okay we are in the middle of the third paragraph uh... and the phrase we're going to deal with today is we abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drink as a beverage and then we have That's that's actually only part of the sentence. So I'll I'll read for you the whole sentence here So we abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating drink as a beverage Keep ourselves unspotted from the world and endeavor to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom of our Savior so the lesson on this phrase might be just today or it might be this weekend next week because There's There's a little bit here, so we I don't know if I'm going to cover all of it. I just want to hit the high points at least. Let me say this before we get started as we're dealing with abstaining from the sale and use of intoxicating drink as a beverage. This phrase I imagine was added to Baptist. Covenants church covenants. Probably around the turn of the century not this one, but the one before so around 1900s or so because it was there was a big push Because of all of the drunkenness that was going on There was a big push to make it a public statement. I imagine that probably over the next oh, dozen or so years, things may be added to this, or it may be changed to be more generalized so that you're dealing with not only alcohol, but dealing with other things that change your, that intoxicate you. We'll just put it that way. So understand that though the Bible directly States things about alcohol or rather intoxicating drink Understand that that some of the principles related to that also apply to other things, drugs, etc. Okay, so what we're going to do is we're going to look at just a little study on drunkenness and deal with that. And so everybody in here knows what we're talking about, right? This isn't like New stuff. It's it's the it's the bad aisle in the grocery store. That's what we're talking about. All right, so In Proverbs chapter 20 and I you you may just want to write these down as we go I've got it all typed out. So it makes it a lot easier for me well, I have a lot of it typed out some of it will have to go to but Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 1 verse number 1 says wine is a mocker Strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise Now we're gonna deal with some things today. For example, one thing that we're going to do I'm just gonna I'm gonna give like the straight-up Don't do it message first Then we're gonna deal with some of the questions like, you know people saying things and I've got the study from Bruce Lackey I don't know if anybody knows who that is or what that's about but it talks about it deals with the how the word wine is a generic term, it talks about the context of the word, and then it also deals with the question that many people ask when you deal with this topic. They say, well, didn't Jesus turn water into wine? Well, I'm going to give you, if time permits, 10, 10 evidences biblically that Jesus that the wine that Jesus made was not alcoholic wine. But we'll get there as we go here. But in Proverbs 20, verse number one, it says wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. In Isaiah 5 and verse number 22, the Bible says, Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine and men of strength to mingle strong drink. Now we know that the strong, the mighty there and men of strength, this is, y'all know that the Bible uses language similar to the way that we do sometimes in the sense that, you know, Paul's writings, a lot of them, there are hyperbolic statements that Paul makes, not to say that they're like Wrongly exaggerated, but there are things that he says where he will where it's where it's obviously he's he's just saying you know you You know, I'll speak seeing you you Know you you suffer fools gladly, you know things like that. He'll say things like that that It's it's somewhat poetic somewhat Okay, I'm trying to make a big explanation of this. Mighty and strength here is in the eye of the beholder, okay? In this passage, what we're dealing with is those who think they're mighty because they're drinking. Those who think they have strength because they've mingled strong drink. It isn't granting the idea of their strength. It's not saying, well, you know, strong people drink. That's not what it's saying. Does that make sense? Make sense? They think they're strong. Okay. So, in Isaiah 28, verse number 7. What's that? Yeah. Man, look at you. But they also have erred through wine and through strong drinks. are out of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. That's a major reason why, other than the fact that the Bible just speaks against it, he doesn't just tell us don't, he tells us kind of why not to, right? That it's going to air your judgment, it's going to cause you to have deficiencies. Romans 13, 13 says, let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Ephesians 5, 18, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. First Thessalonians 5 6 I know I'm just like throwing scripture out there. Okay, just just bear with me first Thessalonians 5 verses 6 through 8 Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. I For they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. Let us but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for and helmet the hope of salvation. So here's here's the ultimate example in the Bible of someone who is. who is dealing with this problem. Proverbs 23, beginning at verse number 29. Actually turn there because there's some things that you really want to see. Proverbs 23. Proverbs 23. Verse number 29. 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, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 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. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." quite an entrapment there. Well there's a solution there's a solution before we talk about like all the all the other stuff and the arguments and things there is a solution in first Corinthians six beginning at verse number nine it says. Know you not. That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor feminine nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortion or shall inherit the kingdom of God. Verse number eleven there of first Corinthians six says and such were some of you. But you are washed but you are sanctified but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God the solution to the problem of alcohol is salvation. And then living living what you are because the Bible says that if you are sanctified justified and all of that, you were. You were what you used to be. You're not presently. It's a matter of position, right? Now, if you're born again and you're living as you were, or living as you ought not, understand that the Bible declares you to be washed, to be sanctified, and to be justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Live as you are. You have the Spirit of God in you if you're born again. And you have the grace of God which empowers you to live as you are. To live as you ought to be, right? And so you don't have to be in bondage to that. And if you are, and you're struggling with it, and you need help, come see me. We'll talk about it. We'll see what we can do to try to help you with that. All right. So just just to kind of cover a few things here on this matter of of of wine in the Bible. The word wine, first of all, in the Bible, it's a generic term. Understand that wine does not always mean alcoholic or intoxicating beverage. So it depends upon the context, right? Sometimes it just means grape juice. It's wine is simply the fruit of the vine. The fruit of the vine can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, right? Y'all ever drink grape juice? Yeah. Well, we call it grape juice. But the Bible, that grape juice, it was called wine, all right? There's a generic way of using it. It doesn't use the word juice. It's the same word whether it's alcoholic or non-alcoholic. There's quite a few verses. I'm not going to go to all of them, but quite a few verses that just simply mean fresh grape juice or the fruit of the vine. In Deuteronomy, I'll go to a few of them, but I'm not going to go to all of them. In Deuteronomy 11, verse number 14, it says, Understand that when you're gathering it in, it's not alcoholic. It's fresh, right? You cannot pick a grape off of the vine and squeeze it into wine, into alcoholic wine. There's a process that goes with that. And it requires time and aging and things, right? So whenever the Bible talks about new wine or fresh wine or or wine coming from the harvest. That's not alcoholic. Does that make sense? Y'all with me here? Sorry, I've been doing a lot of talking. We're not doing a lot of interacting, right? So Second Chronicles chapter 31 and verse number five. Second Chronicles 31 five says and as soon as the commandment sorry came abroad. The children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey. And all the increase of the field and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. Understand here that this first fruits, again, it's fresh, right? We're not going to these passages to find application. We're going to these passages to point out the use of the term. Does that make sense? So wine here is used, again, fresh. It's not alcoholic. Nehemiah 13, 15, Says in those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath that's not good and bringing in sheaves and lading asses and or says as Also wine grapes and figs and all manner of burdens which they brought Into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold vittles Y'all know that's vittles, right? We often pronounce it victuals, but that's how you spell vittles. It's just a southern way of saying it, right? All right, so I understand, obviously, here in Nehemiah, they're breaking a different commandment. They're not dealing with alcoholic drink here. They're dealing with breaking the Sabbath. But again, this is fresh. Based on the context, we know that this wine is not alcoholic. Some more examples here. Proverbs 3.10, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. There you go. Understand that wine in the Bible typically y'all y'all know that they didn't have like Pepsi or coca-cola Right, they didn't have Mountain Dew they didn't have They didn't have root beer I don't think so. Not in Bible times. No, sir. Now, you might you might find me to be wrong on that. If you do, I'd like that information. But but no, they don't. They didn't. They didn't. Yeah. Somebody told me the other day that. that he had a dream that he saw an ocean filled with oranges. And he said he woke up and he realized that it was a fantasy. Sorry, my cousin told me that the other night. I thought it was funny. It takes a second for it to kick in there. You got to be a dad to understand it. What's that? Yeah, Hebrews. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So I don't I don't know for sure about that, but the the beverage like we drink. Well, I don't, but typically here in this world today, folks drink like. soda pop, whatever you call it, wherever you're from, right? Yeah, they drink various types of beverages today as celebratory things, right? Well, some people just drink it as an everyday thing, but typically it's like you break out the sweet drink, when you're celebrating right when you're having a having company over or whatever right that's typically the way that that used to be back back in the day now here in america we for whatever reason we drink whatever we want whenever we want however we want and whatever but back in the day you would break out the sweet beverage for company, right? Typically, you wouldn't drink milk every day. You wouldn't drink like we drink soda, right? Some of us. You wouldn't drink those kinds of things. Typically, they wouldn't drink wine every day juice, right? And so whenever that would be broken out it would be for celebration So understand that not every time that the word wine is used in relation to celebration. Is it? alcoholic wine because you may have company over for dinner and and hey we've got company over we're going to break out the wine glasses don't don't misunderstand and we're going to serve grape juice right like when we're having company over my wife goes out and she buys drinks that we don't usually drink We're usually drinking water or coffee, sometimes tea. We drink milk typically every day, some here and there. But like when we're having company, like she'll get, or when the kids are being extra, wanting something flavorful or whatever, we'll get apple juice or grape juice or cranberry juice or something like that, right? And the kids are like, we need to get these drinks, right? And my son, he's talking about how they've got these drinks in their refrigerator. He's like, What did he call it? Bevies? Like beverages? They speak about their like apple juice and grape juice and like different things, like he's got vitamin water and this and that because as he was growing up, This is my adult son lives on his own as he was growing up. He didn't have they didn't have like we just drank water of all most of the time you know if we if we had pop in the fridge it was it was an odd thing but anyhow so Bible days Wine, non-alcoholic, grape juice, was typically drank as like a celebratory or festive drink. Does that make sense? Y'all with me there? All right. So, so you'll have passages that talk about things like that. I think in Isaiah 16 10 here it says, and gladness is taken away and joy out of the plentiful field and the vineyards. There should be no singing. Neither shall there be shouting the traders shall I'm sorry the traders the treaders shall tread out the new or tread out no wine in their presses I've made their vent vintage shouting to cease Sorry, I've got it. It's like Italicized and so it's really really light print so that again when you're treading out wine out of the wine press and It's not alcoholic. You typically don't ferment the wine until after it's tread out, right? You don't, like, you've got examples where he talks about squeezing the grape right into the cup. That's not alcoholic wine. So Isaiah 65 8. Sorry, I'm going to try to move a little more quickly here because we've got about 19 minutes if we're going to be on time. Isaiah 65 8. Thus say the Lord as the new wine is found in the cluster and one say it destroy it not for a blessing is in it. So will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all again just pointing out here The new wine they recognized that that was a that was a celebratory drink or celebratory celebratory type beverage first Timothy chapter 5 verse number 23 this is where a lot of people say well, what about What about this? What about here where Paul says this? If we have time, we'll address it. But it says, drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Maybe we'll get there. So number two here. So that was number one. The word wine is in the Bible. It's used generically, right? Number two, the context will always show you. I'm not going to go through all of that, but that's I just wanted to show you point out the context is always going to show you whether you're talking about alcoholic or nonalcoholic wine in the Bible, right? So let me see here if we have. I'm just going to read what he's got here in the study. In such cases. So this is again, it's going to show you when it refers to alcoholic beverages. In such cases, God discusses the bad effects of it and warns against it. An example would be in Genesis 9. Noah's experience right after the flood. Verse 21 said he and he drank of the wine and was drunken. This clearly refers to alcoholic beverage. Right? Then, you know, Proverbs 20 verse number one tells us it's a mocker, right? Strong drink is raging who serve is deceived. Thereby, there's a warning, right? Alcoholic wine is deceptive. But how? Says here and. Yeah, I got to find my place, I lost it. I can see it. I just lost where I was at. Let's see. In the very way that people are advocating today by saying that drinking a little bit will not hurt. This is this is what people say right drinking a little bit will not hurt just just a little Socially right or just here and there everyone admits that drinking too much is bad Even people who drink too much they typically yeah, I know it's bad. I shouldn't do that Right even the liquor companies tell us not to drink and drive but they insist that a small amount is alright, however, I That's the very thing that is deceptive. Who knows how little to drink? Let me ask you this question, something my preacher used to ask me, or not ask me, he would, you know, ask all of us. He'd say, how much of a toxin do you have to put in your body in order to be intoxicated? I mean, Just a drink, yeah. Experts tell us that each person is different. It takes, now this is not in relation to the question, intoxicant, you know, but this is related to the question, who knows how little to drink? It takes an ounce to affect some people, while more is necessary for others. Also depends on whether you've eaten or not, how heavy you are, all of those kinds of things. Tolerances all of those the same person will react to alcohol Differently depending on the amount of that's what I just was saying amount of food. He's had among other things so the idea that a little bit won't hurt is deceptive and And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Just as Proverbs 23 verses 30 and 31 there refers to alcoholic wine because it tells us in the previous verse that those who drink it have woe, sorrow, contention, babblings, wounds without cause, and redness of eyes. That's quite a graphic description of those who tarry long at alcoholism. Right versus 32 to 35 continue the same description context, then it's going to make it very clear. So what about. The Bible tells us in many places to avoid. Or rather to warns us against the drinking of alcoholic wine. There's a whole bunch that we could go over on this, and I mentioned it already a lot of it. OK, so if you want, if you want to look at the notes later, you can look at those and get a lot more of those passages on, you know, those things now. Number four so that was number three was scripture warns against drinking alcoholic wine number four The making of alcoholic beverage is not a strictly natural process It can happen naturally, but typically it's not it doesn't typically happen. Okay, so I'm gonna read what he has here some people have argued this as well, but you realize that like there's there's like a whole profession of centered around making grape juice or the fruit of the vine alcoholic. There's a science behind it. It requires a lot of manipulation. I'm going to read what he wrote just so that you kind of have the from the study perspective. Says years ago. I took for granted that if you took the grape or took the juice of a grape and let it alone Not refrigerating it it would automatically in time turn into alcoholic wine There are several reasons why this is not true. It takes more than time to make wine Now, of course, we're not talking about or that's all the same process. I mean, it's a similar process, but it's not always the fruit of the vine, right? There's different underlying substances that make those drinks. We're not talking about beer and things like, those are other underlying substances. Now, the same concept applies because we're talking about alcoholic beverage. But sometimes people try to defend its use by saying that, now, hear this, sometimes people try to defend its use by saying that it must be good because God made it. Have you all heard that about anything else in recent days? People say that about other stuff too. Things that they smoke. But the fact is, God did not make it. And by the way, just because God makes something does not mean that you should put it in your body. Right. I mean, even even if we're talking about, you know, vegetation, just because God makes just because God put plants on the earth, it does not mean that you should eat them or smoke them. Right? I mean, people try to say, again, God made it. By the way, people say God made dirt, dirt don't hurt. It sure can. It sure can. Right. That's the thing. I mean, what about, you know, you can. So you. It's OK to. How about how about we do this? If God made it and it's and it's OK, you want to smoke marijuana. Why not? Why not instead go gather poison ivy and use the same process and smoke it? Why not? God made it. See what I mean? That's the point. Because the fact is not everything God made is fit for human consumption. There you go. He says here, man has learned how to make alcoholic liquors through process that he has invented. Winemakers know that one must have the correct amount of water, sugar, and temperature to make wine. Keeping grape juice in a refrigerator will prevent it from fermenting because the temperature is not right. Well, it's right to keep it from fermenting, but it's not right in order to make it ferment. Likewise, Hot tropical temperature would prevent fermentation. In ancient days, before we had refrigeration and vacuum sealing ability, people learned to preserve the juice of the grape without turning it into alcoholic wine. Many people boiled it down into a thick syrup, and then by doing so, they could preserve it for long periods of time. When they got ready to drink it, they would simply add water to the consistency desired in much the same way that we have taken frozen concentrates to add water, right? And add water. So that always reminds me of when I was a kid back in the 1900s, we would take these little cans that you'd get at the store, they'd be in the freezer, and you'd get it out, and you'd take the seal off and pop the little metal top off, and you'd drop it down in a pitcher, and then you fill it with water and mix it until that, sometimes you'd try to make a slushie out of it, but you'd mix it, and then when it would thaw out, it would make, you'd have grape juice, right? Or whatever juice they made out of it, right? They do all kinds of, what's that? They still sell those? Wow. Man, they've been going with that since back in the 1900s. It's maybe longer, I don't know, but in Bible days, Some of y'all don't know about the 1900s, but most of you do. In Bible days, contrary to what many believe, it was not necessary for everyone to drink alcoholic wine as a table beverage. Again, as we talked about already, he says, I recommend the book entitled Bible Wines and the Laws of Fermentation by William Patton Challenge Press. Now, I don't necessarily recommend, I haven't read that, but that's what the study recommended. More than a hundred years ago, of course, this was written in the 1900s, so we're talking 1800s here. This preacher I think it was Bruce Lackey, was the only one, oh, I'm sorry, no, he's referring to another preacher, the only one in his town who believed in total abstinence. He saw that it was necessary to make an extensive study to see what scripture taught. This book is the result of that labor and is the very best thing I've read on the subject. And then editor's note, I got this, by the way, this study came from, it's a study by Bruce Lackey and it came out of the Baptist Encyclopedia, I believe is what it was called. You don't know. David Cloud did this thick book about like this. It's Brown. Is it the Baptist? Way of Life Bible Encyclopedia. There you go. So that's where I got this. It's under W for wine. So there's a bunch of resources out there on different topics. But he says, editor's note, one point of Patton's book is that the making of alcoholic wine requires input from man. It requires the addition of certain additives. Though it might be something as simple as sugar and the control of temperature, the natural process alone will produce fermentation under certain conditions. but these natural processes, if unaided by man, rapidly move to a vinegar state. The alcoholic beverage industry is very much a man-made thing. Natural processes are perverted by man. Now, he says we come to the longest point of this entire study, but one which is the most, or which is very important, chiefly because many insist that Jesus made and drank alcoholic wine. So I'm just gonna give you the main points and I'll give you the references you can look up because we've got about five minutes and this is probably the I mean this could be a separate Sunday school lesson, but I Don't want to drag this topic out for two weeks if we can help it By the way, if brother Travis is not out of the hospital by next week, you've got Sunday school for next week so So Jesus did not make or drink alcoholic wine. I'm gonna give you 10 proofs. Number one, it's because of his holy nature. His holy nature. In Hebrews 726, the Bible says that Jesus is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. No doubt the Savior, being God in the flesh, had an air of holiness about himself that could be seen by even the most casual observer. For instance, the profane soldiers who were sent to arrest him gave their reason for returning without him, that never a man spake like this man. We can go through a whole bunch of things here, but I'm going to give you a couple of little examples here. So. The words of Jesus were different. He no doubt had a very holy appearance, character and speech. Why is this so important? Let's consider this illustration. The word cider. Now. We typically use that word to refer to just apple cider. Like now, now they've clarified it. You have cider and then you have hard cider. Whereas 30 years ago, cider could mean either or. Okay. So in his illustration here, he says the word cider may mean an alcoholic beverage or just plain apple juice. Well, spiced apple juice, you know, Suppose we live during the 1920s prohibition days. And. Anybody remember those days. I'm just kidding. Pastor G does. and were approached by two people offering us a drink of cider. One of the persons we knew to be one of the holiest men in town, faithful to the house of God, separated from the world, diligent in prayers, always witnessing to others. And the other was a known liquor dealer. If each one offered us a drink of his very own cider, we would assume some things right we would assume assume something right you'd assume that the holy persons was no more than just apple juice you know fall spiced apple juice but there would be no doubt about our opinion regarding the liquor dealer cider obviously the character of a person influences what that one does. So since Jesus. Our Lord was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from centers, we can safely assume that he would not make. That which. is called in scripture a mocker and deceiver of men using or causing untold misery. So that's the first reason now some some may argue that but we're just we're building OK we're building on this. The second reason he would not contradict scripture right. In Matthew 5, he made this clear saying, Think not that I am come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass not one jar one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Therefore he would not contradict Habakkuk 2 15 which says woe unto him that give it his neighbor drink that put us by bottle to make us him drunken right we would he wouldn't have he would not have. Contradicted his own word. Makes sense. There's some other passages we could go to here but I'm going to leave it at that. I'm just giving you kind of the main point again. I'll I'll leave this out. You guys can look it over if you want to. I can send you a digital copy of it if you'd like as well. The third reason is that Leviticus 10 verses 11 I'm sorry verses 9 through 11 commands the priest of God do not drink wine nor strong drink. Context y'all we're talking about alcoholic wine there That there that you may put difference between holy and unholy between unclean and clean now Wasn't Jesus called a merciful and faithful high priest in Hebrews chapter 2 verse number 17 So a priest here wouldn't drink Alcoholic wine if he was to follow the Scripture. Do we believe Jesus sinned? No, certainly not. He didn't sin. Fourth reason is found in the passage which we have already considered. Proverbs 31 verses 4 and 5. Actually, we didn't consider it. I left it for this. Where it says it is not for kings. It's not for kings to drink wine or strong drink, right? Well, who is Jesus other than the King of Kings? It's not for kings to drink wine. Reason number five. Christ did not come to mock or deceive people. Contrary to your popular television show about Him. He did not come to mock or deceive people. He did not come to be one of the dudes. Right? He's God. And, of course, Proverbs 20 verse 1 there says that wine does both, mocks and deceives. Number six, he did not come to to send people to hell. Right, we've already looked at various passages that that tell us of that in in Isaiah 5 verses 11 through 14. It shows us that hell is enlarged because of alcoholic beverage. Christ did not come to send people to hell he came to save right. In in John 3 17 it says for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. Reason number seven. Christ did not come to cast a stumbling block before anyone. And we can go on and on about this. But understand that every. Every person who has fallen or dove headlong and fallen into alcoholism, as we would call it today, it started with one drink. He would not have introduced. Dozens or maybe hundreds of people at the marriage of Kena. To alcoholic beverage. So that they might so that some of them or many of them might become lifelong addicts to alcohol. He would not have thrown that stumbling block before anyone. Number 8, the 8th reason. John 2, the miracle of turning water into wine does not require that it be alcoholic. Right? Does not require that it be alcoholic. Now many insist that it was on the basis of verse 10 where the guy says every man at the beginning. Does set forth good wine and when men have well drunk then that which is worse but now has kept the good wine until now. They would say that in those days it was common to serve the best alcoholic wine at first, saving the worst until later when men's tastes had been dulled by much drinking. But the point is actually just the opposite. These people could definitely recognize that the wine which Jesus made was much better than that which they had been served at first. By the way, if they were drunk, Typically when somebody gets drunk their tastes are dulled How did they know it was better if they were drunk they weren't they were all drinking non-alcoholic wine What they would do is they would add water to it and dilute it as the time goes on because they're running out and people still want something to drink that has flavor other than water, right? And so they would just add water to the wine so that it would last longer. And that's why it would be less and less of a good flavor because it's more watered down. He says here, this could not have been possible if they were already well on their way to becoming intoxicated. In fact, neither the wine which they had at first nor that which Christ made was alcoholic. Neither one. Reason number nine. Let me give a side note here. It was not easy. To get drunk even really during that time. That's in fact you'll find in in Acts chapter 2 Remember what Peter said when he got up. He said these are not drunk as you suppose seeing that it is What the third hour or the night? I can't remember what time of the day, but it was early. He's like it's morning They would have had to have been drinking all night to be drunk in that by that time in the morning it usually would take hours for to get drunk like Wine today, you know, they've they've quote-unquote perfected the art so to speak of Making it alcoholic and so they've gotten to the point where it's what three or seven percent if it's not strong drink Alcohol whereas it was maybe maybe 1% Back then, obviously they weren't. They didn't have the ability to. Well, maybe they did, but they didn't. They didn't put it on the label, right? So. It was much less, but number nine here is in the same passage, so the Lord. Would not have gotten glory from drink from making drunk people drunker. You don't get godly glory from that verse number 11 is most important when it states by this miracle Jesus manifested forth his glory. You don't manifest forth your glory by doing something that's contrary to the Word of God. He manifested forth his glory because he showed that he was not bound by what everyone else is bound by. Right. He that he manifests his glory because he is a miracle worker. Right. And so then it wasn't just that, but you'll find that. Let me see here. I don't want to get ahead of myself. It indicates verse 10 indicates that the people had drunk quite a bit of whatever kind of wine they were drinking. If it had been alcoholic, they would have been intoxicated and or nearly so. And by the way, wedding feasts usually weren't just like dinner. It was typically an all day thing. Had Christ made alcoholic wine, he would have made drunk people drunker or almost drunk people completely drunk. Such a deed would certainly not have manifested any glory to him. And then. Number 10 making drunk drunk people drunker would not have caused his disciples to believe more strongly on him. Right in verse number eleven again as a result of what he had what he did in turning the water into wine his disciples believed on him John one forty one shows that they had already believed on him as the as Messiah. This was a deepening of their faith and a proof that they had not been wrong with making drunk people drunk or inspire such faith. I would say only in only in the twisted mind of an alcoholic. But not in reality. In fact, the opposite would like would be likely. And so. Real quick here, I know we're we're. Nine minutes overtime, sorry. But we're going to go further. What would so what about First Timothy 523? Drink no longer wine, but use a little I'm sorry water But use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and then often infirmities says many insist that here the Bible gives the privilege if not a command of using alcoholic wine as medicine However, this cannot possibly be referring to alcoholic wine because he specifically says That it is to be taken for Timothy's stomach We'll go on here. He obviously had some kind of stomach disease and any doctor will tell you that such a person must abstain from alcoholic beverage. This author. has had much stomach trouble through the years and has consulted various doctors observing various dietary restrictions in every case they warn against drinking any alcoholic beverage whatsoever. If we know if we if we know that today surely the Holy Spirit of God knew knew that when he inspired this verse. We do not know what Timothy's specific infirmities were, nor do we know what kind of healing properties there were in grape juice. Maybe Paul was saying that Timothy should not drink the water, since in many parts of the world, it was not pure, right? And this would cause a healthy person to have trouble from amoebas and things like that, right? One who already had stomach problems would only multiply them by drinking impure water. So Paul might have been recommending that he just drink grape juice only instead of water. In any case, we can be positive that he was not telling him to put alcohol in a bad stomach. Make sense? The next, the last question here is, is it acceptable for a Christian to drink moderately? There's a whole lot here to the answer, but the answer is no. No. I'll just give you that there's there's like seven points, OK? I'll just give you the points and then you can look up the verses if you want to look them up on this. So. Even slight drinking impairs one's thinking. and lowers alertness to spiritual danger. Number two, no Christians, no, Christians are not to be controlled by liquor, right? Not be put under the power of any, right? Number three, Christians are priests, right? The Bible forbids priests to drink. Number four, Christians are not to touch the unclean thing. Saint Corinthians six number five Christians are to abstain from every form or all appearance of evil number six Christians who drink cause others to stumble Right. This is something that I would usually spend a little more time on. But if you are seen drinking by someone who drinks, who struggles with it, you would be an excuse. You, Christian, would be an excuse for them to go ahead and do it because they saw you doing it. By the way, that goes for a lot of things that you shouldn't be doing. If someone else sees you doing it, they think, oh, well, they do it. I can. Right. That's right. Number seven, wine is a mocker and deceiver. You don't want that. Amen? Alright, we're going to end it with that.