fullness today and all of our fellowship and all of our study and meditation upon thy holy word. Lord, we do pray you lift us up today. We pray we'll lift up our hearts to you, God. Lord, let us indeed be found your friends when you come, Lord. We need you, Lord. We want to be ready in the name of Jesus. Amen. If you look in verse 17 of chapter 5, we see a text that we have been studying here for a while. And we're going to move on today to verse 18. But I don't want you to forget where we've been. It says in verse 17, Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. That's a command, be not unwise. So there is a certain responsibility we have to be wise. Understanding is a choice. Now, it's true you have to know where to get understanding. You have the philosophies of this world. You have Hollywood. You have the media. You have all of these various things out here. But we need to know that the Word of God, the Word of God has been preserved by the Lord. That is our standard. It says in Psalms 119, Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord. Give me understanding according to what? Thy Word. There it is. So you need to seek it. You need to ask for it. And you need to know where to go to get your answer. But the biggest problem we have today, self-deception. Hearers of the Word, but not doers. The biggest problem we have today is not so much you need to know, because I'm talking to Christians now. I'm talking to fundamental Christians right now. Our biggest problem is not knowing where to go. Our biggest problem is being willing to hear what the Word says. Whatever subject matter it is, proving all things, understanding what the will of the Lord is. Is that just in one subject? That's in every subject. That's in every area of your life. As we acknowledge Him, as it says in the Proverbs, as we acknowledge Him in all things, So the biggest problem then is being willing to understand. We see this in James chapter 2. It says, "...but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" Talking to a Christian in regard to the judgment seat of Christ, you need more than faith for the Lord to say, well done, at the judgment seat of Christ. For the Lord to say, well done unto you, you have to have faith that the Lord is coming. You have to have faith in His promises. You have to have faith in His warnings. You have to have faith in the Word. But you also need to add work. You need to do what He said. But there's a big problem. Will thou know? Will you hear? Will you search every area of your life and open up the Word of God? Hear from the preacher, hear from the members that are filled with the Spirit and test these things by the Word of God and apply what you hear. Proverbs 8 says, you fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Again, we have a what? We have a command. You are commanded to understand. You cannot simply just shrug your shoulders and say at the judgment seat, well, I didn't understand. The Lord said, understanding. That was a commandment. Now, what follows is a contrast. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. The Holy Ghost gives you the way of the drunkard who is filled with wine. That's on one side. Then we see the opposite side of this, which is not being filled with alcohol and wine, or alcohol and some other substance. You're not being filled with foolishness. You're being filled with the Spirit of God. So, He gives you the ultimate example of not being filled with the Spirit, and that's being filled with alcohol. That's on one side. Then on the other side, we have everything associated with being filled with the Spirit. So we learn something already from this. We learn that whatever a drunk man is like, it is the opposite of what God wills for the saints. We'll examine later, God willing, as we go through some of this. But I'll show you right now, we can miss the Kingdom of God for drunkenness. It says in Galatians 5, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, so don't get upset if you hear these things quite often. That's biblical. He says, I've already told you, but I'm going to tell you again. that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Now, what's interesting here, Paul in Ephesians discusses being drunk with alcohol because he mentions the word wine. But according to the Word of God, you can be drunk with other things other than wine. And if you'll notice in our verse in Ephesians, it says, in being murdered, drunkenness doesn't say anything about alcohol. There's drunkenness with alcohol, but there's a lot of other dope. There's a lot of other drugs. There's a lot of other things you can be drunken with that will do the same thing to your mind or to your brain that alcohol does. There's marijuana. There's a whole lot of legal things that some quack doctor will give you. Psychobabble has invaded our churches and people are walking around on drugs worse than alcohol. They're not even home. And the pastor sent them to some quack to put them on the dope. Paul said you can miss the kingdom for drunkenness, and he did not specify what you're drunk of, friend. You say, well, show me in the Bible you can get drunk off of something besides alcohol. You can get drunk off marijuana. You can get drunk off of a lot of things. In fact, Paul just says, in such light, because there's things that are like drunkenness. It might not be drunken, but it still messes up your mind in the same way. So he says, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like. Messing up your brain in any way. People said, oh, well, I'm not drunk. I'm just high on speed. You're still drunk. Such light. See, he covers it. So all you need is get high on some speed somewhere. I don't care if it's legal or not. Then you get all paranoid. Let me show you something. I wouldn't gamble on any of it. I wouldn't gamble on any of it. In Lamentations chapter 3, it says, He hath made me drunken with wormwood. Do you see that? Wormwood. Whatever kind of wormwood they had in Israel, Palestine at that time, would intoxicate a person. The Lord Jesus, in all of his pain and agony, when they gave him that intoxicating substance to try to, I guess, be a painkiller to him or whatever it is, just knock his mind out, he refused it. So I believe that if the Lord Jesus refused wormwood or whatever gall it was, whatever intoxicating substance it was, when He was suffering in agony on the cross, what is the excuse that people use for having to get stoned in this generation? What is the excuse that people have that you need to get drunk, you need to mess your brain up? I wonder what your excuse is. Drunkenness, you'll miss the Kingdom of God. That's exactly what he says right here. And the Bible says anything like drunkenness, you miss the Kingdom. And the Lord doesn't matter if you're drunk on wine, or drunk on wormwood, or stoned on pot, or whatever it is, you're going to miss the Kingdom of God. They say Vincent van Gogh was high on wormwood. And he chopped his own ear off and mailed it to somebody. You say, well, why would he do something so stupid? Because he was high. He was drunk, intoxicated on drugs. They used to get high on cocaine, drunk on cocaine. They'd give it to their children and they'd sit around and drink their soda pop and get stoned on cocaine. It was normal. It was legal. Doesn't make it right. I don't care what they tell you out here. They change every day. One year it's legal, one year it's not. You can't use that as your barometer to decide if something is proper to give to your children or to your own self. The point is, though, any drunkenness of any kind and such like, all the things that are like drunkenness, can cause you to miss the kingdom. But you know what? It's interesting here. We are only given one. main description of what a person who is drunk is like. One word, it says, be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. There it is. Now, it does not say that he is filled with wine to excess. It doesn't say that. It says, when you are drunk, it is excess. The life of excess is opposite to the life filled with the Spirit. A drunkard's life is characterized by this word excess, and Paul just leaves it there. He says, don't be drunk with wine, because that is excess. And the Bible is filled with examples to show us what excess looks like in the life of a drunkard. But what does a life filled with the Spirit look like? It's going to be the opposite of excess. So the life filled with the Spirit does not harden itself to God's will. It proves all things. It seeks God's light. And instead of avoiding God's light and murmuring about God's light, the filling of the Spirit leads to this opposite life. You've got excess on one side, and then you've got the opposite of excess on the other side. You can get excess in your life by drunkenness, but that's not the only way to have excess. Drunkenness is a sure quick way to get it. But you can have excess without being drunk. I want to show you what being filled with excess is like. The reason he just left it general, getting drunk, being filled with wine, is excess. He left it all there because He's already showed you what excess is like in detail. Look up here in verse 3. Fornication? You get drunk, you end up in fornication. Uncleanness? All uncleanness. Covetousness? Let it not be once named among you as becoming saints. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking. What do you do when you get drunk? Foolish talking. Nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving a thanks. Notice this Thanksgiving. That's the opposite life of a drunkard. For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. That means they're going to miss the thousand-year kingdom that is to come. You can have fornication and uncleanness and covetousness and filthiness and foolish talking and jesting. You can have all of that without getting drunk. And you're still in sin. But the quickest way to talk stupid, the quickest way to mess up your vow, the quickest way to be filled with covetousness is to get drunk. But what is the contrast? Excess on one side, being spirit filled on the other side. There's a lot of people that say I'm spirit filled and they're filled with excess. You got the wrong spirit. When you're spirit filled, it will be the opposite of a drunkard. You're going to be careful. Spirit filled isn't talking about being filled with the spirit. Being spirit filled. is obeying the Spirit of God as He dwells inside of you, and you do not grief Him. Let me show you what the Spirit-filled life is like. In contrast to the life of a drunkard, look at verse 9. The fruit of the Spirit. Well, if you can be filled with the Spirit, then you get the fruit of the Spirit. What is the fruit of the Spirit? It is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Does that sound like a drunkard? Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Does that sound like a drunkard? Be not drunk with wine. Can a drunkard prove anything? Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And here's what it's like being filled with the Spirit. You saw what it's like being filled with wine. Now let me show you what it's like being filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. I'm going to tell you, a drunk person can't make melody. If you listen to a drunk person's song, they just repeat the same thing over and over and over. There's no melody to it. And even if they can kind of get close to a melody, it's certainly not to the Lord, is it? It's certainly not a spiritual song. It's a fleshly song. The first thing the Bible says when you're characterized, the first quality of being filled with the Spirit, the first characteristic of being filled with the Spirit is joy. Joy expressed. in a rational, reasonable way. You know why you're happy. You've got spiritual songs. You're praising God and giving thanks. Isn't that what He said up here? Not foolish jesting in such light, but giving of thanks. A life of thanksgiving is the life that is the characteristic of being filled with the Spirit. When you're filled with the Spirit, you're not in the flesh. When you're filled with the Spirit, you're happy. You're joyous. You're singing about God. But that's not all. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks. That's the Spirit-filled life. Oh, but wait a second. That's not all. There's a lot of people that can fake that. Wives. Verse 21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. The fear of God characterizes the life of the Spirit-filled Christian. Do you see that? If you don't fear God, you've got the wrong spirit or you don't have enough of him. But when you get filled with God's spirit, he manifests himself by fear. Holy fear. And not so you get in a corner and hide, but you start looking at your life and you what does God expect from me as a husband? What does God respect from you as a wife? What does God respect from you as a child? When you get Spirit-filled, you get this joy of the Lord, you get this gratitude in your heart, and you get holy fear because you want to please Him, because you don't want to hurt Him, because you don't want to be hurt by Him. You want to get right, and you begin to look at your wives. Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Do you know what? Drunk people do none of these things properly. Drunk people do not love their wives. Drunk people do not submit to their husbands. Drunk children do not obey their parents. They cuss their parents. Do you see it? Do you see filling of the Spirit leads to joy in the Lord, the fear of the Lord, and an ordered, decent, well-regulated, well-disciplined life? That is the life that is filled with the Spirit of God. So, when you don't grieve the Holy Ghost, when you don't grieve Him away by walking in the flesh, You will have a life that is the opposite of a drunkard. We need to know this today because there's some false teaching out there that would almost turn you into a drunkard and call it being spirit filled. Isn't it? It's no wonder it ends up with fornication. What is this thing called excess that characterizes the life of a drunkard that ends up with jesting and fornication and foolish talking and filthiness and all of this mess? What is this thing called excess? Well, everybody knows in English an excess of something is something that is out of bounds, right? It's out of order. It's beyond limits. Okay. Then look at this life without the Spirit of God. When you're not filled with the Spirit of God, you're out of bounds. You're out of order, man. You are outside the proper limits. Now, this is interesting. If excess characterizes the life of somebody that's in the flesh, if excess characterizes a drunkard, If excess is the characteristic of somebody not filled with the Spirit of God, what are the words that characterize somebody that is filled with the Spirit of God? Notice, same type of thing. Temperance and moderation. Do you see this? Excess is the life of the fleshly person. Moderation is the life of the Spirit-filled person. Temperance. Moderation. Notice Paul in Acts 24. He reasoned. Oh, well, that spirit filled right there. He reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. There's the fear of the Lord. And Felix did what? Tremble. Notice that word temperance. Isn't that something? Did he say he reasoned of excess? No, he reasoned of temperance, the opposite of excess. Temperance means well regulated. Not excess, within proper bounds. Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. We see that in Ephesians, because what are they doing? They're singing. Joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness. What's meekness? You being tender enough toward God to obey Him. Not being hardened toward God's Word. Meekness. And what do we see here? Temperance. Temperance is the fruit of the Spirit. What's the fruit of wine? Excess. Temperance, fruit of the Spirit. Excess, the fruit of wine. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in how many things? All things. If you're an athlete and you're striving for that earthly crown, if you're wise, you're going to be temperate in all things. Well, if you're a Christian striving for a better crown, how much more are you going to make sure that you're not out of bounds with your food? That you're not out of bounds with any substance that leads to addiction? That you're not out of bounds in any area of your life, your speech, your emotions, your time. All of these things are going to be well regulated, temperate in all things. Not excess in everything. Is an athlete excessive in everything? Oh, my diet's out of control, man. I'm trying to win the Olympics, but my diet's out of control. My house is out of control. My spiritual life is out of control. Everything is out of control. Well, you're not going to win. That's one thing for sure. Notice Titus chapter 2. That the aged men be sober. Sober is what? The opposite of being drunk. Just like temperance, the opposite of being excess, excessive. Sober is the opposite of being drunk. That the aged men be sober, grave. That's the opposite of being drunk, isn't it? Sober, grave. And then what does drunkenness lead to? Excess. Well, what does sobriety and gravity lead to? Temperance. So, did the aged man be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith and charity and patience? Is a drunkard patient? No. Look at Philippians 4. Let your what? Moderation. That's another word like temperate that is opposite of excess. Let your moderation be known, made known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. The Lord God is saying, Jesus is coming. You better control yourself. Jesus is coming. You better be well disciplined in every area of your life because He's going to inspect every area of your life. He's like the general coming into the barracks. He's coming in to check everything. Your clothes, how you stand, how you look, how you talk, how you obey your superiors. Everything. So the Bible says, let everybody know about it. Let them see it. As He says in the Sermon on the Mount, let your light shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify God. You're not to do your alms before people. Sound the trumpet so everybody can see. But friend, there is a public life, a well-disciplined, well-ordered life that is a witness to everybody around you. You're to let your moderation be known unto all men. Does it say, let your excess be made known? Let everybody know that when it comes to food, you are in a mess. Let everybody know when it comes to dress, you are in a mess. When it comes to how you handle your emotion, are you to walk around and say, well, I never control my words. I just say whatever I feel like saying. Is that how you are to be? No! These two words, temperance and moderation, are the opposite, the contrast to this word excess. A drunkard is characterized by excessiveness, and a Spirit-filled Christian is characterized by temperance and moderation. What do these things mean? Let me first of all say that by temperance and moderation, God does not mean that you are to quench the Spirit. The Bible likens the Spirit to a fire. So when somebody looks at the word moderate and temperate and they conclude, well, I'm supposed to make sure I'm not a fired up Christian. No, no, you missed it. The Bible says quench not the spirit. Don't you quench it. You know what? The Bible speaks of a fervent prayer of a righteous man availing much with God and fervency means boiling. So you are to pray red hot. You're to be on fire for God. So whatever moderate and temperate means, they do not mean to be lackadaisical. Being moderate does not mean being a lukewarm Christian. Some people say, well, I like to not be excessive. Well, I'm glad. But what do you mean by that? What do you mean by that? Moderation and temperance do not mean that you have no trembling. They do not mean that you drag your feet. In fact, the casual Christians, The casual people are put on the shelf by God over and over again. You look at Gideon, look at the book of Judges, look how the casual people got down and got comfortable. God put them on a shelf, God sent them back home. The quickest way to get put on a shelf by God is to be casual with him. You better pray fervently. You better live fervently. You better get that feeling of the Spirit. He's already shown us that the Spirit filled life is a circumspect life. That you walk circumspectly, looking all around, careful. It's a life of watching and caring whether whatever we do is pleasing to God. It's the opposite of the proud Laodicean who has no trembling. He assumes that he's already right with God in every area. He's proud and he's so self-confident that everything he does is right with God. No trembling. Now, if temperance and moderation do not mean being lukewarm and dull, what do they mean? They mean the opposite of excess. But hold on, there are some things you need to have some excess in. Those virgins in the Bible took no extra oil. They could have used some excessive oil. And you might not be as holy as you think you are. It's not going to hurt you to get some extra holiness. Because you might get to the judgment seat of Christ and you might find out God judges on a different standard than you judge. And you thought you were doing pretty good. But in reality, you are lacking. So being excessive does not mean that you just make sure you're not too holy. That's ridiculous. Just like being temperate and moderate doesn't mean just settle down as a Christian and make sure that you If you're going to pray, just don't pray too hard. If you're going to study, just don't study too much like these liberals were telling us last week. If a life of excess means that a person is out of bounds in areas where he should not be out of bounds, then his life is not well-ordered. It's a life of wasting time instead of redeeming it. It's a life of wasting money instead of using it for God's glory. It's a life of wasting opportunities. It's a life of wasting everything. But a temperate man, a moderate man, is a well-ordered man. It's a well-ordered, well-disciplined person. It's the opposite of the prodigal. Look at Luke 15. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all, took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with what? Riotous living. This is the opposite of the well-ordered life. This is the opposite of the temperate, moderate life. This is the life of excess. The prodigal lived a life of excess. In fact, the word riot actually means excess. It says he wasted his substance with riotous living. Notice, notice what the word riot means. excess in feasting, drinking or other sensual indulgences. He was partying is what we call it today on the street. So the prodigal went down, wasted his money, wasted his time, wasted his health, wasted his energy, wasted his mind, wasted everything his father had given him. You know what the prodigal was living the life of? A drunkard. When you are living the life of a drunkard, everything is out of bounds. out of order, undisciplined. I hope you see now that the Spirit-filled life, to the degree that you have the Spirit, will be the degree that you have discipline. And if there's some areas of your life that are disciplined and other areas are not disciplined, well, you're lacking the Spirit in those areas. You don't have the filling of the Spirit. You have some of the Spirit, but you need more of the Spirit. Some of you might have the spirit in a lot of areas of your life, but you're missing them in some areas and you need to be filled with the spirit. Let me show you that the spirit filled man is a man of order. First Corinthians 14, verse 30. If anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let him first hold his peace." Now, that's quite a verse, isn't it? You're in church and somebody says, well, I have the Spirit. I'm going to get up and just run my mouth. We're having our Bible study and one man stands up and starts talking when it's another man's turn. He says, well, I'm filled with the Spirit. I've got to say what I have to say. Well, that's not God's Spirit. I don't know what spirit you're of, but it's not God's spirit. Because the Bible says when you have the spirit of God, you can hold your peace. When holding your peace is orderly. I don't mean like Jeremiah, where you hide your light and then the spirit was burning inside of him and he had to go speak. He was being irresponsible, see. But even when God calls you to go speak, he's going to call you to do it in a well-ordered way. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, saith the Word of God." Why does he say that? Because if you fall down and your eyes are rolling in the back of your head, and all of a sudden something's got a hold of you and you don't know what you said, what you're doing, or you say, well, I'm sorry, something just took over. Well, that wasn't God's Spirit. It says the spirits of the prophets That's back when they had prophets. They're subject to the prophet. That means nothing made that prophet do anything. That prophet was total in control of his faculty, in control of his mind, in control of his speech. Why? For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. Don't say that's just in the Corinthian church. That's in all the churches of the saints. If you've got the Spirit of God, you've got order. And if you've got confusion, you might have feeling of the spirit, but it's not God's Holy Spirit. There's a lot of spirits in the world. They call alcohol spirits. Let all things, how many things? All things be done what? So if it's not decent, it ain't God's spirit. Some of those things that were happening in some of those churches that are unmentionable from the pulpit, and they call that the Spirit of God. If it's indecent, it isn't God's Spirit. Let all things be done decently and in order. If it's out of order, that's excess. That's not temperance. That's not moderation. That's not the decent, well-disciplined, well-regulated, Spirit-filled life. And as we see, it's not against being happy. It's not against being joyous. It's not against shouting. If you can shout in proper order, there might be a time for shouting. There is a time for shouting. There's a time for having a good time in the Lord. Let's go ahead and look at what the dictionary says excess means. We've already seen What the word means from the Word of God itself, but let's look and see what it means from Webster's. Excess means literally that which exceeds any measure or limit, or which exceeds something else, or a going beyond a just line or point. Hence, superfluity. Naughtiness leads to this superfluity in all of your life. in morals, any indulgence of appetite, passion, or exertion beyond the rules of God's Word, or beyond any rule of propriety, in temperance and gratification, and as excess in eating or drinking. So, excess means you're out of order in all of these areas of your life. You know, there's a proper way to tell people you're angry with them and they did something to hurt you. There's a proper order. There's a Spirit-filled way to do it, and there's a fleshly way to do it. There's a proper way to fellowship. There's a proper way to study and go to church. There's a proper way to do all of these things. God gives you some liberty, but there are some bounds for every area of your life. And to just say, I don't care about bounds. I'm just going to do whatever I want to do. You're a selfish, immature, carnal Christian. It's time to grow up. You're one of these Christians that say, well, I just say whatever I want to say. It's time for you to grow up. I don't know what other folks have been telling you, but I'm going to tell you it's time to grow up. It's time to get control of your mouth. It's time for all of us, every one of us, to become disciplined in these areas. What does temperance mean? According to the dictionary, moderation. Well, all right, we found that out. Sounds like it. Temperance, temperature, moderation, controlling, controlled. Moderation, particularly habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions. Restrained or moderate indulgence as temperance in eating and drinking. Temperance in eating and drinking is opposed to gluttony and drunkenness and in other indulgences to excess. What is moderation? Restraint of violent passions or indulgence of appetite. Eat and drink with moderation. Indulge with moderation in pleasures. Here's what we've got to learn, though. Somebody says, well, I smoke dope in moderation. Stop everything. Stop. People say, I drink alcohol in moderation. No, stop. Temperance and moderation have to do with things that are lawful. You should absolutely abstain from anything that is unlawful. Notice Proverbs 23. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself awry. That is when the grape juice becomes alcoholic. When the grape juice is fermented, the Bible says drink just a little bit of it then. Is that what it says? What does it say? Look not upon it. That's why over here in Ephesians 5, he's not saying drink alcohol, just make sure you don't drink it to excess. No, he's saying when you are drunk, it is excess. It means every area of your life is out of order. And that's the opposite of the Spirit-filled life. When God fills a person, the God who we see in Genesis created this world, the God who put every planet and star in its place, He's a God of order. But alcohol brings disorder and confusion. Unholy spirits bring confusion and disorder. But wait a second. If God's not the author of confusion, who is? The devil. Confusion means disorder. So God's Spirit's the author of orderliness. Satan is the author of disorderliness. When you get the Spirit of God, you get a disciplined life. When you get filled with the Spirit and you are on fire with God's Spirit, you begin to look every area of your life and you just have this desire, this burning desire to become well regulated in every area. Everything has to be right. And everybody's trying to settle you down. Everybody's trying to say, relax, relax. I say, no, I'm going to get this right and this right and this right. I want it. I have to get it right. It's the Spirit of God within you. But when you get that old flesh in you, When you get that worldly spirit in you, you like to just sit back, you know, and coast along like a hippie. Just let everything be. Just let everything be. Coast on to the judgment seat of Christ. That's foolishness. It's time to get moderate, temperate, fired up in every area of your life. Well regulated, disciplined. Quickly, I want to show you. With all of this background. some characteristics of drunkenness. And I want you to see how when you're filled with the Spirit, you're to be the opposite of these things. The point is to be filled with God's Spirit and avoid excess. Let me show you what happens to a drunkard. Proverbs 23, verse 35, When shall I awake? Do you know drunkenness puts you into a stupor? Do you know drunkenness causes you to sleep at the wrong times, in the wrong places? When shall I awake? Drunkenness shuts off your mind and puts you into a sleep. Is that what being filled with the Spirit does? When you're filled with the Spirit, your time is well regulated. You're not just sleeping all over the place at the wrong times in slothful ways. But a drunkard, he says, when shall I awake? He doesn't even know. Does he have a set time to awake? No, he doesn't even know because he's a drunkard. But if you're going to redeem the time, you know when you're going to awake. To the best of your ability, you're going to control these things. What about verse 21? For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rag. The drunkard's sleep becomes disordered. A drunkard is often lazy, but when you're filled with the Spirit, you redeem the time. You are not lazy. So this laziness that comes upon our churches, that's not Spirit-filled. That's not the filling of the Spirit. When you're lazy, that's not God's Spirit. What about Proverbs 26, verse 9? As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard. Now, when you feel a thorn and you're putting your hand down upon it, what are you supposed to do? You're to take your hand off because you felt pain. You felt a pinch and so you moved. But a drunkard can't feel anymore. So he keeps his hand there and he comes back later and realizes, Once he sobers up, he looks and he has this big thorn in his hand. He says, I didn't even feel it go in. Oh, now wait a second. Proverbs 23, 29, Who hath wounds without cause? They have beaten me. And I what? I felt it not. Drunkards and people who live like drunkards. They often have medical problems that they shouldn't have. Who hath wounds without a cause? You know what? There's no reason for you to be suffering with certain afflictions if you're spirit-filled. I'm not telling you that it's never God's will for you to die or God's will for you to have trials like Job had. He was afflicted with boils. I'm not telling you that. I am going to tell you this, though, that much of the wound Much of the pain and suffering that Christians experience, they're without cause. The drunkard has wounds because he went out here staggering and he fell down and hit his head. He shouldn't have fell down if he hadn't been drunk. If he would have been well-ordered and spirit-filled, he would not have fallen down and hit his head. A lot of Christians have problems, wounds, afflictions. Because you're just like a drunk. If you were spirit-filled and you were well-regulated and disciplined in these areas of your life, you wouldn't have these afflictions. You say, well, I'm not getting drunk. Well, don't live like a drunk person. Because a drunk person doesn't read anything. He doesn't study anything. He doesn't care about anything. He just says, give me the Doritos and Twinkies and I'm just going to go at it. That's what a drunk person does. But when you're Spirit-filled, when you're a Christian, you're not to live like that anymore. You know what? He says, they beat me and I felt it not. The thorn goes up in the hand of a drunkard because drunkenness makes you numb. One of the first characteristics of a marijuana smoker is it says it turns a man into an effeminate person. It goes in and gets rid of all of his testosterone, all of his drive. Alcohol does the same thing. You look it up. Alcohol and marijuana, the first thing they do to a man is get rid of every bit of drive he has to be responsible. And we know it numbs his brain. So what happens is you're feeling the effects, the responsibility of having to meet the Lord. You feel the eyes of all of your brethren. You feel the responsibility, the accountability. But all of a sudden, you get drunk. What happens? You don't feel it anymore. You feel no pressure. You feel no pain. But pain is given to you so you will go away from it and do what's right. There are a lot of thorns that you would not have to experience in life if you would simply be aware and allow God to show you that this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. But a drunkard turns his mind off. That's why men grow up. as fathers. And they forsake their children. And they live the life of a drunkard, forsaking their children. That's why God says when He comes, He's going to send a prophet to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. See, you ought to care about your children. But a man grows up into honky-tonks in these bars, and he doesn't feel it anymore. He says, I don't even feel it. I don't even feel the guilt. And when I do feel the guilt, I just take another joint or drink another beer. And then what happens is he grows up, living his life, neglecting his children, and God gives him a second chance with his grandchildren. But he sits there and just ignores his grandchildren. And every time he feels a little guilt about his grandchildren, he just gets high. And what does that do? He sits there and says, poor me, self-pity me, poor me, let me drink, poor me. It's all them country songs. That's just self-pity. It's self-pity. It's effeminate self-pity is what it is. And that alcohol is just covering up so you don't feel guilt anymore. But guilt can be a good thing. Guilt can lead you to do what's right. And let me tell you one thing. This is so important. There is no alcohol in hell. There's no marijuana in hell. Which means when you go to hell, you're going to feel all of the guilt, all of the remorse, all of those bad painful feelings. I should have done this. I should have done that. If you don't believe me, when that rich man went to hell, You see how he felt. Oh, my brothers. Oh, somebody go and just speak to my brother. Why don't you speak to your brethren while you're alive? See, there's no alcohol in hell, man. There's no pot in hell. You're going to feel it, every bit of it, in a way you've never, ever felt it. But guess what? It's too late. It's too late to do anything about it. All of the neglect to your children, all of the neglect to your husband or your wife, all of the neglect to your church, all of this neglect before God and His Word and the wonderful truths He gave you, all of that you're going to fill it. That's why it's called hell. Proverbs 23, verse 29, "...who hath babbling, thy heart shall utter perverse things." You know, it's not even your mouth. Your mouth's going to utter perverse things, but your heart starts uttering perverse things. You get inflamed with wine or some other drug, and what happens? Your heart starts telling you things that are just wicked and perverse and foolish, and you can't stop them, and pretty soon it's coming out of your mouth. You say the stupidest thing. So the Spirit-filled life is not a life of babbling, is it? If you're babbling, that's not God's Spirit. The Bible says, let every word that comes out of your mouth be to the edification of somebody. If it doesn't edify somebody, it's not of God's Spirit. What about verse 29? Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Having contentions all the time, is that the Spirit-filled life? No, that's the life of a drunkard. Boy, did you look at me? You elbowed me coming out of that thing, man. Don't be elbowing me, boy. Is that the life of a Spirit-filled person? No, that's the life of a drunkard. Always trying to pick something. Well, I'm just upset because so-and-so did this to me. You're living the life of a drunkard. Let's get Spirit-filled and have a little bit of grace and patience and maturity. But look at this, who has woe? Who has sorrow? What does drunkenness lead to? Depression. I tell you what, that old world I came from, that old rock and roll world, you look at all those people now, I look at some of them and I read where they're at today, and they're all, I just want to kill myself, I just hate life. If they're even alive, they hate life and want to die. You know it. Their songs are dark, everything. You have no joy. Because that's the life you chose. And some of them are Christians that chose this life. of this so-called Christian rock that leads to just depression. Does God want you to be filled with woe and sorrow, depression? He said the Spirit-filled life was the life with spiritual songs and psalms and thanksgiving and rejoicing. Drunkards are depressed people, though. They hate their life. Woe is me. Says the old country song. Woe is me. I went out and went to the honky-tonk and now my wife left me. Woe is me. Drink again. Why don't you get up, feminine sissy? Get up. Be a man. Get off the barstool. Quit acting like a fool. Waddling in your self-pity. 1 Peter 3, for he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil in his lips that they speak no guile. Can the drunkard refrain his tongue from evil? No, he utters perverse things, doesn't he? He babbles. But the Bible says if you want to love your life, control your mouth. Isn't that something? Much of your misery comes because you go around and make yourself miserable. You're a murmurer. The Bible says that they don't have God's Spirit. They're murmurers and complainers. They go around just murmuring, complaining to everybody. That's not the Spirit-filled life, folks. That's not the Spirit-filled life. Let's get up and be thankful. I'm thankful I'm alive today. I tell you what, you say, well, sometimes when I see people drunk, it looks like they're having a good time. Well, it does say in Psalm 69, I was the song of the drunkards. The drunkards love to jest and laugh and poke and sing their idiot songs. But guess what? Watch them a few hours later. Come back after 12. Come back at 1 and 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. Watch that depression sit in. Watch that misery sit in. Watch that awareness, I'm messing up my life. Watch it. See. The Lord says He has peace, He has joy, He has happiness that the world doesn't give. See. His is a spiritual joy. It has a basis. And you know the problem? Proverbs 23, verse 35, when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. They're addicted. They can't stop. Paul says he would not be brought under the power of anything. If you're under the power of something and it's controlling you and you have to have it, or you can't sit in church and listen to a sermon without sitting here shaking so you can go outside and get your substance, I'm telling you folks, It's time to get rid of it. It's time to get rid of it. That alcohol. You know what? This is the problem with any of these drugs that people take. They can't face responsibility. And you know what a young person is supposed to learn how to do? Face responsibility. Oh, but they're just so worried and they get so nervous and filled with anxiety. Well, I tell you what, giving them dope and dulling their sense of responsibility, how is that going to allow them to grow up and face pressure? It's a crutch. And the more you grab the crutch to make you feel better about life, the more that devil causes you to be dependent upon it. And now it's hard to face life without your crutch. You can't be happy in the morning without your speed. Oh, but one of the worst things is in verse 33, thine eyes shall behold strange women. Oh, when the conscience gets blunted, there's no guilt. There is no conscience. So now there's no control of your feet and you end up in places where you should not be. There's no control of your eyes. This is not the Spirit-filled life. The Spirit-filled life is a life of self-control and controlling where your feet go. Controlling what your eyes see. That's the Spirit-filled life. Controlling every member of your body. Controlling your emotion. Controlling what you're thinking. Casting down vain imaginations and every high thing that exalteth himself against the knowledge of God. Oh, I tell you, you don't have to be a drunkard to live this life of excess, where you go places you shouldn't go and see things you shouldn't see. But being a drunkard is the quickest way to end up without God's Spirit. Let me show you another thing a drunkard does. Verse 20 of Isaiah 24. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard. There's going to come a day when this old stationary earth is going to start moving. That's at the second coming of Christ. You say, you think the earth moves? It's going to move. What do drunkards do? They go back and forth. Do you go back and forth as a Christian? Are you dependable? Psalms 107, they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Isaiah 19, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. He has no control of his feet and he falls in places where he shouldn't be. That's what alcohol does to you. That's what any substance does to you that messes up your brain. You end up staggering because you lose control. But you need control of your feet to make sure your feet don't end up where you shouldn't be. But some Christians are like this. They're up. They're down. They're up. They're down. And that's not the life of the Spirit-filled Christian. This double-mindedness. Jude talks about these murmurers and complainers that have no stability. The Bible says in Genesis, when you separate, and that darkness is separated from the light, and those waters in the heavens are separated from the waters below, you have that separation. The next thing you have is fruit-bearing, and the dry land appears, and you have that rock-solid stability in your life, Christian. It's time to grow up and get stability so people can count on you. You need to get your feet planted on the rock. And you need to have this stability in your life. But the Bible talks about being tossed to and fro, wandering stars, easily blown about by all these different influences. You need to separate from wicked influences. And we need to get this stability where you're not back and forth, up and down. I don't know if you're going to be here next year. See, you need to get to a place where you can be counted on by your brothers and sisters. You can't count on a drunk. You can't count on him to walk from here to that door without falling. The Bible says they're unstable as water. That's the life of the flesh. Job 12 says they grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. We got to quit staggering. And you know there's something else about being drunk? You go away from the light. When you get alcohol and these substances, marijuana, all of these things inside your body, you don't want to go where there's light. When they see us downtown, they'll find somewhere else to go to keep from having to walk by us. And when they walk by us, they walk quick. I tell you, they want to get away from the light because they're in the night, the darkness of the night, and they want to get away from the light. And they get angry at you. They said, if I wanted church, I would go to church. But I'm down here to go to the bar and have a good time, and you're bringing church to me. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5, they that be drunken are drunken where? In the night, because drunk people like the night. And they end up in places where they shouldn't be in the nighttime. You can't walk straight. You're not careful. You end up like this fellow here in Proverbs 7, in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. Behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle of heart. What does it say about the drunkard in Proverbs 23? Your eyes shall behold what? Strange women. She is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house. And we might as well talk about that for a second. Drunkards end up immodest, naked. Now, I've got a question. If you're walking around naked, in any degree, you're not walking around like a spirit-filled person. You're walking around like a drunk person. But you don't have to be drunk to act like a drunk person. You just have to not think. You just don't be spirit filled. And you'll live just like a drunk person. That's why you see so many people in Baptist churches and say, well, you look like you just came from a bar. You look worse than what I used to see at the bar. You look worse. But you're not even drunk. But in a way, they are drunk. They're not spirit filled, so they might as well be drunk. You're drunk with this world. We've all been carnal at one time. You start out as an immature Christian and hopefully as quick as you can get with it, you start disciplining every area of your life. And here you are many, many, many years later, and you're finding out God still has some areas you need to get discipline in. You haven't proven all things yet. So get where you start liking it. Get where you start liking to grow. You want to know what does God have next for me? Notice how drunkenness leads to immodesty. So what is the Holy Ghost going to do? If excess means that you are excess in your clothing, you are out of bounds. Then if you are filled with the Spirit, it means you can't be naked. A spirit-filled person will not be naked. Habakkuk 2, Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and maketh him drunk also. You know, it's wrong to give any drugs or alcohol or any substance to your brother or your neighbor. You say, I didn't tell him to get drunk. Well, it didn't say that. It said, Woe unto him that gives it to him and makes him drunk also. That's the second thing. That thou mayest look on their nakedness. Well, what does being drunk have to do with nakedness? There's something about drunkenness. Physically, spiritually, emotionally. where people end up immodest. Lamentations 4, Thou shalt be drunken and shalt make thyself naked. If you are unclothed to any degree, you are drunk to some degree. And it may not be with wine, but you are not filled with God's Spirit. Look at Luke chapter 8. Then they went out to see what was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed. Okay, he doesn't have any devils anymore. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. Oh, he's in the right place, isn't he? He wants to come hear the Word of God. He wants to get as close to it as he can. And praise God, he has Jesus, God, in the flesh right there. I tell you what, that's good, isn't it? I tell you what, he's sitting at the feet of Jesus waiting to hear the Word of God. And what is he? He's clothed. Why? Because all the devils are out of him. And he's in his what? He's in his right mind. What's a spirit-filled life? A well-ordered life. It's a life of being clothed. A life of being in your right mind. A life of being in the right place. A life of proving all things. Is this acceptable to God? Is it not? A life of growing in the Lord. Oh, there's going to be some naked people at the judgment seat of Christ. Jesus said Laodicea is naked. They don't even know it. Lloyd-Jones back in 1973, his brother Orlando comes in prepared, sums it all up for us. Lloyd-Jones says, drink depresses first and foremost the highest centers of all in the brain. They are the very first to be influenced and affected by drink. They control everything that gives a man self-control. Wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgment, balance. Everything that makes a man behave at his very best and highest. A man who cannot control his feelings and moods and states and passions is obviously... I'm sorry, a man who can control his feelings, moods and states and passions is obviously a better man. There is nothing which should be more characteristic of a Christian than what? Orderliness. Oh, we've seen that today. It is not a wasteful life. It is opposite of the prodigal son. Drunkenness throws away chastity. Stuck in a hole and couldn't get out. I don't want anything to mess up. I love thinking now. I didn't always love thinking. I love thinking now. I love having my mind. I love being in a right mind. I love thinking about God. Thinking about what new thing the Lord wants to teach me. Thinking about just all the glories and wonders and all the things I have to be thankful for. What does God have to show me next? I love to think, God forbid, that I would be dull in my thinking. Oh, throwing away your chastity. People go off to college. They send these young girls to college. Young boys too. And the most precious thing they have other than God's grace They throw away. Throw it away. They say, I got drunk. Pathetic. Pitiful. There's healing with God. Praise God. But folks, let's learn to stay away from this wickedness. It's all dissipated. It's always destructive. Drunkenness will always lead to destruction in your life, the destruction of your marriage, the destruction of your church life, the destruction of your soul, the destruction of your body as your liver begins to rot. The great characteristic of the Spirit-filled Christian life is that it conserves. It builds up. It adds to what we have. Always learning something. Are we increasing? The Spirit-filled life is a happy life. Let's pray. Amen. Let's be glad. You see where we're at? We're in chapter 5, verse 18. I'm right on time because I'm going verse by verse. God had this for you today. As Brother Orlando plays, just as I am, you come right now. If you need to repent, you come on up here and talk to God. Oh, God is the God that wants you to come. He wants that prodigal to come back home. If you want to give God thanks, you come on up here if you want to pray for somebody. You can do it in your pew, but you can also come bend the knee for the Lord. O God, move them. Now is the time. O God's in the saving business. Of God I come, I come Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of water and blood to thee whose blood can clinch each spot, O Lamb of God I come, I come just as I am, though tossed about with many a con afflict many a doubt. Yea, all I need in Thee I find, O Lamb of God, I come. I come. Just as I am, Thou wilt receive Thank you, Lord. Dear God, we come to you. We pray right now, Lord, that anybody needs saving, In eternity, would right now believe any of these children, anybody listening to this sermon, would trust right now in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus? It's not of works that were saved. You've got to know that Jesus gives you His righteousness, His cleansing blood, and if you just simply accept it, if you just simply believe, He'll save you in all eternity. You turn from your works, trusting in your works, and trust only in Jesus. And every Christian, we need fellowship with God. We need the joy. We need all the blessings that come from God. And He says if you confess your sin, He's just and faithful to forgive. But you have to confess and you have to forsake your wickedness. You have to be sincere with God. And if you come to God and have sincere willingness to forsake your sin, to confess it in the fear of God, He'll give you His mercy. He gave it to David. He'll give it to you. Maybe there's an area in your life you need more discipline. Well, the Holy Spirit's the God of order, not the God of confusion. God's just waiting on you. He's waiting on you to draw nigh to Him in these areas. And I promise you, He will draw nigh to you and begin to clean you up. Oh, you just yield to God's Spirit. Dear God, let us have a good time today with one another. Thank you for those you brought in the precious house of God. In the name of Jesus, Amen.