Be Sober

Be Sober

As the days go on the moral standards of this world get worse & worse... 

This of course should really come as no surprise to us, as the Bible prophesied that in the last days➔ evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

That’s from II Tim. 3:13, where the context, beginning in v. 1, was the behavior of people in the last days...

What is perhaps more disturbing than that, is that the moral’s of God’s own people are not trailing far behind the degraded morals of the world.

Born again Christians now often embrace things that Christianity once knew to be unacceptable according to the Scriptures...

And what is even more troubling than that, is that some of them are even using the Bible to justify their behavior.  

It is bad enough to try and justify your sins, but how much worse it is, to use Scripture to justify it.

Man seems to have an unlimited capacity for self-justification.➔

Prov. 21:2  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

Prov. 16:2  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.

The devil is at work in influencing the minds of humanity to accept sin as legitimate lifestyle choices.

I Tim. 4:1-2  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 

{2} Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

You can find a news or magazine article; a movie, documentary or special report; a podcast, a song, a book, a religion, a philosophy, a course in school, a counsellor, a college professor, a politician, or a religious leader that will tell you that it is ok for you to practice and fulfill your immoral lusts...  

But it’s like the time honored quote from Anatole France says

If 50,000 people say a foolish thing, it’s still a foolish thing!

And Rom. 3:4 puts it even more powerfully.➔ ...yea, let God be true, but every man a liar...

Because it matters not how many people justify a thing, it matters only➔ what saith the scripture? (Rom. 4:3)

And when II Tim. 3:13 said➔ But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

II Tim. 3:14 added➔ But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that was followed with this➔

II Tim. 3:15-17  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

{16} All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

{17} That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

So that is what we are interested in, in our quest for truth.  Not what’s in the minds of men, but what’s in the Bible!

For the words of God are the words of truth, and if you’re looking for truth outside of that, you might buy into anything.

Anything outside the Bible is only true if it lines up with what’s inside the Bible.

And for those who muddy the waters of morality by putting forth error as truth, the Bible says in Is. 5:20➔ Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Now this is just the introduction for what I am going to talk to you about today, but I thought it necessary to lay this foundation.

One of the issues that is continually revisited is the issue of drinking alcohol.  This world loves to drink...

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of every year, someone in this world is under the influence of alcohol.

Drinking alcohol is generally accepted as a normal practice in this world system.  It is continuously advertised, continually shown as a normal and regular practice in television shows, movies, and when the camera pans the crowds at sporting events.

Many true Christians, along with many professing Christians from various denominations, are embracing the position that it’s ok for Christians to drink alcohol.

I have spoken face to face with Christians who tried to use Scripture to justify it.

So what about it?  What saith the Scriptures on this matter?  Let’s find out.

When it comes to drunkennes, I can give you the Biblical position with two words that are found together several times in the Bible...

Those words are➔ Be sober...

With two words the Lord condemns bars, liquor stores, night clubs, New Year’s Eve Parties, businesses that hold Christmas parties where liquor is served, drunken wedding receptions, and every business that produces and sells beer, wine, and hard liquor.

Oh, but somebody says, I drink, but I don’t get drunk...  Yeah, I’m sure you keep telling yourself that, but you’re only fooling yourself.

You drink because it makes you feel good.  And that is because the alcohol starts to affect your body & brain...  You begin to get buzzed...

But then you say, well I may get a little buzz on, but I’m not drunk. 

Well let me offer you a line from the Ad Council, which puts it his way  Buzzed driving, IS drunk driving.

And from a Scriptural standpoint, when you begin to get buzzed, you are no longer sober...  And the more buzzed you get, the less sober you are.  

So meditate on these words from the Bible➔ Be sober...

Here are some of the verses where you will find those words.➔

I Thess. 5:6-8  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 

{7} For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 

{8} But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Titus 2:1-2  But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 

{2} That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Titus 2:3  The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

Titus 2:4  That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Titus 2:6  Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

I Tim. 3:2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 

{3}Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

Titus 1:7-8  For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; 

{8} But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

Deacon’s wives

I Tim. 3:11  Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

I Pet. 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

I Pet. 4:7  But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

I Pet. 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Prov. 20:1  Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Prov. 31:4-5  It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 

{5} Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

Prov. 23:20-21  Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 

{21} For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Prov. 23:29-35  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 

{30} They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 

{31} Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 

{32} At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. {33} Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 

{34} 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. 

{35} 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.

I Tim. 5:23  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

A.)  Medicinal...  Cf. Nyquil

B.)  A little!

Prov. 31:6  Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.

A.)  The Christian is not ready to perish, he has eternal life.➔

John 3:16

B.)  He should not have a heavy heart, because the fruit of the Spirit is 

       joy...

C.)  This would have been used as painkillers for those who are dying 

       in pain...

D.)  Medication for depression...

It doesn’t say take it, it says to give it...  That is, someone should prescribe it for them...  

But today, a lot of people are self-medicating...

People also like to use the marriage feast at Cana as a justification of drinking alcohol, because on that occasion Jesus turned water into wine...

I have been to a number of Roman Catholic weddings where the priest read this passage from the Bible during the service with no added exposition of the subject.

And the folks there loved it, because it made them all feel good about going to the wedding reception and getting drunk.

But what most people do not realize is that there are two types of wine in the Bible... Just like there are two types of wisdom.

God’s wisdom is described as follows in James 3:17➔  

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

The world’s wisdom is described as follows in James 3:14-16.  I will read you that passage, but I will begin with v. 13➔

{13} Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 

{14} But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 

{15}This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 

{16} For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

The description of those two wisdoms, run parallel with the behaviors produced by the two wines. 

Luke 5:39  No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

Old wine is aged wine that has fermented...

New wine is the fresh-pressed juice of the grape.  Grape juice that has not been fermented.

Isaiah 65:8  Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

The new wine is associated with a blessing, the old wine is associated with a curse.➔

Hab. 2:15  Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

Prov. 3:10  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Expound Lk. 5:39➔

Luke 5:39  No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

Intoxicate – v. 1828

1. To inebriate; to make drunk; as with spirituous liquor.

Etymology of the word  The root in + toxic

from Latin in- + toxicum poison 

It is poisin in you!

Merriam-Webster Online

1 : affected by alcohol or drugs especially to the point where physical and mental control is markedly diminished

So let me add to this

Don’t drink, and don’t take intoxicating drugs either.

II Tim. 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

II Tim. 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Potheads...

Get high...

Rom. 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

NOTE “highly”contrasted  w/ “sober”

And this crazy, stupid world is making marijuana more accessible by legalizing it a recreational drug...

You should fully understand, that legalizing something in the world does not automatically make it legal with God!➔

Ps. 94:20  Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

But because it you will find it around more and more, and you will see & smell people using it openly more and more.

Guy from street preaching a couple weeks ago...

As driving away, leaning out the window saying  God made it...

*God made poison ivy, but you don’t roll it up and smoke it!

*This world is under a curse...

*God also made the tree of knowledge of good and evil and told man 

  NOT to eat of it!

Also beware of over-the-counter or prescription drugs, that do the same...

Alcohol & drugs are sin in concentrated form...  And 

Sin will take you farther than you want to go.

It will keep you longer than you want to stay.

And it will cost you more than you want to pay.

James 1:14-16  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 

{15} Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 

{16}Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Be sober...