Well, today I am leading us through a study on a biblical doctrine of alcohol. I've entitled the message, Alcohology. The study of alcohol. Not one of those messages where many people will be falling asleep, I imagine. The way we got here is we're in John chapter 2. And we're studying the glory of Christ and John 2.11 says that in the first miracle of Christ in turning the water to wine, He began to show His glory. His disciples saw the sign and believed in Him. The thrust of John 2 then is about Jesus Christ. It's not about wine. Alright, so last week we had a message considering how Christ's presence at the wedding and His miracle showed His goodness, His kindness in ministering to the hosts that would have been so embarrassed by the wine running out. That didn't only show His goodness, it showed His great power that He could create wine from water. It also gave us a picture of His great salvation. Throughout the Scripture, wine is used as a picture of salvation, and we're invited to partake of it. And I think in particular, His going from the pots that were used for this formality and pharisaic washings, and turning from that to a lavish, generous wine, I think the picture of Jesus brought. So His goodness, His greatness, His saving work, all was on display, and the disciples saw it and believed in Him. I did mention to you, though, that because this is a topic that controversial to people, really a topic that the Bible says a lot about. We would take one week off and we would consider the topic of wine or of alcohol in the scripture. So we're going to do that today and there is a lot here. There's a lot of information. You may not have thought much about how much the Bible talks about wine. It talks about it a lot in both Testaments. Genesis to Revelation, so we have our work cut out for us. Today is going to be one of those messages you're probably not going to be able to turn to every passage. God willing, you can get the recording and listen to it again. You might write down some references and maybe just listen to what the Bible has to say. Let me tell you for a moment my background as it relates to the issue of alcohol. I was raised in a home that was a teetotaler home, no drinking at all, and was raised really to believe that alcohol consumption of any kind was wrong. I remember after my second year of college, I was in Chicago doing a church internship and I went golfing and I got paired up with this other guy and the guy professed to be a Christian But he went to Willow Creek, and automatically I asked him, you know, I'm not sure if he's really a Christian. He goes to Willow Creek, that's a big seeker-sensitive church, pastoral bibles, I'm not so sure he's a Christian. But we went, and he actually seemed to understand the gospel and believe in Jesus Christ. And then when we finished, I'm putting my clubs away, he goes to his trunk, he opens the cooler, he got out a beer and started drinking. And I knew he couldn't possibly really be a Christian if that's the way he would behave. I'm the one who wrote our church covenant. And our church covenant says that those who partake of or sell alcohol can't be members of our church. I wrote that. And so my position is very conservative. I think sometimes my position has been so conservative that I've come to scripture with a preconceived notion of what it teaches on the topic, and sometimes have taken my conservative position and kind of foisted it onto the text. So if the Bible talks favorably about wine, it couldn't really mean wine. It must mean something else. And I've told people when Jesus turned water to wine, it couldn't be real wine because he wouldn't give people something that could intoxicate them, and I've argued that way. And I think sometimes just allowing my bias to affect my interpretation, that's not a good thing. So I've had very conservative positions about wine from teaching. And I still continue to have a very conservative position on alcohol. On the other hand, though I haven't seen alcohol abuse like many of you have, my father, my dad's dad, was an alcoholic. He destroyed his family. He came to Christ years later. began drinking alcohol myself. I first began at a friend's house, I think I was about 10 years old, and we raided the kid's parents' liquor cabinet. His parents had a bottle, and we figured if we drank a little bit of each bottle, they'd never notice, so I started drinking at age 15. Now I have children that, you know, my second one is age 15. I'm terrified to think of that. I was in junior high school. time I was really drunk. I remember being in a public place and I wet my pants in a very public setting and we laughed about it, but it's just not that funny. It's not something I wish had happened. I remember in high school Going with friends from school. Drinking. Going with friends from school. Drinking. And God's grace pulled me out of that. And I hate it. I hate it. He pulled me out of a dark hole of my heart at a time where I was going out drinking with friends and then my dad was preaching the message on parenting and on the responsibility of parents to control their children, and I just had to say, If you don't know what you're saying, we need to stop. It was that event that just changed my life and changed my heart. It was never something I had planned for the last few years of high school. And I began to walk with God and He changed my life. I'm very gracious. I'm a trophy of God's grace. I wish my past didn't happen, but it did. And I don't have any regrets that although God graciously pulled me out of There were friends both at church and at school that participated with me, and I influenced them. I put a stumbling block in front of them, and when God pulled me out graciously, He didn't pull all of them out. And many of them, that just became part of their life, and they went on to ruin. That's just my experience. I think about our corporate experience. There are people in this assembly that have probably been taught that any wine in scripture is just grape juice or Kool-Aid and there's no such thing as alcoholic beverage in the Bible. So some of you are from a very conservative background that way. Some here probably never even considered that drinking alcohol should be considered. You've just always done it. It's been part of your life. And the idea that it's something you should step away from might be shocking to you. There are several here who have been alcoholics. And God has delivered you and is delivering you. I want to be careful as we speak to you. Some of you have been abused by alcoholics. Some of you have family members that have been killed or imprisoned because of the dangers of alcohol and drunk driving and all of those things. And for some, alcohol in one way or another has been a major part of your life for decades. That means my job is complicated this morning. So what am I going to do? I'm going to skip the message and we'll talk about Christmas instead. Not really. I'm going to preach the Bible today. The only safe thing I can do on a hot topic like this is to preach the Bible today. We say that the Bible is our only rule for faith and practice. We say that we believe in the Reformation ideal of sola scriptura, that we come to the Scripture and we believe the Bible. That's what we are about. Well, today I'm going to preach the Bible. And you've heard me say in the past, I don't want to be any wider than Scripture. I don't want to be any narrower than Scripture. Today, based on my little ESV, I need to be five and five-eighths inches wide. We're going to preach the Scripture. And I don't want you to worry that we're adopting any new position or that I've been reading anything strange, but we do need to understand what the Bible says on the issue. And I think for many of us, we've come to it and said, oh, it's a no-brainer. The Bible very clearly disapproves of all drinking in all settings at all times. And what is there to talk about? Well, actually, the Bible is not as clear as all that, and we need wisdom as we address the issue. My job today has been beautifully stated by my friend named Randy Yagley. He's a professor at Bob Jones University at their seminary. He recently wrote a very good book on alcohol, and it got him just brutalized unfairly. People are basically calling him a heretic because he laid out what the Bible has to say about alcohol, and then he ended up arguing for abstinence. But he just was honest with the Scriptures, and people just killed him over it. Friends and foes alike, his statement in the book was this, as an exegete, that is, as an interpreter of Scripture, I am bound by what the Scripture actually says, not by what I wish it might say. We need to see what the Bible says and then draw appropriate conclusions. So, I hope that you are prayerful, and I have been prayerful, and I want this to be a message that is good for you and for your family. And all of you in all these different settings of life, please don't miss here today. But we don't need to be afraid of the Bible. Lord, please teach us. And please help me to get your word right. And we trust your word. And I pray that we would submit to it. And I pray that we would be warned by it and built by it. Open our eyes today, not to our ideas, not to my ideas, to the law of scripture. And I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Some of you might be surprised and say, Pastor, why is it a big deal? Just preach the Proverbs. It says, wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging. Whoever is deceived by it is not wise. I will preach that. However, we can't deny the fact that godly people in both Testaments drink wine, real wine. We have Melchizedek bringing wine to Abraham. Melchizedek, the type of Christ, bringing wine to Abraham. Abraham drinking, we have David who would drink, and Paul would drink. And I believe, and we'll talk about it, that Jesus drank wine, real wine. Godly men throughout church history have consumed wine or other sorts of alcoholic beverages. The idea of not drinking at all as a Christian norm is a fairly new idea and a fairly American idea. I don't think it's a bad idea, but I want us to understand that it's something that we've come to fairly recently. Wine in both Testaments was indeed fermented and thus alcoholic. The attempt to say that wine in Scripture was not fermented and did not contain any alcohol is just a bogus idea. It's not honest. Look with me, for example, in 1 Samuel. We'll start here. In 1 Samuel, we have an example of Hannah praying. She goes into the temple and she's praying for God to give her a child. And if you'll remember, she's fervent in prayer, moving her lips, and Eli, the high priest, sees her and he rebukes her. And 1 Samuel 1, verses 14 and 15, She continued praying before the Lord. Eli observed her mouth. She was speaking her heart. Verse 14 says, Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. That's the basic word for wine in the Old Testament. Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered, no my Lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not drunk neither wine nor strong drink. but I've been pouring out my soul before the Lord." Aha! She hadn't been drinking wine. That settles it. She wasn't drunk. And yet, in answer to her prayer, the Lord gave her a son. She weaned him, and eventually she brings him to the temple to be raised by Eli. And we read in verse 24 of this same passage, when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah, a flower, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. And it's the same thing. He says, you're intoxicated with wine. She says, actually, I'm not. But it's not because they wouldn't drink wine. She brought wine as part of the provision for her family, for her son as she was bringing him to the temple. We could look at a similar comparison. In 1 Samuel 25, I'll just summarize it. In 1 Samuel 25, David and his men come to this fool named Nabal, and he asks for provisions for his armies, and Nabal says no, and David's going to strike them dead. But Abigail intervenes, and she brings provision, and part of the provision she brings is wine. So she brings to a group of fighting men wine to assist them to give them drink. What's the word I'm looking for? To hydrate them. To help them. And it's wine. And then if we were to read further into verses 36-38, the fool Nabal, when she returned home, she couldn't tell him what she had done because she was drunk. And she had to wait for the wine to wear off. And it's the same exact word. What she used in a good sense, he used in a wicked sense. And it's the same thing. We can't just say that somehow the wine in Scripture is not intoxicating. That's dishonest. And Esther 1, do you remember Esther 1? Begins with this drunken feast and they're drinking wine. But then in Esther 5 and 6 and 7, Esther is going before her husband, the king, to plead for the lives of the Jews, and she says to all the Jews, fast and pray, and then I'm going to go and make this request. And as she does so, she prepares a feast, and in both settings, Esther 5-6 and Esther 7-2, part of that lavish feast that she provided as hostess was wine. So, wine had been used in a drunken feast and then wine was used, apparently, appropriately, by Esther. You can't say that wine doesn't intoxicate. You say, well, it depends on what kind of wine. Actually, that won't do either. Because although there are various words for wine in the Old and New Testaments, all of them could be used to the point of intoxication. The basic word is yayan, but that could intoxicate as we've seen. And we first see it when Noah gets drunk with wine. The first mention of it in Scripture is Noah getting drunk with wine. And then we're going to see it later where Lot gets drunk and has this wicked relationship with his daughter. And he says, see, it's wicked. Right, but in the middle of that is chapter 14 where Melchizedek brings the same word and he brings it to Abraham for provision. It's complicated. It's more complicated, perhaps, than we've ever been willing to admit. You say, well, there's new wine, Pastor, and that's not intoxicating. Well, the word for new wine that's often translated that way is tirosh, but Hosea 4.11 says that tirosh can be intoxicating. There's asses, which is juice or new wine, but Hosea 49.26 says that that could be intoxicating. Shakar is strong drink, and that could be intoxicating, 1 Samuel 1.15. In the New Testament, we have wine. Jesus turned the water into wine, and that word is oinos. That's the basic New Testament Greek word for wine. Jesus turned the water into wine, but the same word is used in Ephesians 5, verse 18, which says, Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. You have a word used once, it's glucose, essentially. And that is new wine. You say new wine could intoxicate. Actually, the only place it's used is in Acts 2.13, where the disciples are being mocked and they said, oh, they're full of new wine. Those guys are talking that way because they're drunk. And they weren't. But all of these wines could be used favorably or they could be used sinfully. Gary Reamer's another, Bob Jones' prophesies. With the possible exception of fruit of the vine, there are no biblical terms that clearly and consistently distinguish fermented wine and unfermented juice. In fact, without refrigeration or pressurized bottling, unfermented grape juice was only available immediately after grape harvest. What I'm saying is, I don't want you to drink. Really, I don't. But I can't give you bogus reasons because I want you to do a careful thing. And for a long time, preachers have just been dishonest and they would say things the Bible doesn't say. We can't handle the Scripture that way. Attempts to say, yeah, but they would serve mingled wine, and mixed wine wasn't intoxicating. Actually, it was. And often mixed wine would mean it was just being mixed with herbs or with honey to make it more enjoyable, like in Proverbs 23.30. But it was intoxicating in Proverbs 23.30, if abused. You say it was diluted, and we will get to that point. That is an important point. Culturally, the wine was typically diluted. So they didn't have a process of distillation. So please don't understand, when we're reading about Bible wine, it was not distilled like the hard liquor that's available today. Don't argue in favor of liquor on the basis of what they drank in the New Testament, because they didn't have a distillation process. The alcohol was about 7%. But even that wine, they would take and they would typically water it down quite significantly. We can say that what they drank wasn't apples to apples or grapes to grapes with what we have today. And I think that's a point that we need to consider. But even if we say they diluted it, we still have to acknowledge that even the diluted wine had some degree of alcohol in it. We're just being honest with the text. Wine in both testaments was fermented and thus alcoholic. Wine in both testaments was abused. and drunkenness is repeatedly warned against and forbidden. Alright, I say it's complicated. If you come to the issue and say it's a no-brainer that drinking alcohol is sin, obviously, duh, I say we need to study the Bible more carefully. If you come to it and say, hey, they're drinking the Bible, I can and will drink today, duh, I say I think you need to read the Bible more carefully. There's two ditches. I just heard a message this week from a fundamentalist pastor, and he said in John 2, Jesus turned water to wine, but obviously it wasn't fermented, because when God creates things, He creates good things. And fermentation is breaking down the wine, it's beginning to go bad, and Jesus would never make anything like that. You're trying too hard. If Jesus made cottage cheese, it wouldn't be fresh milk. It would be cottage cheese. God's the one who actually invented the process of fermentation. He made it that way. So the man was trying too hard in order to protect his flock, probably. And I love that. I appreciate the spirit. But we can't play fast and loose with the Bible. When the Bible says Jesus turned water to wine, he turned water to wine. On the other hand, I heard another pastor, his name is Mark Driscoll, and you've heard me speak of him before. And he's addressing the issue, and I was very sad by what I heard. He was a bull in a china closet. He was so reactionary, saying, we can drink, we should drink, let me tell you why. And he's using the Bible basically to tell people, go out and enjoy yourselves. And I'm thinking, man, if there's people under his preaching, like there are people here, what a careless thing to do. The last thing I want to do as a pastor is to be a tempter to you. So I've heard people in one ditch, and I've heard people in another ditch. One of my favorite Bible teachers doesn't drink at all. He's a teetotaler. He abstains totally. But he has to be honest with the Scripture. He said, actually, the Bible does not require abstinence, and he's taught a very balanced and careful position. But his son is kind of in your face, yeah, do what you want. It's so important about that. I don't want to preach carefully and then have people take that and abuse what they hear me saying to lead them into sin or to just defend their own flesh. It's complicated. So let's see what the Bible says. I'm going to try to point you to the Scriptures and listen to it today and go home and study it some more. The Bible says a lot about alcohol. Let's study it. Major point number one is this, and I'm going to have to summarize here because I want some time at the end for making applications. Major point one is this. Both Testaments speak favorably of wine. Both Testaments speak favorably of wine. In the Old and New Testament, it was a staple of life. It was necessary. Again, I mentioned Melchizedek bringing it to Abraham. I mentioned Abigail bringing it to David and his men. And all through the prophets and through the Psalms, It's just a reality of life. It's an agricultural society. And a good harvest not only included wheat, but it included the vineyard bringing forth grapes. And if those grapes weren't to be lost, it's one thing to retain wheat. It's another thing to retain juice. How are you going to retain juice? And you put it through the process of fermentation. So it would be keepable. That's just reality. They didn't have the sort of water options that we have today. They wouldn't just go around and get bottled water or ask for a Mountain Dew. They needed things that were healthy to drink, but they didn't just turn on a faucet like we do. Can you relate to that? Well, have you ever been to Mexico? Who's been to Mexico? Who's drunk the water in Mexico? Did it ever bite you back? Even in a developed country like Mexico, drinking water that we take for granted is not available. And I'm just saying, what we assume was available now has not always everywhere been the case. And drinking water by itself could be a dangerous thing. In fact, Paul's going to tell Timothy, Timothy, you're killing yourself with the water you're drinking. Take a little bit of wine, not so much medicinally, but because the wine would purify and make safe the water. So, it's a reality of life in Bible times. In the Old Testament, the Old Testament presents wine as a symbol of God's blessing. Genesis 27-28, Isaac is blessing Jacob, thinking he's blessing Esau, but he says, May God give you of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. My son, may God give you plenty of wine. Not a lot of American Christian dads would pray that for their son. Rightly so. But it was symbolic of God's blessing. Deuteronomy 7, 12 and 13, because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord will keep with you the covenant and steadfast love that He swore to your fathers. He will give you grain and wine. He'll cause them to increase. Proverbs 3, 9 and 10. You honor the Lord with your offerings, with your substance. And when you do, so shall your barns be filled with plenty, and your presses will burst forth with new wine. God will take care of you in giving you wine. It's part of the blessing of God. Other passages. Jeremiah 31, 12. Joel 2, 19 and 24. On the other hand, When times were lean and God was judging His people, one indication of judgment was that they would have little or poor wine. Isaiah 1.21-23 Isaiah 16.10 etc. etc. etc. Jeremiah, Lamentations, Joel. And I can give you those references. It was a sable of life. It was a symbol of God's blessing. It was a symbol of joy. Wine was a symbol of joy. Jotham is teaching a parable in Judges 9.13. And he has a vine speaking to other trees, and they're wanting the vine to come and rule them. And the vine says to them, Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men? Shall I stop making wine that cheers God and men? What? Wine cheers God and men? Well, you know what? Argue with Jotham or God, because He's the one who wrote the book. Nehemiah 8.10, we often quote this, the joy of the Lord is your strength. That's actually after this statement. He said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to the Lord. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. He says go home and have a feast. And symbolic of that was God causing them to rejoice by giving them wine. Psalm 104, verse 15. In praise to God for His provision, it says, You cause the grass to grow for livestock, plants for man to cultivate, that He may bring forth food from the earth. And it says, God, You cause wine to gladden the heart of man, and oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart. God gives wine, Scripture says, to gladden man. Ecclesiastes 9.7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart. Ecclesiastes 10.19 Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. The Song of Solomon refers to it often. In other words, the Bible often talks about wine as a symbol of God giving His people joy. It's even more spiritual than that. The Bible uses wine as a symbol of God giving His people salvation. Proverbs 9, we have wisdom personified, contrasted with the temptress and the prostitute. Wisdom really is personifying God's calling people to salvation. Come to me and eat of my feast. And it says, wisdom has mixed her wine and set her table. Isaiah 25, 6. He talks about God's reclaiming and redeeming His people. Prophetically, it says, on this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of morrow, of aged wine well refined. God is going to save His people, and symbolically, He does that by giving them a feast with aged wine. Isaiah 55 A gospel message. Come everyone who thirsts spiritually. Unsaved people, you have spiritual longings. Come everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. He who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. The Old Testament presented it as a symbol of salvation. The Old Testament included it as part of worship. It was brought as a sacrifice to be poured out unto the Lord. Exodus 29.40, Leviticus 23.13, etc., etc. Other times, it was brought with the rest of the feast where people would eat it before the Lord as though they were having dinner with Him. We read of that in Deuteronomy 14.22-26. There it says, you get wine or strong drink and bring it, whatever you desire, before the Lord and eat it there. Other times, wine was given as a tithe as part of the provision for the priests. They would bring wine and other things and give it as a tithe. Deuteronomy 12, 17 and 18, all over the book of Nehemiah, etc. Sometimes wine was given as a narcotic to those who were dying. Proverbs 31, verses 4-7. It is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to the one who is perishing. Literally, the guy who's dying. And then it builds on that. I think all of it is talking, not just he's depressed. This guy is dying. And the parallel is he's miserable and it's fitting. Give him some pity and mercy. All of those are favorable uses in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the New Testament speaks favorably of wine on occasions. Jesus Christ created it. In the passage, it says that the man was amazed that the best wine came last because he says usually people wait until the people are drunk. Can you say it says drunk? It's the same word in John 2 as in Ephesians 5.18, being not drunk with wine. Don't be afraid of the Bible. That's what it says. Jesus created it. Certainly never abused it. But Jesus not only created it, Jesus consumed it. Jesus consumed it. He says, John the Baptist came eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you said that he was a demon. The Son of Man, I have come eating and drinking, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He says, John was a teetotaler, and you rejected him. I come eating and drinking, and you call me a glutton and a drunkard. Jesus did that, yes, and He never sinned. It's somewhat comical to me that per the covenant that we've adopted that I wrote, that's me, Jesus couldn't be a member of our church. That's awkward. He created wine. And He consumed it. And He actually commanded it as part of our worship because He said, this is the cup of the new covenant in My blood. Take and drink. And that cup is the Passover cup. It was wine. Wine is promised by Christ as a symbol of His return. And He says in Matthew 26-29 that we're partaking of this covenant now and I'm giving it to you as a memorial. And I'm not going to drink it again until I come and drink it with you in my kingdom. Another awkward moment. When the Lord Jesus in His kingdom says, Chris, partake! And I'll say, you know, I'm good. Alright? Wine was a frequent object lesson of Christ. We talk about putting new wine in old wineskins, and as it fermented, it would burst them. The Good Samaritan actually used wine and oil as a disinfectant, and mercifully caring for the wounds of the man who had fallen. We have the parable of the tenants in Matthew 21-33 and following, where wine production is a common, necessary reality, and Jesus uses it as a parable. Wine provided relief from physical needs. 1 Timothy 5.23, No longer drink only water, but use little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. Now, pause for a second on 1 Timothy 5.23. You say, see, wine had positive uses. It did. But for some reason, you had a young pastor that even to his own physical detriment was not partaking of wine. apparently so concerned about his testimony that he said, I'm just going to drink water. I am aware of what the Bible teaches. For my testimony, I'm going to abstain. And Paul says, man, you're killing yourself. That's not wise. It's not healthy. Take a little wine for your stomach's sake. Quit drinking water that's hurting you. Alright? Interesting. Both Testaments speak favorably of wine. It's not the end of the story. Point two, both testaments speak unfavorably of wine, particularly its abuse. The Old Testament condemns drunkenness as sin. Isaiah 522, woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink. Woe to those who are good at drinking. It's sin and it brings God's judgment. It's all over the prophets where God is condemning people for their drunkenness. The Old Testament uses wine as a symbol of God's blessing, but it also uses wine as a symbol of God's judgment. Psalm 75 verse 8, For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. So it can be God's blessing inviting us to a feast, or for those who have rejected Him, there's also the symbol of God pouring wine. It's almost like He's saying, You want to drink and abuse wine? I'll let you drink, and I'm pouring out my judgment on you. And it's eternal judgment. Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 51, etc. has the picture of wine as judgment. The Old Testament provides frightening examples of godly men who abused alcohol. See, thus far, if in the message you say, see, I knew it. I can go home and drink. The Bible gives you strong cautions. Noah was a righteous and godly man, and he experienced the deliverance of the Lord. He and eight people in the world perished, and he was deceived by wine and drunken and embarrassed himself. Lot was a man whose righteous soul was vexed by Sodom, and he comes out of it, and his girls came out of Sodom and Gomorrah, but Sodom and Gomorrah hadn't come out of them, and they got him drunk. and had incestuous relationships. And that man is going to be in heaven. Take heed. Don't think you have every right and every excuse to use Scripture for your own indulgence. Be warned. Uriah the Hittite was a good man. Some people have said he was a better man drunk than David was sober. But he was duped into getting drunk and he tried to be deceived. Amnon got drunk and was killed. A lot of bad examples of drunkenness in Scripture. It's always condemned. It's always condemned. The Old Testament forbids wine for certain people and certain times. Leviticus 10, verses 8 and 9, the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go to the tent of meeting, lest you die. When you're doing your ministry in the holy place, you don't come with any drink at all, or you will die. God said to Aaron. We have the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6. That Nazarite vow for Samson and Judges 13, where he was to have no wine or strong drink, Kings, we read in Proverbs 31, were advised not to drink. The Rechabites are people in Jeremiah 35. And it's actually an interesting situation where you have this group of Jews, and they have been commanded on a human level by an ancestor, we don't drink. And there's other things. We're not going to build houses and things, but we're not going to drink. And that man died. And the Rechabites, as a family, continued to refuse to drink. And God says to Jeremiah, bring them in and make them drink. And they said, uh-uh, we're not drinking. And then what God did is He said, here you have these people that are faithful to the command of a human ancestor. And you won't even be faithful to the commands of your God. And He uses it as a conviction about people that had refused to compromise compared to a nation that was perpetually in compromise. You have Daniel refusing to drink the king's wine in Daniel 1.8 and Daniel 1.16. However, you have Daniel apparently drinking again in Daniel 10.1-3. John the Baptist, a Nazarite, wouldn't drink Luke 1.15. The Old Testament provides explicit warnings, and I want to turn here for a moment. The Old Testament provides explicit warnings about abusing alcohol You say, the Old Testament, the Scripture is against drunkenness, not against wine. Well, Proverbs 20 verse 1 says, wine is a mocker. It's not just talking about the abuse of it. It says, wine itself is a mocker. Strong drink is a brawler. And whoever is led astray or deceived by it is not wise. In the book of Proverbs, you have these warnings, like in Proverbs 20, verse 1, that says, don't let wine deceive you. Don't let wine drag you into brawls and wicked effects. Don't be a fool that's entangled by drink, Proverbs says. Proverbs 21, 17, whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man, and he who loves wine and oil will not be rich. I think most explicitly, Proverbs 23. Let's read these verses. Proverbs 23. Beginning in verse 19. Proverbs 23, 19. Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your hearts in the way. Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags." He says, I'm warning you, don't make friends, don't make your life surrounded by people who are always seeking drink. And some are saying, yeah, but Pastor, it also said gluttony. It did. Don't be around people that are living for their appetites. But you have to admit, there is a particular danger in alcohol. And we read of that at the end of this chapter in verse 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine. Those who go to try mixed wine. And again, there you see that mixed wine is intoxicated. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. Some will say, see that's undiluted wine. Yeah, perhaps, but actually dilution would make it go down more smoothly, so it's hard to say. You're still dealing with typical wine, I believe. Don't look at it when it's attracting you with its beauty, all right? You've seen that as people are smelling and getting their own. He says, don't be beguiled by the beauty of it. In the end, it bites like a serpent. It stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things. Your heart will utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea. You have no judgment. Like one who lies on top of a mast. They have struck me, you will say, but I was not hurt. They beat me and I did not feel it. He says, I drank, I was out of control, my eyes were red, my life was devoured. He's describing someone who is under the control of alcohol. And then a very, very sad ending to that chapter. When shall I awake from this drunkenness? I must have another drink. That's describing the abuse of alcohol that is not theoretical and it's not merely a possibility. It's people in this body have been devastated by that. And if they could give you an amen to my message, if they had a moment to share with you, they would say, don't trust it. I never thought it would happen to me the way it did. Wine is deceitful. Wine is destructive. Wine is bringing you into bondage. And literally, the language is almost like the language Proverbs uses of the prostitute, who seems sweet for a time, but the end is destruction and death. The Old Testament gives very explicit warnings. The New Testament gives explicit warnings. speaks unfavorably of wine as well as favorably, especially about drunkenness. Romans 13, 12-14. The night is far gone and the day is at hand, so let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires." You say, I believe for Scripture, I have the right to drink if I desire to. I'm not going to forbid it and say the Bible says it's sin. The Bible does not say it's sin. The Bible says it's dangerous. The Bible says don't make a provision for your flesh. Don't trust your flesh. 1 Corinthians 5.11, I'm writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother and who is a drunkard. 1 Corinthians 6, 10 and 11, talking about people who won't inherit the kingdom of God. Did you hear that? People who won't inherit the kingdom of God. Damnation is at stake. And it says, thieves and greedy and drunkards and slanders will not inherit the kingdom of God. And then it says, such were some of you. You have at the Corinthian church, people who had been delivered from alcoholism and drunkenness. And then you had people in the church coming to the Lord's table in chapter 11 drunk. Can you imagine? Can you imagine such unkindness to your brother? The church should be pulling people out of that. And in Corinth, they were pushing each other back in. It's wicked. It's dangerous. Galatians 5 talks about the works of the flesh. It mentions envy and drunkenness and orgies. And it says, I warn you again as I did before, those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. The abuse of alcohol is ruining individuals. It's destroying families. And you know it. You've seen it. In your family. Or your friend's family. Or at work. Or your parents. Or you. You know it's ruinous. But it's not only ruining families. It is damning people. Because those who are under this sort of bondage, unless they repent and find deliverance through Jesus Christ, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Timothy 3 says leaders should not be given to drunkenness, elders. Deacons must not be addicted to much wine. It would be nonsensical if it's talking about non-alcoholic wine. That would be nonsense. Deacons, I don't want you to be addicted to a lot of orange juice. Put the Gatorade down. That's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. This is alcoholic beverage. He says, I don't want you to be enslaved by that. Titus 1. Leaders, don't be given to drunkenness. Titus 2. 3. Ladies, you should not be slaves to much wine. 1 Peter 4, verse 3, you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do. Living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, etc. That was your past life before Jesus Christ. Don't live like that. Verses 4 and 5 of 1 Peter 4 says they're going to be surprised that you don't keep running with them. Let them be surprised. Your life has been made different by the Lord Jesus Christ. Both Testaments speak favorably of wine. It's essentially urging on people in the Old and New Testament moderation, and they speak warningly and negatively about the abuse of wine and the dangers of wine. So how do we relate to it today? Well, there's modern factors. Let me give you four modern factors to consider as you consider this issue yourself. Modern factors related to wine, I've already mentioned this, number one is alcoholic content. What they drank was not what people typically are drinking today because people today have the technology and knowledge to distill a harder alcohol than was drunk then. It's not exactly the same. wine had far less alcohol than to begin with and it was typically diluted. Again, I'm not saying it wasn't alcoholic. I'm just saying don't compare it as though it's exactly the same. Mike Harding, a pastor friend, quotes a number of Greeks from the time that were philosophers or historians Says the strongest content of alcohol of normal wine in the New Testament era would be roughly 2.5%. Today our beer is 7% alcohol, wine is 14%, fortified wines are 18 to 24, and hard liquor is 40%. It's much different. Don't go get a shot of liquor and say, well, they did it in the New Testament. They did not. Not in the same way at all. Greg Mazak is a favorite pastor of mine. And he says, listen, If you want to argue for your right to drink in a biblical way, go get three ounces of beer and water it down with nine ounces of water and have a blast. And he's speaking, you know, he's speaking ridiculously because nobody does that today. Nobody wants to do that. He's just saying, if you're going to use the New Testament practice, you need to use it in all of its entirety. I think we have to be careful. I don't think we need to get into a situation where we're fighting about percentages. The Bible had alcohol. People drank it. They did it with care. If they ever got it all drunk, it was sin. But the alcoholic content is one factor. It's not the same. Number two, consider alternatives. Mercy. Do you know how many alternatives we have today that they didn't have then? They had the fruit of the vine that they would ferment for the sake of keeping, and they would drink it. It was joy, and it was a big deal. Do you know how many options you have now? Go eat some hot chocolate. Get a latte. What flavor latte would you like? Go get a Mountain Dew. Get a Dr. Pepper. You say, I like finer things. Go get something finer. You can get a slushie. Would you like blueberry? Would you like a Mr. Misty? It is crazy. It is crazy how many options we have of very cool drinks. It's not like for pleasure you need to drink something like that. I'm saying we have alternatives that they never had. And I would say be more careful. Just be careful. I don't think you'll miss it. Number three is your testimony. We live in an alcohol crazed society. Look at billboards. Look at TV commercials. Turn on a football game and watch the commercials. People are worshipping alcohol. They turn there when they're down, when they're up, when they're celebrating a victory, when they're mourning a defeat. It is like God to them. We should be finding our hope, our joy, our comfort in God. Our society is addicted to it. And I say we should be different. 1 Peter 4 says don't be like you used to be when you were pagans. Consider your testimony before that society. Consider your influence on your children. I told you the first time I ever drank, it was a kid's dad's bar. Consider the influence on your children. There are those that are horrified to see that their grandchildren are drinking a lot. And they don't understand because they've always been temperate. I'm just telling you that the danger is, and I told you about the pastor I respect, he is arguing for temperance. He himself is partaking of nothing. But the next generation is just running full bore after it. And I say, be careful. I don't want my girls to get used to seeing Dad's beer in the refrigerator. Rebecca, go get me a Mountain Dew. You know what? I feel like a mixed drink. Put in some orange juice with my Mountain Dew. I want my girls to just be used to, Dad doesn't do that. Neighbors, other believers. Think of your testimony before other believers. There's people here that have come out of addiction. If they come to your house, it would be nice if they didn't have to pass by whatever you're consuming. We'll pass or we keep it hidden. Okay. You pray. You read the Bible, you pray, you make a conscientious decision. Be careful of your testimony and just be careful of the dangers. Be aware of the dangers that the Bible presents and society presents all the time. Mike Harding found statistics that said alcoholic beverages are leading to all sorts of wickedness, including 65% of murders in the United States, 40% of assaults, 35% of rapes, 55% of domestic violence, 60% of child abuse, and 60% of all traffic fatalities. Wine is not something that's a private thing, but it's often leading to other sins and other abuses. It's a mocker and it is raging. And as I quoted to you, it is leading to eternal damnation that people don't seek refuge in Jesus Christ, the Savior. We need to wrap things up. Corporate conclusions. Tri-County Bible Church, some corporate conclusions. Is there a biblical basis for forbidding alcohol? No. Is there a biblical basis for forbidding alcohol? They drank it in the Old Testament. They drank it in the New Testament. I've given you reasons that I think we have other options. We should embrace other options. But I think we have to be careful not to be more dogmatic than Scripture is. Is there a biblical basis for forbidding it? I once said that drinking is sin. And someone asked me, can you really biblically say drinking is sin? I can't say drinking is sin. Unless I want to make Jesus a sinner. That's not a good thing. That would be heresy. Is there a biblical basis for forbidding it? No. In fact, I think Colossians 2, 16-23 forbids us from forbidding it. It says, don't make it a test of fellowship. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, etc. Christianity is not about food and drink. Don't let that be a factor for division and a test of fellowship. Is there a biblical basis for our forbidding alcohol? I don't believe so. I don't really think there's a biblical basis for our making it a test of fellowship the way it appears in our covenant, where we say, essentially, if you drink it any way, you can't be a member of our church. I think we're being more dogmatic on the issue than Scripture. So, Pastor, you're opening the barn door for people to run out and drink. No. But I don't want your motivation for avoiding it to be because your church has taken a stronger position than Scripture. I don't want you to drink. I would prefer that those who think you can, I would prefer you don't. It's dangerous. I hate it. I told you, I hate it. But I can't be narrower than the Bible. I'm commanded not to take away from it, but I'm also commanded not to add to it. I am going to recommend that our church consider removing that from our covenant. I don't think there's biblical basis for making it a test of fellowship. So my first question was, is there biblical basis for forbidding alcohol? And I say no. Is there biblical basis for avoiding alcohol? I think yes. There's a difference. When I say forbidding, I am making it mandatory on anyone that wants to be part of the ministry of Tri-County Bible Church. I don't think we have a biblical basis to do that. Is there a biblical basis for avoiding it? I think so. I think it's dangerous. I think we have other options. I think it would be a safe thing. College Church in Wheaton, Illinois. It's not a fundamentalist church. It's been a good church. Kent Hughes is the pastor there. Many of you have read some of his books and profited. Here's their statement. In addition, many believe that certain activities, though not specifically prohibited in scripture, are detrimental to our individual and corporate lives and the witness of college church in our community. These activities include selling and using all forms of habituating drugs, tobacco, alcohol, narcotics, except for the use of medicinal purposes. And then they mention other things. And here's what they say. Each member or anyone seeking membership in college church is enjoined to prayerfully seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit with regard to these activities, as well as other aspects of individual witness. What they're saying is we're going to leave it to you and the scriptures and the Lord and you pray about it. But we believe that these things are typically detrimental to your personal testimony and our corporate testimonies in church. The New Bible Dictionary is printed by InterVarsity Press. They are not teetotaling fundamentalists, and yet they say in their discussion of biblical wine, to sum it up, it may be said that while wine is not condemned as being without usefulness, it brings in the hands of sinful men such dangers of becoming uncontrolled that even those who count themselves to be strong would be wise to abstain, if not for their own sake, for the sake of weaker brothers. Hear me. I don't believe the Bible absolutely forbids alcoholic consumption with all of the things, percentages, and all the things we've talked about. I think it's a wisdom issue and the Bible gives a lot of reasons for a Christian to guard himself, to take heed to himself, and I would urge you to do so. Those are corporate conclusions, my opinion, and I don't run the church. We'll have to decide these things ourselves. I want to be careful that we're not calling sin what God does not call sin. We're not calling sin what Jesus Christ participated in. That would be a bad thing to do. Personal conclusions. Don't stumble. I'm not advocating drinking. If you don't drink, and most of you don't, I'm not asking you to begin. It's the last thing I want to do. I'm urging you to study it out. And don't only study the blessings, study the warnings. If you don't drink, be careful that you're not more dogmatic than Scripture, that you're not making it a test of fellowship or a test of godliness in the way the Bible says you should not. If you're convinced that you're able to drink, I urge you to study the Scriptures. Study all of the Scriptures. Don't just go to a couple of passages. I ask you to rethink your position and your practice with an eye on the entire counsel of Scripture. I say don't stumble. Don't stumble. by the grace of God. And I urge you, don't be a stumbling block. It's not enough to say, well, I think I can. Paul deals with the question in Romans 14, verses 20 and 21. He says, don't destroy the kingdom of God for food and drink. It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. Don't cause others to stumble. Habakkuk 2.15 says, Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskins till they are drunk. You don't want to be the cause of other people stumbling. Take that very seriously. Matthew 18.7 says, People are going to sin, but there is great judgment on the one that is facilitating and making that easy. And I'm saying, you may need to have some hard decisions about limiting yourself. For your own godliness and for your testimonies, you're not causing others to stumble. I'm kind of reminded of Paul in 1 Corinthians 7, where he says, you can get married, but I would love it if you didn't. I don't think the Bible forbids your drinking. I would love it if you didn't. I think there's good reasons for you to be careful. Study the Scriptures. Pray. Seek out godly counsel. Bottom line, God gives good gifts. Sinners pervert good gifts. Be thankful for God's gifts. Be careful with God's gifts. And of all things, remember the spiritual realities. Do you remember I said both Testaments speak favorably of wine and both Testaments speak unfavorably of wine? I think God has given us wine not only for provision and enjoyment. I think God has given us a spiritual picture. Sometimes He says, wine is my blessing, and I'm going to use it as a picture of salvation that I'm giving to you. When wine is spoken of favorably, it is pointing us to Christ's salvation. Yeah, but sometimes wine is spoken of unfavorably. When the Bible makes bad references to wine and its effects, I think it's pointing us to Christ's suffering. God pours out wine of blessing on those who come to Christ, and God pours out the wine of judgment on Christ on behalf of sinners. I don't think He just said, I'm looking for an analogy, I guess I'll use wine. In order for us to understand what Christ has done for us, God created wine to point us to Jesus Christ. We often will sing His robes for mine. He gave me His robes and He took mine and suffered. And I love that truth from the Scriptures. But as we considered last week, there is a sense in which we could sing and rejoice in His cup for mine. Jesus has given me all the benefits of salvation that are symbolized by the benefits of wine. And He's taken all of the curses that are symbolized by the detriments of wine. He's drunk our cup of God's wrath. He's given us His luscious cup of salvation. So consider wine. We'll pray about it. We'll consider it as a church. My recommendation has essentially been made to you. I want people to abstain for godly conscience reasons, for Bible reasons, not because their church says thou shalt not. We can't say thou shalt not where Scripture doesn't. But I want us to love each other. I want us to love God's good gifts. I want us to be careful. And I want us to look to Jesus Christ. Lord, I have said the last thing I want to do is be the source of division or temptation. And yet, there have been a lot of times where I have not presented the entire case that the Bible presents regarding wine. I pray that we won't be afraid of this book. We'll let it speak. We won't try to twist it. I pray that we will see wine as a blessing of God. We'll see the dangers when fallen humans get their hands on it. I pray that we'll make wise decisions corporately and individually. I pray, Lord, that you'll use this, and Lord, there's so many different people in this building. Don't let them go out of here with the wrong messages. Some that have made it a slam-dunk, open-and-shut case, they need to reinvestigate what Scripture says. Some who might be prone to argue for their own enjoyment at any cost, they just need to be more careful and investigate all the Scriptures. I trust the Bible, and I trust you. And you are a better shepherd for people than I can be. I ask you, Lord, to take care of this body. I commend this body unto God and the word of His grace that is able to build them up and give them an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. And I pray this because Jesus has given me the cup of salvation and He's drained the cup of God's wrath. And I thank you, Jesus, for doing that. I pray in His name. Amen.