposely just sit down in a seat that wasn't mine and just try to get somebody to trade with me or something. And especially because I needed to sleep on the flight. You can't sleep next to somebody who's a predator. So one time though, I'm on this flight. The door's closed. The door's shut and I'm sitting in the seat and there's an empty seat next to me, but it just looked like it was just going to stay empty. Well, next thing you know, they're like, oh, one more person. They open the door and just this drunken, flaming sodomite stumbles in. I mean, the guy was just outwardly flaming sodomite. He was just totally drunk. And then he comes stumbling and his pants are hanging down and, you know, just exposing his crack as he puts his bag up and everything. And I'm just like, no, I need, you know, and I was so tired. I'm like, I need to sleep. I can't sit next to him. But it was like the plane's like rolling away from the gate. It's too late to switch seats or anything. So I'm just like, oh, man, I have to sit next to this weirdo, you know, the whole flight. So here's what I ended up doing. I literally, and this is what I just opened my backpack. I had a bunch of books in my backpack because I was studying for a fire alarm test, something that I had to do to get licensed in a certain state. I just pulled out all these books and I built a wall. I'm not kidding. I literally, I just like build a little barrier and then I barricaded myself with some more books. Okay. And I just got myself all barricaded in. And then I went to sleep, you know, because of the fact that, you know, you can't trust these perverts and you don't always know who they are. And there's so many of them now. It's getting so weird that, you know, you got to stay sober. You got to be vigilant. Build a wall. You know, you got to do something. But anyway, so he said here, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink that put us thy bottle to him and makest him drunk and also that thou mayest look on their nakedness reminds me a lot of Genesis 9. Thou art filled, or even, even it's similar to the story with Lot's daughters. They got him drunk so that they could abuse him. Thou art filled with shame for glory. Drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. Look, none of these verses makes me want to drink alcohol ever. I mean, you read these verses, it just makes you think, Oh man, I got to stay away from alcohol. It's the exact opposite of the beer commercial. It's the exact opposite of the ads for the wine coolers and whatever else. Flip over if you would to Psalm 104. Psalm 104. And we need to get a clock in here. Who's got the time? What is it? 7 48. Yeah, we need to get, we need a clock in here. It drives me nuts not to have a clock. I got to pace myself for the sermons, you know? All right. Amazon, right? Order that on Amazon, you know, frequently bought together, right? A clock and, you know, whatever. So Johnny Nixon's book and an HIV test, you know, frequently bought together, right? All right. So Psalm 104 verse 10. It says that, listen to this, because this is a verse that some people will cite to try to say, Oh, you know, drinking alcohol is a good thing. Well, it says in Psalm 104 verse 10, he sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild asses quench their thirst. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches. He watereth the hills from his chambers. The earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth and wine that maketh glad the heart of man and oil to make his face to shine and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. The trees of the Lord are full of sap. The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted, where the birds make their nests. As for the stork, the fir trees are her house. Now, if you get the context here, you'll see that these are all very natural things. He's talking a lot about nature, isn't he? If you just take that part by itself, verse 15, wine that maketh glad the heart of man, they say, well, that's what makes me glad, getting drunk, drinking. But actually, if you get the context, it's just bread that strengthens man's heart, right? I mean, does that cause any kind of inebriation or any kind of getting high or drunkenness? No, this is talking about oil making your face shine, water flowing down a hill and the grass grows and the cows eat the grass. And it's talking about the birds chirping and making their nests, trees that are full of sap, wine that makes glad the heart of man. This is just talking about a bunch of food and beverage, not talking about the stuff that makes you behold strange women and other perverse things. It doesn't make any sense. There's plenty of examples in the Bible to see that there's a very positive wine and a very negative wine. Go to Isaiah 28. Let's look at another negative mention. Isaiah 28, Isaiah chapter 28, verse number 7 says, But they've also erred through wine. They also have erred through wine and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They're swallowed up of wine. They're out of the way through strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment for all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean. That's not what the beer commercial is going to show you, right? They show you a bunch of beach bikini babes, right, with a perfect body. And they show you these dudes that are all ripped and muscular, you know, 5% body fat. And they're playing volleyball, right? And they're cracking open a Budweiser. And you know what's funny is that in Phoenix right now they have this alcohol campaign going on where it shows these people like, you know, I work out and then I drink so and so the beer. Like they're trying to make it like it's this workout beverage. Have you guys seen that around here at all or no? Have you seen it? Yeah, Solomon, have you seen it? You know what I'm talking about? Mom, yeah, my wife was pointing out. But it's like, you know, yeah, I go to the gym and they show this woman, this fit chick and she's in a halter top and she's, you know, got the sweat. She's coming out of the gym and then she, you know, cracking into a beer. It's stupid. It doesn't make any sense. You know, what beer will actually do to you is give you a beer belly. A beer belly. You ever heard that term? It's not going to give you a six pack abs just because it has six pack in the name. Okay, six pack, six pack abs. But that's how stupid the advertising is. They show a guy with a literal six pack abs and like he got that from drinking a six pack. No, a six pack abs for beer is a beer belly. It's when men look like they're pregnant, like the rest of their body will be normal. You know, they won't just get fat all over. The rest of their body's normal and they just, they just look like they just are pregnant. Men. Why? The beer belly. Okay, not only that, the man breasts. Now here's why. Because of the fact that beer and talk to Dr. Rita, she's nodding her head. We have a physician here that will back up everything I'm saying. Hey, she taught me this. She told me that beer is made from hops. Stop me if I get anything wrong, Rita. But she told me that it's made from hops and that there's phytoestrogen mimickers. Phyto plant estrogen. Is that what you guys want? A lot of estrogen? I'll give you a hint. That's the opposite of testosterone. Okay, you know, phytoestrogen mimickers. Beer makes you feminine. Yes. No, don't laugh. It's true. Amen. Talk to the physician after the service. She'll explain it to you. Beer makes you feminine. It makes men develop man breasts. It may gives you the beer belly. It makes you effeminate. It could, it literally is causing you to be lower on testosterone, higher on estrogen. And you know what testosterone does for you men? It gives you more muscle and less fat. It gives you energy. It does good things for you. You need to have that in balance. And beer is doing the opposite. So they show all these dudes that look manly and ripped. And look, they didn't get that way drinking a bunch of beer. I promise you that. Because that's not what beer does to you. And you say, well, I'm a woman, so I can drink all the phytoestrogen mimickers are bad for women too. And even are associated with cancer. Too high of estrogen levels. And so, you know, there are all kinds of bad health concerns with drinking beer. But the ad makes it look so good. That's just what they sell everything with. They sell you a car. It's a beautiful scantily clad woman selling you that car. You know, that car does not come with that woman. And that beer does not make you cool. It doesn't make you look like that woman, ladies. And it doesn't make you attractive to that woman, men. It's just an ad. It's a lie. It's deception. It's there to fool you into thinking that you're going to have this great, wonderful, fun time when really all tables are going to be full of vomit. And there's going to be no place clean. You're going to say perverted things. You're going to do stupid things. You're going to injure yourself and get wounds without cause. You're going to get in the drunk driving accident. You're going to trip and fall and fall on your face and get a bloody nose. You're going to get in a fight. You're going to get arrested. You're going to steal things. You're going to get in trouble. You're going to ruin your life. You're going to get fired from your job. You're going to lose your marriage. You're going to ruin your family, your kids, your life, your health, everything. That's that. The real commercial would just show just a camera panning, just vomit, dirty bathroom, the urine stains that, you know, say, oh, that's gross. Yeah, I know. But that would be the true advertisement. Guy with a beer belly, right? This Bud's for you, right? Tap the Rockies. That's what it would be. But the devil's a liar tonight. And he fools you if you're not wise. Go to Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31. We'll finish up in Proverbs. Proverbs 31 says in verse 4, 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 any of the afflicted. See, drinking could make us forget God's Word. The Bible says, Thy word have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against thee. If we're forgetting God's Word, we're going to sin. He says, pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted, give strong drink unto him that's ready to perish. I don't know about you, but I'm never going to perish. And I'm a king and I'm a prince and I'm a priest and I'm never going to perish. And I'm not a loser and I don't need to drink alcohol. The Bible says, give it to losers. Give it to the guy in the gutter. Give it to the guy who's about, yeah, let him be a loser. Give it to the guy who's about, yeah, let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more. What about us who have the unsearchable riches of Christ? What about us who never shall perish? Is that who we are, a bunch of drunks, a bunch of wine bibbers? Flip over to the last place, Proverbs 20 verse 1. You're in Proverbs 21. I'm going to read for you a New Testament verse and we're going to tie these two together. Ephesians 5 17 says, Therefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. So don't be unwise, understand what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now with that in mind, look at Proverbs 20 verse 1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. So he says, look, if you're deceived by wine, you're not wise. And then the New Testament says don't be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is and be not drunk with wine. Not a coincidence that in both scriptures, Ephesians 5, which is probably the most famous New Testament admonition not to get drunk, and Proverbs 20 verse 1, which is probably the most famous Old Testament verse against drinking. They both say don't be unwise, don't be deceived by wine, don't be drunk. That's what the Bible is saying. Why? Because if you're wise, you won't be deceived by it. Now what does it mean to be deceived by something? When you're deceived by something, it doesn't mean you walked into it knowing what you were getting into, did it? I mean, think about it. Remember how it says Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression? Adam is not deceived. So when the Bible says whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise, the Bible is basically saying that there's a deception out there. There's some kind of a bait and switch going on. There's some kind of a trickery that's going on. Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it. So look, if he says wine's a mocker and strong drink's raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise, that means there's some deception we need to watch out for. Here's what that deception is. The advertising of how good and fun alcohol is. The preaching that tells you, it's okay to drink a little bit just so long as you don't get drunk. Now, I've heard that from a lot of people. I've heard that from a lot of Christians. Hey, it's okay to drink just so long as you don't get drunk. Even though the Bible said there's a beverage we're not even supposed to look at. But they say, well, it's okay to drink a little bit just so long as you don't get drunk. But every single person I've personally known who said that, I observed all of them get drunk at one time or another. Everybody who said, well, you know, I drink, I just don't get drunk, you'll eventually see that person drunk. I'm serious. Now look, I'm not saying that there's nobody in this earth who does just drink only one beer at a time and they never go beyond it. You know, I'm sure that person's out there. But the exception proves the rule. The ones who I've known, and I'm not saying that I've known everybody, I don't know all, see all, but the ones I've known, they all got drunk. I observed them all get drunk. And there's nothing more annoying than being around a drunk person. It's no fun. I mean, when you're sober and someone else is drunk, it's the stupidest thing in the world. I mean, I don't get it. I don't understand it. I mean, thank God I grew up in a Christian home, so I've never experienced that world. I've never been drunk. I've never even tasted beer to this day. But I mean, I'm just, I don't know. Maybe some of you worldly ones could help me out. No, I'm just kidding. But I'm just wondering, like, do people who are sober enjoy partying with drunk people? No. I mean, I'm not talking about Christians. I just mean, like, in the world. Or is it just like, hey, we all have to get drunk? Yeah, yeah. Okay, well then who's the so-called designated driver then? His evening is going to stink. What's that? Uber, yeah. I mean, look, one time, I remember this just popped into my head. One time I was on a flight. Pastor Dave Burzins was there. And this is before he was Pastor Dave Burzins. But he was one of my church members. And we flew to Washington D.C. together. And we were on the flight back. And this lady sat next to me. And she started out as a normal person. And she just kept ordering more alcohol. And I, you know, I was talking to her. And she was German. So I was speaking German with her and everything. Because my wife's German. So I speak German. So I'm talking to her. And we're talking. And I gave her the gospel. And, you know, but then it's like she just keeps ordering more alcohol. And I was trying to discourage her from it. You know, I mean, without being rude. Because I'm just, I don't know her or anything. I'm just like, hey, you know, am I driving you to drink here? You know, and she just keeps, you know, she just keeps drinking. Look, she just became a complete idiot by the end of that flight. You couldn't even talk to her anymore. And then she started acting inappropriately toward me. She was like trying to like throw her arms around me and Pastor Burzins when we get off the plane. And we're like, no, no, you know. Like she's like, come hang out with me. We're like, no, we got to go. We're out of here. You know, the only reason I could think of why a sober person would want to hang around drunks would be they want to be around people whose inhibitions are down so that they can pull a Habakkuk 215 on them. That's wicked. Why in the world would you want to hang around with these idiots otherwise that are drunk and saying stupid things? Doesn't make any sense. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging. What does it mean? You know what a mocker is? It's somebody who makes fun of you. If they say, hey, Pastor Anderson is a mocker unto you. It means I'm making fun of you. You know, wine is making an idiot out of you. Strong drink is making you look stupid, making fun of you. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, right? It creates anger and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Be not unwise, the Bible says. Understand what the will of the Lord is and that is for you to abstain from alcohol. Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for warning us so that we don't ruin our lives with drinking and that we don't ruin our bodies and ruin our health and our relationships and our driving record and our job and commit fornication and adultery or be abused, Lord. Help us, Lord, to not be unwise, Lord. Give us wisdom to just stay away from alcohol. Don't even touch this stuff, Lord. Help us to drink only those beverages that are wholesome and good and made by you. And in Jesus name we pray, Amen. That when people are drunk, they behold strange women and their mouths utter perverse things. You know, just the other day I was flying back from Mexico and I was stopped off in San Diego and I had to spend the night in a hotel and then fly out. And somehow I ended up on a hotel shuttle bus with a whole bunch of people coming from a wedding and they were all just totally drunk. And I was only with this group for about five minutes. You should have heard the perverted things that came out of their mouth in those five minutes. I can't even begin to repeat it to you from the pulpit. I can't even begin to even allude to what they were saying. And here I am just a complete stranger. The driver's a complete stranger. These people just had no shame to just say the filthiest, most perverted, adulterous, just sensual things. And I couldn't even believe what I was hearing but that is par for the course when people drink alcohol, their mouth utters perverse things and they start looking at women other than their wife and beholding strange women saying perverse things. Verse 29 says they have, whoa, bad things happen in their life. They have sorrow. They get in fights. They have contentions. They babble. They say stupid things. They have wounds without cause. They have redness of eyes, tearing long at the wine, going to seek mixed wine. And obviously we're talking about a fermented alcoholic beverage here. He says in verse 34, 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've stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They've beaten me and I felt it not. But in spite of all this, when shall I? And the title of my sermon is The Vine of Sodom. The Vine of Sodom. Now as you read the Bible, you'd have to be blind or you'd have to just be willfully ignorant or just refuse to see the truth to read the Bible and to actually think that there's only one kind of wine in the Bible. It's pretty clear if you just use common sense and read the Bible that there's a good kind of wine in the Bible and there's a bad kind of wine in the Bible. And even just from this scripture alone, that is very obvious today. Look down, if you would, at Proverbs 23 verse 29. It says, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, and they that go to seek mixed wine. Now look at this next phrase. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cub, when it moveth itself aright. Now obviously, if God's telling us don't look at the wine when it's red or when it's moving, that that means that there would just by implication be a time when you could look at the wine, right? When it's not red, when it's not moving itself aright, when it's not giving its color to the cup. So that right there should just show you that there's a certain kind of wine that's the bad wine and then there's other wine that's not bad, even just from this scripture alone. But as you go throughout the whole Bible, you'll see that over and over again. Very positive mentions of wine and very negative mentions of wine. You got to go by the context when you're reading the Bible because there's not just one kind of wine that will yield an even higher alcohol content. Now I'm not here to give you a seminar on wines, okay? But the reason I want to explain that is because this verse can perplex people. Why don't we look at the wine when it's red? Or why don't we look at it when it gives its color in the cup or moves itself right? I want you to understand that what he's saying is when it's fermented, that's what he's explaining. Don't look on the one that's fermented, why? Because the redness from the skin, that's from the yeast and that's all related to the fermentation process. Not only that, but when he says it moves itself aright, you have to understand that when you ferment things, bacteria or yeast, they give off carbon dioxide. Just like we breathe in oxygen and then we put out a byproduct, a waste product of carbon dioxide blowing out of our mouths. Well, all these tiny little microscopic bacteria and yeast, they're doing the same thing. They're putting out carbon dioxide. That's why, you know, whether they be soft drinks or alcoholic drinks that have been fermented will be naturally carbonated. So when he talks about it moving itself right, he's talking about carbonation and that's a natural process from the fermentation process. Okay, so I don't want to get too complicated, but God's clearly saying, look, there's a type of wine that you don't look at. He brings up the redness and the moving around because he's trying to let people know. I'm talking about fermentation. I'm talking about fermented wine. He says that this wine will cause you, verse 33, thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things. And isn't that the truth? There's another kind. Now, why does he say don't look on the wine when it's red? You know, does that mean that we should only drink the Chenin Blanc and the Champagne and the Chardonnay or what? You know, what does he mean there? Well, when he says here not to look on the wine when it's red and when it gives its color in the cup and when it moves itself right, just an easy way of saying that would be just don't look at the wine that's fermented. So what he's saying is stay away from the fermented wine. And the reason why he says red and moving itself right is if you actually study how wine is made, if you study the fermentation process, basically there are two ways to ferment something. You can ferment something with bacteria or you can ferment something with yeast. So if you ferment something with bacteria, you end up with vinegar. If you ferment something with yeast, you end up with alcohol. This is a simple explanation. There's another drink that I enjoy frequently called kombucha. Who's ever drunk kombucha before? Now, kombucha is fermented with both bacteria and yeast. So the thing that you make kombucha with is called a SCOBY. And SCOBY is an acronym for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. SCOBY, all right? So it's both bacteria and yeast. And so when you ferment the kombucha, the bacteria and the yeast fermentation, they sort of cancel each other out and all the alcohol goes away and you end up with a non-alcoholic beverage. Obviously, there are ways to make alcoholic kombucha, but in general, kombucha is a non-alcoholic beverage because of the way it's fermented. Obviously, apple cider vinegar is fermented, but it's not alcoholic. It's the yeast that will make it alcoholic. Now, when it comes to grapes, have you ever bought grapes from the store and noticed they have a white film on the outside of them? Have you ever wondered what is that white stuff on there? And you wonder like, is this okay? Do I need to wash these again? Is there something wrong with it? But that white film is the yeast living on the outside of the grape. So when wine is made, in order to make alcohol, you have to use that yeast that comes from the outside of the grape, the skin of the grape. Well, red wine gets its red color from that outer skin. And so the wine that was fermented with the skins is gonna become red wine and it's gonna have all that yeast in there and it's going to become quite alcoholic, okay? Now, in Bible days when they made wine, even if they were making booze, even if they were trying to make it alcoholic, it still was not as alcoholic as the wine today at the store because today modern technology has allowed them to make wine that has a much higher alcohol content. So if you just take grapes and smash them up and you leave the skins and the yeast and all that to ferment, the most alcohol content you're gonna get is up to around 11, 12%. That's still very alcoholic. So in the Bible days, they could definitely get drunk with that. I mean, that's very alcoholic. That's still more alcoholic than beer, okay? But today's wine that's purchased at the store is usually 13 to 17% alcohol. And the reason for that is that they use industrial type yeast. It's not the yeast from the outside of the grape. They introduce yeast.