Temple Baptist Church - 10-9-2022
John 2:1-11
Introduction:
A. Last week, we looked at the first miracle performed by our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. If all wine is alcoholic, then our Lord was identified, baptized, called His disciples to follow Him, and took them to a drunken party to celebrate a wedding. What a way to begin His wonderful work of redemption! I am being facetious at this point.
2. I could never even imagine that His first miracle would be a sinful one as it would have set the tone for His entire ministry. That would not be my Jesus, nor would it be the perfectly sinless Son of God of the Bible.
3. We are to let the context define the terms, not allow the terms to define the context.
B. Jesus according to the Scriptures, Jesus drank wine!
Luke 7:33-34 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. (34) The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
Though our Lord was not a “gluttonous man,” He did come eating and though our Lord was not a “winebibber,” He did drink wine. The false accusation was not His eating and drinking, it was that He was intemperate in these things. Gluttony is called one of “The Seven Deadly Sins.” Our Lord was not a “gluttonous man.” Winebibber is one who drinks a great deal of wine. Our Lord spoke against the sin of intemperance. He did drink the fruit of the vine, called wine in the Bible, as was the custom of the Jewish people.
C. Jesus drank of the wine, the fruit of the vine, as did everyone else in a land of grapes, but the majority of wine drinking, the fruit of the vine, was done at festive occasions such as the wedding at Cana.
Luke 22:15-20 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: (16) For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. (17) And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: (18) For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. (19) And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (20) Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
D. Now, let us look at alcoholic wine and strong drink in the Bible. Is drinking sin or just becoming inebriated sinful? If drinking is not sin but can lead to inebriation, then it is a sin that we are given the liberty to choose just how much drinking of alcohol is sin how much is not. Sin left up to the individual to define instead of the Bible defining it.
James 1:13-16 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (14) But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (16) Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Temptation to sin comes from the lust of the individual, not from God and not from the Bible!
E. Use of alcohol. One drink of alcoholic beverages will impair your thinking and bodily reaction to some degree.
1. One 12 ounce can of beer, one 4 ounce glass of wine, and one mixed drink contain approximately the same alcohol content.
2. In most states, .08 is considered driving under the influence. Man lets the .08 number, which once was .10, be the standard for inebriation legally, but has been lowered in most states. This shows the fallibility of man to define inebriation, but they did lower the limit because of impairment upon the driver.
3. One 12 oz can of beer, one 4 oz. glass of wine, or one mixed drink elevates the average person to .015-.02 according to body weight or approximately 1/4 legally drunk by the standard set by law. Does God allow His children to be 1/4 drunk, or maybe have 2 drinks - 1/2 drunk, or even 3 drinks which is 3/4 drunk as long as he is not .08? Do we get to choose excess limits of sinfulness? The answer is that God gives black and white, not white turning into gray as it approaches darkness.
F. The effect of alcohol.
1. Destroy your health – cirrhosis and other physical problems. More than 140,000 die each year because of alcohol related health problems.
2. Alcohol destroys lives – how many people are on skid row, homeless, in and out of rehab and hospitals, rescue missions?
3. Alcohol can destroy your mind. Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways and can affect the way the brain looks and works. Alcohol makes it harder for the brain areas controlling balance, memory, speech, and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes.
4. Alcohol can destroy your family. How many were either raised in a drunkard’s home or had relatives who were drunkards? They did not start out with plans to destroy the ones whom they loved but alcohol changes ones thinking and controls their lives. Damaged family relationships, neglect and abuse of spouse and children, financial destruction, and divorce.
5. Alcohol can destroy your hopes and dreams. Most people have hopes and dreams. Goals they set in life and strive to achieve. Hopes and dreams disappear for the drunkard whose only future lies in the next bottle.
6. Alcohol can destroy your career. Drunkards cannot continue to work consistently on the job and will eventually find their entire life in a bottle. Alcohol On The Job Working under the influence of alcohol is strictly prohibited. We forbid alcohol or drug use on any work site. This means more than just not drinking on the job. Tests have shown that alcohol and drugs can still have an effect on your body up to 18 hours after you have stopped drinking.
7. Alcohol can destroy your children and grandchildren. God gives us children to be raised in good homes by good parents who are to set a right, godly example for them to follow. Many children raised in homes where alcohol are involved tend to abuse alcohol.
Exodus 34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
8. Alcohol can destroy those whom you mentor. People watch people and tend to follow them to some degree. “No man is an island unto himself” is a statement that is often quoted and finds its foundation in the Bible.
9. Alcohol can destroy innocent people around you. Over 10,000 people each year die in automobile wrecks that are alcohol related and countless others are injured or permanently impaired by drunk drivers.
10. Alcohol can lead you into a life of crime. Alcohol related crimes – Alcohol lowers one’s inhibition and impairs one’s judgment. Over 2 million convicted criminals currently in jail with 37% of those reporting that they were drinking Alcohol at the time of their arrest. Alcohol plays a 40% role in violent crimes.
11. Alcohol can destroy your influence. Alcohol leads those who look up to us and follow us down the road to destruction instead the upward road to success and godliness. Romans 14:7-8 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (8) For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
G. God’s warnings concerning use of alcohol.
1. We are not to be fooled by it. Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
2. We are not to look upon it. Proverbs 23:29-35 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? (30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. (31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. (32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. (33) Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. (34) Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. (35) They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
3. We are to be around it. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
4. We are not to entice others with it. Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
5. We are not to be fooled by it. Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
6. We are not to err in it. Isaiah 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
Isaiah 5:11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
Isaiah 5:22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
7. We are to answer this question: “Does what I am doing glorify God?” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Conclusion: God will never either tempt us to use alcoholic beverages. Stay away from alcoholic beverages and drug usage. A good “rule of thumb” is to never begin something that may have to one day attempt to quit because quitting something is much harder than starting something.
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