Wine and Strong Drink (Part 2)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, let's open our Bible. We're going to do a brief review. We're on the subject of wine and strong drink. So if you would look in proverbs and actually hold your place, go to proverbs, because we're definitely going to be there. But also look at, we'll start in Luke chapter five just as a review. Luke chapter five. So last week we started this subject of wine and strong drink. Again, I will admit straight up to you that there are aspects of this subject that are a little more difficult. Here we go. Trying to get the air off of me. There are aspects of this subject and verses in the scripture that are difficult. But what you're going to see, hopefully today as we look at proverbs, especially 20 verse one, you're going to see that there's more to this than meets the eye. And listen, just as a matter of wisdom, as a matter of discretion, and as a matter of having a heart with the right disposition toward the Lord and his word, anytime someone says, well, the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not, you just need to pause a second because often that reveals a bad motive. It reveals that a person is looking for an excuse to do that thing that is not expressly forbidden in scripture. So anytime somebody says, well, the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not. So I can do it. Well, the Bible does not say thou shalt not cheat on your taxes, right? It doesn't say that. So is it okay to cheat on your taxes? So be careful. When someone says that, be careful of saying that now because not everything is exactly spelled out in scripture. And really the Lord, if our heart is toward the Lord and we want his wisdom, we want to do the will of God, we are willing listen. And this goes for every subject we talk about, not just this subject, but any subject. When we come before the Lord with a question about whether we should do x, y or z, we should lay before the Lord a blank check. Lord, before we even get into it, before we even address the matter, we should say, lord, I don't know what your word exactly says on this thing, but whatever it is, that is exactly what I want to do. I don't have a motive. I don't have a bias or a final destination that I want to get to. I only want to do the will of God. Brother Stewart, you should talk about that. He says, making the decision to do the will of God, how did you put it? [00:03:02] Speaker B: Most people don't get caught up. [00:03:07] Speaker A: In knowing what their decision is about. His decision so we need to make the decision that our decision is going to be his decision beforehand. But that's before you know the answer. That's before you know the answer. So a lot of this deals with our motives, especially when you deal with the subject of alcohol. There's a lot of things going into that with peer pressure, people that want to appear socially acceptable. There's a lot of it that goes with the flesh and wanting the euphoria that they lack in their lives. For a Christian, listen, for a Christian who's walking with God, alcohol adds nothing to that person's life. Nothing. If you're walking with God, you're obeying the Lord. You have a clear conscience before God. You have joy in the things of the Lord. You have joy among the people of God. You have joy in a family that loves the Lord. All these things bring you joy. You don't need euphoria otherwise. You see, again, a lot of these things kind of go all point back to the same scriptural truth. So just be careful of that. I feel like it's important to address it in that way so that we understand that a lot of people that come at this subject are not coming at it just with, I just want to do what God said. It's just not that way. Okay. Luke, chapter five, verse number 37. I mentioned this last week. Again, we're just reviewing. Well, it'll help if I'm in Luke instead of John. All right. Luke, chapter five, verse 37. The Bible says this, and no man putth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. So in this vein, again, we talked about the bottles. In this case, we're not referring to glass bottles. These are basically a container or a vessel to hold liquid. All right? And at this time, this was often made of animal skins, and we talked about how appetizing of a prospect that is, but that's just the way it was. And so those things stretch. And when, through the process of fermentation, carbon dioxide is released from the grape juice, that sealed container stretches. And once you pour that liquid out, you can't put new wine that will also go through a process of fermentation, or else it'll burst that. It's just like if you took a gallon jug and you filled it with water and put it in the freezer. Maybe not a gallon. Let's go. A bottled water. You seal it, you put it in the freezer. It's going to explode. It happens all the time with my little. I was going to say bubbly, but bubly is wine. But one time I made a mistake. I made a mistake. I had a missionary friend over at our house. In fact, he's been here, and he knows we don't drink. He doesn't either. We were missionary friends in Cambodia, and I asked one of my kids to go get me a bubbly out of the fridge, and he's like, it was just water. It's just water. But we had to clarify that to him. But anyway, I often leave those in my refrigerator, or sometimes I'll put them in the freezer when they're not cold. And if I forget about them, what happens? They burst. Right? They burst because of the expansion. Well, this is exactly what we're referring to here. So here's what that establishes just by way of review. All right? So again, this subject is not neat and tidy like we might want it to be in this case. This is talking about the fermentation of the grape juice. That's why it expands. [00:07:12] Speaker B: Okay? [00:07:12] Speaker A: So the idea that in the Bible, they had wine that was not alcoholic, and then they had the wine that was alcoholic, it wasn't just that simple, all right? Without the modern industrialization of wine production and refrigeration and the scientific things they had with the yeast and everything, it's just not that simple. And so we talked about this. What is wine in the scripture? Which is, somebody give me a scriptural definition of the word, the single word wine. What is it? It's just fruit of the vine. That's all it is. Without reference to whether it has alcohol or no alcohol, what we would call juice or wine. It's just a generic word. Number two, there are good references in the scripture to wine. So you can't look at every verse in the Bible and say, the Bible says you shouldn't drink wine because somebody's going to turn around and say, well, what about this verse and this verse and this verse and this verse and this verse and this verse? Okay, but we also looked at beverages in scripture, and we saw that there were very, very few. And most things that we drink outside of water were not available at that time. And to include, to a large degree, to include milk and natural things that we would drink. So we talked about that just as a practical matter, and then we went into the process of wine creation. Now, I'm going to read this again before I pray, and then we'll get a little bit further into our lesson. I read this last week, but I'm going to read it again just so we understand what's going on. Okay, so you take the grape juice and you put it into a container. On the skin of the grape is yeast, okay? It's naturally there. It exists in nature, okay. So yeast is the agent, which is bacteria that causes the grape juice to ferment. When yeast is present, it eats the sugar and multiplies. And the byproduct is ethyl alcohol, which is what we call alcohol. [00:09:20] Speaker B: Okay? [00:09:21] Speaker A: So the concentration of alcohol at which yeast can no longer survive depends on the yeast strain and the environmental conditions in general. Most common bakers yeast or brewers yeast can tolerate alcohol concentrations up to about twelve to 15% in fermentation process. However, some specialized yeast strains, such as those used in the production of high alcohol beverages like wine. Notice what it says, high alcohol beverages like wine. What I just read indicates that what we call wine, what's sold in the store is actually a high alcohol compared to other types like beer. [00:09:56] Speaker B: Okay? [00:09:59] Speaker A: Can tolerate higher alcohol concentrations. So basically what's happening here is the natural yeast on the skin of the grape begins to ferment the juice when it's contained, producing carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol, which is in the drink. [00:10:15] Speaker B: Okay? [00:10:16] Speaker A: Until the level of alcohol in the liquid is so high that it kills the yeast. So it's a self terminating process. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Okay? [00:10:26] Speaker A: Now in the biblical times, though, there was no specialized yeast. It was a natural process. And so the yeast could only survive between, according to what I've read, between nine and 12%. [00:10:40] Speaker B: Okay? [00:10:42] Speaker A: Again, I've already explained to you what my position on this subject is, which we're going to cover today. But we have to look at truth and facts. We can't handle the word of God in a way that's deceptive because it undermines our own position. All right? So if you put grape juice, naturally pressed grape juice, it will ferment by its own self. [00:11:05] Speaker B: Okay? [00:11:06] Speaker A: It'll turn into wine. So does it then follow that because it's natural, it's okay for us to drink, you see, because that is the thought process. Well, the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not drink wine. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. But that is not the final word on the subject. So again, it matters the attitude with which we come to this subject. Okay, let's pray together. Father, thank you for the opportunity to look in your word today. Lord, please help your people and give them wisdom. As we look at this subject, I pray that you would just enlighten our minds, and especially, Lord, that all of our hearts would be so disposed toward your word that we would want nothing but to do what you want us to do. Lord, we derive our joy and our peace and our happiness, Lord, from the things that you have given to us. And, Lord, we do not lack joy. And so, Lord, we don't need alcohol. We know that. But, Lord, I do pray that you'd give your people wisdom and understanding, because oftentimes people in this building are confronted with this question. Didn't Jesus turn water into wine? And questions similar to that. So please, Lord, give them wisdom that we might be able to answer these things and live according to your wisdom. In Jesus name. Amen. All right, so we've established scripturally the process by which grape juice, freshly pressed juice of the grape, turns into a drink that has some level of alcohol in it. The fermentation process. That's not a mystery. Now, as a result of that, you see something in the scripture that is important for us to understand. Look at proverbs, chapter nine. Proverbs, nine, verse two. We've covered this to some degree, but I'm going to cover it anyway. Once again, proverbs nine, verse two. The Bible says, speaking of wisdom now, wisdom, not the strange woman. Wisdom. Wisdom says this, she hath killed her beast. She hath mingled her wine. What does the word mingle mean? Somebody help me mix. Look at verse five. Wisdom says, come eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled. All right, look at proverbs, chapter 23, verse 30, says this. Of course, we know this is the classic passage which we will study later on the subject of wine, strong drink, and its effect. It says, verse 30 says, they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Mixed wine. All right, look at Isaiah, chapter one, if you would. And then you can come back to proverbs. Isaiah, chapter one, verse 22, says this. Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water. All right, look at chapter five, verse 22, verse 22 says this. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink. So why do I bring up these verses, these kind of random, nebulous kind of verses? It's just this simple, okay? It is a fact, a cultural fact, that once you have the juice that is now fermented in the Bible times, because, remember, there was no way to prevent that. There was no refrigeration. There was no chemical processes that we would call. There was no way to prevent that natural process, when you're talking 2000, 3000 years ago. All right, that's a modern idea. [00:15:50] Speaker B: Okay. [00:15:51] Speaker A: So when that happens, you're left with a drink that has some measure of alcohol in it. So what would be done is they would take that, what we would call a concentrate, and they would mix it with water. Well, obviously, when you mix it with water, you're doing that so that you can use it for one, but you're also doing it because you don't want to drink water on a special occasion, for instance. [00:16:17] Speaker B: Okay. [00:16:18] Speaker A: Because again, there weren't the number of beverages that we have in our day. So this was a way to not have water for a special event like a wedding feast, which is what we see in John chapter two. But they would mix it together in any place. Remember, in the biblical culture we think of. Remember, you can't look at the Bible through the lens of your life and my life. We live in just opulent abundance, do we not? I mean, we have so many things at our fingertips, but especially some of you. Your parents, maybe your grandparents went through the depression and they were very careful about what they wasted and things like that. My grandfather was like that. My grandfather was like that. I mean, he saved everything and he was careful about that. Well, one thing you can do is if you're trying to save food, women do this. If you make soup and you have half a pot left and you want to stretch it out, what do you do? You add water. Well, when you have this precious beverage, you only get once a year, the vintage, right. And you want to make it stretch out, what do you do? You add water. That is a thing. That's what I'm trying to explain to you. But here's the byproduct of that is this. Whatever alcohol content was in there is now being diluted divided by the amount of what the ratio of water to the original concentrate. So what you have, if it, say it went to 5% before the yeast died, or even 9% before the yeast died, just let's use a round number. If it was 10% alcohol in its original state, you mix it with one part, one to one. Now you're at 5%, you mix it to one to two. Now you're at two and a half percent. You mix it to one to three. Now you're dealing with something that has to get drunk. One part wine to three parts water. You're going to have to drink a whole lot of that just to feel the effect. Right. All right, I know we're kind of getting off a little bit. But just hear me out. A normal glass of wine is 5oz. I did research because this is what I'm trying to explain to everyone. One five ounce glass of wine for an average person. You drink two of them and you're approaching the legal limit to drive two. And that's at twelve to 15% alcohol. Okay, one glass of wine, five ounce. That's not very much drink. You're going to get more than that at the chickfila. For a beverage at Chickfila, how many? Okay, but if you knock it down to one to percent. Two. One, say 1% alcohol. Remember, you took the wine and you, three parts water to one part wine. You're going to need glass after glass after glass after glass after glass to get the same effect. Do you understand? So what does that mean? That means you're going to have to sit there and just. And that is exactly what the Bible says. Exactly. Let me show you. Look at, we're in Isaiah five. Now look at verse eleven. Woe unto them. Notice the time. Words. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till wine inflamed them. See that? They started in the morning and they drank all day. And finally, by the end of the day, they had drunk so much that they're totally drunken. But notice how much they had to drink. They spent all day doing it. It wasn't like, well, they took a couple of glasses of wine that you can drink at once, just in one couple of swigs. No, it was an all day process. Not only that, look at proverbs 23. Again, there's a reason I'm showing you this. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Okay. [00:20:37] Speaker A: Proverbs 23, verse number 30. Now, we read the second part of the verse to show you that it's mixed. But look at verse 30. Verse 29 says, who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Et cetera. Here's what the answer is. They that. Terry, what's the next word? Long at the wine. Okay, so this idea that when you say scripture, this has to be dispelled, otherwise you'll go off track. This idea that when the Bible refers to wine as a beverage, that it is referring to some thing off the shelf in the grocery store is false. They are not the same. They are apples and oranges. [00:21:22] Speaker B: Okay. [00:21:22] Speaker A: As far as alcohol content. Okay, you can see that here in the scripture, the way the wine was used, having been mixed with water. Yes. There had to be some measure of alcohol in the original that they used to mix. All right, that's a natural process. But once it's mixed with water with several parts, it becomes so diluted that you have to drink a great deal of it to have the same effect. So if you drink a cup, you're literally going to not feel any effect. If you do it scientifically, your blood alcohol concentration is going to be very low to the point that you won't even notice. [00:22:05] Speaker B: Okay? [00:22:07] Speaker A: This is the process of what's happening in the Bible. Now, here's why that has to be understood is because people will dishonestly see the word W-I-N-E in the Bible anywhere, looking for an excuse to drink at will. And they see it and they say, see the Bible? Jesus turned water into wine. So I can whatever, so it can't be wrong for me to drink. And so listen, they'll drink it and they'll get buzzed, and we'll see in just a minute that leads to more things, all upon a pretext, because they misunderstood. They misunderstood what the scripture says on it. Now, on the subject being mixed, look at psalm 75. If you would get psalm 75 and revelation 14. We'll read these real quick, and then we'll go to proverbs 20, psalm 75. Now, wine in the Bible is a figure, is a type of judgment. In the scripture, you'll see this, but notice it's a type of judgment, even with the analogy of the wine being mixed with water. Listen to what it says. Psalm 75, verse number eight, says this. For in the hand of the Lord, verse seven says, but God is the judge. Right? Verse eight says, for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture. He pourth out of the same, but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall ring them out and drink them. See that wine compared to judgment. In other words, God's saying, listen, I've got wine, and it's not mixed. It is undiluted. And he says, you are going to drink it. I'm going to make you drink it, and you're going to get drunk on my wrath. That's a pretty powerful illustration. In other words, God's judgment is so going to stun them that they will be like a drunken person. Right? Follow this. Revelation 14, verse number ten, says, this. The same principle. Speaking of those that take the mark of the beast, the Antichrist. Verse ten says, now, this is future. The same shall drink verse ten. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the lamb. So God says, you're going to drink this cup. There is no water in it. It is a full. What's that? It's full strength. Thank you. That's the word I was thinking of. This is full strength, and I am going to make you drunk on my wrath. Ouch. But notice the mixture. When God gives that as a symbol of judgment, there's no water. Now, here's the thing. I read this in a commentary. This is from the new Bible knowledge commentary on proverbs nine two. It says, this undiluted wine was considered distasteful by the Jews, and the wine for the Passover consisted of three parts water and one part wine. Now, assuming that's true, here's the point I wanted you to see. They're not drinking the straight stuff. They want it to last right all year. They're mixing it with water. It's diluting the alcohol content. And so we're not comparing apples to oranges. When we read the Bible, the scriptural use of the word wine, and we also see when God uses it without mixture in full strength, and what that refers to. Now, look at proverbs 20. Now, I want to say this at the outset. I hope nobody gets mad at me, but I can't help it if you do. There is nowhere in the Bible no verse. You're going to find that strictly and plainly says, thou shalt not drink wine. You're not going to find it. If it was there, it might make our lives a little bit easier, but it's just not. Now, proverbs 20, verse one is very close to that, but not quite there. [00:27:06] Speaker B: Okay? [00:27:08] Speaker A: And again, I say that as a person who doesn't drink a one drop ever. [00:27:11] Speaker B: Okay? [00:27:15] Speaker A: I think there's a reason why, though, I meditated on this and thought to myself, lord, you give so many warnings about wine and strong drink. Why not just forbid it? Why not just forbid it outright? Thou shalt not drink alcohol. Because the Lord could have done that. But you know what? Had he done that, basically, the only other beverage that was available to people beside water would have been excluded. If God had said, thou shalt not drink alcohol at all, they would not have been allowed to drink even the diluted mix, no matter how mixed it is, because the moment you put alcohol in it, it would be forbidden. And so the Lord did not forbid it outright like that, not to mention the whole process of it being a natural process and that kind of thing. But as I said, someone that's looking for a thou shalt not and ignoring everything else that's related to it is not showing that they come at that subject with an honest heart. Verse 20, verse one of proverbs 20. Wine is a mocker, and strong drink is raging. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. A mocker. Listen to this. A person who mocks, scoffs, jeers, or ridicules someone else. Now, I'm going to read you a couple of verses, and I want you to consider what they said. You don't have to turn there unless you just want to. This is Genesis. I'm sorry, chapter 21, verse nine. The Bible says this. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian. This is Ishmael when she had born unto Abraham. Mocking Ishmael, about 13 years old at this point, sees Isaac born, and he's ridiculing Isaac. And we know that Sarah did not take that lightly. There's another one, acts, chapter two, verse 13, that should be familiar. You remember, they thought because these men were speaking in unknown tongues, that is, to some people, they didn't understand what they were saying. They said, they said, the Jews that listened to that mocked. And they said, these men are full of new wine. They're drunk. They made fun of them because of. They were drunk. Listen to this. Wine is a mocker. Alcohol will do things to the drinker that will make him a subject of mockery and ridicule. Now, here's what. Imagine, of course, in the Internet age, people do this all the time. They play practical jokes and they trip people up and video it just so that they can laugh at them, watch them fall and tumble on the ground so that they can mock. That's what it means. This is what alcohol does. Alcohol sticks its foot out in front of you to trip you and then laughs at you when you fall. Wine does that. And again, we're not even talking about hard liquor. Strong drink, if you will. We're talking about wine, the thing that's supposed to be innocuous. When a person drinks alcohol, they do things that hear me. They do things that appear comical. And you know that's true. They do things that appear comical. They stumble. They say outlandish things, which makes them the object of ridicule. That's its effect. And there is nothing in the world you can do about it once you drink it. Once you put it in your mouth, it is going to ridicule you. [00:31:13] Speaker B: Okay. [00:31:14] Speaker A: Notice what it says strong drink is raging. Raging. This is actually related to the word roar or noise. Sometimes the Bible refers to the raging of the sea. Raging refers to violence, to anger, to fury. So this is referring to the effect of alcohol. Strong drink is raging. In other words, you put it in your body. The effect is you rage. What's interesting is in this one verse, both of the most common effects of alcohol are covered. Most people under the influence of alcohol, one of two things happen. They either get happy and giddy and foolish, or they get angry. One of those two things, both of them are covered. Strong drink is blamed on them both. [00:32:09] Speaker B: Okay? [00:32:10] Speaker A: So when the Bible says strong drink is raging, this is the effect. Notice what it says here. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Here's what this means. Alcohol. This is a fact. Alcohol has an aspect, a characteristic of deception inside of it. It's part of the subject. So you can't say, well, I'm not going to let it deceive me. No, the moment you drink it, you are subjecting yourself to its deception because it's innate in the alcohol. So this idea that we have that, well, and I'm caricatureing now, but this idea that, well, Jesus turned water into wine, and there's just this gallons and gallons and gallons of wine, so everybody could get hammered, and the wine flowed freely and nobody paid attention to its effect, is false. It is not. Biblical proverbs 20, verse one, shows us that they did care about how it affected a person. They did care. Well, as long as you don't get drunk. We'll talk about that later. We'll talk about that later. What is drunk? But in the book of wisdom, in which wine is mentioned, God gives us warnings. In proverbs, here's the deception of alcohol. One of them, wine itself, affects our judgment, and it progressively inhibits our judgment the more that is consumed. And listen, now, part of the judgment that it inhibits is to know when it's starting to affect you. That's what I'm trying to get at. So you say, well, I'm only going to drink a little bit. Well, what you don't understand is the little bit that you drink is already inhibiting your judgment and is going to affect what you think is a little bit. That's the whole deception, you see? So God says, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. The fact that you have drunk, it shows that you have been deceived by it, because you don't even realize it's inhibiting the very judgment by which you are going to determine if you've had too much. You see, that's why God says, why are you going to drink it? Now? Look at proverbs 31, verse four. I'm running out of time quickly. I really want to cover this, though. 31, verse four. It is not for kings. O lemule. Is not for kings to drink wine, nor princes strong drink. You know what this is? This is a prohibition right here. You say, well, the Bible doesn't say you shouldn't drink wine for kings and princes, it does. Why? Because kings and princes are those that are of reputation. They have no business drinking it because of the risk to their reputation as a person of importance, as a person of influence and nobility. But if a king and a prince is a person of reputation and testimony, right? What about a believer in Christ whose name is associated with the Lord Jesus Christ? In the Bible, there's a strict is if you're a prince, you're a king. You don't need to be drinking. It's below your status. Your reputation will be harmed because it will mock you. You will do stupid things that will harm your reputation. What about a believer? We ignore that fact, right to the one of reputation. God says, don't even touch it. There is a lot more at stake to the name of Christ than there is to a king or a prince's reputation. You see, when someone mocks us because we're drunken, alcohol has had an effect upon us, and we start to be foolish or start to rage, or we're ridiculed. The name of Christ is ridiculed. That's what you have to understand. This is why the kings say, don't drink it to the kings, to the princes, don't drink it. If abstinence applied to kings, what about us? You see, yes, in the scripture, the subject of wine is not neat and tidy as we would like it, but to someone whose heart wants wisdom, there is wisdom to be found to help us to know how to deal with this and to make right decisions concerning it. Let's pray together.