Proverbs chapter 23 and I have started preaching a series about just saying no and the first sermon
I preached about was about opioids and I want to preach about alcohol and specifically
about this Proverbs chapter 23 passage here. I don't have a lot of time but I definitely want
Definitely something that's been in the queue for me to preach about.
And I'll start reading here in Proverbs 23 verse 29, the Bible says,
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine. They that go to seek mixed wine.
So the Bible here specifically says who has, whoa, who has sorrow?
Look, people that look Terry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine,
people that drink alcohol, they have sorrow, they have fighting.
And it says, they have redness of eyes.
They have wounds without cause.
They don't even know how they got them.
They get so drunk that they wake up and they're beat up.
Or they're in some kind of a car accident
and they don't know how it happened.
They don't know how they got beat up.
They don't know how they got the wounds.
But how does it happen?
It says, they the tarry long at the wine.
They the go to seek mixed wine.
And look what it says in verse 31.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
There's two different kinds of wine in the Bible.
There's the wine that comes from the fruit of a grape or any kind of fruit.
And that's just fresh squeezed, what we would call wine or, you know, obviously we call it juice in modern day,
but juice was a word that was used back when the 1611 was translated.
but it's wine, it doesn't have to be alcoholic, but this specific wine's talking about right here
is alcoholic wine. This is the wine that is bad for you. It says look not valid upon it.
We're not even supposed to look at it.
And yeah, people drink it. Yeah, Christians will say, oh, it's okay to drink wine. Jesus turned water into wine
Not this type of wine. Jesus isn't gonna turn
He's not gonna turn it into alcoholic wine after they've already well drunk. Okay
This is warning us not to even look at it and I have a standard when I go into a store
I don't even go down the alcohol aisle at all
You know why because I used to drink alcohol a long time ago, you know, I don't want to be tempted
I don't want to be tempted to even look at it. The Bible says not to look at it
So why would I go down an aisle of something I used to partake in even to be tempted by it at all?
People go that's crazy. That's crazy that you would have that standard. Why is that crazy if you're not supposed to look at it
Why would you walk down that aisle?
As a saved person you should stay far away from anything like that. When I went and checked into my hotel last night
I mean I couldn't even believe it. At the front check-in there was like racks of wine like right in front of us
Like you couldn't even avoid it. You just have to look down. I've never checked into a hotel
Where were the wine was just right there
I mean you couldn't go and get a bottle of water out of their little shop
But you could buy a bottle of wine right there before you check in or you know while you're checking in at the shop
It was it was irritating because I was thirsty, but I wasn't thirsty for that. So
Look at what it says. So you're not supposed to look at it
but yet Christian pastors
supposedly and
Christians will say it's okay to drink alcohol
Well, how can you drink it if you can't even look at it?
How do you pour yourself an alcoholic beverage or
Drink an alcoholic beverage if you're not even supposed to look at it. Please explain that to me
He's supposed to do it blindfolded or have somebody else do it for you
verse 32 at the last it bideth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder
Anybody like sleeping with poisonous snakes?
You want you want to just hang out and pet poisonous cobras and stuff? No
Well, when you play with alcohol, you're gonna get bitten. You're gonna get burned. You're gonna get stung
You're gonna get poisoned. It's poison. It's not good for you
Says nine eyes shall behold strange women
And nine heart shall utter perverse things.
All you want to be a pervert will drink alcohol then
because that's what it does.
It can make you turn into a pervert.
You know, men beat their wives because they drink alcohol.
Why, you know, there's a lot of talk about that lately,
but you know what will turn the hand into the fist?
Drink a little alcohol.
It's, you know, it's called winds and spirit for a reason.
Because it turns you into another spirit. It changes people. The most docile man in the world can turn into a monster just by drinking
alcohol. It says your heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieeth down in the midst of a sea, or as he that lieeth upon the top of a mast.
They have stricken me thou shalt say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I have not felt it. When shall I wake?
I will seek it yet again.
See, it's it's addicting too. You know, you can have the most terrible night in the world and then someone will still
Seek it yet again. They'll still drink it again. They'll get hung over and they'll still drink it again
You know what? It feels like to be hung over. You're just sick. You have the worst headache ever
But they're like, hey, you know, let's do this all over again
And there's people that can't quit drinking or they'll die, literally die because they're so pickled that they just have to have another drink because if they don't they'll die, literally die.
And people get so drunk that they will just, they'll get into a car and they'll drive and kill people.
because they've lost all judgment.
They've lost all reason in their mind.
So it can turn you into a pervert.
It can make you utter things
that you would never utter in your heart.
It can make you do things you would normally not do
because it takes away all your judgment.
You know, the police will say you're impaired.
You might not get, you might not even be drunk
if you're driving, but if you have one beverage,
it can make you impaired.
and your judgment, your reflexes are off.
And so, turn to Isaiah 56 verse nine.
Isaiah 56 verse nine.
And in reality, Baptists are the only ones
that really preach hard against alcohol.
Even old IFB pastors will preach hard against alcohol.
They'll call it the devil's brew.
They will preach hard against it.
Isaiah 56 verse 9 says, all ye beasts of the field come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand.
They all look to their own way.
everyone for his gain from his quarter.
Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine,
we will fill ourselves with strong drink,
and tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant."
See the problem with Christianity today is you got a bunch of wine-bibber pastors out there
You got a bunch of pastors that are not only not preaching about it
But they're partaking in it and they're drinking it and they're drinking the stock strong drink. They're drinking beer
They're drinking wine and they're partaking with it with their own congregants
Like Jeff bourbon
Jeff bourbon who goes and drinks out and shows up at the Guinness factory and
Does a little spiel about Guinness and how great Guinness was or whatever?
That's not what we need. We need people preaching against this stuff
We need people saying this is wicked. This is we need people saying stay away from it. Don't look upon the wine
Stay away from it
We need Baptists to scream it from the rooftops, to scream it in the streets, to scream it from the pulpits across America and say this is wicked and you need to stay away from it.
And yeah, we do preach a teetotaler lifestyle as independent Baptists and that's what we should be preaching.
You know, these lazy dumb dogs that refuse to bark and refuse to tell people how wicked
it is, and they're just taking their church members down the road to hell.
And I'm not saying they're going to go to hell if they're saved.
I'm not saying that.
But look, your life can become a living hell on this earth, especially when you're telling
your church members, oh, this is okay.
It's fine.
Yeah.
It's not a sin to drink.
Don't listen to preachers like that.
They're lying to you.
If the Bible says not to look at it, and the Bible says at the last it bides like a serpent and stings like an adder
Then you should stay away from it
Why would you drink something that says that when the Bible says something like that about it now pastor Anderson
He when we went I had my conference at our church. He was quoting the Bible the message
So show how stupid it is and it and it seems like whenever I look up a passage in the message
I'm just like, wow, I cannot believe that this is actually a Bible translation.
Now, turn back to Proverbs 23, and I'm going to read this same passage from the message.
I was really blown away by how retarded this is.
And if pastors actually use this passage to preach out of the Bible,
there's no wonder why they're thinking it's okay to drink alcohol.
No wonder why people think it's a joke when we say,
hey, stay away from this stuff.
Now follow along in verse 29 as I read the message and you read it in your King James.
Who are the people who are always crying the blues?
Who do you know who reeks of self-pity?
Who keeps getting beaten up for no reason at all?
Whose eyes are bleary and bloodshot?
It's those who spend the night with a bottle
for whom drinking is serious business.
Don't judge wine by its label or its bokeh
or its full-bodied flavor.
The splitting headache, the queasy stomach.
Do you really prefer seeing double?
With your speech all slurred, reeling and seasick,
drunk as a sailor?
They hit me, you'll say, but I didn't hurt.
They beat on me, but I didn't feel a thing.
When I'm sober enough to manage it,
bring me another drink.
Pastor, I wish you'd have never showed me that stuff.
But here's what they'll really say. I mean, here's other things that they'll say. I'll get my car and drive it when I'm wasted enough
Even though I could just call an Uber or a taxi
Because my judgments totally impaired and screwed up. I'll drive into innocent victims at high speeds and kill them and remember it
Not that's really what they'll say
This is what people do all the time
My uncle killed somebody drinking and driving
An 80-year-old woman. You're like, well, she was ready to go anyway. No, she wasn't. He killed her. He doesn't even remember it
He went to jail for 10 years for for a vehicular homicide
He'd already had like two or three DUIs before that
So he did 10 years for that got out and then he drank and drive again and got pulled over for it
They didn't kill anybody this time, but he still did it
This is like how do you not learn your lesson?
But people do this kind of stuff all the time. It's like dude. All you have to do is just I mean we have lifts and ubers now
They're probably cheaper than taking the taxi used to be just taxis only and now they'd rake you over the coals
You can take a pretty cheap Uber ride home these days
So we should have more people here tonight. We should have three more people here tonight right now
But one of our brothers in Christ has fallen tonight
He died last week because of a stupid drunk driver
Taken out by a selfish piece of crap that decided to get into a car and drive after he was drunk
Brother Kevin Rowe a soldier. I
Mean there's a whole clipboard wall filled with soul winning things that he was
getting ready to do he was getting ready to take big trips and
Leading, you know a charge of soul winning at faithful where Baptist Church?
He left a lot of people devastated including his wife
He left me behind a child
Because some idiot decided to get behind the wheel of a car
He decided to drink and drive
And he's probably gonna spend the next ten years of his life in prison too
But you know, it's just a shame
That's why you should stay away from alcohol
It impairs your judgment. You should not drink and drive. You should just say no
And look, you know, we've all been saved out of different things and and maybe some of you do have backgrounds where you drank before
Don't go back to it. Stay away from it
And you know, you might think it's weird to not walk down beer aisles. Don't walk down
Ever again. I stay away from them
And it's not weird. I don't think it's weird at all. I think it's smart
There's a reason drunkards are not loud in church
So, you know a lot of people are kind of like just messed up over this whole thing
It's been a hard week. It's been a lot of tragedy this week
And people wonder like why do bad things happen to good people?
What is it? What is what is there to learn from this?
Why do drunks get to walk away virtually unscathed
and good people like Kevin Rowe have to die
because of things like this?
And as God's people, we wonder,
why people like Kevin?
You know, why did this have to happen?
Well, the Bible says all things work together
for them that love God and to them
that are the call according to his purpose.
But people are, you know, sometimes it feels like,
well, that's,
you know an escape verse or something to just excuse what happened but I don't think it is.
And you know Miss Lola probably doesn't understand why and it's probably still isn't going to
make sense to her for a long time and I feel really bad for her and I just want to say to Miss Lola
we love you and my wife love you and we're really sorry and I just
Just want to say, we just want to say, I just wanted to say that for me and my wife, but
Turn to act seven act seven sometimes we just wonder
You know why why do these things happen? It seems like it doesn't make sense
and
I don't know that I can actually make sense of it, but in Acts chapter seven
We see the martyrdom of Stephen. I know this is different
But the martyrdom of Stephen
Something did take place. It was really
It was really important look at verse 54 act 7 verse 54
Bible says when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on them with their teeth
But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God
And said behold I see the heavens opened up in the Son of man standing on the right hand of God
Then they cried with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon them with one accord and cast them out of the city and
stoned them and the witnesses lay down their
Clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul
And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying,
Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice.
Lord, lay not this end of their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
I'm sure a lot of people wondered,
why did Stephen have to die?
Stephen just came and preached a great message.
Stephen preached a great sermon.
And Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost
and he died before his time.
Why did Stephen have to die?
Now look at verse 1 in the next chapter, verse chapter 8 it says,
And Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the church,
which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles, and devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
See they're very upset very sad over the death of Steven. They made a great lamentation over him. They buried him and
They love Steven. They didn't understand why this happened. I'm sure now. Let's go over to chapter 9 verse 3
Acts chapter 9 verse 3 it says and as he journeyed he came to
near Damascus and suddenly they're shined round about him a light from heaven. This is the apostle Paul
And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him
Saul Saul why persecute us down me and he said who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus who now
Persecuted said it's hard for the kick against the pricks
So
In between this time Saul has persecuted the church. He wreaked havoc upon the church. He destroyed the church
But the thing about it is is I'm sure during that time
There's people that are preaching the gospel to him
There's people trying to tell him the truth and why because why does Jesus say it is hard for the to kick against the pricks?
because the Holy Ghost has been working on Saul trying to get Saul saved and I believe that the reason why Stephen had to die is because
Saul had to become Paul that's why and
Even though it was a it was a horrible thing that happened
But something great happened as a result of Steven's martyrdom that Paul the apostle or Saul
became Paul and he got saved and
Verse 12 look at verse 12 it says and has seen a vision
The Lord talks to him and he says and has seen a vision a man named and an IS
Coming and putting his hand on him and he might that he might receive his sight and Ananias answered
Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done by saints at Jerusalem and
Here he hath authority from the chief priest to blind all that call on my name
But the Lord said unto him go thy way for he has a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles
And the children of Israel I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake
So he chose Saul. I mean Saul was knocking doors for the wrong reason now. He's knocking doors for the right reason
Saul was super zealous for the wrong reasons and became super zealous for the right reasons and he turned the world upside down
and so I'm saying all this all that to say this we don't we I don't know why Kevin died and
It's been a really rough week for everybody at faithful word. I'm sure I know for miss Lola for sure
And we don't know
What's gonna come out of this, but I do know that I believe
that the Lord has a plan and
That all things work together for them for good to them that love God and then they're called according to his purpose
and I know that it's
Something good has to happen
Something good has to come out of it, right? Maybe there is some
great missionary or great man of God that's gonna come out of this and I don't know who it is or I don't know
That we'll ever know who it is
But I know that something good will happen out of this and
It's very sad. It's very heartbreaking. It's hard for us to understand why something like this happens
But the Apostle Paul was Saul first
And he basically held, he was the coat check for everybody that stoned Stephen to death.
He was consenting unto his death.
And then maybe it was just that action that led Saul to being Paul.
And I'll just say this, I had an alcoholic episode that triggered me to getting saved.
I wasn't the one that was under the influence.
But my brother was fighting my best friend on a night.
They were both drunk.
And a car came by and hit and killed my friend
as they were fighting in the middle of the street
in Portland, Oregon.
The car came and hit my friend
and it just put like a little hole in the back of his head
and flipped him up and he fell
and he died in my cousin's arms.
And I got the call in the middle of the night.
I went to the hospital.
I wasn't saved at this time,
but I was looking into things.
I was still seeking truth at this time.
When I got to the hospital,
I remember I got down on my knees
and I prayed that he would still be alive,
but he wasn't, he was dead.
And I went to his funeral.
I went to three funerals that year
and that one was just awful.
But it was like a Native American funeral where they're talking about Grandma Moon and Jesus at the same time or whatever
I was really confused
As as you well might be it's like you're talking first you're talking about grandpa moon fishing them
In outer space and then the next time next minute you're talking about Jesus or whatever. I'm just like what's going on
So I mean I asked the shaman for how what do I do got to do to be saved and?
He just gave me some weird answer.
So I mean, I was working for an all roofing company
of Jehovah's Witnesses.
I was into astrology, reading astrology books
and trying to like figure out all that stuff.
And then my wife had given me some chick comic books.
And I read this chick comic and I was like,
I became King James only from reading this comic.
I know it's weird, but I did so I didn't I didn't read the Lordship salvation thing at the end
or if I did I didn't get saved by it obviously, but I was King James only I was driving around like
after I went to his funeral I just I was trying to I was trying to figure out how to get saved
you know but the Bible talks about how it's better the day of your death is better than the day of
When the living go to a funeral it something, you know, they they take into account their own mortality
And I went to three funerals that year and that last one was a zinger and it made me think like what what's gonna happen to me when I die?
And so death is is a horrible thing, but for some people it can mean
Everlasting life when they think about their own mortality
And so even though alcohol is evil and I'm I wish that never had happened to my friend and but I think if that never happened to him I
Would have never gotten saved
Out of all my friends
There was hundreds of feet people at that funeral. I was the only one that did get saved
So I just think if that would have never have happened
Would I be saved? I don't know because I was definitely on a bad road
But I did get saved and I'm not saying, you know, I'm just saying that people can get saved in situations that they would normally, you know, and so like I'm saying with the Apostle Paul, maybe he would have never got saved if Stephen would have never got martyred.
Because he sure seemed to talk about it later. He even talks about the fact that Stephen, he was consenting under Stephen's death. Brings that up in this testimony later on.
Bad things can good things can happen out of bad situations is what I'm trying to say and
You know, I end up getting saved
Over something that was really horrible. So just wanted to you know, maybe put that into your mind and
ease it just a little bit
Even though it's still awful and terrible
you know and
Has to wrestle kind of
Gave me this little tidbit about brother Kevin. I didn't really know brother Kevin that well, but I just talked to him last week and
He was supposed to be here we're excited about him being here and my wife had talked to miss Lola and
My wife was supposed to be here with miss Lola
But he said the thing about Kevin is
He would want somebody to give that guy that killed him the gospel
That's how much of a soul whenary was
So and you know
Hopefully does get saved, you know, it's hard to say that you know once someone takes somebody
It's that important to us that important to his church
Out of this world like that
I'm sure people would have wanted the apostle Paul to die too and go to hell
He's holding the coats of all the people that killed Steven, you know, but
You know, and I think about this too, the Apostle Paul.
I mean, people were afraid of him.
They're like, he ain't coming to church.
He went to every synagogue
and then he was punishing people in the synagogues.
He was beating them in the synagogue.
So I mean, I imagine that he came back around
after he was a Christian.
And then they're like, he ain't coming in here.
He beat us last time he was here.
But imagine him having to tell, because I mean, he was consenting to people's deaths,
not just Stevens, but other peoples.
And imagine him having to come and say, I'm sorry that I had to, that I spoke against
your family members and tortured them and beat them.
You know, I mean, the apostle Paul had a lot to answer for, you know, so, but in the end,
he did a lot of good after he got saved, didn't he?
Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the Bible. Lord, sometimes it's hard for us to understand why
bad things happen to good people. Lord, sometimes we'll never know until we get to heaven why
certain things did happen. Pray to just help us and comfort those people that are hurting right now
because of the sin and wickedness of alcohol. Pray that Lord, we would just stomp that stuff out of
Ever especially when things like this happen these devastating events happen in our lives and the lives of people that we love
Pray that we would just forsake those things and never go back to them ever again
Pray be with Miss Lola and her family. I pray that you'd be with faithful Baptist Church and and all the friends of brother Kevin
And I pray that you just bless the rest of the service as we move forward in Jesus name we pray amen