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I believe this may very well be the last sermon in the Strange Doctrine series. So let's have a look at Proverbs 23, look at verse number 29 there. Proverbs 23 verse 29. Who have woe, who have sorrow, who have contentions, who have babbling, who have wounds without cause, who have redness of eyes. Obviously none of us want these things in our lives. Who are they? Verse number 30. They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. The title for the sermon this evening is Stupid Excuses to Drink Alcohol. Stupid Excuses to Drink Alcohol. There are some Christians that believe drinking alcohol is just fine. In fact I even believe that God would recommend it. That it's a good thing for believers, Christians, to drink alcohol. And you know what, it's just going to cause you misery. Look at this Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is the book of wisdom. And if you want to be wise, you better stay away from the alcohol. Better stay away from drinking that nonsense. It's not good for you. Now what we see here in Proverbs 23 is the process that goes toward making alcohol. Something like wine. So as you probably know, we'll take the grapes. And if you were to crush the grapes, if you peeled off the skin of a grape, and you were to crush it, you were to press it into juice, your juice will be clear. And the redness of the wine comes from the skin itself. And also the seeds. If the seeds get crushed and the skin, part of that is used to make the redness of it. When it says here they go to seek mixed wine, it's talking about the fact that the fruits in of itself and the skin are mixed together. Why is this important? Because on the skin of the fruit is where you find yeast. And yeast will eat the sugar. And the process when that develops is it produces alcohol. Ethanol. Okay. Which is drinking alcohol. So this mixed wine is the mix of the fruits with the skin. Which will cause the sugar to turn into alcohol. Look at verse number 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red. So we know that has to do with the mix in there again. When it giveth his color in the cup, then it says when it moveth itself aright. So when the process, the fermentation process takes place of the sugar turning into alcohol, you've got that bubbly carbon mix that takes place. That's the moving of itself. When it started to become alcoholic aright. Now the Bible tells us look not thou upon the wine when it is red. You know our instruction is not to look upon it. At what point when it giveth his color in the cup. When someone offers you a cup of alcohol, the Bible says don't even look upon that. Okay. Now you know some people take this maybe a little bit too far. You know I don't have a problem with going to my petrol station and using the E10 fuel which has ethanol which is the same alcohol in your beer or your wine. There's nothing wrong with using that. I'm not putting it in a cup and drinking that stuff. Now the sin is here that it's in a cup, it's ready to be served, it's ready to be drank. And then it says in verse number 32, speaking about the cup, before you even drink it. When you look at the contents of that cup, in verse number 32 it says and the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. You know what the Bible is saying here. If you're going to drink that alcohol, it's like drinking venom of a snake. And you'd be like if you could avoid being bitten and having the venom of a snake injecting into your bloodstream, of course you would avoid that, right? You would avoid that serpent at all costs. Well you know what the same process that you would take, you know you would either kill the serpent or you run away from the serpent. You know what when someone offers you a cup of alcohol, you ought to do the same thing. You ought to trash that thing or just get away from it if it's tempting for you and not partake of that sin. You know the Bible is very clear that alcohol is a toxin. That's why we call it being intoxicated, okay. That's why people call it alcohol poisoning, okay. It's bad for you, okay. It'll attack your body. So as I said, some Christians are addicted to the substance. They love it and they try to make stupid excuses to drink alcohol. That's the title for the sermon this evening. Let's go to Matthew chapter 11 please. Go to Matthew chapter 11. Strange doctrines. What's the strange doctrines? Preachers saying it's fine to drink alcohol. They say oh well just drink a little bit, you know you can drink some but don't drink it to the point of getting drunk, okay. No, well says the substance in the cup. That fermented juice is not to be drank, okay. It's like drinking venom, okay. Snake's venom or something like that, okay. So look at Matthew chapter 11 verse number 18. These are some excuse. We're going to go through the excuses that people use. The verses people twist to say it's fine to drink alcohol and we're going to debunk those things. So look at Matthew 11 verse number 18. For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he half a devil. You may remember John the Baptist came and he was a wild man. He ate honey and locusts, okay. He didn't go and drink you know good quality juice or you know he didn't have a great meal, right. He was out in the wilderness and he just ate whatever he could come across, okay. And they said oh look at how he lives. Look how he you know he doesn't enjoy a good meal, right. He doesn't get you know he doesn't take the invitations to go into people's houses and eat a good you know homemade meal and say well he must have a devil, okay. And look what happens to Jesus verse number 19. And by the way did John the Baptist have a devil? No it's a false accusation, okay. Verse number 19 it says the son of man came eating and drinking. So Jesus had no problem you know someone invited to him his house. Say they were excited about Jesus. They wanted to hear his preaching. They wanted maybe him to heal someone that's in their household who is sick. They would invite Jesus and they would offer Jesus food and drink and Jesus had no problem going in and enjoying himself, okay. But when he did that when he would go you know into someone's house and enjoy a nice feed enjoy a nice drink they would say to him they would say about him and they say behold a man gluttonous. What's a glutton? Someone who overeats, okay. So this is the accusation they're making about Jesus. Now it was a false accusation about John the Baptist that he had a devil. Well these are false accusations as well because gluttony is a sin and Jesus Christ is sinless. I want you to understand this is a false accusation, okay. Did Jesus eat and drink in people's homes? Yes. But was he a glutton? No. That's the false accusation. And then it says and a wine bibber, okay. What's a wine bibber? Someone that's addicted to alcohol. Is that a false accusation? Of course it was. A friend of publicans and sinners but wisdom is justified of the children. So they would complain when a preacher you know did not enjoy an ice mill. They would complain when a preacher did enjoy an ice mill and drinks, okay. But here's the point. It's not what they're doing that they're not happy with the message of the Bible. They're not happy with the message of God's word. That's why they were against John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. But you see some Christians will look at this and say well they say Jesus was a wine bibber. Therefore he must have been drinking alcohol. And it's so stupid to misunderstand. They don't understand that this is a false accusation, okay. If you say well Jesus Christ here, this proves that he drank alcohol. Then that means that that would prove that he's gluttonous as well. And that would prove that John the Baptist have a devil. These are false accusations but these are the stupid arguments that people twist in order to justify their addiction to drinking alcohol. Can you please go to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26 and verse number 28. I want to show you exactly what kind of juice, what kind of wine Jesus Christ drank. Now I'm not going to go into any depth here because I've already preached on this topic in the past. But wine in the Bible can be either alcoholic or it can be regular grape juice. Or even juice of any fruits. You know the Bible talks about the juice of the pomegranate. That's not a grape. And yet it's referenced as wine, okay. Wine in the Bible, and this is not just in the Bible. If you go back and you look at the English language, the word wine can be used interchangeably for juice, fruit juice, either non-alcoholic or alcoholic. And basically to understand the differences in your Bible, you just have to look at the context, okay. Now look at Matthew 26 verse number 28. Jesus Christ indeed, he did drink wine. But did he drink freshly squeezed wine or did he drink alcoholic fermented wine? We'll look at Matthew 26 verse number 28. It says, for this is my blood, speaking about obviously the communion, right, the blood and the, sorry, the juice and the bread they partook, the juice representing the blood of Christ, the bread representing the body of Christ. It says, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Now look what Jesus Christ says in verse number 29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day, so he will drink of that fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. What wine did Jesus Christ drink? New wine. He drank it new, okay. What's new wine? It's freshly squeezed grape juice, okay. It's brand new. It's just come out of the grapes. It doesn't have time to be fermented or become alcoholic. That's the wine that Christ is speaking about. You know what? When Christ comes back and we're with Christ in the millennium, he's going to come and serve us some wine, some new wine, okay. We're going to be able to enjoy, you know, the sweetness of the juice of wine, okay. The new one, of course, non-alcoholic. That's the kind of wine that Christ drank. It's coming from his own words. He's going to drink the wine that is new, okay. So, you know, the idea that, well, Jesus drank alcohol, no. Number one, it's a false accusation. And number two, we have proof in the Bible that he would drink new wine, okay. He drank wine that is freshly squeezed. All right, let's go to John chapter two, please. John chapter two, verse number one. The next accusation against Jesus will say, well, Jesus's first miracle was he turned water into wine. And they'll say, well, that must have been alcoholic, okay. Because the reason he did it, he was at a wedding. And, you know, people think, well, you know, like the world is, you know, the ungodly, wicked world that we live in, when many people have weddings, of course, the booze is running. You know, of course, people are getting drunk and, you know, they're on the dance floor and throwing up and doing stupid things. And they think, well, that's the kind of party Jesus Christ was part of. And so this must definitely have been alcohol that he turned the water into, okay. Well, let's read it. John chapter two, verse number one. And the third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, they have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them to the brim. And he said unto them, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine. Let me just stop there for a moment. Jesus Christ definitely, this is his first miracle, he turned the water into wine. Now, I want you to think about this for a moment. If wine is something, you know, especially in a cup, okay, fermented wine is something that we are not to look at or to drink, okay, something that has been compared to poison of the asps, okay, to the venom of snakes, do you truly believe, do you want me to think that Jesus Christ is now offering other people to drink this stuff? The same God that wrote, you know, Proverbs 23. He's the same God. Okay, it's the same. There's no difference. The words of Jesus Christ are also found in Proverbs 23. Those are the words of God. Okay, now you're going to tell me Jesus Christ changed his mind. He thinks it's fine to serve people some alcohol and get them drunk. What's it say there? It says, verse number nine, when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the servants which drew the water knew, the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, look at this, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse, but thou has kept the good wine until now. What is he saying? What is this man saying? He says the men have well drunk, okay. It's not like they didn't have enough wine and they ran out. No, there was plenty of wine. What kind of wine? Well, they had well drunk. Now, if this was alcoholic wine, and they were well drunk, this means they've taken more than they really need. They're fully satisfied with what they've drank. Brethren, if you took alcoholic wine, which is easily 12, 15, 18% alcohol sometimes, and you well drunk that, you'd be off your face. Off your face, okay. You'd be off your face drunk if you were well drunk drinking that stuff, okay. And then you want me to believe that Jesus Christ now made more booze to get them even more drunk than before? They were already well drunk, okay. No, this is not alcohol, okay. They were drinking freshly squeezed grape juice, which is already valuable, okay. It's not cheap, okay. I mean, even going to the store and finding some good 100% grape juice, it's not the cheapest thing on the shelves. And we have modern technologies. Back then, it was a very expensive drink, something that you'll definitely want to take out for something like a wedding, for celebrations. And all Christ did was create, once again, new wine, okay. This does not prove at all that Jesus Christ started offering the poison of asps, you know, to people and making them further drunk. You know, these are, again, stupid excuses to drink alcohol. Well, Jesus Christ did it, so I can drink. No, that's just stupid, okay. Can you please go to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. We're going to look at the qualifications of a deacon. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 8. I am trying to keep mindful of the time, so if I do speed on a little, please bear with me. But 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 8. Speaking of the qualifications of a deacon, it says, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre. So they're not to be given to much wine. So the excuse would be, well, they're allowed to have a little wine. They're allowed to have a portion of wine, as long as it's not much wine. As long as it's not much alcohol where they can get drunk is the argument, okay. I mean, it does say much wine, okay. Now, of course, as I said, people just try to find whatever excuse to justify, you know, their dirty habits, all right. Now, how do we understand this passage? It does sound like maybe, but here's, you know, it's so strange. If God is saying, I'm allowing deacons to have a little wine, why doesn't Christ just, why doesn't the Bible just say that, have a little wine, okay. The Bible says, you know, not given to much wine. Well, if you look at the beginning of that verse, look at verse number 8 again, it says, likewise must the deacons be grave. Remember that word likewise, what does it mean? In the same way, in the same manner, in the same way, in the same manner, likewise to what? Well, that's why we need to backtrack a little bit, look at verse number 3. Before we look at the qualifications of a deacon, we look at the qualifications of a bishop. And in verse number 3, we're looking at the qualifications of the bishop there, or the pastor, it says in verse number 3, 1 Timothy 3, 3, not given to wine, not given to wine, okay. It's not saying not given to much wine, it doesn't say you can have a little bit wine, it says not given to wine at all, you know, not given to wine, no striker, not filthy of a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous. And then we get to deacons, likewise, in the same way, as the bishop, as the pastor, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongues, not given to much wine. You see, much wine is the same as no wine at all, okay. Otherwise, the likewise would make no sense, okay. Now, some people say, well, yeah, they agree, I've heard the argument, yeah, not given to wine and not given to much wine are the same, but they'll flip it the other way. They'll say, well, you know, the pastor can have a little bit of wine, likewise, the deacon, in the same way, they can have a little bit of wine. But which one comes first? The pastor, the deacon, right, sorry, the bishop, not given to wine, then likewise, not given to much wine. The much wine is basically repeating the same information. Like, if you're not given to wine, you're obviously not going to be given to much wine, okay. So that's where, you know, the consistency is, okay. The Bible says, likewise, in the same way. This is not giving deacons the excuse or the, I mean, look, many times deacons might end up becoming the pastor. Imagine telling the deacon, you can have a bit of alcohol, but then when you become the pastor, you got to stop altogether. They're going to struggle with that. I mean, this, you know, alcohol is addictive, okay. There's a reason why, you know, Australia at least has, you know, problems with, you know, alcoholism, okay. Now, please, you're still in 1 Timothy, so please go to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5, a very similar argument here. 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse number 23. Some others will use this passage to say you can drink wine. You can drink alcohol, I should say. 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse number 23. Paul writes in Timothy, who was a pastor, who was not to be given to wine, actually alcohol, but he says, look, verse number 23. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine. Oh, see, a little wine's okay, okay. Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake. And thine often infirmities. You see, Timothy had often, he had frequent sicknesses, okay. Some, I don't know exactly, something with his stomach, okay. Paul's aware of it. You know, Timothy has been drinking a lot of water, and the apostle Paul says, no, you know what, have a little bit of wine. Drink a little bit of wine. That's going to help your stomach. Now, is he talking about alcoholic wine, or is he speaking about juice, you know, grape juice? Which of these two things could he be talking about? Well, you know what, to prepare for this sermon, I just went online, you know, I looked at, you know, health benefits, if there are any health benefits to alcohol, okay. And, you know, let me just quickly say, there are health benefits to grape, alcoholic grape juice, grape wine, alcoholic wine, but the health benefit is not the alcohol. The health benefit is from the grape, okay. If you look at alcohol, okay, and the effects it has on your stomach, okay, and look at this, right, basically alcohol has no health benefits for you at all. No health benefits, okay. It kills your brain cells, and it damages the rest of your body, okay. Alcohol, in and of itself, alcohol has no health benefits, okay. It causes pranciitis, okay. Alcohol also causes diarrhoea, because it damages your intestines. I mean, look, Timothy's already got problems with his stomach, and now you think, Paul's saying, hey, maybe risk damaging your intestines and have some alcohol. Is that what Paul is saying? Okay, alcohol also causes stomach ulcers, bloating, and gas. How is that going to help Timothy, who's already got stomach problems? Okay, to say, well, you know, you can drink a little bit of alcohol, that's not going to help Timothy. It's only going to make his condition worse. But when you look at grape juice, are there any health benefits to just your regular, freshly squeezed grape juice? Of course there is, okay. I just found some here. Number one, there were many, many health benefits, but I was just focused on about the stomach, because Timothy had stomach issues, right. But it can help fight microorganisms. So within wine, it's got antiseptic properties that can fight harmful yeasts, bacteria, and viruses in your stomach, okay. Again, this is just online information. I found this information on multiple websites, okay. Grape juice has great health benefits for the stomach. The next one that I read, that helps the digestive system, okay. The insoluble fiber reduces constipation, diarrhea, stomach aches, cramps, bloating, and gas. Now look, that sounds like something that's going to help Timothy, if he's got some stomach problems, okay. He might have some bad harmful bacteria in his body. He might be suffering from stomach aches and maybe diarrhea, constipation. Well, grape juice, not alcoholic, grape juice would be a great medicine for him, okay. And this makes perfect sense if what Paul is prescribing is have some grape juice instead of just drinking water all the time, okay. So again, a stupid argument to make, to try to support people's thoughts that, this is giving me permission to drink alcohol. Can you please turn to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, verse 18. Ephesians 5, 18. All of these passages are very similar. Not given to much wine, a little wine. And now this one, Ephesians 5, 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. They'll say, well, so you can, you can, don't get drunk, you can have some wine. Don't get drunk, they'll say, wherein is excess. So don't excessively drink wine is what they'll say. Now that might be right in the fact that it might be too excessive in wine, but there are two ways that I understand this passage. I'm not sure which way I lean most strongly toward, but both of these interpretations or both of these understandings fit perfectly well with the rest of the Bible, okay. One way of understanding this passage, be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, is basically saying that if you drink wine, you will act in an excessive way. You know, the wine causes you to be excessive. So you probably know this, right? If someone is like generally a happy person and they get under the influence of alcohol, then they become like really happy and really excited because their emotions are in excess because of the wine, right? It plays into that. Or someone might be gloomy and sad and then they'll drink the alcohol and they'll be even worse, in a worse state, okay. Alcohol basically has that excessive qualities in your feelings and in your behaviors. That is definitely one way. Yeah, within the wine itself, it causes you to be at excess behavior, okay. But notice the difference between these two things. Be not drunk with wine and say, well, we can have a little bit, you know, get a little buzz. You know, the term we use is tipsy. Yeah, but if you do a dictionary definition for the word tipsy, you know what it means? It just means slightly drunk. Tipsy is drunk. You can't just drink a little bit and get a buzz and think I'm not drunk. You are drunk. You're just slightly drunk. And the problem with that, we know that the Bible, no one debates that the Bible makes it very clear drunkenness is a sin. Therefore, even being tipsy is a sin. And you know what command is more frequent in the Bible? Be ye sober, okay, sober. What is sobriety? It's not just necessarily alcohol. It can be effects of drugs. You know, it could be even gluttony of food. You know, being sober is being serious minded and making sure you have your mind under control. You're not allowing external forces to mess with your mind and mess with your judgment. God commands us to be sober. You know what, when you become tipsy, you're losing sobriety, okay. The other thing that you notice here in Ephesians 5 18, that God is telling us to be filled with the Spirit, meaning that if you drink alcohol, you are limiting the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Okay, you can choose. You can either do excessive things with alcohol, you know, and acting stupid, or if this interpretation is correct, you can do excessive things with the Spirit of God in your life. And you can do greater works than you can do without the Spirit of God, doing greater works for His kingdom. That is definitely one way you can understand that passage. Another way to understand this passage, if you can please turn to 1 Peter 4, I find this one probably the funniest one that people use. But 1 Peter 4 3 says, For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelins, banquetins, and abominable idolatries. So very clear, this list are sinful, wicked things to do, right. And they'll say, we'll see excess of wine again. There it is, excess of wine. And I say, see, excess, drinking too much. That's a sin, again, trying to justify what a little bit is okay. What's funny about this, if you just keep reading, look at the next verse, number four. It says, wherein they think it's strange, that you run not with them, to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. It's using the same phraseology, excess of riot and excess of wine. If they're saying, okay, excess of wine is sinful, therefore we can have a little bit of wine, then to be consistent, you'll have to say, well, excess of rioting is wicked and sinful, but we can riot a little bit. I kind of wish sometimes the Bible said that, I can riot a little bit. I'll be out there protesting right now, burning down a police car, just one, just one, okay, don't worry. Burning down some bus, just one. We're not going to excessive here, right. We're not going to burn down the entire city. We're not going to burn down every single police vehicle, okay. Just one, we don't want to get excessive. That's stupid. You know what, even a little bit of rioting is wicked and sinful, okay. So to use that argument, you can't even be consistent because nobody in their right mind, no true Christian would say a little bit of rioting is okay. Well, if a little bit of rioting is not okay, well, a little bit of drinking alcohol is not okay either, okay, if you're to remain consistent. But these are the stupid arguments people use to drink alcohol. Can you please go to Deuteronomy chapter 14, Deuteronomy chapter 14 and verse number 24. Deuteronomy chapter 14 and verse number 24. Now the next couple of passages that we're going to look at are a little bit harder to understand. You know, granted, I can understand how someone might read these passages and think maybe God is saying drinking alcohol is just fine, okay. Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse number 24 says, and if the way be too long for thee so that thou art not able to carry it, or if the place be too far from thee which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there when the Lord thy God have blessed thee, then shalt thou turn it into money and bind up the money in thine hand and shall go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. So you know how in the Old Testament they were supposed to bring their crops, you know, their first fruits, their tides, for some it's just too much to carry. It's just not practical for whatever reasons. Maybe they don't have the vehicles, maybe it's too far, whatever. God says it's okay if you change it for money, okay, and you bring that money and then you can purchase things when you're in the local area to worship the Lord, okay. Look at verse number 26. It says, and thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. See, so this is something that you want to lust, something that you want for oxen or for sheep. Why is it that they might want to buy oxen or sheep in, like if they're going to come and bring a sacrifice to the tabernacle, you know, bringing an oxen is not easy, okay, and it is much easier if you just convert it for money and then get to the tabernacle area, buy an oxen there and offer that full of sacrifice unto the Lord, okay. So that's something you could do. You could buy oxen, buy sheep. It says here, all for wine. Now, I believe the wine reference here is just normal juice, okay, because then it says all for strong drink. So I believe the strong drink here refers to alcohol, okay. All for strong drink, all for whatsoever thy soul desireth. They say, see, God's allowing our soul to desire to buy alcohol here, strong drink. So what is that about? And then it says, and thou shalt eat there, there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice thou and thine household. See, God is saying it's fine to buy alcohol, you know, offer it to your household, your wife and your kids, you know, just party up and banquet and have a whole, you know, drunken party with the family. Is that what he's saying there? That's what some people use, okay. Now, granted, like I said, this is a tough passage. How do we understand this, okay? Again, you know, a lot of these passages, there might be multiple ways to explain it, you know, reasonable logical answers from the Bible, you compare scripture with scripture, okay. But one thing, this is definitely not teaching, it's fine to drink alcohol, okay. Let me just give you some ideas why some people might sometimes want to buy an alcoholic beverage, okay. Because if you look at the end of verse number 26 says, and thou shalt eat there before the Lord. So it is something they're going to consume, okay. So let's go to numbers 28. Go to numbers 28, please. Numbers 28 and verse number 7. Numbers 28 and verse number 7. This is one, I believe this is a legitimate reason why some people would look at, yes, you know, it was fine to buy alcohol. Now remember, the alcohol that's not allowed is the alcohol that you're going to have a cup and you're going to drink of, okay. This alcohol obviously is going to be for a different purpose. And we'll have a look at this, look at this. Numbers 28, verse number 7. And the drink offering, so in the Old Testament, there was an offering you could offer to the Lord through drink, okay. And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of a hymn of the one lamb. In the holy place shall thou cause the strong wine, remember Deuteronomy said the strong drink, so we have the strong wine here, to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering. So when you bring this drink offering, what you're not doing, you're not giving it to the priests and saying, hey guys, here's some booze, drink up. What they're doing is they're taking that beverage, okay. Say, why is it alcohol? Because when you crush grapes, okay, and you put that work into it to bring it as an offering for God, okay, it's not something you're going to drink. You don't care if the skin and the yeast get mixed in that, okay. And as you're traveling, it's going to automatically ferment, okay. It's going to start to, you know, the bacteria or the yeast is automatically going to start eating up the sugars and it's going to become a strong drink, okay. But what is this offering? Are they drinking it? Are they offering it to the priests to drink? No, they're pouring it out as a drink offering unto the Lord, okay. So this is one legitimate way, reason why you might, you know, have alcohol with you or you might go to the place and buy some, you know, you end up buying some alcoholic beverage because what's the point of buying like, you know, freshly squeezed juice, you know. It doesn't matter if it's alcoholic because you're going to pour it out anyway, okay. It's not going into anybody's body. But we did see that it says and they shall eat there before the Lord. So what about this time, okay, when you're consuming this strong drink? Well, you're in Numbers, so go to Numbers chapter six and verse number one, Numbers chapter six and verse number one, why would somebody buy alcoholic beverage like wine and then drink it if Pastor Kevin just said we shouldn't do that? Well, as I said, you know, these are tough things but what do you do when something's tough? Do you just give up and go, well, you know what, when God told us not to drink alcohol, we just throw all of that out because now we're going to start all over again and build our understanding here. Well, we can drink alcohol. Is that what we do? No, we go to other passages and we see how does God instruct, you know, his people to carry out things such as, you know, handling the strong drink? Well, number six verse one says, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. Before I keep reading, the most famous Nazarite, of course, is Samson and you may recall when Samson was born, he was not allowed to, number one, cut his hair, that's one of the major ones, but he was not allowed to drink any juice. He wasn't allowed to drink alcohol, any grape juice, he's not, nothing to do from the grapevine, he was allowed to consume. Verse number three, it says, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, say, nothing to do with the grapes, and shall, look, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink. So you notice the vinegar there of strong drink. Now, you know what, in my house, you know what we have? We have some red wine vinegar. Now, I'm sure there are many households that have red wine vinegar right now in somewhere in their pantry possibly, okay? You know what, you look at that, there's no alcohol. You drink that, it's not going to get you drunk, okay? Let's keep going. Vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes or eats moist grapes, he couldn't even eat the grapes straight off, okay? Or dried. So what is it saying? That drinking vinegar is just fine. Remember vinegar was offered to Jesus Christ on the cross, okay? Using vinegar is fine, okay? God's not against vinegar. Why is vinegar fine? Because it's not alcoholic. It's not going to get you drunk, okay? But notice it says vinegar of strong drink. So what we need to basically understand is two things, okay? So when you take grapes and you crush them, okay, and you have the skin there with the yeast and the yeast starts eating up the sugar, the fermentation process, yes, it turns the sugar into alcohol, to ethanol, okay? That's the alcohol that you can drink, all right? Now, how do you make it into vinegar? If you have vinegar, you first have to have an alcoholic beverage, okay? So what happens is you go for a second process of fermentation, a second process. You've got some, what happens is you have other microorganisms, okay, that eat up the alcohol and they produce, what was it again? They produce acidic acid, okay? So you go from the sugar, first fermentation process, into alcohol, you've got the strong drink. If you want to make vinegar, it makes sense that you'd go and buy strong drink. Why would you buy freshly squeezed juice, okay? Fermentation process happens naturally. Yeah, you go buy the strong drink, okay? You're going to consume it, but you're not going to consume the alcohol. You go through the second process of fermentation with new microorganisms that eats up the alcohol and produces the acidic acid. That's why vinegar has that sour acidic taste, but that's not alcohol anymore. The alcohol is gone from the system. It's been converted into acidic acid, okay? So drinking vinegar is just fine. You're not going to get drunk on it, okay? People knew how to make vinegar back in those days and to drink vinegar, you needed the strong drink. You needed the alcoholic wine, okay? You needed that two-step fermentation process to get to a point of vinegar, okay? So are they able to consume, drink vinegar, put it on their salad or whatever dressing they might use it? Vinegar is also good for preservation. If you want to preserve things in a jar or something, it's good for that process. Absolutely, there's nothing wrong with that in of itself, but notice why would we just conclude or see God says it's fine to drink alcohol. When we understand the process to make vinegar, we see that it's fine for God's people to drink vinegar and they need strong drink to turn it into vinegar in the first place, okay? So there's nothing wrong with that in of itself because the alcohol has not been absorbed into the body. It's already been converted into acidic acid. Can you please go to Isaiah 25, Isaiah 25 and verse number five. Isaiah 25 and verse number five. This is another sort of challenging one that people use and it's speaking about the end times, okay? Isaiah 25 and verse number five. Isaiah 25 verse five reads, I shall bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud, the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things. Before I keep reading, God's telling us in the future events, he's going to put a feast for us, all right? So we're seeing that him come and dine, one day God's going to come and we're going to have this great feast, a great celebration when God returns, okay? Of fat things, hey yeah, yum, okay? Look at this, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees, well refined. All right, so what is it saying? Okay, now let me just, you know, if you want to study this out, let me help you through the process. If you don't know what lees are, you know, I don't blame you because it's not like we make alcohol and like this, okay? It's not like we sit there and we know the whole fermentation process of alcohol. I don't know, just the things that I read, the things that I watched on YouTube or whatever, right? And you learn through the process. But if you go and just type in wine on the lees or just lees, you know what the internet's going to tell you? And it's not lie, it's not that it's false information. It's just not a full information, okay? They'll say that lees is the dead yeast cells. So you get lees when you ferment freshly squeezed grape juice and you ferment it into alcohol because once the yeast finishes its job of converting it to alcohol, many of those yeast cells just die. And, you know, you'll get like little particles of the yeast fall to the bottom, okay? And so they'll say, this is, you know, alcoholic beverage and the lees are refined out of the process. So, you know, I don't know what kind of filter they, it goes through, but they remove the lees so it just contains the juice, the alcoholic juice. And they'll say, well, see, God during this feast is going to be offering us not just fat things, feast of fat things, but also he's going to be offering us alcohol. That's what they, and look, I understand. Like if you just did a quick Google search and looked up the word lees, you looked at the first definitions, you've got the first sort of understanding, you take it to the Bible, that's what it sounds like. But don't forget, we already had the story of Christ. He says that he's not going to drink of the fruit of the vine now, but he was going to come back until he's talking about future event as well, which I believe is the same event as this. And he says, I'm going to drink the wine anew, the new wine. Okay, so we have Christ saying, we're going to drink non-alcoholic beverage. And then we have this story, which apparently supposedly now God's going to be offering us alcohol as well. You know, which one is more clear though, okay? Obviously what Christ said is much more clear. Now, what's the understanding of this? Well, I was doing a lot of reading just to answer this, you know, top like this verse, okay? A lot of reading, well, lees is not just, let me just say this. Are dead yeast cells lees that get formulate during the fermentation process? Yes, but they're not the only thing that are lees, okay? The word lees basically is just a general term for any particles, okay? Any solids that drop down to your drink during the juicing process, okay? And as I did more reading, I realized that generally it's understood, lees are understood in two different ways, two different categories. You've got your gross lees. So this is whatever juice it is, whatever fruit it is, okay? Let's take wine here, let's take grapes, okay? When you go through the crushing process, okay? You get as much grapes as you can. When you're stepping on those grapes or you're crushing those grapes, you're pressing down on those grapes. You're going to get the juice, but what else are you going to get? You're going to get pieces of the seed, of the skin, okay? Of maybe even leaves, all right? We've all been together. The pulp of the fruits. You know, I like when I buy orange juice, I like buying, I don't like the pulp-free orange. I actually like oranges with the pulp, okay? That's basically the lees, okay? It's the stuff that goes in through the pressing process, okay? And so lees is basically any particle or any solid in your drink when it gets first squeezed down, all right? I'm sure if anyone has made, you know, orange juice or something, right? It's not just the juice, you also have pieces of the fruit there as well. Well, that is known as gross lees, like your gross pay, okay? Before you get taxed, you call that the gross pay. Well, the gross lees, and then you go through the process of removing that so you have a more pure product, okay? Where it's just juice, okay? Then if you're going to turn that into alcohol, then you have the next type of lees, which is known as the fine lees, and that is the dead yeast cells, okay? So when we read this in Isaiah 25, 5, and Christ already told us we're going to drink the new wine with him, freshly squeezed juice, and then we get to this passage that says a feast of wines on the lees, but look at the end of it, it says of wines on the lees, well refined. What God is telling us here, the juice that we're going to drink, the grape juice that we're going to drink, is very refined. It's very pure. It's a high quality juice because it's been refined. The lees have been removed from the drink. But then are we to conclude, well that must be the dead yeast cells because God's offering us alcohol, or can we safely conclude, which is consistent with what Christ said, that it's the gross lees, it's all the other bits and pieces that are part of the pressing process into the juice, you know? Definitely if we're going to remain consistent with the words of Christ and with the rest of the Bible, the lees here have nothing to do with turning that into alcohol, it has to do with that juice being freshly taken off the branches and made into juice and being well refined so we're drinking really high quality juice. I expect no less from the God who's going to dine us, okay, and allow us to have a great feast with him. Can you please go to Proverbs 31 now? Go to Proverbs 31 and verse number 4. Proverbs 31 and verse number 4. We'll end on this one. And I can understand how some of these passages can be tough and some people might conclude or maybe just a lack of knowledge, you know, thinking that the word wine is just always alcohol in the Bible, okay? I mean that's ignorance but I can understand where some people might have that confusion but I've heard people take this passage in Proverbs 31 and 4 and 5 and 6 and basically say God is saying it's okay to drink alcohol. I just think any of my children that are safe, any of my children that I have a good reading vocabulary will read this and not have that same conclusion. You know, when I hear people say, this is saying we can drink alcohol, you know, it just proves to me that that person is not filled with the spirit, okay? That person is filled with the alcohol, okay? His mind's messed up. Maybe he's got a few dead brain cells and he's unable to understand the word of God. Proverbs 31 verse number 4 says, it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to strong drink. There's that term again, strong drink. Look, Lemuel's mother is telling him, don't drink alcohol. Hey, this is a good king's mother. You know, normally kings might get, you know, a little bit corrupted with their wealth and their prosperity and their high status and they might, you know, try to get themselves, you know, end up drinking alcohol or, you know, people that have great wealth in this world, they often find themselves taking drugs or, right, they're not happy with their life. You know what? This king's mother is selling his son, her son, don't drink strong drink. Don't drink any wine, okay? It is not for kings. It is not for someone who has a high title, you know, a high status in society. It's not for you. Verse number 5, less they drink. This is the danger of drinking. Less they drink and forget the law. Forget the law. Brethren, you know what? My job as a pastor is to preach the law of God, right? As a pastor, I should not give into wine as well. I don't want to forget the law. I don't want to stand behind the pulpit. I don't know what I'm preaching to say, guys, because I don't have the Holy Spirit in me. I've got some alcohol. Oh, don't worry, it's not excess though. It's just a little bit, okay? No, okay? If you're going to preach and teach God's laws and you're to follow God's laws and to, you know, uphold his laws, you better stay away from that junk. Less they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. So what happens if you drink alcohol? You forget what God's word says and you also pass bad judgments, okay? This is why you should not drink and drive. In fact, this is why you should not drink at all, okay? And then I'll say, well, verse number six says, you know, some people can drink. It says, give strong drink. So you can give it to others. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. So you see, if someone's like upset, right? They're going through a hard time. You know, buy some booze. You know, buy them some alcohol because the Bible says here, you know, it's going to make them more happier because they're going through some difficulties right now, okay? Someone's about to perish. Someone's about to die. You know, yeah, buy some alcohol and probably kill them even earlier. But that's what they think. That's what it says. And it just blows my mind. Can't they see the sarcasm? Can't they understand the sarcasm of Lemuel's mother? You know, she's saying, look, for good, holy, honorable people who love the Lord, who loves God's laws, who loves the judgment of God, listen, it's not for you. And it's for the wicked world can drink that substance if they want. Let them drink it. It's not for you, Lemuel. And let me say to you, Christian, it's not for you, Christian. Yeah, if your neighbors go to the pub, okay, they go to the tavern and drink it up, yeah, give it to them, let them perish with that stupid drink. But it's not for you, Lemuel. It's not for you, king. You know, this reminds me of Revelation 22, verse 11, where it says, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And going, wow, God's given permission to people that are unjust to continue being unjust. God's given permission for those that are filthy, okay, disgusting human beings, he's telling them, let them be filthy still. Wow, God's given us permission to live sin, you know, wicked, you know, godless lives. Yeah, you know, that's stupid. What is the point of that passage? What is the point of what Lemuel's mother is teaching? It's that this is the way of the world. You're not going to change this whole world to holiness. You have to just learn to accept that the wicked will continue being wicked. Let them be wicked. They're going to face the consequences. They're going to face the judgment of God. Those that are filthy, let them continue being filthy then, okay? Because they're going to one day stand before a holy God, and if they don't believe in Jesus Christ, they're going to be cast into hellfire. For us who are what? Who are righteous? For us that are holy, for those that are righteous, be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still. Yeah, praise God. But this is the way of the world, right? If we're God's people, we love his law, well, you know, God tells us to be holy, to be righteous. We are the righteous of Christ upon us. We're to live that clean and holy life, but it's comparing ourselves to a wicked people. Well, same as Lemuel, okay? Lemuel's mother is saying, hey, that's not for you. It's for the wicked. It's for the low-lies. It's for the scum of society. They can drink it up. You know, don't envy them. You know, don't want to desire the same kind of drink that they drink. But these are the arguments. These are the excuses that people come up with. You know, well, if that's the case, God is saying you can drink alcohol. Well, I can make the same argument. Well, God wants us to be filthy and unjust. It's just stupid, okay? Stupid arguments. And I would expect these arguments to come from people that have killed their brain cells with alcohol. Can you please turn to Leviticus chapter 10? Leviticus chapter 10, verse number 8. So alcohol is not for kings. Leviticus chapter 10, verse number 8. It reads, And the Lord spake unto Aaron, don't forget Aaron was the first high priest, saying, do not drink wine, nor strong drink. Thou, nor thy sons with thee. The priests were not allowed to touch that stuff, okay? When you go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die, God says, if you go into the tabernacle, if you go and serve me and you've drunk alcohol, I'm going to kill you. That's what God says. Boy, I would be afraid to be a pastor drinking alcohol and coming to church and trying to preach God's word. You know, I'd be like, man, when's God going to kill me? You know, that's what he says. If you drink alcohol, I'm going to kill you, okay? It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. Why is it so important? That ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean. You know what God is saying? If you drink alcohol, you're not going to be able to tell the difference between what is holy and unholy. You won't be able to tell the difference between what is unclean and clean. Then he says, And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. See, it was the priest's job to also teach the statutes of the Lord, to teach the word of God as well. God says, if you drink alcohol, you won't be able to do it, okay? So what do we learn? We learn there in Proverbs 31, alcohol is not for kings. Why? Because they have to pass judgment. Alcohol is not for priests, because they're to teach the word of God, to differentiate between the holy and the unholy. But don't forget what we are, brethren. In Revelation 5, verse 10, it says, And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. If you're saved, God has made you kings and priests. Okay, if you're saved, that's what you are. You're part of the royal family. You're one of these priests, as it were. God's going to use you to teach this world during his millennial reign, to rule with him, but also as a priest to teach the word of God. And you know what? What do we learn in the Bible? Alcohol is not to be touched by these people. Alcohol is not to be touched or drunk by the kings or by the priests. And that's what you are, brethren. And in the New Testament, you are kings and priests. Alcohol is not for you. So in summary, brethren, as I said, stupid excuses to drink alcohol. Please be careful about the preachers that you listen to. You know, if a preacher gets behind the pulpit and starts saying, hey, it's okay to drink alcohol, that's a strange doctrine. There's something wrong with that person, okay? And if he also admits to drinking, guess what? Why would you listen to him? When we see the Bible says they're going to pervert judgment, they're going to forget the law of God, they're not going to be able to differentiate between holy and unholy, they're not going to be able to differentiate between clean and unclean, they're not going to be able to teach the statutes of the Lord. Why would you listen to that kind of preacher? All right, brethren, I hope that gives you some answers for those that push and say, well, God's okay with alcohol. No, he's not, okay? Don't forget, you drink that stuff, you might as well just allow yourself to be bitten by a snake. Okay, let's pray.