All right, now, in this modern day and time in which you live, there's this effort to make Jesus more human than God. On one hand, carnal Christians, what they'll do is they'll say, you know, well, I couldn't resist sin, I'm not God, like Jesus was. And then on the other hand, they talk about or focus on all of his humanity. They try to make Jesus dirty. They try to make Jesus have a carnal mind. They try to make Jesus a fornicator or an adulterer just because of his thought life. There's an old play out years and years ago that made him like he was a misfit, some kind of a psychotic individual that couldn't get in touch with himself and didn't know whether he was or wasn't. Some religions teach that he had relations with Mary Magdalene and some religions even teach that Mary Magdalene was his wife. which is all a lie. But that's an effort to try to soothe your conscience about your sin, to try to make you feel better about doing wrong. So they go to the Bible and they generally point out three verses. Now by the time we're done with this, if you keep up with it, you'll have between 75 and 100 verses on the negative side of drinking, on the negative side. These people that give you these three places right here in the Bible, these are the three most quoted verses in the Bible when it comes to somebody wanting to justify drinking. Will Jesus turn the water into wine at the wedding? Everywhere wine shows up in the Bible, it is not alcoholic. Some places it is, some it isn't. The Bible is written in such a fashion, the Bible says, "...the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the biting of thunder, the soul of the spirit, the joints of marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." If your heart's wrong, when you pick up that Bible, you know what you'll find out? You'll break your neck on it. It's written that way. You have to get the context of the passage. You can't just yank something out of the passage in order to get it. What makes you think in 1 Timothy 5, when he says to Timothy, have a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities, what makes you think that's alcohol? You think all wine's alcohol? Well, if you do, then you make Jesus partake of alcohol here, contrary to what he taught about how you shouldn't be partaking in alcoholic beverages. He said, well preacher in Deuteronomy he talks about strong drink. I told you that has to do with anesthesia. That has to do with somebody that's getting ready to perish. Proverbs 31 talks about a guy that's in severe pain. They didn't have morphine in those days and they didn't have anesthesia to be able to put you under for surgeries and things like that. They didn't have antiseptics. A lot of times strong drink was used just for the alcoholic portion in it to purify something. But if you want to take the Bible and try to justify drinking liquor, there's two verses in the Bible that'll talk to you about strong drink in a positive light. One of them has to do with it's good to have it around because it's a trading commodity. And the other one in Micah is talking about a guy that's prophesying that you're going to have a successful crop. There are 17 verses on strong drink that says you're not to mess with it. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to partake of strong drink or drink it. But people nowadays, they get the Bible and you'd think at Baptist church, but somebody told me the other day, said, I've never heard anybody ever preach a message on drinking except just don't do it. Well, I'm gonna show you the verses in the Bible that show you liquor. Why you wanna make Jesus dirty? If you wanna drink, pop the top and have at it. But don't try to make Jesus a partaker in your sin. Well, Jesus drank it, so you drink. You think Jesus is gonna give you something that's gonna mess up your brain cells and rot your gut? He can put whiskey in your mouth and hold it for less than five minutes, it'll put blisters on your mouth. You think that's good for you, just because your gut can take it? As soon as you put that down, one drink, brain cells are dying. You think Jesus would do something like that? Where do you get stuff like that? except you're carnal in your way of thinking. Well, you know, I don't really see a problem with it. I can tell you why people drink. They drink to be socially acceptable. They drink because they're worried about their reputation. They drink to be suave and debonair. They drink to kill their conscience. Rarely ever until a person becomes an alcoholic, which, by the way, starts with one drink. When a person becomes an alcoholic, they don't generally drink with other people, but when they first get started, it's always in a social setting. Why? To be accepted. So there's three verses here that they generally use, and those are the three verses that we'll go over in detail. And I'll show you this right here is not Jesus turning this wine at the wedding. He's not turning that into an alcoholic beverage. Well, now, preacher, I just think, see, see, you're thinking. I'm gonna show you 75 to 100 verses to show you that's not it. That wine right there is a type of the blood. It's a type of his blood. If it's putrefied blood like mine and your blood, then it's no good. You want to justify drinking liquor? Then do it some other way than using the Bible to do it. Your authority to drink is you making your decision on your own to go ahead and have at it. You want to pop the top? Then be man enough or woman enough to accept the responsibility for being stupid. I've had three or four fellas that told me before, preacher, I want you to preach on that. I really struggled with that thing for years and years and years. It got a hold of me. It made me struggle. It caused me all kind of problems. You preach on it, preacher, so people don't wind up getting in the mess I got into it. They're lying to you about it, telling you it's okay, you can handle it. You can't handle it. It's called a spirit. You get a spirit when you do, too. They say we drink to forget. It burns your brains out. Now, you know, it's easier thing to do to talk about people that are popping pills and people that are shooting dope and people that are smoking dope and stuff like that, but the alcohol has the same, exact same properties that that stuff does. In the Old Testament, they used strong drink for the purpose of having to, you know, set bones and do procedures and somebody dying in extreme pain and things like that. You don't have to do that nowadays. You got all kind of stuff you can take nowadays, you don't have to even worry about that. I don't mean to have my back to you, I just can't. So, what you have to realize is, is you want to be real careful when you start messing with types. You say, why? Don't get nervous yet. Start. How's everybody else taking this? Why don't you let the Holy Spirit kick you in the stomach for a change? Quit worrying about everybody else. When you start pointing a finger, there's three of them pointing back at you. I'm glad you're here today. Hallelujah. You start messing with types. You know what God did? God killed Moses for messing with a type. He hit the rock twice and the Lord buried him for it. You start trying to justify your sin by taking a type of the blood and justifying your drinking and making Jesus a sinner by saying, well, Jesus turned the water into wine, so it's okay for me to drink wine. Heard that one before. Haven't you heard that before? Well, that wine right there is grape juice. It's the pure blood of the grape. This wine right down here comes from the fruit of the vine. I'll not drink it with you again until I drink it new with you in the kingdom. Here it's not even called wine. It's called the fruit of the vine. Why? He's making a delineation so that you make sure you don't mess it up. You say, what about this one right here? Well, if alcoholic beverages will rot your gut, why would he give you an alcoholic beverage under certain circumstances? Why does he tell the priest or the bishop there in 1 Timothy, don't mess with any wine at all. And then he tells Timothy, but for you, it's okay. That's hypocritical. Unless the wine he's talking about here happens to be grape juice. So I don't believe it was grape juice. I believe it had antiseptic or healing properties. And so therefore, under the circumstances, believe whatever you want to believe. Justify it however you want to justify it. But the bottom line is, is you better be careful about pulling Jesus into your sin. Even you independent, fundamental, fire-breathing, hell-hating, and can't-stand-everybody Baptists. You're a carnal. You're trying to be socially acceptable. Jesus Christ was never socially acceptable. He was a misfit when it came to social circles. You say, but didn't they accuse Jesus of being a winebibber because he hung out and ate with winebibbers and gluttons and so on and so forth? They also accused him of being the devil. How come you picked that one out? You're just assuming they're telling the truth when they tell you Jesus was a winebibber. Well, they said Jesus was the devil, too. Do you believe them there? Well, no, I don't believe he was the devil, but I believe he was a winebibber. You better check and see why you're thinking that. You know why you're thinking that? I'll tell you why you're thinking that. You're trying to justify your sin. You're trying to justify. If you want to do it, help yourself. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Is that right? Okay. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all to the what? glory of God. If you can get God to glorify it, that glorifies God, have at it. What I'm going to show you, what the Bible says, I'm going to show you 75 to 100 verses in the Bible that tells you that it is not socially acceptable according to Jesus Christ, whether you want it to be or not. You want to be the big shot and have a little sip and How's business today? I don't know. Give me another one on the rocks and I'll let you know. See what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5, I'll be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess? You know what you just thought you just read into that verse? That means you can't be drunk on it. That's not what he's saying. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, the problems in the wine. Now I'll give you the other verses. You never interpret an unclear passage in light of another unclear passage. You always interpret an unclear passage in light of the clearer passages on the subject. If I've got 75 to 100 verses showing you the negative side of alcohol, and you read a verse like that, it stands to reason if there's 75 for it and one that you're not sure of, chances are better than not, the evidence seems to be overwhelming that it's not right for you to do. Jesus Christ doesn't approve of those kind of things, whether you want Him to or not. All right, come to 2 Samuel. Let me show you some more things. Now, if you weren't here already for this, I can't help but get upset. I look at your faces, and I see this sort of shock on your faces, like, why is He covering this? Well, why not? Why not cover it? Why not for you to know why you're doing it instead of, well, I'm a Baptist. I don't drink because I'm a Baptist or because I signed some kind of a covenant or something like that. A lot of Baptists sign that and still drink. You start doing some research on this, you know what you'll find out? You'll find out a bunch of them that said they didn't believe in drinking. I know of a church right now, they have their deacons meetings over at a bar. They have men's meetings, hey, we'll meet down at the bar. I know about men's meetings at bars. It sure wasn't to discuss Jesus. I don't know why it would bother you. 2 Samuel chapter number 11. It's always in a negative context. 2 Samuel chapter number 11. Let's go to verse number, oh, let's see, 13. What's David trying to cover up here? Is he not trying to cover up his sin with Bathsheba? Well, what does he resort to to get it done? Second Samuel chapter number 11, verse number 13. And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him, and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie in his bed with the servants of his Lord, but went not down to his house. You say, what did David do? David got him drunk. You say, why? To try to get him to do something against his will. That's the main thing that happens every time you start fooling around with liquor. I'll show you some passages in Proverbs, we'll get to them today, that when you get liquor you lose the ability to say no. 2 Samuel 13, that's why girls, the guys want to take you to dinner and want you to have a little wine with dimmer. They'll tell you it's for your digestion. It's for your good. You look so grown up sitting there with a wine glass there and you look like everybody else in the restaurant. He's up to something. They make it look so nice. I don't care if the thing cost $150 because it happens to have been, you know, 25 years in the making or whatever and somebody lost the bottle and they blew the dust off of it and said, oh, look at that, it's 25 years old, it must be worth something. So they charge you $150 for a glass of it. Or I don't care if you just got Mogan Davids and poured it in there. It's all the same thing no matter how you dress it up. They try to dress it up to make it look. I watched this week just a little bit. Almost every show I've turned to, somebody's popping a top and pouring that stuff and pouring that stuff and pouring that to make you think everybody does it, everybody does it, everybody does it, everybody does it. You go in a house, they all got a wet bar. They all got liquor bottles all over the creation. Well, everybody don't do it. But they try to convince you, this is the world, this is the world, this is the world, this is the world. They got the priest running around with a little cigar in one hand and a liquor bottle in the other hand and showing you, you know, we're just having this to relax, having this to relax. You got to relax, got to relax, got to chill out, got to relax, come home, happy hour, happy hour, liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor, liquor. There's a tax on it. That's why they push it so much. That stuff has wrecked more homes and more families and all the drugs you've ever had around. It'll be responsible for more than half of the deaths in the last 24 hours worldwide than all the other stuff put together. It'll be responsible for more people being hospitalized than anything else put together. And it ain't a sickness, it's a sin. Now, preacher, that's just your opinion. Yeah, it is, according to the Bible. 2 Samuel chapter 13, verse number 28. 2 Samuel 13, verse 28. Now, here's the situation here where Absalom's ready to take care of Amnon. Amnon messed with his sister there. She was a virgin and he messed her up and then all that stuff took place. And then verse number 28, Absalom commanded his servants, saying, mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine. And when I say unto you, smite Amnon, then kill him, fear not. I have commanded you, be courageous and valiant. Let me ask you a question. When he says marry with wine there, do you think he means grape juice? Grape juice don't make you merry. Grape juice don't make you drunk. So the context right there, you don't have to know the original Hebrew word for what they're using there to determine whether or not it's an alcoholic beverage or not. You got an English Bible, sixth grade education will tell you making it marry with wine means you're drinking the stuff Noah messed with, fermented. You think God will give you something that will impair your judgment? No. You think God will give you something that will open up you to another spirit? No. Why are you full with it? Why are you justified? Business lunch. Business dinner. Here's a good one for you. Here comes Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well, the table just looks so much nicer with it all out there. We let the adults have the fermented hooch, but we get a wine glass for the kids and we pour grape juice in there so that they look. Get them ready for it, you know. And let them have a little taste. Just a little taste, you know. You'd be one of us. Turn 13, get your first drink, become a man. First Kings 16. You push it, I'm pushed back. That's all I'm saying. First Kings 16. Preacher, don't be telling my kids this. You're going to get me in trouble. Yeah, I know what you're going to do. I know exactly what you're going to do. Well, that's the preacher. He's supposed to say stuff like that. But in my house, I'm the head of the house. That's how we're going to do it. I'm not trying to take it. I don't want your family. I've got enough. stuff to deal with myself. I've got two families. I've got a church family and a home family. I don't want to deal with you. I'm not trying to take over your house. What are you so upset about? What are you so tore up about? What do you get jacked up about that for? Why do you undermine that? Get out on your face plant and put all the stuff out there. The preacher, you know, he's going off on all that kind of stuff. He just doesn't understand modern society. No, the problem is I do understand modern society. I understand the justification for everything you're doing. But when you start pulling Jesus in it and start making it a part of church deals and church socials and BYOB and all that other kind of stuff and bring your own beer stuff to deal like that. all that kind of a deal. That's where I park company with you. I don't care how religious you think you are. I don't care how spiritual you think you are. I don't care how many calls of God you got on your life. When you cross that book, I cross you off. Well, preacher, you know, it's not as bad as, you know, he's not hooked up on drugs and she's not doing this and she's not out there running the street and this and that and the other. I mean, but a little pop every now and then, preacher. I mean, why would you be upset about it? Why would you defend it? Got to be reputation or relationship, one or the other. Every time. That's why you got to water down what the preacher says. He just gets so upset about that stuff. He needs to chill out. I guess you people just haven't had some of the experiences that I've had personally with that stuff. I've seen what it does. The problem is you don't think it's going to affect you. That is why you keep playing with it. You keep playing with the snake, it will get you. First Kings chapter 16. I want to get to this stuff in Proverbs if I can. Nice to have the kids with us today. I am glad you are here today. First Kings chapter 16 verse number 8. This has to do with a king here. 26th year of Asa the king of Judah began Elah the son of Basha to reign over Israel and Tezrah two years. And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tezrah drinking himself drunk in the house. Ezra steward of his house in Tezrah and Zimri went in and smote him and killed him in the 27th year of Asa the king of Judah and reigned. You think he'd have been killed if he hadn't been drunk? I wish I could tell you and I wouldn't tell you because it'd be too sordid to tell you. I wish I could tell you for my many years when I was a detective in the sex crimes unit, I wish I could tell you how many sexual batteries I worked where the girl was completely snockered drunk. I'm not talking about on GHB and date rape drug and all. I'm talking about on liquor and had guys do unspeakable things and stuff like that and come in there, beat from here to kingdom come and back and all kind of ungodly things done to them. all because of a liquor bottle. Can't take it back now. Too late. You think of what happened to her if she hadn't been drunk? Well, she shouldn't have been there. So it's her fault. First Kings chapter 20. This has to do with Ben-Hadad. I'll give you this one real quick. Verse 11. The king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, let not him that girdeth his harness boast himself as he putteth it off. You're just beginning to be a warrior. You start bragging about it too soon. You need to be quiet. You don't know a whole lot yet. You've got to get some experience first. Verse 12, it came to pass when Ben-Hadad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, he said unto his servants, set yourselves in array, and set themselves in array against the city. Notice verse number 16, jump all the way down, and when he went out at noon, but Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions. Look down in verse 20, the end result. They slew every one his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. And Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, escaped on the horse with the horsemen. And the king of Israel went out and smoked the horses and the chariots and slew the Syrians. Thirty-two other kings were killed as a result of them getting around and him convincing them that this is what you need to do. And then they wind up killing 30. You say what? It's directly related. That gives you... It's called courage in a bottle. it'll make you do things you wouldn't normally do. If I can get a shot, it'll steal my nerves, you know. It won't steal your nerves from nothing. It'll make your judgment impaired. You say, well, you know, okay. Let's come to the book of Esther. Come to the book of Esther. I apologize for the comments. I just can't resist. Oh, let's see. Esther. That's right before Job there, isn't it? Esther, chapter number 1. Now we know from the study of the Bible, and you're going to continue to get that, that everywhere wine's mentioned in the Bible, there's wine, strong drink, and vinegar. I'll show you the definitions of all those things. But whenever somebody goes to the Bible for their justification to do something, their argument's pretty weak. Why would you have to try to justify something? If it's right, do it. If it's wrong, quit it. If it's right, why you gotta try to use the Bible to justify doing it? You got a guilty conscience. You know what I call that? I call that fig leaf theology. Fig leaf theology, that has to do with they go to the garden there and the Lord says you're out here naked and you're sleeping with animals and sleeping with your wife and she's the most beautiful woman in the face of the earth and he's Mr. America and all that kind of stuff. And you're in a perfect environment with no mosquitoes and no roaches and none of that other kind of stuff. You're eating fruit off of a tree and then you go out there and you keep watching that tree and keep watching that tree and keep watching that tree and keep watching that tree. That's why it's dangerous to have that stuff laying in your cabinets, adults. They keep looking at it and looking at it and looking at it and looking at it and then one moment they have a momentary moment of weakness and then they go right out of your cabinet and they pop your top and they drink your liquor. How are you going to get on to them? It's your liquor. Why is it there? It's in your cabinet. I like the commercial they have on TV of this kid going over and taking his mama's prescription pills and stuff like that. Every time I see that thing, I'm ready to throw my shoe at the television. You say, well, why is that? Because why don't they show the real truth? There's a lot more kids going to the liquor cabinet than going to the medicine cabinet. Bible sitting. If I could draw, I wish I could draw. I'd draw some things that would just shock people. I'd draw a table full of tracks and an open Bible right there with a little candle burning right there by it. And right next to it I'd draw a bottle of liquor. And I'd have underneath it a little wine for thy stomach's sake and often infirmities. How can you justify bourbon, even if wine was in that context, bourbon and vodka and all the other scotch and all the other, and call that for your stomach's sake? That's what I'd do. I'd have the guy sitting there, just comes home from church on Sunday and got to the table and he's up there, you know, now let's pray and ask God to bless this while he's pouring the liquor in the glasses. That's what I'd do. I guess my God won't let me draw. I wish I could draw. That's what I'd draw. I wouldn't draw these nice little sweet things, you know, showing the pictures of Jesus and all that kind of stuff. I'd draw you. I'd draw modern Christianity. This slick, slimy, jellyfishy, like jello, trying to nail jello to a wall, can't make a decision over nothing, compromise, compromise, compromise, cut a corner, cut a corner, cut a corner. That's what I'd draw. I'd show the kid going in mom and dad's right up underneath the Bible. I'd show the Bible sitting on top of the liquor cabinet. I'd show the kid in there with his, getting the bottle out of mom and dad's cabinet. That's what I'd show. You say why? We talk about all the other places and all the other people doing all the stuff and we won't deal with the stuff in our own house. We got a problem in our house. So how can you tell? I can tell by how you're getting it. You're like... Esther, you know the story of Esther, the queen that comes up there and all that other kind of stuff. Here's what happens, verse 7. This is the thing about Vashti. Let's see, yeah, that's it, verse 7. And they gave them to drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being diverse one from another, and royal wine in abundance according to the state of the king. The drinking was according to the law. Oh, well, see, it's okay, preacher. That's not the Jews' law. They're not in power. That's not the law. The law says you can drink. Well, preacher, I'm drinking, but the law doesn't say I can't drink. You don't go by the Roman law, you go by God's law. Just because it's legal, it says you can smoke dope too. Sure, go to Colorado. You read the news this week? In Colorado. I'm so shocked at this. It really surprises me that the recreational use and purchase of recreational marijuana has almost doubled the amount used for medical purposes. And there is a rise in tourism. You think? The motels and everybody, the hotel, they are loving it. You say, why? Well, the law says it's okay, so... Watch what happens. Verse number 8, None did compel, for so the king had appointed all the officers his house. You've always got to have somebody with you, you know. Here, have one. What's the matter? Want to have it? Have it to yourself. On the seventh day, verse number 10, the heart of the king was merry with wine. He calls all these individuals in there. Those are all of the ones that are chamberlains and that thing. And the Bible says in verse number 11, and bring Vashti the queen before the king, the royal crown, and show the people the princess her beauty, for she was fair to look on. And Queen Vashti refused to come to the king's commandment by his chamberlains. Therefore, the king was very raw, and his anger burned within him. You ever stop and think about that? All of a sudden, you got a drink and want you to see who his queen is. publicly embarrass the woman. Have her come out there and dance in front of all the men out there. You say, why? Liquor and lustful thinkings always run side by side. Drops your inhibitions. Psalms chapter 75. There's a good type in this one right here. I'll cool off here in a minute. Psalm 75. I was trying to be nice this morning. Be sweet, you know. Something good's gonna happen to you today. You know what? This thing gives me great comfort. I'm like, oh wow, I'm doing the right thing. It's okay for me to be an oddball. God likes me being an oddball. How about that? I don't have to do it. Get the pressure. Psalms chapter 75, here's the Lord. He's in a tight picture. He's referred to as something here. Verse number seven, 75, seven, but God is the judge. He put it down one and set up another. For in the hand of the Lord, there is a cup and the wine is red. Now you'll have to get the other passages on what that is, but that means that it's fermented, it's angry. It is a full of mixture, he poureth out the same, but the dregs thereof, the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them. That's the Lord's anger pictured as wine. Well, you think that's grape juice? I'm gonna say no. But let's go a little further, Proverbs chapter four. Proverbs chapter four. Look in verse number 17. This is the same passage that talks about keeping His words and so on and so forth and that kind of stuff. 16, For they sleep not, except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away, unless they call some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and they drink the wine of... makes you violent. Well, it doesn't make me violent, it makes me happy. Well, I'm not there yet. Proverbs chapter 20. We'll get to you in just a minute, Mr. and Ms. Happy. Let's get happy. If you'd be more full of the Holy Spirit and have the joy of the Lord, you wouldn't have to be looking for a synthetic happiness. The only reason you go to something like that is, is you're not satisfied. You know why? You're trying to fill a void that can't be filled in a liquor bottle. It can only be filled by the Lord. After the Lord made you, after you fell, the Lord created you with a hole in you that there's only one thing will fit, and one thing will fill it, and one thing will satisfy or satiate it, and it's the presence of Jesus Christ in you. Nothing else will come up to it. Nothing else will match it. People try for years and years and years to fill that hole. What is that? That's a longing inside to say, something's missing, something's missing, something's missing. Yeah, it's been missing since the garden. Well, what is that that's missing? The Lord says, me. And you say, work. No, it's not filling it up, Lord. Something's missing. The Lord said, it's me. Women. No, it's not women. I'm giving you Ecclesiastes. Something's missing. Something's missing. What's gone wrong? Something's not in here. Money! It's not working. Not working. Something's missing. Something's missing. I need to be happy. I want to be happy. That's it. If I could just be happy. So you go out and you do everything you possibly think you can do and just enjoy leisure and pleasure and play all the time. And you come back at the end of the day and you're thinking, That didn't do it either. And the Lord says, it's me. You're missing me. And after you get saved, when you grieve the Holy Spirit of God, or you quench the Holy Spirit of God, you either grieve him by sin, or you quench him by not doing his revealed will to you. We'll talk about that some in the morning service. There's a void there that you know should be there, and your joy is gone. The joy of the Lord's your strength. And the next thing you know, you're looking for peace with everything, every other kind of way. And there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. See what's missing? God missing. Your fellowship with him. He created you to have fellowship. After the blood of Jesus Christ, now you have the ability to have fellowship with him. Why don't you? Something comes between you and him. Every time. It won't be him. It won't be him. It'd be me and you. We're always the problem. That's the part nobody wants to think about. Well, no, I can't be at fault. Yeah, you are. You're at fault all the time. If your relationship is not what it ought to be with Jesus Christ, it is because of you. My relationship's not right with Jesus Christ and my joy, it's because of me. It ain't because of him. He's perfect. He don't make mistakes. Well, I'd like to talk with him about it. Easy there, big fella, you ain't on the same level. Job tried that one time. Hey, he's got you covered every which way you go. Job comes in there and he says, Lord, the way I see it is, and the Lord said, excuse me, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, when the sons of God sang and shouted for joy, and where were you when I laid the line, and where were you when I did, and Job's like, okay, he said, let me ask you a question. You see the universe up there? Yeah, if you can match its splendor, then come on into my throne room and talk to me, and if you can't, shut your mouth. And Job said, well, I can't create nothing like that. And the Lord said, exactly. Okay, Lord, I kind of get my point. And Job, lest you forget, Job's in there for more than just how Christians suffer and the problems of Christians. That's a Christian going, well, Lord, the way I see it is, you know, and the Lord's like, what have you created in life? But a mess. You ever look at what you do when you come to Jesus Christ for salvation? These cotton-picking people give your life to Christ. Your life to Christ? Your life isn't worth having. I don't care if you've been pure as a driven snow. You all have sinned and come shore of the glory of God. You don't give your life to Christ. That's just... you're rife to Christ. You know, no, you give your heart to Him and you come to Him and you know what you give to Him? Your dirty, rotten, nasty, filthy sins. And then once He saves you, you say, okay, Lord, now I want to take my life and try to do something with it for you now. I want to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh now. But you don't give your life to Christ. Yeah, it's awful. That's awful. Like you're giving him something special. You come to Jesus Christ, you give him your sins. Why kids understand that? Why are you adults looking at me like a tree full of owls? I just thought, you know, we're giving him... See, that just makes you feel better about yourself than for me to say, you take your place among thieves as a sinner or you ain't going to come to Jesus. I've never heard. Well, then you ain't saved. You either came to Jesus as a sinner or you didn't come the right way. Yeah, you. Well, I've been in church since nine months before I was born. I don't care. I've been living in my house. Don't make me a cockroach. Where you associate, don't make you what you are. I hear that all the time. Some old bird kicks off, you know. Well, they were a good person. Did they trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior? Well, but they were nice to everybody. Did they trust Jesus Christ as their personal Savior? Well, do you know how much they did for charity? Boy. And then they say, now preacher, could you do the funeral? Yeah, but you ain't going to like it. You say, why? Because I ain't going to preach them into heaven for you to soothe your conscience. Because you didn't tell them about Jesus and you went along with everything they were doing so you could get along, you know. You let them go and burn in hell so it profits you. Proverbs. I just kind of want to stay on that train, man. They're just... 20, Proverbs 20, verse number 1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Well, if you're partaking of it, then you're deceived. You drink wine and think it's not a mocker? He says it is. He said if you partake of it, that you're deceived. And strong drink, he says it's raging. Wine is a mocker. It makes fun of you. It laughs at you. He's a funny drunk. He's funny. Look at him. He's funny. They're laughing at you. They ain't laughing at the wine. They're laughing at you. It mocks you. It makes you think you're something you're not. You're surprised. I've seen people do when they're drunk because they think there's something in their mind that they're not. I can fly. How's that working out for you? All right. Proverbs come to 23. Proverbs 23. Proverbs is a great book on this stuff. Where am I at here? I'm in 19. Proverbs 19 goes along with that other one in 20. Proverbs 23, 19. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. I'm going to tell you about how to be wise, son. Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall close a man with rags. He says, you want to be smart? Don't hang around with people that drink. Well, how's that doing for the crowd you're running with? Go to your party and everybody's running around and drinking. Well, I don't drink. What are you hanging around with them? It's not very wise. You say, why? Sooner or later, you'll have one in your hand. You see what it's called, peer pressure, even for you older people. I'm old enough now I can talk straight to you now. Before I had to be more kind, but I can talk straight to you now. I'm getting on up there in age. I'm not a little young whippersnapper anymore and you can't duck it. You old people, you suffer the agony of the damned. You get around the crowd and you try to recreate the young days. and that kind of stuff. The next thing you know what will happen, you start running around with them people, you wind up birds of a feather flock together. You just don't have the glass in your hand yet. Do you ever think about this? Do you ever think about what you're condoning by just being there? little girl came to me one time at a youth camp, and she said, Preacher, can I ask you a question? I said, sure, you know, and we were sitting there and a whole bunch of kids standing around, and she said, I want to ask you a question. I said, okay, sure, what do you want to ask me? She said, well, I want to ask you this. She said, I get to go to parties and stuff like that, and my mom and dad won't let me go to parties, and I don't understand why they won't let me go to parties. I said, well, you ought not be going to parties and that kind of a thing. And she goes, well, how come they go? I said, well, what kind of parties? She goes, well, everybody at their parties, even the ones they have at our house, they're drinking and smoking and listening to rock and roll music, so I don't understand what's the problem with me going. They tell me I'm not old enough yet. Now, you gotta be real careful with that one, because that's a preacher's trap, because if I'm not careful, she'll go home and say, the preacher said, the preacher said, the preacher said, and then that mother and daddy will be down there trying to accuse me of turning their kid against them. That's right. How would you handle that? Would you just keep hanging out with them? How come it is that you justify doing what you're doing, but when your kids and your grandkids come along, you tell them no? You hypocrite, you. You're a hypocrite. Well, honey, you shouldn't drink. What you got bottles of liquor for? Well, I don't use them. Then what are they there for? Well, just in case. In case of what? In case of fire, break this and pour it all over the fire. What's it there for? You planning on something? Well, I never know when man might need it. That's the mental attitude toward it. Man, it's already the end of Sunday school. We're going to pick this up again tonight and I may just continue on with the morning service. Wouldn't that be a blessing to have the visitors walk in? the visitors show up for church today. Hi, welcome to the Bible Believers Baptist Church. We're preaching on drinking. I might just do that, man. That might be good. Let me give you a couple more here in Proverbs. Can I give me just a couple minutes here? I'll give you just a couple more here in Proverbs. Proverbs chapter number 23. Let's see. Come on down here. This is a great passage on it. Come down to verse number 29. 29. You want to come to poverty? I've seen that stuff just take people's, just take everything they got. I mean everything. You say, what happens to them? Well, they lose their job. They can't work. The Constitution gets bad. They get where they can't hold a job. They get where they get the shakes and the trembles and stuff if they ain't got the stuff. And the next thing you know, they'll do anything. They're as bad as any dope fiend you've ever seen. They just don't paint it that way for you. They don't show you. Can I just tell you this? You should do yourself a favor and you should go down to Shands Hospital on a Friday night sometime around midnight or so, and just sit there in the emergency room for a couple hours, and you should go down to the missions, and of the mission bums that are down there, there's not near as many dope fiends as there are drunks. But they never show you that. Because alcohol is socially acceptable. They always throw off on all the drunks. It's a drug. 29, that's it. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? In other words, who's having these things? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Talking like an idiot. Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine and they that go and seek mixed wine. That's two things there. One of them is wine in the sense of an alcoholic beverage and the other one is stronger than that, you mix it up. So now you tell me, I've never been much around all this kind of stuff, but I know a little bit about what I'm preaching to you about. I don't have to experience to know it ain't right. That's a lie the devil tells you. Let me ask you a question. Is an alcoholic wine or a mixed drink stronger? Mixed drink. What are they doing? They mix it up with other things. Say what? Give it a little bit more So I don't have to drink a whole bottle of wine. I can just drink a glass and get about the same amount of alcohol content. Smart. It's the strength. I can get drunk faster. Why don't people drink? To get drunk. So that's not it. What else is it? What else is it? It's not like we don't have water or something else to drink. You're not doing it to quench your thirst. Why are you drinking? To get drunk. To get happy. To relax. All those are anesthesis. You're anesthetizing your feelings. You're saying, I need this. I'm so nervous. I've got to have it to calm down. It's funny, except for alcoholics, I've never seen a guy grabbing a bottle of NyQuil and downing it, you know. I'm nervous. I'm nervous. Well, if it's just for that, no it's not. And it ain't for the taste. All right, verse 30, I'm sorry, 31. Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth it color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, it's fermented. At last, verse 32, it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. At last, after it sits around, it ferments, it rots. Fermentation is a word for rotting. It's no good. And when it does that, then it creates more problems. A couple more in this passage here and then we'll go. Thine eyes shall behold strange women. Thine heart shall utter perverse things. How about that? You get drunk and the next thing you know, you're turned over to your lustful pleasures. And nowadays the women look at the men and the men look at the women the same. Women are just as bad about trying to get a guy drunk as a man is to get a woman drunk. Yeah, this shall be verse number 34. He that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or he that lieth atop a mast. That's swaying back and forth. You feel like they're, you know, somebody hold the floor still. The floor's moving. I don't know what's going on here, man. Somebody hold the thing still. They stagger around and walk around like this kind of stuff. It messes with your equilibrium. And Jesus said it's okay. Verse 35, they have stricken me. Who's stricken you? Nobody struck you. You fell on and busted your hind end. You don't know why you wake up in the morning and you got a sore tailbone and you got black eyes and you're thinking, who beat me? You beat yourself in the doorpost. Shalt they say, and I was not sick? No, you weren't sick. You were sinning. They have beaten me and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. It's habit forming. The guy comes in there, man, I mean, Danny Barber, just a stinking sot, commode-hugging drunk. You mean drunk, laying in his own filth and stuff like that. Had a sawed-off leg there, he lost some gangrene and maggots and stuff would get up in that thing and all that. He'd sit around there and he'd get drunk on them little square rectangular bottle things, you know, whatever they are. He carried a .22 in the top part of that leg that was cut off right below his knee there. Danny Barber would lay there and put him in the drunk tank and he'd wind up sobering up and within two days of him getting out, he'd be in the same condition again. He'd come up with the wildest stories about how somebody beat him and how somebody, nobody wanted to get around him to pick him up, let alone beat him. Why would you want to beat him? He's laying on the ground, he's passed out, commode hung and drunk. Beat up all to pieces. Skinned up, abrasions. I've watched them walk down the road. And you know, you're thinking, you better catch him, you better catch him. And before you can get there, I mean, face plant right in the asphalt, man. And they get up and go, oh, you hit me, man. What'd you hit me for, man? What'd you hit me? I wish I had a camera, man. I mean, you're just like, I mean, like no hands to catch nothing. Just like, I'm falling. just like that, hit the ground. And you'd think a guy would go like that with his cheekbone broken and teeth busted out of his mouth and a nose broken and blood pouring out of him. You'd get him to the hospital, you'd think when he looked in the mirror he'd say, I've had enough. I ain't doing that. Right back at it again. Father, bless this Sunday school hour and I pray you'll be with us in the upcoming service. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.