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Alright, so I'm going to be continuing on with my series that I started about, you know, having solid doctrine, and one of those doctrines just being a peculiar people, being separated, being sanctified unto the Lord, and we're going to be covering various things that typically you kind of notice as an outward appearance. So if someone were to look at us from the outside, you know, there ought to be a distinct difference between the way that we live as believers, as believers in God's Word, as people who are going to exalt God's commandments, and the rest of the world that generally by and large don't really care. And there's going to be some things that ought to be very different about us because we're following God's Word that is pretty much accepted in the culture that we live in, that's going to make us look different. And the subject matter for tonight, what I'm specifically focusing on, is alcohol, drinking, drinking booze, drinking beer, liquor, because the world, it's just fine, there's no issue with it. Now, the world, they're against, you know, drunk driving, they're against, you know, some other things, but by and large, drinking alcohol, not that big of a deal, no problem, and seems to be accepted pretty much everywhere, but what I'm going to teach tonight, what I believe wholeheartedly, is that we ought to be what's known as teetotalers. A teetotaler means it's total abstinence from alcohol. We don't touch the stuff, we don't even look upon the booze. We don't look on alcohol because we don't want to be tempted with it, we have nothing to do with it, it's wicked, it's evil, and it's not for believers. You believe in God's Word, you shouldn't touch the stuff. It's poison, it's dangerous, and it destroys lives. And if you caught my prayer, I said, as I was praying to God trying to help me preach this sermon, this is a subject that's close to me because this is a problem that I dealt with for many years. It's something I've been involved with and unfortunately know firsthand all too well a lot of the problems that go along with drinking alcohol. You don't need to hear all the firsthand stories from me because we've got the Word of God. But I'll tell you what, it's been confirmed in my life that God's Word is true. And if you need any type of extra proof, you could ask me and I'll let you know some of the things that have happened. But it's not something, it's not about me and I'm not going to go into a whole bunch of my personal stories tonight because quite frankly, a lot of them are just shameful and embarrassment anyways. There's no point in getting into all that because one thing that alcohol is going to do, you get involved with alcohol, it's going to bring shame. It's going to bring embarrassment. It's going to cause you to say stupid things, cause you to do stupid things. But before I get too far ahead of myself, we're going to end up in Proverbs later on where it teaches the wisdom on how dangerous and wicked drinking alcohol is. But the first point I want to make is that when you read the Bible, you have to understand that when the Bible uses the word wine, it is not always referring to alcohol. It is referring to any type of beverage that comes forth from fruit. Just as we have today, beverages that come from fruit, some are alcoholic, some are non-alcoholic. Well, in Scripture, you have the same exact thing. And I've preached sermons on this multiple times at Word of Truth Baptist Church because it is such an important topic because it is one that many people want to make up any excuse possible to just drink a little bit of booze because they want to walk in the flesh a little bit, because they want to gratify that fleshly desire to get a little buzz or to get drunk, and it's wicked as hell. But I proved in previous sermons, I'm going to prove a little bit tonight, that's why we started off in Deuteronomy 32, it's very obvious based on the context. And again, I preached this morning on repentance, understanding the context, the way a word is used is going to tell you what it means and what it's talking about. And when you see in context the Bible talking about wine as a good thing, as being something that cheers your heart and makes you glad and it's a blessing of the Lord, it's not talking about booze. It's not talking about a poison. Literally, look, even science today will tell you that alcohol is a poison for the human body to ingest. It's a poison. That's why when people drink too much of it, they have alcohol poisoning. That's why when people drink too much, their body rejects it and you start vomiting things up. These are natural responses that God has built into our amazing bodies as protections against ourselves to help us when we do things that aren't right. Just like when you eat things that have bacteria, that have harmful things for you, what does your body do? Your body's going to try to get rid of that and expel that. Well, it does the same thing when you drink alcohol because it's trying to get rid of that poison from your body. That can literally kill you. You drink too much and you will die. And it happens all the time. It is a poison. And in this chapter, we see two references to wine. One in a positive and one in a negative. One where actually the Bible's calling it a poison. You don't need me or science to tell you that alcohol is a poison. We have the Bible that's going to differentiate between the two times. Look at verse number nine here just to see the context of what we're talking about. Here in the beginning of the chapter here, it's talking about Jacob. So in verse number nine, it says, for the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is a lot of his inheritance. And as you read through the context, it's kind of talking about the beginnings of Jacob and the blessings of Jacob and when there is people and they're following him and he's blessing them and giving them land and giving them all this stuff and things are going really well for them. And then he transitions to where, when he calls it Jeshurun but still basically talking about Jacob, he's talking about Israel, when they end up getting too fat, when they get so rich that they just kind of forget God. And then they just make up their own gods and then they start receiving the curses of God. And again, this is the book of Deuteronomy. You'll see there's blessings, there's cursings, when they're doing what's right. As we saw this morning with the repentance, the way God deals with nations, when the nation of Israel is doing good, when they've got the Lord as their God, God blesses them, he takes care of them, he keeps them in peace, he keeps them in prosperity, things are going really well for the nation. When they turn their back on God, when they want them to do with God, when they start living in wickedness and getting in all the sin, then God brings curses upon them. And this chapter is no different, and he goes into both. But let's look at some of the blessings and the good things, starting in verse number 12. The Bible says, So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him. God is directing their path, God is leading them, they don't have any false gods, he's the one that's directing them, he's the one that's leading them, and they're looking to him for that. Verse 13, He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields, he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. He's blessing them! I mean, they're getting honey out of a rock! They're getting oil out of a rock! He's making it so that they can have these great things that normally wouldn't be there. Why? Because the Lord is leading them. Look at verse number 14. Butter of kind, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams, with a breed of bayshant and goats, with the fat of kitties of wheat, and without its drink, the pure blood of the grape. The pure blood of the grape. What in the world do you think, what type of beverage do you think that's talking about if it's not talking about grape juice? It's pure, right? I mean, when you have alcoholic drinks or beverages, you can't call that pure. Because the process of the fermentation alone is making impurities, and when you contrast that with the biblical account of relating leaven with sin, you know, a little leaven leaven at the whole lump, and it's talking about bad doctrine, it talks about sin, and it uses these correlations, well, the same way that leaven operates with bread is the way that the yeast will operate when you make alcoholic beverages. The bacteria eats on the sugars, and it turns, you know, through the chemical process, turns it into alcoholic beverage. It's an impurity that creates the alcohol. As opposed to the pure blood of the grape, obviously the blood is what's flowing through the grape, it's the juice that comes out of it, and that is a good thing, that is a blessing. People like to mock this teaching and say, oh, because grape juice is just going to make you that happy. Well, you know what, it makes me really happy. I love juice. I love fresh squeezed, especially this fresh squeezed stuff, you know, the stuff you buy at the store in the plastic containers, there's a big difference between that stuff that's been from concentrate and it's been, you know, kind of processed from what you actually get when it's like real and it's fresh. My wife's grandmother used to have these orange trees in her yard, and we would go every year and pick orange trees, and she had blood orange trees and regular orange trees and oh, man, every year we go and we pick oranges and you squeeze that juice. Now, I'll tell you what, it takes a lot of oranges to get one, just one glass of orange juice. It really is a luxury. It's hard to even realize that today in our mechanized industrial society with all the technology being able to bring food from all over the planet and transport it and refrigerate it and keep things and, you know, do so much more and have more available at our fingertips than has ever been possible throughout history. But it really is a luxury, it really is, I mean, when you think about how many oranges it takes and just every other fruit too, it just takes a lot to get juice out of that. It's a treat. It's special. And especially when it wasn't just readily available. It's even more precious. And so, you know, taking a drink and stuff, it's real sweet. You're getting all this great juice as opposed to just eating the fruit, you know, it is joyful. It's a good experience to have. It's a good thing to have. So here they're being blessed with the pure blood of the grape. They have so much abundance that they're even able to make this juice, because if you don't have the abundance, you're not going to be going and kind of, you know, wasting the rest of it with the pulp and the rest of the nutrition just to enjoy a glass of juice. You're going to use everything that you got. But then we transition after verse 14. Verse 15 says, But Jashurin waxed fat and kicked. Thou art waxed and fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook God, which made him in lightly esteem the rock of his salvation. And this is unfortunately a very common event that happens when people get too comfortable. Things are going really well. Everything's going great financially. What do I need God for? And then they start getting off into, you know, having more idle time to get off into all kinds of other sin and wickedness and just forgetting the Lord that bought them. And that's what happened with the children of Israel. They lightly esteem the rock of his salvation. Verse number 16, they provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful and has forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them. It means he hated them greatly because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters. His own people just turning against him, worshiping false gods. That makes God really angry. That's why the first two commandments have to do with not having any other gods before him is that like that is at the top of his list. This idolatry, false gods, God hates that. Which is also the primary reason why God gives people over to reprobate mind. It's through idolatry that Romans 1 is talking about people who know God, they glorify him not as God, and then they create their own gods, and they create their own idolatry. God gave up on the nation of Israel as a whole and let them just go off into bondage because they were serving false gods. And when someone turns reprobates because they know God, they hear about God and want nothing to do with him, and they just create their own gods. But I digress. I don't want to get off into all that. My point is here, we see this transition, and God's going to start cursing them here. Jump down to verse number 31, because he continues to describe the people, and this is the difference between the good and the blessing. They're getting the pure blood of the grape. But now in the cursing, verse number 31 says, for their rock is not as our rock. Why? Because they created these false gods. It's not the rock. They're not trusting in the Lord. They just have a different rock. They have a different God. Their rock is not as our rock. Even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Notice the difference between theirs versus ours, right? Theirs is wicked. Theirs is bad. Ours is good. And just in the context, they're just saying theirs versus ours. And everything they're saying that is theirs is bad. They have the vine of Sodom. We don't. They have fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter. Verse number 33, their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. The wine that they drink is different than the wine that we drink. Their wine is poison. Why? Because they're drinking alcohol. And I didn't bring up all the references to this specifically today, because there's so much you can preach on this, but it's not a coincidence. In Deuteronomy 32, verse 32, it says their vine is of the vine of Sodom, relating sodomy very closely with wine, with booze, with alcohol. Because so many times, the two go hand in hand. And we're going to get into the dangers of drinking alcohol a little bit later in the sermon and just why you really need to stay away from this stuff. But before I get into all that, I just, you know, this is just real brief. My focus of my sermon isn't to just, without any shadow of a doubt, prove that there are two different types of wine in the Bible. I'm just showing you this one passage, because there's kind of both reference there. One positive, one negative. And we need to know that that's the case all throughout Scripture. But I want you to turn, if you would, to Genesis 49. I'm going to tackle one of the biggest excuses that a Christian would give to say why drinking alcohol is okay, or it's okay in moderation, it's not that big of a deal, you know, as long as you're not getting drunk, drinking alcohol is fine. And there's one instance that without fail, almost everyone will bring up, and I know because I brought, I use this argument too, because I drank after I was saved. I got drunk after I was saved. Before and after, for that matter. Because my flesh didn't change when I got saved. I got the new spirit, but the flesh is still there. That doesn't mean I wasn't truly saved because, oh no, you know, you still kept getting drunk. No, it's not the way it works. I had the new spirit. I received eternal life as a free gift. Nothing I did. And I didn't deserve it. I still don't deserve it. Whether or not I choose to drink alcohol isn't going to change my eternal destination. You're in Genesis 49, first I want to just kind of lay this foundation here of the significance that sometimes wine will play with symbolism in Jesus Christ. So look at verse number nine in Genesis 49. The Bible says, Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couches a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. So this is the blessing being bestowed upon Judah and upon his descendants, and we see a foreshadowing here of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ came of the tribe of Judah. And look at verse number 11 there. The Bible says, binding his foal unto the vine and his ass his colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. And this is a reference to Jesus Christ, his robe being washed with blood. It's used as the grapes in this illustration of wine to show the redness of his blood that's going to be shed as the Savior. Of course, a very easy symbolism to see there. But I'll turn, if you would, to Mark chapter 14, and we're going to see just more evidence of the importance of this wine being placed and related to the blood of Jesus Christ at the Lord's Supper. Mark chapter 14, we're going to start reading in verse number 22. Mark 14 verse 22, the Bible says, and as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave to them and said, take, eat. This is my body. And he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. So as they're drinking the wine, he's saying, this is my blood. Just as they ate the bread, he's saying, this is my body. You have the bread and the wine symbolizing his body and his blood. And they're taking a drink and said, this is my blood of the New Testament. Verse 25, verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. What are they drinking? Wine according to the Bible. The language that we would use is juice because when you understand that wine is literally the fruit of the vine, it's drinking of the fruit of the vine. It's called wine in the Bible. Sometimes there's alcohol involved and sometimes there's not. And I guarantee you when Jesus is using this, there's no alcohol involved. Why? Because it's symbolizing the pureness of his blood. That's why the bread that they ate was unleavened bread. They're celebrating the Passover with Jesus Christ that he's instituting now this new new ordinance for them to keep, right, because the Passover is changing. Up to this point, they would kill the lamb every year, which represented Jesus Christ. But now that Jesus Christ is being offered up as that Passover lamb, he still wants them to show remembrance of him, of Jesus Christ, of what he did and the blood that was shed and the body that was broken for the people. He wants that to continue, but because he's fulfilling the sacrifice of the lamb, you're not going to do that anymore. You're not going to observe Passover anymore. Now instead of observing Passover, we're going to observe the Lord's Supper that he gave with his disciples here. And just as a side note, the way that we practice this here is we do this once a year. We'll do it on the Wednesday service before Easter, because I think that this is a continuation of the Passover, and we're going to basically observe it kind of as close as we can. I don't think the day actually literally matters that much. It's not instituted as the 14th day or the first month, you know, we have to follow it to that extent. But we will be observing this ordinance of keeping the Lord's Supper once a year, every year on the Wednesday service before Easter, which would be the day that's recognized when Jesus rose again from the dead. So before getting into all those details, that's another sermon for another day. The observance of the Lord's Supper is with unleavened bread. Why? Because again, leaven represents sin. It's symbolic of sin. Jesus Christ, of course, was sinless. So we use unleavened bread in order to symbolize the body of Jesus Christ. And that's also the reason why we don't use alcoholic wine to represent the blood of Jesus Christ, because the alcohol would be like the leaven that's in bread. So we use the pure blood of the vine of the grape to represent the pure blood of Jesus Christ. Now, with all of that being said, turn back, if you would, to John chapter 2. John chapter 2, because this is the most common excuse that you hear, because it's usually from Christians that don't know their Bible a whole lot, but they know this story. John chapter 2, at the marriage, what did Jesus do? He turns water into wine, right? That's the miracle. Everyone loves that miracle. Jesus turned water into wine. You tell me I can't drink wine, I can't drink beer, Jesus turned water into wine. Of course it's got to be okay. That's the excuse. I know it. I wanted to really hold to that. I wanted to forget all logic and reasoning and put all that aside, because I already knew the effects of alcohol. But you want to do it so bad, you're just trying to come up with some excuse, you want to justify in your mind, you say, well, well, I mean, he did turn water into wine, so, you know, it must not be that bad. I mean, if Jesus did it... Well, we're going to take a look at this story and see exactly what's happening here. I don't think it's too hard to demonstrate that the wine that is produced by Jesus Christ when he performs this miracle is not alcoholic. Maybe we can read the passage and look at it closely enough and see it's clearly non-alcoholic. Verse number three in John chapter two, the Bible says, and when they wanted wine, it means they lacked wine. They ran out. They didn't have any more. They had a need for wine. The mother of Jesus saith unto him, they have no wine. Now Jesus' response is the reason why I spent time going to Genesis 49 and Mark 14 and just talking about the blood of Jesus Christ being represented by wine. Verse number four, Jesus saith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. So his first response to Mary is saying, well, my hour isn't come yet. She's saying, hey, they need wine. He said, my hour isn't come yet. And I just, I was talking to Devin about this yesterday. I told him I was going to preach on this today. He brought up a point. I haven't personally heard this preached before, but he says that a lot of people will say when he says mine hour is not yet come, it's because this is his first miracle and it wasn't time for him to perform his first miracle yet or something like that. I've never heard that before. And to be honest with you, it's just kind of ridiculous. Seems kind of silly to me. We're talking about my hour not coming. It's obviously talking about his death. I mean, he's here. He came here to seek and save. He came here with a mission. He came here to do work and then ultimately be sacrificed. He knew what his mission was. And his hour is like, that's the hour of his death. He says, my hour is not yet come. Why? Because he's using this analogy of wine and saying, hey, they need wine. Yeah, they need the blood of Jesus on them. Everyone needs the blood of Jesus. My hour isn't coming. It's not time for me to do that yet. Basically it's symbolic because he's not talking about this just actually getting them some wine. And she wasn't saying that to him for him to perform a miracle either. I think she's just letting him know, hey, they're out of wine. What can you do for this? I don't think that she had it in mind intentionally that he's going to perform some great miracle at this wedding. I think she's just letting him know they're out of wine. And then in verse number five it says, his mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, fill the waterpots with water, and they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast, and they bear it. So the governor is like the ruler of the feast. He's the one that put the party together. Verse number nine, when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and knew not whence it was, so he didn't know where it's come from, his servants bring him this wine. They're out of wine, and his servants bring this wine to him. And he tastes this wine, and he doesn't know where it came from. It says, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor of the feast called the bridegroom and saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. And when men have dwelt drunk, then that which is worse. But thou has kept the good wine until now. Now that statement is very telling for multiple reasons about what's actually happening here. He's saying normally what happens is you're gonna serve your best stuff first, right? You want people, people are just getting there, you're gonna serve their best stuff first because that's their first impression, everything's gonna be great. And then after a while, especially as people get kind of filled up, they've had enough, then you can bring out stuff that's not quite as good. And even if you just think about this, humanly speaking, when you begin a meal, those first bites are usually the best bites. You just get started, you just wanna dig in, whatever it is that your favorite food is. And if you are eating a lot to really satisfy you, by the time you get to the end, it's usually way more of a struggle. The food doesn't taste near, even though it's the same food, it doesn't always taste nearly as good as it did when you first started eating. Because why? Because you're not as hungry anymore. It's not, it's not, it doesn't have as much appeal, it's not quite as desirous anymore because you've already had enough. Your feeling's pretty satisfied, you're just like, yeah, no, I'll pass on that now. So when you're having a get-together, one, you've got the benefit of everyone having their appetite ready, they're ready to eat and have some wine, enjoy this juice, and you serve the best stuff first. That's gonna kinda be the most memorable, but you're saying, but you've kept the best wine until now. Now one of the reasons why it's kinda memorable is because it says, when men have well drunk. Now it doesn't mean men are drunk. Drunk is just the past tense, drink, drank, drunk. In the context here, they have drunk. So it's not saying they are drunken, it's not saying they've consumed too much to the point to where they're drunken. It just means they've had enough, they're satisfied, they've well drunk, they've had plenty, and then you give that which is worse. Now first of all, let's say that they had alcoholic wine at this party, and the men have well drunk, and they've had plenty of alcoholic wine. You really expect me to believe, now it should go without saying, and we're gonna see some of these verses later, but being drunken is unequivocally a sin in the Bible. First Corinthians chapter five tells us that if any, you know, if there's a drunkard in the church, that you're supposed to cast out that wicked person. If someone's called a brother and they're a drunkard, they are not welcome, that you cannot even sit down and eat with that person. So if that is the rule in the New Testament church, do you think Jesus is gonna go to a wedding and be participating and sitting and being around a bunch of people getting well drunk with booze, and then not only that, going on top of that and saying, here's some more! Drink it up! Absolutely not! Absolutely not! Now, if they didn't have alcoholic wine to begin with, it still wouldn't make sense he's gonna give them alcohol as a miracle, like, here you go, here's some booze, this is the really good stuff. And on the other hand, if they did start off with alcoholic wine, which they didn't, if they did, it wouldn't make sense for him to give them more alcohol when they've well drunk. You say, well, what if he gave them non-alcoholic wine after they've already been drinking a lot? Well, he didn't do that either, because then they wouldn't be saying, you've left the good stuff till now. The Bible says in Luke 5 39, it says, no man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith the old is better. No one that's drinking booze, it says straightway, it means like right away, you're not gonna want to just go from drinking, drinking, getting drunk on booze to just, hey, I think I'll have a glass of juice. That's not the way it works. Look, I know firsthand, that's not the way it works. When you're drinking, usually you just want a little bit more booze, just want to have one more beer. The juice is just, it's not even a thought. You're gonna say, that's not very good, I'd rather just have some more, some more booze. Because that's, that's reality, that's the way people are. So no, the only thing that makes sense in this story is that they were not drinking alcoholic wine from the beginning, which Jesus himself was already using to symbolize his own blood, which we know is pure. And then when he gave them wine, that also was non-alcoholic, because they'd already well drunk, and he's given them more. No, it's very, very simple to understand this, that this argument holds zero water from anyone who has integrity and wants to believe the Bible for what it actually says. Now we're gonna get into some of the bad things that happen when you get drunk. Turn, if you would, to Genesis chapter number nine. It's the first example that we have in the Bible of someone being drunk. It's Moses, it's not Moses, Noah. Genesis 9, a little too early for Moses. Genesis 9 is an interesting story. Now the words of the Lord are pure words, and he's never gonna give us more detail than we need to know. And that's why oftentimes, even when you read the law, there's a lot of euphemisms to use, there's a lot of things, language that's used to let you understand what he's talking about without going into graphic detail about what it is, because a lot of times it's just, they're perverted things anyways. So when you read in God's laws, talking about uncovering the nakedness of somebody, it's not just referring to the fact that maybe some clothing is removed. It's referring to more than that, it's referring to people having a relationship with someone they ought not to have a relationship with, and it's kind of uncovering or discovering their skirt, or this type of language is used to let us know about that without God having to go into any more detail than he needs to. And we keep that in mind as we read Genesis chapter nine with this story. After Noah gets off of the ark, what happens to Noah? He ends up getting drunk. Let's look at verse number 18, the Bible says, And the sons of Noah that went forth of the ark were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, and Ham as the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah, and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine and was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent. And you notice right off the bat, you see Noah, what does he do? He gets drunk, and then he's uncovered, right? He's just naked. And nakedness all throughout the Bible is associated with shame. It is a shame to have that nakedness. And we see here, and as I mentioned before, there's no coincidence in Deuteronomy 32 where we started off talking about their vine is the vine of Sodom, their wine is the poison of dragons. Well, Noah's drinking their wine. Noah starts partaking in his poison. And he ends up passing out in his tent, and he doesn't even have his clothes on. Verse number 22 says, And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father, and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. So again, it's being very discreet in the way that what's being told to us here, the events that actually happened, you know, I believe this firmly that Ham, the father of Canaan, remember the Canaanites were a wicked people, and that's why it's bringing up the fact that Ham is the father of Canaan. When the children of Israel go in to possess the land of Canaan and they're given the law, given God's law in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus, God's telling them, ultimately He's telling them, you know what, you're not getting this land because of how great you are, but God's bringing judgment on the people of that land because they did all of those things that were written in the law, and it's right after He gets done telling them about, you know, like Leviticus chapter 20, and it's talking about the sodomy and the bestiality and all the weird things, the incest, all that stuff. He said the people of the land did all these things. So they're extremely wicked, the Canaanites, the land of Canaan. Now, there were other countries and other nations around at that time, they weren't as wicked as that nation was, and the Bible is specifically telling us here that Ham is the father of Canaan. Now, you can say, well, I think this still just means that, you know, he saw them, and then he gets his brothers, you know, so they walked in backwards, they didn't see their father's nakedness, and they cover him up, right? And that's how it reads. But the reason why I think more happened than him just kind of stumped, because where would the sin be on that? If you're a son, and your dad's passed out drunk, and he's naked, and you just go walking over to dad's house, you walk in, and you're like, whoa, there's no sin in just stumbling in on something at random, and you're just like, whoa, we gotta fix this, and then you go in back and cover him up. That would not deserve, like, a generational curse as we're gonna see happened here to Ham and on his descendants. There's no way that you're gonna then wake up and be like, you're so cursed, I can't believe you came into my room and you saw me! To your own child! Your own son! Let's keep reading here, because it says in verse number 24, Noah woke from his wine. He was passed out from the wine, he woke, the wine finally went out of him, he woke up and knew what his younger son had done unto him. Even say he knew what his younger son had seen, he had to have done something to him. And look at the response that was evoked, verse 25, he said, cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren, and he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. And he curses Canaan, because of what his son had done unto him, not because of what he had seen. Noah didn't commit that wicked, disgusting act himself, but you know what, that never would have happened if he didn't go and get himself drunk. And one of the first dangers of bad things that happen when you get drunk is you put yourself in a vulnerable position where people can do bad things to you. And kids, I want you to listen up probably more than anybody else here, because there's going to be a time where you're going to run into someone who's going to want you to drink some booze, and that's what the cool kids are doing, that's what these other kids are doing. They've never heard about alcohol, and they say, oh, it looks like they're having a good time, it looks like they're having a lot of fun, and you may want to get involved with that. And I'll tell you what, people's lives are ruined from getting drunk even one time in many cases. Their entire life could be ruined. There are people out there that look to take advantage of those that are intoxicated, of those that allow themselves to get drunk, of those that want to just, oh, I just want to just play around with this a little bit, oh, I like the way it feels, it makes me laugh, it makes me giddy. Because you look at people starting to get drunk, and it may appear to be fun, but it's poison, it's wicked, and it's going to bring nothing but problems to your life. You don't ever want to put yourself voluntarily into some position where someone else can just do whatever they want to you, and you have no idea what's going on. But that's what alcohol will do to you. No one had no idea what was going on at the time. He had no way of defending himself, he had no way of stopping the wicked thing that happened to him. And kids, you have no way of stopping it. Because if you let yourself get drunk, you pass out, people can do whatever they want to you. And you may not even know who it was, and you just know that something was done to you, and you're going to have to carry that around with you for the rest of your life. And that is a weight that you don't want to have to carry. Turn if you would to Habakkuk chapter 2. Very similar story here, and another warning given to us in Habakkuk. Where, again, we're going to see this correlation, not in there by accident, between wicked things happening, unnatural wicked things, and alcohol. Habakkuk chapter 2, let's look at verse number 15, the Bible says, Woe, woe is extreme sorrow, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. This is talking about a person, and notice the pronouns being used there too, because that's not by mistake either. Woe unto him, we're talking about a guy that gives his neighbor drink. We're talking about a man that wants to get his neighbor drunk, he's giving him drink, he's trying to feed him with booze, he's trying to feed him with alcohol, right? Woe unto that man that gives his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also. That means the guy that's giving the booze is already drunk, and he's giving the booze to him, to make him drunken also, why? Why is he doing it? Why is he trying to get this person drunk? That thou mayest look on their nakedness. Because the way that sodomites operate is they attack vulnerable people, they try to get people drunk, they try to put people in a vulnerable position so they can do whatever they want to them. This is also why you shouldn't even be in the vicinity where alcohol is being served. You say, well, I don't drink, and look, again, I did this personally for myself for a little while after I quit drinking, I was done with alcohol, you know, I vowed to God, I'm not going to do this anymore, but I didn't make a clean, clear cut from my friends when they would go out to bars and go out to these places that serve drinks. I would still go out with them, and I would just drink a soft drink or drink water, but you don't want to be around any of it. You don't want to be going around where they serve the venom of asps, because there's going to be a bunch of snakes around already, and these sodomites, sometimes you can't even tell that they're a sodomite. You can't tell always. They're not always going to be talking with a lisp and sounding like a flaming fag. Those ones are pretty easy to spot, but there's others that you might not know. We were out soul-winding just yesterday and knocked on a door of a woman and appeared pretty normal and sounded normal and looked like kind of a nice person, and she's like, yeah, I'm a lesbian. I probably wouldn't be welcome here, church. You're right. You're not. You don't always know. And these pedophile perverts, how many times do you have to hear it's Uncle So-and-so or my brother or, you know, just some relative or some close family friend that you would never have guessed, that's the last person I ever would have suspected. You hear those words all the time. Never would have thought I'd done it. Why? Because they're like wolves in sheep's clothing. They're deceiving people, and they build this confidence and this trust to where it can never be that person. That's the way it was with people like John Wayne Gacy, who we know now was this serial killing reprobate psychopath, but at the time, the people in his community, well, that's the clown. He's funny. He plays with the kids. He makes it, you know, he's a clown. He makes balloons and everything else, and he just loves spending time with kids and stuff like that. He's harmless. That's what they thought. No one suspected him of any wrongdoing until it finally came out. And all these, the more you hear about these guys too, so many times, you know what their tactic is? They get people drunk. They'll target the kids. They'll target the teenagers. Come on over. We'll party at my place. It'll provide a safe place for you. Don't worry. Your parents will be fine with you coming over because I'm a respectable adult. They know me. They're fine with me. You can come on over. Just shh. Don't tell anybody. I'll give you some booze. Watch out for that temptation, kids. There's some really, really wicked people out there that want to do bad things to you, and you run like hell away from somebody that ever tries to tell you something like that, and you go tell your parents, you tell someone exactly who they are and what they did and what they tried to do and what they said. That is not something you try to keep secret ever, but they're going to try to entice you with that, and these sick, perverted reprobates, they're going to use the alcohol to get you more vulnerable to where you can't get away from them, and they'll kill you, and all for what? Turn if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 21. Deuteronomy chapter 21. Bad things happen when you get drunk. It's used as a tool. And look, even if it's not some serial killer psychopath that's using it as a tool, because they do use it as a tool, ladies, it could be some guy just that wants to take advantage of you, that wants something that covets you, that wants something that they know they shouldn't have. It happens all the time. People slip, and I was talking about, I meant to bring this up, you should even go out to these places, even if you're not drinking the booze, why? Because there's people there that might want to slip some drugs into your drink to basically give you the effects of alcohol and cause you not to remember things and put you in a vulnerable state. It happens at bars a lot. It doesn't happen in other places almost ever unless it's either maybe in somebody's home privately or out at a bar. That's when you always find out about these stories of people getting these date rape drugs and things like that put into their drinks. You don't even have to be drinking alcohol. You want to hang around in a wicked place? Don't be surprised when wicked things happen. You don't even have to be the one drinking. Let alone the bar fights and everything else that can happen. People get stabbed, people get shot. You think that only happens in the rough area bars, things like that? No it doesn't. I've read about them happening in your local sports bar down the street or whatever that you think is just fine and normal. People are going out there, they're getting drunk. Argument happens, people get emotional and stupid and they pull out a gun and start shooting. They're drunk so they start shooting into the crowd because they're mad at that guy down there and they can't see straight and they start hitting random people. It happens. Deuteronomy 21, look at verse number 20, the Bible says, and they shall say unto the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn. Actually let's go back a few verses. Verse number 18, because people, the God haters love to use these verses to try to get you as a believer to back down, to try to make you ashamed of what you believe and they don't even know what the verses say but it's been repeated so many times and they've got it so wrong and backwards. They try to mock the Bible and God's righteous judgment on who deserves a death penalty by saying, oh, so if you have a rebellious son, you're supposed to just put him to death? That's what the Bible says and they're talking about like a five year old or a six year old. What son is he? So we should just put everyone to death then, huh? No idiot. It's called just reading what it actually says and read the whole thing in context. Don't just repeat something you heard from some other God hating atheist and you know what? You as a Christian, you shouldn't just back down as a believer and try to make up some excuse. Well, that was the Old Testament and let them get away with mocking God's law and mocking God's commandment because you know what? This is righteous and they're wrong and they're wicked. The Bible says in verse number 18 and it makes sense when you understand what it's talking about and you don't just assume and apply it to some five year old because it's not what this is talking about at all. Deuteronomy verse number 18 here in chapter 21, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of his city and under the gate of his place. So let's get what's happening here. They have a son, he's stubborn, he's rebellious, he's not taking correction, he's not listening to him. It's not like just at the drop of a hat, well, we're just going to take our son now and we're going to bring him to the other city. They've been trying and working on him and he's not listening, he's not receiving correction, he's not being instructed, he's not listening to his parents, they've disciplined him and not hearing. But then look at what it says in verse 20, they're going to take him to the gate of the place and they shall say unto the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice. Look at this, it says, he is a glutton and a drunkard and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die. So shalt thou put evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear. What the God of Hears want to do is not really mention that verse. This is, oh, you have a stubborn, rebellious son, so you're just going to kill him? Referring to some young kid. I don't see a six-year-old becoming a glutton and a drunkard, okay? That's not what this is talking about at all. This is obviously talking about a grown son. Someone who should know better because they're old enough to understand, they're old enough to be getting drunk and being a glutton and being lazy and being rebellious and just not listening at all, and you know what? That is a righteous judgment, and I have no problem saying that, and I believe that should be the law of the land today because my understanding of righteousness or judgment does not supersede God's, and if God thought that that was a righteous judgment for a son that behaved that way back when he wrote the book of Deuteronomy, then that's the way he feels right now because God doesn't change, and that's right, and you're wrong if you believe different. And you know what? I'm not willing to back down from what the Bible says. You can't get me to do it. You want to quote these verses to me and say, oh, do you believe that? Oh, well, did you know the Bible? Yes, I do know it, and yes, I do believe it. But look at where, again, another place where being a drunkard drinking alcohol is going to get you. It could get you killed. You start becoming so rebellious, oh, I'm just going to drink it up, and you get involved in this, you get to the point to where you're just a stubborn, rebellious drunkard. That is, according to the Scripture, worthy of death. Sure, if you would, now we're in the Old Testament, check with you the 1 Samuel chapter 25. We see a couple examples here of people who were drunks or got drunk and some of the things they did and the trouble that it caused in their lives. 1 Samuel chapter 25, we see a story of Nabal. Now before we even get into the story, many of you probably know it already, I'm not saying that everything David was planning on doing in the story was right or righteous, but I do believe that what David was planning on doing to Nabal was a direct result of Nabal being drunk and mouthing off to David's servants and that the reaction probably would not have been the same had he not been drunk. But look at verse number 10. We're going to get this story, we're going to see it in context. Verse number 10, the Bible says, and Nabal answered David's servants. Because David, basically what happened is David's servants are out in the field and they come across Nabal's servants. David's out in the field with his soldiers and Nabal's servants are out there and they end up protecting them just in general from any robbers or from anything that's going on out there. They're in the field with them and they're just kind of there watching their backs and making sure that everything's okay with them in the field. Now, they weren't hired to do that, but they were kind of in the same location, so they decided to do that. They're showing a good gesture, they're being nice to them, they're being good to them. And then David's like, hey, Nabal, can you spare us some food? Basically, can you just help us out? We were good to your guys out there, we're watching out for them, we're helping protect them. Can you just help us out a little bit and give us something to eat? Essentially is what's going on. And Nabal basically refuses and he answers them. And he answers them really roughly, too, look at what he says here in verse number 10. It says, and Nabal answered David's servants and said, who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shears and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be? So David's young men turned their way and went again and came and told him all those sayings. And it's very insulting to David, David's been righteous, you know, he was basically driven away from Saul, Saul kept trying to kill him, and he was doing things that were right. And now he's got this guy Nabal just practically, you know, cursing him and saying, oh, there's a lot of people that break from their master, and he's saying, I'm not going to do it. Verse number 13, it says, and David said unto his men, gird ye on every man his sword, and they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff. So again, I'm not endorsing David's reaction here. I don't think he was right to go then and try to destroy Nabal for not just giving him what he was telling him he wanted from him. But I also believe this, I believe Nabal could have answered him differently, showing more respect and still probably not really giving him what he wanted without David just getting this response of just like, I'm going to go kill that guy. And when you drink, and we'll jump down here real quick to verse number 36. Because now like all that, there's a lot of stuff going on. But when Nabal's wife Abigail finds out that he answered David's service really roughly and everything like that, she knows that it's not going to be good for them the way that he answered them. So she tries to smooth things over as David's getting ready to come and destroy him, and she sends him a gift, no, no, no, don't listen to him. He's just stupid, that's kind of the way he is, don't worry about what he says, don't take offense to it, here take this, and she smooths things over so they don't come and get destroyed. But if it weren't for Abigail, they would have been destroyed, because David would have come in with his men and destroyed him. Now verse number 36, this is Abigail speaking, or she's going to tell Nabal about it, it says, and Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king, and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken, wherefore she told him nothing less or more until the morning light. The fact that he was very drunken right when Abigail was about to tell him that she smoothed things over, tells me that he was probably drunken when his servants came to him the first time, and he answered them really roughly, because he had this party going on, and he's acting all big and tough, and just kind of letting his mouth just run, and he feels all proud and mighty, why? Because he's lifted up with spirits. By the way, there's a reason why they call booze and alcohol, they call it spirits, because it gives you another spirit. It affects your spirit, and not in a good, and not the Holy Spirit, not in a good way. It's the devil's counterfeit Holy Spirit is what alcohol really is. The Holy Spirit gives you boldness, boldness to do good things, boldness to do right things, boldness to preach the Word of God. Well alcohol will give you boldness too, boldness to do wicked things, boldness to say wicked things, boldness to do wicked things. It's that liquid courage. And Nabal was just filled up with this liquid courage. So that's why he's speaking so roughly to David's servants. And he's here, he's just, he's very drunken. By the time Abigail gets things smoothed over, and that's why I believe he answered him so roughly, and that's why he was going to bring that destruction upon him. You let yourself get drunk so many, I've seen people, I've seen friends of mine, old friends of mine, that they get drunk and they just start rambling on and saying stupid things and picking fights with people and just getting into trouble. You end up, you end up getting killed, you end up going to the hospital, why? Because you just let yourself say stupid things because when you start drinking alcohol, the filter just goes away. You know, normally we have a filter in our mind that'll help, hopefully you do at least, but if you don't, you really need to get one that'll help you prevent you saying stupid things and help prevent you from saying things that you know is just going to cause a reaction from somebody that they might want to kill you. Now it's one thing if you're just preaching the word of God and they hate you so much that they want to kill you because you're preaching the word of God. That's different than just mouthing off to someone and offending them for no good reason at all. And people that get drunk do that all the time. Turn, if you will, to 1 Kings chapter 16. We get a couple details here in 1 Kings 16 and we're also going to be turning to 1 Kings chapter 20. Just some stories about people who are getting drunk and we're going through these stories of people getting drunk in the Bible because you know what happens when people get drunk in the Bible? It's never a good thing. Never one time. Never is there an example of people getting drunk in the Bible and good things happen. Every single time it's negative and every single time it's actually really serious. We're talking life and death stuff. The only thing, and you know what, the only thing that happened with Nabal is he was actually spared but that was because of his wife's intervention, not his own, and Nabal ends up dying, you know, like a week later anyways in that story. 1 Kings 16, look at verse number 8, the Bible says, In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah two years. And his servant Zimrai, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. And Zimrai went in and smote him and killed him in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah and reign in his stead. Now we get a lot of information here about the different kings. It almost seems like the fact that he was drinking himself drunk has nothing to do with this story, except it actually does because it wouldn't mention it unless there was actually a reason for us to know that he's drinking himself drunk in the pavilion because he's opened up himself now this opportunity for Zimrai to come in and just kill him. Why? Because he's vulnerable. Again, one more example because when you're just getting drunk, you think everything's just fine, you allow yourself to be vulnerable, and you end up dying. I mean, that's what happened here to Elah. Turn if you will to 1 Kings chapter 20, we're going to see a very similar situation with Ben-Hadad. 1 Kings chapter 20 verse number 16, the Bible says, and they went out at noon, but Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him, and the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first and Ben-Hadad sent out and they told him, saying, there are men come out of Samaria, and he said, whether they be come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. So again, he's really lifted up, he's like, well, whatever, they're coming out, just capture them and be done with it. I don't care if they're coming out to fight you or not, just capture them, bring them in here. Verse number 19, so these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city and the army which followed them, and they slew everyone, his men, and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them, and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with the horsemen, and the king of Israel went out and smote the horses and chariots and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. So again, just another example of him just being defeated, and he's drinking himself drunk, yeah, whatever, and then everything comes crashing down around him, and he has messages flee for his life. Turn if you would to Proverbs 23, I'm going to close with Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23 gives a very, very, very accurate depiction of what alcohol will do to you. We've already seen all these various stories, people being defiled, people being killed, just the most severe things that will happen when you give yourself over into drinking alcohol. It'll ruin your life. And you know, I wish I would have heard some of this preaching when I was younger. Hopefully I wouldn't have been too rebellious, but we can't change the past, but there is a lot of bad things that happen. We're going to finish up here. Look at Proverbs 23 verse number 29. Bible say, who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, 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. Drinking booze, drinking alcohol, it's going to bring you woe. It's just going to bring you sorrow. You know, woe and sorrow are basically the same thing. It's not going to make you happy. Don't be deceived by the TV commercials and the billboards that just show all these people having so much fun because they're drinking alcohol. It's a facade. It's fake. It's not real. Like so many other things, like so many other sins, it's going to look attractive. Satan's going to try to put a little sparkle on it and make some glowing lights around it to make you be drawn like a moth to the flame. But don't be deceived by it because it's only going to bring you woe. It's only going to bring you sorrow. It's really not that fun. There's a lot more involved to it than what you think that you see on the surface. Don't be deceived by it. It's a fraud. Anyone trying to tell you that drinking alcohol is fun and it's cool, it's a fraud. You think, you know, people go to booze when they have problems. And the people that go to booze when they have problems, their problems are never solved. You know what ends up happening? They get more problems. And then they drink more. And then they get more problems. And then they drink more. And then they get more problems. Because a booze is a cause, not a solution to your problems. It's just going to make things worse. If it wasn't the beginning of your problems, it will just continue things and make things that much worse and that much longer. You can find that out for yourself or you can just believe God's Word. And believe the wisdom that's given to us here in Proverbs. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Contentions fighting. Do you like being sad all the time? Do you like just having fights and not getting along with people? Go ahead and drink some booze. Drink wine. Drink the strong drink. Because that's what it's going to do. Who hath babbling? This is as true as a day this long. You know, babbling is just saying a bunch of stupid things that don't really make any sense. I didn't realize how bad this actually was. Because I started drinking from kind of a younger age. And going out to bars and doing all this stuff. And babbling and having woe and having sorrow. And having all this stuff. And having wounds without cause. You get hurt and you don't even know. From I've got a scar to this day, that was a result of going out and getting drunk. Without cause. I don't know what happened. But there. It's true. You want to have the woe. You want to have the sorrow. You want to have the fighting. You want to have the babbling. That's what I was talking about. The babbling. Until I finally got out of it, when I still went out and would hang out with friends that would get drunk. I didn't realize how really stupid those conversations are. You go around a drunk person for a little while and I don't recommend it. You'll hear a lot of babbling. A lot of stupid things. It's just vanity. Meaningless things. And to those that are drinking, they think nothing of it. It's just like this cloud and this veil. And people who normally might be intelligent. Just full of babbling. Now that they've been drinking. Now that they're intoxicated. Toxic. By the way. Intoxicated. Because alcohol is poison. It's toxic. You become intoxicated by the poison. And then it causes these sensations of your body trying to deal with it and process it and get rid of that poison. Let's keep reading here. Verse number 30. Verse number 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself. Right. This is why I believe we shouldn't even be looking at it. Don't be messing with it. Don't be testing it out. Don't be seeing how much you can drink before you're actually getting drunk. Because there's people that think, whoa, as long as you're not getting drunk, it's fine. You're starting to get drunk with your first drink. It's just how far along the path are you? And you know, people who want to try to mess with this and see what they can get away with. If I'm wrong about this and if only getting drunk is a sin. Let's just say I'm wrong for a minute. And that drinking in moderation is okay. If you start drinking at all anyways, and look, I'll know this from experience. It doesn't always take the same amount of alcohol to get you drunk. There's a lot of factors involved. How much sleep you've had, how much food you've had to eat, what types of food you've had to eat. All of these different things can affect your body if you're taking any types of medications. There's a lot of different things. And sometimes, who knows what the reason is, but I know I've felt the effects of alcohol. Sometimes after having one beer, sometimes after having five beers, you know, it's never exactly the same. So what are you going to do? When are you going to cut yourself off? Usually when you think you need to cut yourself off, you've already crossed the line. You're already starting to get tipsy. Oh, I better cut myself off now. Well, you've already sinned. And when you start drinking, the first thing to go is your judgment anyways. I can't tell you how many times, me and my friends, you go out intending, well, we'll just go out and have a drink. Well, we'll just have one beer. We'll just have one drink. Ha ha ha, we're having fun. Well, let's have another one. Well, let's have another one. You know what? You'd never have another one if you didn't have a first one. What a stupid reasoning. People, preachers. Oh no, it's okay to drink. Just do it in moderation. You're just condoning. You're endorsing people to go out and just be getting drunk or maybe just a little bit getting drunk. No. Well, let's keep reading here because the Bible gives us even more to think about. It's saying not to look on it, by the way. Don't even look at it. Verse number 32, at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Does anyone enjoy getting bit by a snake? I don't think so. That's what alcohol will do to you. Verse 33, thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things. People who normally can be pretty chaste and pretty good about keeping themselves righteous and pure, you start adding alcohol? The Bible says that your eyes will behold strange women. Now wives, do you want your men looking and lusting after strange women? Strange just means they're strange to you because they're not your wife. You want your husband looking on women? Then give him a drink. Give him some booze. Give him some beer. Men, do you want to do that to your wife? Do you think it's right to be lusting after other women? Jesus said that if you look on a woman and lust after her in your heart, you've committed adultery with her already in your heart. Alcohol will make you do that. You get the beer goggles, you start looking through the lens of alcohol, and your heart is going to utter and say perverse things, perverted things. How many times do we see perverted things happening as a result of people giving booze out anyways? I don't have anything to do with perversion. I'm going to stay away from alcohol. I don't have anything to do with even the thought of committing adultery. I'm going to stay away from alcohol. I'm not even going to look at it. I don't even want to be tempted for a second. I'm going to do everything I can to keep it out of my presence. And that's what I do. That's what I do with my family. And I recommend you do the same thing. Let's finish up this chapter here. Verse 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. Strichen me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? Does that sound like a pleasant thing? It's like you're on the top of a mast, just rocking back and forth, like the sea sickness feeling. Because you get nauseated and sick, and you vomit when you drink too much, when you tarry long at the wine, when you go to seek mixed wine. You say, they beat me up, I didn't even feel it. Well that sounds real cool. You didn't feel it when they beat you up, but I guarantee you feel it in the morning. When shall I awake? Yea, sounds like a great time. But then look what it says. I will seek it yet again. And that's the addiction that goes along with alcohol. You start drinking alcohol, and you drink it more and more, and even though it's doing these things to you, it puts you into bondage. And people just start seeking out how many times you hear people, just like you hear people that smoke cigarettes. They get addicted to smoking cigarettes. I know it's bad, I know it's not good for me, I want to quit, but I can't do it. There's a lot of drunkards out there. I know it's bad for me, I know it's killing my liver, I know it's destroying me, I know I do bad things, I know stupid things happen, but you know what, I keep on going after it. I know first hand. Unfortunately it took a bad event to happen in my life for me to say fine, I'm done with it. Thank God that I'm done with it. You don't want to have this mess in your life. Avoid it. Stay away from it. It has nothing to do with it. You don't have to trust me. We trust God's word. Spotlights have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for all the clear warnings that you give us and the instruction that you give us, dear Lord, to help us to make the right application in our lives, dear Lord. I pray that every single person in this room, and especially the young people, dear Lord, that they would never even know what it's like to taste one drop of booze, dear Lord. It's so destructive and it's such a wicked poison, dear Lord. I pray that you would please help us to keep ourselves clean, to keep ourselves pure, that we could keep ourselves sanctified, dear Lord, and be different from the world. And who cares if people want to make fun of us or mock us because they think we're stuck up or stuffy or we don't know how to have a good time. These people that need to put poison in their bodies in order to think they're having fun. Lord, help us to walk in the Spirit and to have the comfort and the joy that goes along with being in the Spirit and not to add these other wicked devilish spirits into our body, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost, dear Lord. Help us to keep our bodies pure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.