Greetings to you, my friend! I’m Mack Lyon and the program’s a Bible study In Search of the Lord’s way to become and to be a Christian. Oh say! It is so good to have you with us. We pray we’ll both be blessed.
What a joy it is to welcome you to our Bible study program, In Search of the Lord's Way. You have been extremely gracious with your encouraging responses and your prayers. And I thank you. And the Lord’s way is the only way to be saved and His way is the best way to live this life that mankind has ever known.
Today’s message is about what God has to say about “The Evils of Strong Drink.” It’s a message that isn’t at all easy for me. You see, I have had some people very close to me, whose memories I cherish, who were users of strong drink. So, if you’re disposed to be a user of alcoholic beverages, I pray you are not thinking, “Oh me! Not another sermon about drinking. I’ll just turn this guy off.” Please don’t do that. Will you not? I’m not here to scold you. Oh, no, no, not that! I don’t have an alcohol problem personally, that’s true. Alcoholic beverages have never been a problem to me. But I’m not free of other problems. They just don’t happen to be with alcoholic beverages. To be perfectly honest and truthful with God, with myself, and with you, I study and pray and preach about them, too. I’m motivated to teach on this subject today by so many occurrences of evil reported in the media in which alcohol has been a problem, reported as a major factor in so many things; and by increased reports of its use by children and youth. You might not have noticed those; well, they are so common nowadays. I found myself asking, “Why doesn’t someone say something to warn people about the evils of alcoholic beverages?” Then, I had a second thought: “Well, you’re somebody, why don’t you say something?” So, here we are, you and I, and our Scripture text is Proverbs 23, verses 29 to 35.
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We are reading today from the 23rd chapter of the book of Proverbs and we are beginning with verse 29. “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?” And we have read through verse 35 and that is the end of the chapter. Let us go to God in prayer now. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You for the avenue of prayer, and we are thankful, too, that You have promised to help us through our difficult problems of life and living this life as near to You as is possible. We are thankful for Your teachings; and we pray Your presence with us now as we study these verses and others from Your Word that we may apply them to our lives as though they were spoken to us in audible tones. In the name of Jesus we pray; Amen!
First: let me define our problem. There may be more recent statistical information somewhere about the state of alcoholism in America, but the latest I have been able to find is from about three years ago. If there are more recent statistics than these, I’m sure they reveal no improvement at all, but worsened conditions. God says in His word, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 13 that evil gets worse and worse. And we have found it so. Resistance to evil requires vigorous and sacrificial effort. And since the “repeal of prohibition” in the early 1930’s drinking alcoholic beverages has become an “in” thing; well, just the thing to do. “Anybody who is anybody just does it,” and it is evidenced by the “Beers and Reconciliation Meeting” at the Nation’s White House earlier this year. There is simply no opposition to beverage alcohol today.
The information that I have is more than fifteen million Americans are alcohol-abusers or alcohol-dependent. (Now I’m sure, that if that many were to be without “health care insurance,” we would have heard about it. Sure we would have!) We’re also told that four million of them are women. One in every thirteen American adults abuse alcohol, or are alcoholic. Time was when “everybody smoked,” too. It was fashionable then. They smoked in restaurants, in airplanes and trains and buses; and they smoked on television and in the movies. They smoked everywhere. Well, some were so addicted to it they could hardly wait for the last “amen” to be said at church so they could “light up a smoke” on the church yard. Well, we have changed that a lot, haven’t we? Government, the health community, and even the tobacco industry joined their voices together in a loud chorus that smoking is detrimental to a person’s health. But we haven’t heard a word about the harmful effects of alcohol, not even from the pulpits of America! Has beverage alcohol become one of our “sacred cows?”
Please consider with me the effect that this apathy is having on our youth. One thousand, seven-hundred college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die every year from alcohol-related, unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes. Five hundred ninety-nine thousand college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured under the influence of alcohol. More than 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who had been drinking. More than 97,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault, or what we call date rape. More than 100,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 report that they were too intoxicated to know if they consented to having sex. About twenty-five percent, one-fourth of all of the students (one in every four of them) report academic consequences of their drinking, including missing class, falling behind in their grades, doing poorly on exams or papers and receiving lower grades overall. When these same students now finish their education and they enter into the professions, do you suppose they will be suffering from professional inefficiencies and inadequacies? When we go to visit one of them for professional services (medical or legal or some other) one out of four of them, mind you, will be inefficient because of alcohol. You know, if the government’s “Food and Drug Administration” found these things to be true in anything else; say, orange juice, or grape juice; well, they would at least have a warning on it before tomorrow evening at four o’clock! Wouldn’t they now?
My friend, alcohol as a beverage is no good. It isn’t. It’s always productive of evil; never, never, never any good. Alcohol has been the cause of much suffering for millions of people caught in its snare and well, even to their families with them. The first account that we have of its use as a beverage in all of human history is when Noah came with his family out of the ark and he planted his vineyards and drank until he was drunk. Under the influence, like other people who drink, he acted irrationally, and did things he never would have done otherwise. He exposed his nakedness to his family. That’s Genesis 9, verses 20 to 24. Read about it there.
My friend, the Lord has a better way for you and for me than that! Remember the passage that we read from awhile ago (Proverbs 23:29 to 35) begins by saying: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine…” “Oh,” but you say, “Mack, I don’t “linger long at the wine; I only have a drink in the privacy of my home, with my family, with my evening meal. That’s all I do.” Friend, I’m sorry. I’ve heard that before. In my near seventy years of ministry, I’ve worked with several alcoholics who wanted help; and I helped some of them on the road to recovery. But not one of them ever intended to be an alcoholic. It wasn’t a life-time ambition for any of them to become an alcoholic. They only had one drink at the end of the work day, one drink with their evening meal. Or, it may have been just an occasional beer with a friend. The point is: God, not Mack Lyon now, but God said in his word, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” That’s Proverbs 20 and 1. In the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 11 God wrote to His church about a member who is, well, let’s just let Him say it for Himself, what do you say? Hear me now! This is God speaking in his word. “Now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or reviler, or a drunkard, or even an extortioner –not even to eat with such a person.” Why do you suppose God would say something like that to His church about one of its members? Well, read the whole chapter and when you come to verse six, you’ll hear Him say, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Oh, I see, Lord, what You mean. If one person in the church does it with the church approval, eventually there will be others, then some others, and then others. And others and why not?
Well, you have heard it said (perhaps you have even said it yourself) “God doesn’t say it’s a sin to have a beer or a drink with a friend now and then.” Oh my! How many good people have been deceived by that, only God knows! But God does say, and I’ve already cited several (certainly not all) the passages in which He says in substance “don’t take your first drink or don’t take your next drink.” Don’t be deceived by the devil’s old hackneyed advice, “Drink wisely.” My friend, there is no such thing as drinking alcoholic beverages “wisely.” Remember it was God who said it in Proverbs 20 and 1, “Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is deceived or led astray by it is not wise.”
“Well,” you say, “that’s what I don’t like about religion, and that’s why I don’t become a Christian. God has too many rules. I like my freedom; I do as I please.” Well, my friend, the alcoholic is not free. Of all the people in the world free to walk the streets, the person who is addicted to alcohol, or other drugs, is least free of all. If he isn’t already, he will eventually be absolutely enslaved to “just one more drink.” Don’t take my word for it. Ask any admitted alcoholic, and you will have found someone else who says so. And, he should know, don’t you think? Let’s be humbly honest, the person who just must have one drink with a friend to enjoy his friendly conversation, is already addicted isn’t he?
Let me make three suggestions to you that might be helpful: (1) Yield not to the temptation for your first, or your next drink. There’s that old hymn my mother used to sing when I was a small child. As she went about her housework she would sing, “Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin; each vict’ry will aid you some other to win; Fight manfully onward, Dark passions subdue, Look ever to Jesus: He’ll carry you through.” And the chorus will surely be helpful, too. It says, “Ask the Savior to help you, Comfort, strengthen, and keep you; He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.”
My second suggestion is: Try hard to be content with the circumstances that are troubling you today, over which you have little, or no control at all. Recovering alcoholics are taught “The Serenity Prayer.” It goes like this: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things that I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” God says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1Timothy chapter 6, verse 6).
My third suggestion is to practice self-control. Now, we were talking awhile ago about the person who says, “The reason I’m not a Christian is I like my freedom; God has too many rules.” Well, the alcoholic is certainly not free! Anyone who can’t say “no” to even one beer a day is not free, is he? He’s already enslaved. But, God helps a child of His to say “no!” Self-control is the fruit of the Spirit. Look what I found in Galatians chapter 5, verse 16: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” And in verses 22 and 23 there’s this: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, (and, that last but not least anyone’s imagination) self-control. Against such there is no law.” And in Romans 6 there is this: “Do you not know that as many of you as were baptized into Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life...knowing this first, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should be no longer slaves of sin...Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies.” My friend, what I have said about alcohol addiction, I’d say about any drug addiction. Let’s pray now. Holy Father, grant us the courage and the faith and the wisdom to say no to our next temptation to do evil. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen!
My friend, Jesus Christ has a will and a way for you and your life that’s better than anything you have ever experienced from a bottle. But His way is not as simple as just sitting there in your easy chair and saying, “Lord, I accept you as my personal Savior and I now invite you into my heart,” or something like that. That’s deceitful. That is deceitful, friend! It isn’t as simple as just repeating after some preacher some prayer of his own making. But the Lord’s way isn’t too difficult either! The Bible solution to alcoholism, whether it’s one drink a day or a drink occasionally with friends, is very practical. Please, please for your own sake; don’t listen to the fellow who says, “If the Lord, Jesus Christ, were here in the flesh as He once was, He’d be in the bars and clubs drinking with you.” He didn’t do it when He was here; why should we think that He would do it now if He were here? His way makes sense, friend. Yes! You must do something. You must decide you will not take your next drink. God wants a better life for you. And when you supply the “will,” He supplies the “power.” Suppose you were to go and tell your friends (the people with whom you have an occasional drink), “No, thank you. You see; I’ve resolved to stop drinking before it enslaves me and ruins my life, and the life of my family.” What do you suppose they would say? I think they just might say, “Bless you. I’ll join you.” That’s what the Bible calls “repentance.” Jesus said, “repentance and remission of sins” should be preached in His name among all nations” (Luke 24:47). The very first time the apostle Peter preached it three thousand people repented and were baptized for, or in order to, the remission of their sins (Acts 2:36 through verse 38). Why don’t you do that today, friend? Oh say, I hope you will!
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