at an important point in our church covenant. That is our willingness to take a stand on the matter of alcohol. We're going to be talking tonight about committed rather to abstinence from alcohol. There's a pamphlet that we make available out in the foyer. Much of what I'm going to share this evening is found in this pamphlet. It's under the topic, Should Christians Drink in Moderation? This is an important topic. We've mentioned it before on Wednesday evenings. And this evening, we're going to take the Sunday night as we follow along in our church covenant and make the point that there is an abstinence clause in our church covenant and it ought to be considered. And I want to talk to you a little bit about why this evening and give you, I trust, some answers so you can give answers to others of the hope that lies within you. So I appreciate the ushers coming by. While they're coming by and passing out those outline sheets, if you turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs chapter 20. We're going to make haste this evening. We have a lot to say. I hope you'll follow along carefully and receive not only instruction, but also a blessing that will go out of this place tonight, saying it's been good to be in the house of the Lord and that we're in agreement on a topic that brings a lot of tension and a lot of diversity, certainly even within the Christian community. Turning to Proverbs 20, as we discussed this evening, our commitment to abstinence from alcohol. Thank you, men, for distributing those this evening. I appreciate your faithfulness along the way, Sunday by Sunday, and keeping those matters in our hands. Let me do something that's a little unplanned this evening, if you don't mind. I wonder how many in this room would be able to stand and say, that I have had, my family has been impacted, my life has been impacted, someone in my immediate family, whether it's an aunt or an uncle, a cousin, a grandparent, a dear friend of mine, someone in my life or maybe my life itself has been impacted by alcohol. Maybe it's been something where you almost lost your life on the road because of a drunk driver. I can bear testimony to having been through that type of an event. Or maybe it's been somebody who's been dear to you who's battled with a bottle. But if you wouldn't mind standing this evening, this is just an unscientific poll around this room of people in this congregation who'd say, My life's been impacted, somebody in my life, by alcohol. Look around, folks. That's not a very scientific poll, but just about every time we have new members meeting, when I read this clause in our covenant, I say to folks, I don't know any family that I've really met that hasn't been impacted by alcohol at some level. Thank you. You can be seated. This evening we're going to be talking about our church covenant where we make a stand that we are committed to abstinence from alcohol, committed to abstinence from alcohol. My mother was born in 1929 illegitimately in Boston, Massachusetts. My grandmother handed my mother over to her own parents, and so it was my mother's grandparents who would rear her. My great-grandfather on my mother's side had jumped off a boat from Sweden in Boston Harbor. So he never went through Ellis Island. He was an illegal immigrant. And he was addicted to alcohol. And so my mother's life was impacted by it. My father's brother, my uncle Bill, was in World War II. And while in World War II, he was introduced to the bottle. And when he came home from World War II, he lost his wife and custody opportunities over his two daughters. All of us have stories to tell. And this evening, as we enter into the discussion on the topic of alcohol, I realize it's a sensitive topic and it's becoming increasingly more sensitive in the generation in which we live. And so I'm going to appeal to parents, especially parents of young ones and then parents of those who are leaving the nest, to plug in very carefully this evening. The conversation that we're going to have this evening is the first time I've had the opportunity to have this conversation with our little ones. When I say little ones, first grade and up, we've talked about this on Wednesday evening, and I'm not embarrassed to talk about it. I said to someone today, when I have a bad day, the thought never crosses my mind, I wish there were a bottle around. And I'm so thankful for that. There are those, however, who when going through struggles, because of their experience with a very addictive substance, it can be the first place that they want to turn. So let's ask the Lord to bless as we look into His Word this evening on the topic at hand. Father, now I pray that You'd give me wisdom, help me to share Your Word accurately, and help us to be bound together by a common position that though unpopular, and increasingly so in our generation, is necessary for us to consider in order for us to do things in this place decently and in order. Lord, that there be no confusion that that which was written in our covenant 58 years ago remains today to be affirmed by us who are blessed by this ministry, that we are a ministry who says no when the bottle is passed. So help us, Lord, to know why tonight, and we'll thank You for it. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Proverbs 20 and verse 1. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. Whoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I was eight years old. My mother was pulling out of the driveway on a Sunday evening in South Central Ohio. And a man who was inebriated struck the back of our car. My father was already at the church preparing for the evening service. And I'm fortunate to be here tonight. I was a young husband driving through South Dakota on I-90 headed from Minnesota to Colorado when in the morning I looked across the other lane of the highway and I saw a cloud of smoke heading toward our car. And I realized, my, that cloud of smoke is coming from the median. There's a car in the median. It's heading eastbound. I'm heading westbound. And from the trajectory it's taking, it's going to hit us. And I remember saying to my wife, hang on. And it did hit us, but it just grazed the back bumper and tore it off. And then it went down over the hill. And when I went down to give assistance to the lady who was drunk at 10 o'clock in the morning and put our family at risk, she had children in the car who were not buckled into car seats. And there were empty alcohol bottles all through the vehicle. Folks, it is a real problem in America today, this matter of alcohol. It is, of course, a legal substance, but it is a toxic substance that has taken the lives of many people and cost marriages and homes and families and sanity. Our covenant says we engage to walk circumspectly in the world to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, exemplary in our deportments, and to abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage. This topic of a church covenant, having within it an abstinence clause, is a topic of some measure of concern in many evangelical churches. I have friends, good friends, who preach the gospel, who have asked the church that they pastor, the churches that they pastor, to remove that clause from the covenant because after all, many times, people from our community will come and inquiring about membership, they'll discover that we're teetotalers. And this has happened here at Colonial. And some have said, we're just not ready to make the kind of commitment that Colonial Hills Baptist Church would ask us to make. But as they're saying that, it's not for me to reason with them at the membership table regarding the nuances of scripture and the biblical arguments necessarily, but I do make these statements, and I want to make them for you this evening. Alcohol is a huge problem. As we've already noted on our roads, did you know that every 22 minutes a life is lost because of an alcohol-related accident? Over 310,000 are injured each year on American roads because of alcohol. Drinking and driving is the number one killer of those in America ages 17 to 24. Alcohol is not only a problem in our roads, it's certainly a problem in our society. When it comes to our culture, four in ten violent crimes involve alcohol. Seventy percent of all murders and violent crimes today involve alcohol, and rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault often involve alcohol. You could go on and on with statistics about alcohol, but Ephesians chapter 5 makes something very clear. For the believer, We're to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. And that's not all. We're to reprove them. Having no fellowship is one commitment. Reproving them is another. And increasingly I find it difficult for Christians to take a hard stand on the topic of alcohol. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23. Alcohol is the legal drug. I have a magazine article here from the National Geographic in February of 1992. Way back in February of 1992, National Geographic said, raising a glass of alcohol is one of mankind's most distinctive rituals. Yet alcohol can also exert a nearly satanic power. Says the National Geographic, it ruins lives, it destroys family, it kills thousands on the highways each year. More is known about this Jekyll and Hyde of the drug world. But alcohol is still a riddle that every culture attempts to solve in its own unique way. The culture around about us has been confused for quite some time, so it shouldn't surprise us that the Christian culture today is having an increasingly difficult time drawing lines on the matter of alcohol. I have a yellow newspaper clipping here. This newspaper clipping was from March 13, 2003. I put it in my file because it was a remarkable article in 2003. It said, Wheaton College in Illinois announced that henceforth faculty members may drink and smoke in private and students may dance off campus at regulated college activities. The school's new, quote, community covenant announced two weeks ago still forbids alcohol and tobacco use on campus and graduate students and professors are directed to abstain if undergraduates who may only indulge during vacations are present. The trustees noted the tide shifted 10 or 20 years ago among US evangelicals making drinking or dancing matters of personal discretion. It goes on, the alcohol shift is important among some older alumni for whom this is wrapped up in what it means to be a Christian, said Edith Blumhofer, director of Wheaton's Institute for Study of American Evangelicals. Student body president Paley Espen expects allowing private drinking. We'll broaden the faculty talent pool. By the way, that's the same argument used today to say that we ought to be more careful in our position regarding the homosexual community. We'll reduce our talent pool in the industry here in Indianapolis, right? Making that argument here regarding Christian faculty at Wheaton, and it could also help us have a larger, he says, or she says, school enrollment. And so the trend has continued within the Christian community. And as that trend continues, it's an amazing thing to discover how many people become open to using alcohol. Cornerstone University, which used to be Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music, Joseph Stoll, who was formerly the president of Moody Bible Institute, said that the 279 employees at the staff meeting Friday, November 21, 2009, have now been informed that a component of their lifestyle management statement has been modified. Cornerstone dropped its ban on alcohol and on student dancing. And on and on it goes. In fact, LifeWay did a survey asking the question, is drinking a sin? 65% of the pastors in evangelical churches in America today say alcohol drinking is not a sin. Well, that's interesting because 60% of the congregation answers the same way. Isn't it interesting that more pastors believe it not to be a sin than the people in the pews? Also interesting, 22% of the pastors said, I drink. More than that, of course, the people in the pew, the people in the pew define it as sin and indulge in it a little bit more affectionately. 39% of the congregations say that they're involved in the drinking of alcohol. We're living in a time where the evangelical community, now what is that? That's a church where the Bible is being taught and the gospel is being shared. The evangelical community has become increasingly silent. And I want you to listen real carefully right now. When I was in college, the debate in the university was Christian music. That is not the debate today. My sons, who are not only in school but recently out of school, say, Dad, nobody debates music. That's a foregone conclusion. Everybody listens to anything they want to listen to. Today, the debate in the dormitories is social drinking. Now, as you ponder that debate in the Christian schools, understand that 43% of 8th graders in America drink, and 8% of American 8th graders were drunk this past month. 65% of 10th graders in America drink, and 24% were drunk this past month. 73% of 12th graders drink, and 32% were drunk in the last 30 days. Some of you remember the cultural times when Picking up a pack of cigarettes from a cigarette machine was a cool thing to do as a teenager, and then distribute them to your ill-advised friends. That same cultural pressure that you grew up with, parent, is a new cultural present with an alcohol sticker on the bottle, down to the 8th, 7th, and 6th grade. So I'm glad our young people are with us tonight to hear their pastor say, don't go there, for at last it bites as an adder. It's a terrible vice. Romans 12 and verse 9 says, Abhor or shudder at that which is evil, and rather learn to cleave to that which is good. Without doubt, the Bible has a whole lot to say about alcohol. In fact, as you study your Bible, you'll discover 637 references to wine, to drink, to drinking. That's in the King James Bible. Most English readers read wine and assume the word to speak of a drink containing alcohol. Now that assumption is not always true. For instance, when you look in the Old Testament, you can discover in Genesis chapter 40, the butler who talks to Joseph in the prison says, I had this dream. And I dreamed that I took grapes and I squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup and I handed it to him. Well, that's not an alcoholic beverage, and yet it seems to be a reference to wine in that passage. But there are a number of different Greek and Hebrew words that make the study rather interesting. There are 13 different Hebrew words and Greek words that are referenced in the New Testament and the Old Testament under the heading of wine. Sometimes it's a paste. like a jelly and even drier that would have been carried in a long distance journey and mixed as we would mix Kool-Aid, if you will, into water to make the water better as the traveler traveled. Sometimes it is a fresh squeeze juice. And then there are other times, of course, that, as we know, Noah after the flood, was intoxicated, and we know that Lot was intoxicated, and so certainly some of the references have to do with that which is alcohol, but not always. It's a broad spectrum. There are some Christians who seem to argue that all of the references to wine in the Bible have no alcohol. That's just silly. It would be impossible for the people in the New Testament to be spoken of in the Old Testament as well as drunkards if there was no alcohol in the wine being referenced. But as you read your Bible, you come to discover that wines were used for many different reasons. Remember the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and he said, take now a little wine for your stomach's sake. It was medicinally used. We know that when the Lord spoke of the Good Samaritan, finding someone along the pathway, he poured in wine as a medicine into the open sores of the one that he came across. The Bible is filled with references to wine, but here's the big message that we need to get a handle on. The wine of the Bible was different. The wine of the Bible was just totally different. than the wine that is on the shelves at the grocery stores or in the restaurants that we inhabit today. You see, natural fermentation begins immediately when that grape is crushed. On the skin of that grape there'll be enough of a yeast like product to begin the fermentation process. And so natural fermentation is going to immediately begin when that grape juice is contacting air and the openness begins. But under normal circumstances. Wine that has not been treated and just is in its natural state and naturally fermented is going to reach a maximum capacity of about 7% alcohol. This is really important because when we're talking to people about the drinking of wine, we're not comparing grapes to grapes. You're really comparing apples to oranges. What they were drinking in the Bible times, naturally fermented, would yield a 7% alcohol content. What happens when it goes beyond that? I have some scientists in this room, but when it goes beyond that 7%, it gets nasty, okay? It becomes vinegar. And nobody wants that. And so the natural product would be somewhere around 7% alcohol. Today's table wines are about 14% alcohol. How'd that happen, Pastor Phelps? Super grapes? I mean, you got these little grapes that have Superman things on the back of them, and they're altogether more toxic? No. There have been many techniques that have come along since about 1,000 and 1,200 AD that have really caused modern wines and modern drinks to be far more toxic than the ancient people would have ever, ever imagined. Extra yeast is added. People have developed ways to moderate the temperatures. And when people are dealing with Fortified wines, like a sherry, they can be dealing with something that has a 20% alcohol content. So to say, well, hey, in the Old Testament they were picking up wine and using it, yeah, but it was never beyond a 7% content value. In fact, modern fortified wines, 18 to 24% is often noted on the bottles. And when you look at that which has been distilled, Distillation came along around 1000 AD. What's distillation? I'll get in trouble with the suitors for singing the West Virginia hymn tonight. They are from West Virginia, and I'm just kind of a byproduct of that state. But the West Virginia hymn that I learned was, oh, the West Virginia hills, how majestic and how grand, with their summits bathed in glory like the great Emmanuel's land. Is it any wonder then that my heart with rapture thrills, as I stand once more with loved ones on the West Virginia hills. Then the chorus, oh, the stills, beautiful, I mean hills, beautiful hills. What's distillation? It's that little round thing on the end of the bucket that drops that corn squeeze in. That was invented about 1000 AD. And so with the invention of distillation, now we're bringing alcohol content up into hard liquors of 40%. That's when people are talking about a Jack Daniels or talking about hard liquor, they're not talking about anything that people in Bible times would have known. If you're still in Proverbs, go back to Proverbs chapter 9. Proverbs chapter 9. When you deal with the topic of alcohol in the Bible, You need to realize that though that wine may have reached its maximum potency of 7%, no one would have thought of drinking that straight. Proverbs chapter 9, you've read these passages before this evening, let's think on them. In Proverbs chapter 9, wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn her seven pillars. She hath killed her beast, Proverbs 9, verse 2. She hath mingled her wine. She hath furnished her table. She sent forth her maidens. She cries to the highest places of the city, who so is simple, let him turn and hinder. As for him that wanteth understanding, she says, come, who wisdom gives this invitation. And what does she say, verse 5, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Well, what's that? Well, the common practice in the Bible times was to mingle. the water and the wine together, thus bringing the alcohol down even further. Let's do a little comparison here this evening. We've noted that Bible wine normally contained four to 7% alcohol. Today, we would say it takes about 32 ounces or a quart of Bible wine to equal one five ounce serving of modern wine. You're guzzling a lot of stuff to equal one cup. In fact, we can do it this way. A shot of alcohol is 1.5 ounces. That's 0.6 ounces of alcohol. That shot of liquor containing 0.6 ounces could be comparable to a glass of wine. A 5-ounce glass of wine can contain about 0.6 ounces of alcohol. A can of beer, 12 ounces, contains about 0.6 ounces of alcohol. Now, if we're talking about Bible wines, we're saying it's going to take you about 32 ounces of that stuff to equal one beer. That's three cans of beer in Old Testament wine to equal, you get it, don't you? You had to work at getting drunk in Bible times. The whole idea today is you don't have to work very hard. Just a couple shots and you're there. But oh, by the way, it's wisdom here in Proverbs that's mingling. It's mingling the water with the wine. Why did they do that, pastor? It just makes a whole lot more sense to me that if you're going to drink wine, you're going to want to enjoy the taste. I wouldn't want to pour it in my water. I've traveled in Eastern Europe, some of you have as well. In Eastern Europe, it's very normal that when they serve you a glass of water, one, there are no ice cubes in it, right? And they'll put a little fruit juice in it. We call that a cordial. There's no alcoholic content in the fruit juice, they just do that. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not so good, but they just do that. That's to help their palate. How many have traveled to the Holy Land? You've been to Israel and the Middle East. Let's see your hands around here. Okay, remember those cisterns that you went down into? I've been in cisterns in the Holy Land that are as big as this room. They knew how to gather water. They would get all the little rivulets off of the hills and flow them down deeply into a cistern that they dug and they had plastered. And then they would pull that water out during the dry season for their town. Now what would be in that water? It wasn't purified. It wasn't run through the city's water purification plant. Vermin, algae, mildew, molds, any number of things could be in that water. And if we are like they, we would appreciate a little fruit juice in that water before we drink it. And so it was very typical in the times of Christ and in the Old Testament times for them to mix and make what we would consider to be a cordial, a fruit drink within the water. But as they mixed it, it's interesting to discover in the mixture of their componentry how much they were mixing. One part wine to as much as two parts water was a common mix. Once that mix was made, when the person lifts up the glass, the maximum alcohol content they're dealing with is 2.5%. Now we've talked a lot about the numbers tonight, but that's important. Listen, it's important because when people say they drank wine in Bible times, true, but you're not comparing grapes to grapes. What people are drinking today is far more addictive, far more harmful, far more rapidly than anyone in the Bible times would have ever even imagined. That's important to know. And the Bible says that they always, it seems, were mixing it. In fact, the Lord is going to speak about the wrath that he pours out in tribulational times is coming in Revelation 14 and verse 10 as unmixed wrath. Reading from the Encyclopedia Americana, in all these countries, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, wine was always diluted with water, a long-standing custom in Mediterranean regions. This is the Encyclopedia Americana, where pure potable water is not very common. Here is Maynard Eremine from Collier's Encyclopedia. The wine of classical antiquity was very different from modern wine. They always diluted it with water before consumption. Then this statement, only barbarians drank undiluted wine. People in Bible times had reduced content alcohol to begin with and then they mixed it with their water to be ever so careful. That's what they did. Proverbs chapter 23 says in verse 31, look not, let's turn there, Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23 verse 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it's red, when it gives its color in its cup and it moves itself aright. I'm certainly no wine connoisseur, but I think I can easily imagine what Proverbs was talking about. If you look in that cup and it's beet red and you see it moving in there and when you swirl it, there's a texture to be enjoyed, Proverbs is saying that's when you don't even look at it. Norman Geisler from the Liberty Center for Christian Scholarship at Liberty University wrote this, many wine drinking Christians today mistakenly assume that what the New Testament meant by wine is identical to wine used today. This, however, is false. In fact, today's wine is, by biblical definition, strong drink, and hence it's forbidden by the Bible. What was frequently meant by wine was basically purified water. Therefore, Christians ought not to drink wine, beer, or alcoholic beverages for their actual strong drink, which is forbidden in Scripture. Even ancient pagans did not drink what some Christians drink today. Christians should be aware that what they're taking in conversation is certainly not what the Bible is talking about at all. So let's go to this. Why then, pastor, should I just say no? Not simply because our church covenant says so. Why should I say no? As a pastor for 35 years, On more than one occasion, I've had the responsibility of working with people who, with gracious hearts desiring to remove themselves from a very addictive substance, have turned to me for help. On more than one occasion, I've had to take them to a detox center. That is not an easy thing. Every one of those journeys, for me, is a convictional journey. No one signs up to be the alcoholic. But one in nine people, some say one in 10, who drink the first drink, one in nine, one in 10, will become the alcoholic. And if those people have been in your family or in your life and you care about souls, it's very easy for me to make a covenantal commitment that says, I'm not going there. I thought I'd read the testimony this evening from General Harrison. Many of you would know him as the former President of the United States. He's well known in this region. At an occasion, someone lifted a glass and said, ìDrink to the Generalís health.î Harrison replied by raising a glass of water. Another man offered a toast. ìWill our honored guests favor us this time by drinking in response a glass of wine?î And Harrison replied, gentlemen, not a drop of liquor has ever passed my lips. I made a resolve when I started out in life that I would avoid strong drink. That vow was made when I was a young man and when I graduated from college. The other 16 members of my college class now fill drunkard's graves. I owe my health, my happiness, my prosperity to that vow. A hushed silence came over the audience for the wisdom of the words that could not be refuted. Take your Bibles and go with me to 1 Corinthians 6. Let's run through some reasons that we ought to say no. Beyond our church covenant, looking in the book and asking, Lord, what's best for me? We go to 1 Corinthians 6. Alcohol is very addictive. One in nine, according to most statistics, who drink will involuntarily become addicted. 1 Corinthians 6, the 12th verse, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. You see, there are those who will say from pulpits, they can't call it a sin. We have to be reasonable. We need to set reasonable boundaries. And we answer from God's Word, all things may be lawful. But just because you think they're lawful doesn't mean they're right, rational, or helpful. I will not be brought under the power of any. That which is addictive and so dangerous ought to be avoided. Alcohol is very addictive. Alcohol can be very harmful to the body. And what, 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own? For you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. It seems like every year I hear a new report that a glass of wine every day is a good thing for people that are heart patients. You ever heard those reports? I wonder who pays for those ads. I'm not usually conspiratorial in my outlook on life, but I do wonder. We're not just talking about sclerosis and the loss of mental faculties. The Bible says, who hath woe, who hath contention, who hath blueness of wounds. We talk about the body being broken. It's not simply the liver being attacked. The body can be broken in many ways by many misdeeds when someone is under the influence. And the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and therefore it behooves the Christian to be very careful what enters that body. We can go on and say the Bible forbids strong drink. The Bible forbids strong drink, not to be looking on it when it moves itself aright. Now I'm going back to Proverbs chapter 23, and we're going to move from passage to passage quickly. In Proverbs 23, who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who has babblings, who has wounds without cause, who has redness of the eyes? Those that tarry long at the wine and seek mixed wine, look not thou upon that wine when it's red, when it gives its color, when it moves itself aright. The Bible forbids the use of strong drink. In a corrupt culture, abstinence becomes a wonderful testimony. I appreciated President George W. Bush being transparent enough in the campaign trail to say that in his youth, while filled with indiscretions, he discovered himself to be an alcoholic. He made a strong statement, that's not too many years ago, that he could not raise a glass and a toast even in a diplomatic dinner. He would avoid it at all cost. I wish he could take it a step further and say, and I do that because I'm serving God. That's what Daniel did. When Daniel was placed in the court of Babylon, he had decisions that he had to make. And I'm sure that the Babylonian food that was offered to him looked delicious. We can only imagine the wine cellar of King Nebuchadnezzar. But Daniel and his friends, made a vow that they would not displease their Lord. And by that vow, they influenced the history of the world. In a corrupt culture, abstinence becomes an increasingly larger testimony. Why should we say no? Because believers should guard their actions so that others will not stumble. I'm turning now to Romans 14. Romans 14. I have a very dear friend in the ministry who was actively engaged in ministry for many years. He came from a very, very difficult family background where almost all of his family tree was filled with drunkards. After having undergone a medical procedure, a medical doctor, I believe very unwisely, advised my friend that it would be well for him to drink a glass of wine before he went to bed at night in order for him to be somewhat sedated. He was having a very difficult time sleeping after having gone through a very extensive surgery and a very large transformation of his anatomy. So the doctor said, just drink a glass of wine every night. His ministry ended effectively when his wife was ill and well intended, he left his home in an inebriated state, having had his glass of wine before bed, to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for his wife, who was really in need and was not fit to travel. He was pulled over for drunk driving. And it was discovered that, well-intended, even under doctor's orders, this man whose family members had all been wrecked by the bottle, he too now had succumbed to the influence of alcohol. What a sad story. Folks, I don't want anyone entering a life of sin and sorrow because they've entered through the door of my example easily. Let me say that again. As a dad of five children and a grandfather of five grandchildren, I want to die with a testimony to my children that I had a very happy, engaged life without ever having to pick up a bottle to get happier. They don't need to stumble over the bad example that we may set as Christians. And that goes for all of us here. Romans 14 says in verse 21, It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby you make your brother stumble or offend. Folks, you frankly don't know the disposition of that person with whom you're drinking. You don't know if they're the one that's going to be shackled. So why be the instrument of cruelty? Take a pledge and just say, that doesn't need to go here. Believers should guard their actions so others don't stumble. Christians are kings and priests after all. We know in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 we're a chosen generation. We're a royal priesthood. Take your Bibles and go back to Proverbs 31 with that passage from 1 Peter ringing in your ears. We are kings and priests before the Lord. Look at Proverbs chapter 31. And let's draw a parallel tonight. For those who are New Testament kings and priests, Proverbs 31 has a word of instruction in verse 4. It's not for kings, O Lemuel, It's not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any that are afflicted. The counsel of the book of wisdom in the Old Testament is that kings, and we are kings and priests according to the New Testament, would do well not to touch the bottle. The Bible's picture of the wine drinker is always unflattering. Ephesians chapter 5, and be not drunk with wine where it is excess. And so the Old Testament talks about the drunkards of Edom and about the tables in the book of Isaiah that are covered with their vomit. The Bible's picture is unflattering. Alcohol is a sedative that just simply dulls the mind. The Lord said that we're to be on the lookout for His day is coming. I'm reading from Isaiah chapter 28, Isaiah 28, the seventh verse. But they also have erred through wine and strong drink and 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 their judgment. In a world that's so in need of someone, just someone, to stand as a light, We need to admit that alcohol is a sedative that dulls the mind and will cause us not to stand as we ought. We've already noted this, but ancient wine cannot be compared to modern wine. It's interesting, in the book of Acts, when they're filled with the spirit, the community can't explain it. They were accusing them of being drunk, and the response of the apostles was, how can we be drunk? Don't you see it's still morning? Why'd they say that? Why was that they're out against the accusation? Because to get drunk in Old Testament or New Testament times was an all-day process. Ancient wines cannot be compared and drunkenness, according to 1 Corinthians 6, is a damning sin. Drunkenness is a damning sin. We live in a time when I believe we don't ask the question often enough, is the person really saved? That's a worthy question. Giving all diligence, brethren, make your calling and your election sure. I appreciate that sincere prayers may have been prayed. But we ought to expect, according to the epistles of John, that those who have truly been saved do not continue in sin. There's a change. There's a change. I'm happy to say that my Uncle Bill was changed by God. His change began when he went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And he saw himself as others saw him. He didn't find his eternal change there, however. He found his eternal change when he bowed the knee and asked Jesus Christ to be his Savior. And the Lord got him off the bottle. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves and mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, or revilers, or extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." Can I sum up what we've said this evening by simply saying this? Be on the lookout. Listen up. Times, they are a-changing. When in our evangelical conservative schools, the conversation of the dormitories is the value of social drinking, times have changed. When in our schools like Moody and Wheaton and Cornerstone and Goshen, the rules against alcohol consumption, at least for the faculty, have all been taken away, then times have changed. And while times are changing in some states like Colorado where they're legalizing what was spoken of as an entry-level drug, marijuana, when I was in school, and those who are really talking about it say it's far more addictive, far more potent marijuana than was used back in the hippie days, it's a puzzle to me why the Christian community has to be so closely in step with the lost world. It's a compromise. It's a compromise of convenience because we have a hard time standing alone anywhere, don't we? But by God's grace, I would plead before the throne of grace that we be a church where young people hear parents who will confront this head on, who will say, son, daughter, the best thing you can do to avoid losing your life, taking the life of someone else, losing your family and all the values you've ever stood for is stay away from that stuff. It's the devil's brew. it will kill you. At last, it will bite like a viper. I don't need a church covenant to tell me that. I simply need to read God's Word and look around and come to a conclusion that says, if I in this short life that God has given me am going to serve the Lord with everything that I have, I want to say, I want to go to my grave alcohol free. I want to counsel. That's the best way to live. And I want to stand up when young people think it's cool and say it's deadly and it's sin. Pastor, up to now you didn't call it sin. How can we take so many principles of God's Word and have clear minds that see what this stuff is doing to people and not stand up on our heels and say it's sin? Somebody needs to say it. It's not cool. It's not pretty. It's not a good example. It's a violation of our church covenant. It's going down a road that's going to destroy somebody. Wake up! It's sin. And then pray. Because some have already been bitten. And we go back to what we preached this morning. When they've been bitten, we still love. When God does the work of victory in their heart, we embrace. But by God's grace, I do not want to be part of a Christian community that compromises its way to losing a generation of young people and a generation of Christian testimony because somehow social drinking is imbibed today, no pun intended, within the church. Our covenant stands, and I'm glad to stand with it. Dear Abby, the letter was written. I have a message I'd like to pass on to teenagers. I hope you'll print it. Young people, that first beer may carry a cost far higher than what is paid from the label. Let me tell you what it costs me, that first beer. A career in the Air Force because after six years I wanted to drink beer instead of report for duty. An accounting career because I stole from my employer to buy beer. A close relation with my parents and sister because they don't drink. A son and a daughter, they've refused any contact with me for 11 years. A close relationship with my wife and another son because my wife doesn't drink. Friends I used and abused until they had enough of me and cut me off. A secure future. I'm 53 with no savings, no assets, and no insurance. My driver's license. Medical care. I fear what a doctor may find. My self-respect. I'm a loser. There's no reason for me to be sober. In the 70s, I attended AA. I stayed sober for two years. It didn't last. 33 years ago, when I drank my first beer, I had dreams and plans. I had no idea that I'd be a common labor and a drunk. So before you start drinking, think of where it may land you in 33 years. Abby, I'm one of the lucky ones. You may ask me why I'm lucky. Well, I'm alive. My drinking hasn't killed anyone yet. I just wish there were a foolproof cure, but there's not. So the only way to avoid ending up like me is never risk drinking that first beer. Believe me, it's not worth it. Will you stand with me, please, as we pray? Father, this evening we've entered into a difficult topic. Now I pray, Lord, that you'd allow the conviction of the Spirit of God to bring conviction to our hearts that we would willingly be different, lovingly be different, boldly be different, in order to give an answer, in order to stand in an evil day. And Lord, we know that Your Word says that those that are drunk are drunk in the night. We know that we've been commanded to be sober, be vigilant, knowing our adversary the devil is a roaring lion, seeks whom he may devour. And we know that Your Word says we're ever to be looking upward, realizing that Your coming is nigh, it's even at the door. And so, Lord, I pray that Your blessings would be upon us and our families And for those who have already been hurt, dear Lord, for those who have already been hurt, I pray that you give us a compassionate spirit and a boldness, for we know that those who are convicted will always agree. And we know that those who are not yet convicted need to hear. And so, Lord, help us to be vigilant. Help us to be lovingly so, so we might be found faithful at the day of your coming. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.