Open your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 23. The title of today's message is Be Filled with the Spirit. Probably a familiar phrase that you've heard before, especially within the context of worship. We're seeing this in relationship to, as a contrast, instead of being filled with alcohol, The main emphasis of this message is going to be with relationship to alcohol because we're going to see how Noah stumbles in this regard. If you have Proverbs chapter 23 open, we're gonna be joining the text in verse 29. Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, penned these words about warning, about overindulging in alcohol. There's a particular danger in being drunk. Verse 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine. Those who go to search out mixed wine. It's all many. He points out the danger of overindulgence, of intoxication. Who has these problems? It's those that imbibe to excess. They have woe, sorrow, contentions, complaining, wounds, redness of eyes. Those that are fixated on alcohol have these problems. Why? Why do they have these problems? Because they get taken in. by alcohol's deceptive appearance. Verse 31, do not look on the wine when it glistens red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. At the end, like a serpent, it bites, and like a viper, it stings. You can imagine a snake coming out of a rock and grabbing hold of you. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak perverse things, and you will be like one who lies down in the heart of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. You can imagine those small boats. being out there on the Mediterranean Sea as the swells go up and down. And if it wasn't bad enough to be on the deck of the ship, being on the mast of the ship in the crow's nest is way worse as it seesaws and weaves. The image of drunkenness is one of instability. When that takes place, When it becomes a bent, when it's an inclination of the heart, the degeneracy shows up, the depravity. Verse 35, they struck me, but I did not become ill. They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek yet another. We've all known people that have overindulged consistently in alcohol, that have been addicted to it, been in bondage to it. This sermon isn't necessarily saying that alcohol is always bad. It isn't. It isn't always bad. We're looking at alcohol biblically, but we're going to see, in short order, the danger of overindulging in alcohol. The point is that God made alcohol. And scripture says that in more than one place. Well, look at that. God made wine to make men's hearts glad, but mankind, like a lot of different things, twists what God has made good. So this sermon is not about me condemning the use of alcohol. No, it's exalting its right use and pointing out the overindulgence it can be a very big problem. Solomon made that clear. Wisdom makes that clear, that there is danger in intoxication. Rather, instead of being intoxicated, we are to be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18 makes that clear, and we're going to develop that as we get through our message. There's something wrong with wanting to be numbed and not able to respond to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has spoken through his word, and if we're dulled, if we're numbed, we can't respond. And we need to be those that are responsive to a spirit at all times. So again, this message is not a message saying that alcohol is evil in and of itself. It's not. But we are not to be those that get drunk. were to be those that are responsive to the Holy Spirit. And before we get into the text where we see that perhaps Noah was not, we're gonna look at the context. The flood has ended and God is graciously bringing about a new creation and he sets up a covenant that endures even to our day. And we even have the symbol of it in the sky, the rainbow. The Lord has kept his promise not to flood the earth. In the midst of all of this grace though, Noah's going to redo what the first Adam did. He's going to act like his grandfather 10 generations back and he's gonna fail. He's gonna get drunk. He's gonna be ashamed. And it's gonna have ripple effects that last even to today. After we go through just four verses, we're going to look at some takeaways to assess alcohol biblically, because there's some strong feelings about the concept of alcohol. There's feelings of absolute never and have as much as you want. We want to use the spirit given guidance to understand alcohol biblically. And then we're gonna conclude by seeing how Jesus even introduced his ministry with the creation of a hyperabundance of alcohol at a wedding feast. So this sermon is an attempt at giving a balanced perspective on alcohol biblically. But we are going to see in the case of Noah how he erred. So with that, I'm gonna open us in a word of prayer. Father God, you are the giver of every good and perfect gift. It comes from you, the Father of light. Lord, we thank you for the blessings that you've lavished upon this earth. We thank you for the hyperabundance that we enjoy, particularly in this nation. Lord, each of us is even sitting here with Bibles open before us, the very words of God. Lord, I pray that we would be responsive to you, that we would desire to listen to you above all things so that we might have joy. that we might have satisfaction and delight. Oh Lord, would you fill us up with love for you. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. All right, turn to Genesis chapter nine for the context. Genesis nine. God has ended the flood, and now it's his grace that is on display to the flood's survivors, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and his sons. In Genesis 9, verse 1, we can see that God is reinstigating his plan to populate the earth, just like he had in the beginning. It says in Genesis 9, verse 1, and God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, three commands. They just build on top of one another, have lots of kids, fill the earth. So this is a demonstration of God's grace and it's compounded also by establishing his covenant with them. In verse 13, he promises He says, I put my bow in the cloud, that weapon of war, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it will be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. That's good news for us. especially us here in Vernonia that are a little bit more sensitive to floods. We're grateful that the Lord has set his covenant, which he keeps. It's not dependent upon us at all. He is keeping it so he can bring about his plan of salvation through redemptive history. That's context. Now let's get into text. If you wouldn't mind, please stand with me. I'm just gonna read the verses 18 through 21 before we begin analyzing it and taking what we can from it. Genesis 9 verse 18. Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah. And from these, the whole earth was scattered abroad. Then Noah began to be a man of the land and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent. This is the word of God. May we heed and respond. You may have a seat. I've broken our text into two points. The first point is verses 18 through 19, where we're gonna briefly talk about Noah's sons. It says, now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. We know about them. And often, as we're reading through Genesis, usually in January as we're going through our read through the Bible in a year, We just, like clockwork, we go through this text, and maybe things that should stand out don't stand out. What should stand out here is the next clause, and Ham was the father of Canaan. That's new, that's different. We've heard about Shem, Ham, and Japheth over and over and over again. We know that they were delivered from the flood, but now we have this new bit of information. What do you do with that? You put it, if you don't know what to do with new information, you put it in a folder, and you wait, because scripture's going to tell you why that is important later. We're not gonna see it this week, but we're gonna see it in the next few weeks, why that information is important. So, come back next week, and hear why that's important. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was scattered abroad. Those phrases mentioning Canaan and being scattered abroad are important because Moses, as the human author of Scripture guided by the Holy Spirit, he is giving us a foretaste a notification, something that should stick in our ear about future events, because these events are going to be explained later. But this is like a foretaste. Turn with me a page over. Go to Genesis 8, verse 11. It said, from these, the whole earth was scattered abroad. What we don't know, and we're gonna find out in a couple of weeks, is that they didn't necessarily do this willingly. God had told them to be fruitful, multiply, fill up the earth, right? But apparently they didn't do that. They decided to just bunch up, huddle up, make their own commune, and not do what God had told them to do. In Genesis 11, verse eight, it says, Yahweh scattered them. He scattered them from where? From Babel. He confused their language, they were disobedient, He confused their language and he went about populating the earth like he had commanded. It's always been his plan. Genesis chapter one, verse 27, right after God had made mankind in his own image, he said these words in verse 28, and it's a blessing, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over everything. God had told Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their children to do that. Apparently they had decided not to do that. And so the Lord took things into his own hands and he scattered them. So we're going to develop that over the next couple of weeks. That's not really the emphasis of this message today. I want to highlight what Moses was bringing out as an indicator to be aware of for the rest of the narrative. So, we're gonna turn to now, back to our text in verse 20. As we see Noah getting drunk and bringing shame upon himself. In verse 20 it says, then Noah began to be a man of the land, and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent." Probably we've read this so many times that it's just kind of ludicrous, like kind of hilarious. I've heard a lot of different folks' responses to this, and it seems to be kind of like, well, that's a weird thing. There's layers here, okay? There's layers here that are important, and if we've been attentive as the text has been laying out, I think what we are going to see is this is really problematic because of who Noah is. Noah is the 10th generation from Adam. He's the sole survivor with his family of the flood. He is a man like Enoch, walked with God. God describes him as a righteous man, blameless among those in his generations. And he gets drunk. It says, look here, in verse 20, then Noah began to be a man of the land. Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like something you've heard before? Who's Adam? Adama means ground. The first Adam, the first Adam was made from dirt. And he was sentenced to cultivate dirt as a consequence of his sin. This next Adam, who like the first Adam is a priest king over the earth that God has given dominion to, he begins to act just like great-great-grandpa. Oops, that's a problem. Why? Because he's a priest king. God has given him dominion over the earth to rule it with righteousness, to do what is right and good. But he acts just like the first Adam who failed, and he gets drunk. Turn with me if you would to Proverbs chapter 31. In Proverbs chapter 31, we have wise words from a queen mother to her son, King Lemuel. She gives him words of counsel and advice. Words that Noah would have been Wise to hear. In Proverbs 31, verse four, it says, it is not for kings, O Lemuel. It is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink. It's not for you, Lemuel. When you get on the throne, that's not for you. When you have responsibility, that's not for you. Why? She says. lest he drink and forget what is decreed, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted." You have a responsibility. You have a role. And what happens when you start numbing your responsiveness to justice, to the law? What happens when you become more selfish, more self-focused? perversion of justice of all the afflicted. Maybe we should have prohibition again then. No, no, listen to what she says. Give strong drink to him who is perishing and wine to those whose soul is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty and he will not remember his trouble. any longer, but for you, Lemuel, open your mouth for the mute, for the justice of all those passing away. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and render justice to the afflicted and needy. It's not for you, King Lemuel, and for this priest King Noah, it's not for him either. As a king, he should not have been overindulging in alcohol, nor should he have as a priest. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus, where's that? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. Okay, in chapter 10, here's the context. The tabernacle has been built. Formal worship has been established with Levitical law. Aaron and his sons have been set aside as particular priests before the Lord. They've been sanctified. They've offered up the first sacrifice and fires come down from heaven accepting that sacrifice. Look down with me to verse nine. or rather verse eight, Yahweh then spoke to Aaron saying, do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you when you come into the tent of meeting so that you will not die. Why did he say that? Look at the top of the chapter. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, verse one, they took their respective firepans and put fire in them. Then they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh. They suppressed possibly through alcohol, and at least leaves the reader to understand that this was a contributing factor, they suppressed discernment. They took strange fire and they offered it before the Lord. The Lord had been very strict about how he was to accept worship, and they decided they went on their own path and did their own thing. and fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them. Look at what Noah does when he gets drunk. He drank of the wine and became drunk and uncovered himself inside of his tent. Am I gonna be a priest? No, I'm gonna be drunk. This is not a small thing. I know as we read through this, we have read through it, it's like, what a weird instance, what a strange thing. This is a big deal. Noah's drunkenness is a very big deal because he's throwing off this role of priest and king. Turn with me if you would to Ephesians chapter five. In Ephesians chapter five, The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, gives us counsel. He helps us understand that being filled up with the Holy Spirit is better than getting drunk. We're gonna join the text at verse 15. He writes to the Ephesian church, therefore, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but is wise. Don't be like Nadab and Abihu that lack discernment, that dulled themselves. Don't be unwise, but wise, redeeming the time. Why? Because the days are evil. We're to be making the most of our life, not putting our head in the sand getting drunk, not ignoring our responsibilities and getting dulled, not popping pills, not turning to the bottle, but we are to be redeeming the time because the days are evil. On account of this, don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. How are you gonna do that? How are you gonna stop being foolish and understand what the will of the Lord is? How are you gonna do that? Sounds easy. Stop being stupid. Know what the will of the Lord is. How do you do that? You get filled up by the Holy Spirit. You read what he says and you do it. You get responsive to his word. You don't ignore it. He says in verse 18, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. Be responsive. to the Holy Spirit. He presents these two commands, don't get drunk, but be filled, as a contrast, a contrast that is good. One is presented as better. Which one? Being filled with the Holy Spirit. Why is that better? because of dissipation. Dissipation is what is bad. Being filled with the Spirit is what is good. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, who was a physician and also a theologian, he notably mentions that alcohol is a depressant. but he calls out the Holy Spirit as a stimulant. You're less than your full self when you are intoxicated. This word dissipation, it means a lavish debauchery. It's a noun. It's a reckless senselessness. It's a squandering, a sinful license. Don't feel like that. You're supposed to be a tip-top responsive to the Spirit. How are you gonna do that if you don't know what God's Word says? How are you gonna do that if you're not responsive to what God's Word says? Self-control is the last mentioned fruit of the spirit. It's a product of being filled with the spirit. Are you in control? Am I in control of myself? If we are people that get drunk, we're not in control. We're in bondage, enslaved. humiliated, like Noah. Noah was put to shame. We're gonna talk about the issue with nakedness a lot more next week. It's humiliating. Sin doesn't make people look better. It makes them look less. It makes them look like less than. And I don't want us to be less than, like animals. Now, we're to be those that are more human, more like Christ. And we do that by being filled with his spirit. So I have a number of takeaways so that we can biblically assess alcohol. This is a overview of the concept of alcohol in scripture. Wine was given to gladdened men. It's morally neutral. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with wine, or beer, or you name it. Psalm 104, verse 14, in the Psalm of praise, Says this, God causes the grass to grow for the cattle and vegetation for man's cultivation to bring forth food from the earth and wine which makes man's heart glad. To make his face glisten more than oil and food which sustains man's heart. God gave this as a gift, a good gift. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with alcohol. It has been and will be. man's inclination evermore to twist and corrupt what God has given as good. Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse 29 says, see, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices. We're bent toward twisting what God has ordained as good. You say, I don't think so, Mark. Marriage. Marriage, there's an example of something that has been twisted by mankind. Worship. We worship ourselves. I mean, you could just go on and on and on. God gave this as a good thing, but mankind twists it. And how do you twist it? Overindulgence. Okay, so then what should we do? We need to learn to love and not trip up our brother. You have, on your right and on your left, siblings in Christ that Jesus died for, whom he loves dearly. He loves you. He loves them dearly. He wants you to treat them well. He wants you to care for them like he cares for them. Turn with me, if you would, to Romans 14. This chapter would be well worth your further study, but we'll look at verses 20 and following. Paul is admonishing the church and teaching them that they are not to use their freedom to bring about a state in other people's minds, the rest of the church, that causes them to suppress their conscience. If they, in their mind, aren't sure about something, but then they see one of us taking part in that, and then they go to excess, we've caused them to suppress their conscience, suppress the leading of the Spirit, and hardened them. We don't wanna see people hardened towards sin. We want people to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We want them to be responsive to Him and not point to us and say, well, He did it. And then go to excess. Look at verse 20. Do not tear down the work of God. He's doing something in them. Don't tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean. Morally neutral, no problem. but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. " Don't stumble your brother. It's better to just say, no. For my brother's sake, I'm not gonna indulge in alcohol around them, I'm not going to give them license so that they might harden themselves against the Lord. The faith, verse 22, the faith which you have, which you know, you have license to indulge in this, the faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed is he who does not judge himself in what he approves, but he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating and his drinking is not from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin. We're not to be hardening our brother and sister in the Lord to the reality of sin. We're not to give them license to go to excess. No, it's better. It's better not to. It's better to say, well, no, I'm not going to do that. That is gonna take some control, some self-control. That's a fruit of the Spirit. He's gonna lead you into that. He's gonna guide you. That's a product of maturity. We should expect balance from those that are mature. I'm gonna hit a couple of passages real quick. Don't feel like you have to follow me. But just very quickly, we are to expect balance, a balanced understanding and approach to these things. In 1 Timothy 3, Paul, he writes to his young protege about qualifications for an elder. And one of those qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, verse 3, is they are not to be addicted to wine. They're to be somebody who's temperate. Don't be addicted to wine. He says the same thing again in Titus chapter one. An elder is required to be free from bondage, free from enslavement, not jerked around by the bottle. Okay? Here's two other things. In that same letter in 1 Timothy 3, or in 1 Timothy, in chapter 5, Paul prescribes wine to Timothy. He says, don't drink water alone, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. It has a purpose. It has a role. Don't abuse it. Furthermore, back in Titus chapter two, older women are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine. teaching what is good so that they may instruct the young women in sensibility. We are to expect balance from those who understand what scripture says. If we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we're gonna know his word, we're gonna be responsive to it, and not in bondage to any created thing. In today's message, we've covered quite a bit of ground. We started off with Solomon's wise warning of the dangers of drunkenness. And we had that very, very graphic picture of a boat going up and down with the swells and being stuck on a crow's nest and weaving around and unable to get balance and being in bondage to alcohol. But we learned that we are not to be, as the people of God, we're not to be those that are getting drunk. We are to be Spirit-filled, responsive to God's Holy Spirit, filled up with Him. Then we went to Genesis 9, and we learned the context of Noah's drunkenness. God's grace was abundant to him. God had provided for him and his family, brought them through the flood, gave them the whole earth to fill up, put his covenant in the clouds for them. He had given and given and given to them. But what Noah did was, like his great-great-grandfather 10 generations back, he failed. He became a man of the land, just like Adam, and he grew a vineyard, he drunk of the wine, and got drunk. And he brought shame upon himself, a shame that we're gonna see next week, his own children are going to be made aware of. It was a tremendous failure. But we learned, instead of getting drunk, we are to be filled, rather, by the Holy Spirit, responsive to him. We're not to be those that turn away from our responsibilities, shirk our duty. We're to be those that are responsive to the Holy Spirit. Then we looked at some takeaways, which we just covered a few moments ago with that acrostic wine. Wine was given to gladden men's hearts. It is man's inclination to twist. We are to be those that love our brothers. We need to love, not stumble our brethren. and we should expect balance from those that are mature. Now, in conclusion, I invite you to turn to John chapter two. We're gonna see how the Lord demonstrates his glory, his power, through a creation of a hyperabundance of alcohol, of wine, not grape juice. The setting is a wedding. And if you're at a wedding, it is a party, it's a joyful celebration. The setting is interesting. In John 2, verse 1, John, he writes these words, and on the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. On the third day, I mean, as born-again Christians, We hear third day and we think resurrection, we think good news. And there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, a party, think ahead of the wedding feast of the lamb. The mother of Jesus was there and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. Now, this is not the insult that our 21st century would take it as. You need to know that in the first century, there was very clear spheres of influence. The men were the rulers outside the home. Women had authority inside the home. But in a wedding feast, There's some co-mingling of those things. And Mary, the mother of Jesus, she is asking Jesus to do something about this. And he's going to. And his mother knows it. Verse five, his mother said to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. Now there were six stone water jars set there for the Jewish custom of purification. These aren't small, these are big. containing two or three measures each. Your translation might say 20 or 30 gallons. Let's do some math. Six times 20, okay, conservatively, we'll call it 120 gallons to 180 gallons for water. Jesus said to them, fill the water jars with water. So they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the head waiter. So they took it to him. Now, when the head waiter tasted the water, which had become wine, and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the head waiter called the bridegroom and said to him, every man serves the good wine first. And when the people have drunk freely, then the inferior wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. This is what this means, verse 11. Jesus did this in Cana of Galilee as the beginning of his signs and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. He brought wine that gladdened his men's hearts. He brought a hyperabundance to celebrate the inauguration of his earthly ministry. He did this as a sign to validate the reality of his message that he's gonna bring. We're not to poo-poo on that, and we're not to mishandle it. We're to be reverent of the good thing that God has given. Let's stand, and I'll close in prayer. Lord God, we thank you for your word that makes clear how we are to balance life. Lord, I pray that we would be cognizant of those that are around us, aware of them and show them true love as you love them and sacrifice our own freedoms for their betterment. Lord, I pray that we would be a people that become more and more and more sensitive to your spirit, more and more responsive to him, more and more filled up with his word. Oh, satisfy us, Lord. Give us a desire for what is good and take away our inclination toward things that are of no eternal value. Lord, we love you and we entrust this potluck to you. Lord, I pray there would be a good time of fellowship, of joy, of good conversation. and encouraging one another. I pray that it would just be a foretaste of the glory waiting for us in eternity. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.