WHEN JACK DANIELS MET JOHN 3:16
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
A mother was assisting her elementary school son on his project for the science fair. The subject of his project was, "The Harmful Effects Of Alcohol." The mother, who had never taken a drink of alcohol in her life, nervously went into a local liquor store to purchase the needed supplies.
She said to the clerk behind the counter, "Give me the cheapest, hardest vodka you have." The employee answered, "Is this for you, ma'am? If so, I might recommend something that's only a little more expensive but much smoother."
"No, that's okay," the mother stammered without thinking. "It's for my nine-year-old son!"
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. The manufacturers of a well-known brand of beer never knew whether their parade in Waco, Texas, helped their cause or hurt it. The parade was the beginning of a five-day appearance of the eight immense Clydesdale horses, and was planned with all possible advance publicity. The horses led the parade, pulling the giant wagon of dummy beer cases.
2. But the parade had a surprise ending. A trailer truck bearing a demolished car, with ketchup-splattered young people hanging from its windows, followed close behind. Placards proclaimed that beer and automobiles equal death. For three hours, as the parade wended its way through Waco's business district, the deadly reminder of highway deaths followed the beer advertising. As thousands of people paused to admire the horses, they gasped in horror at the view of havoc caused by drunken driving. Following the float were a string of cars carrying signs telling of the devastating effects of alcohol.
C. TEXT: Prov. 23:29-35
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? 30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. 31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, 31 when it goes down smoothly! 32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. 34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. 35 "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt! They beat me, but I don't feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?"
D. THESIS
1. Today we’re talking about alcohol use. For those who don’t know, “Jack Daniels” is a famous American whiskey that people have been getting drunk on for over 75 years.
2. The thesis of this message is, when we get saved, things like Jack Daniels should be left behind. We’re going to look at the disastrous effects of alcohol, wine use in the early church, and nine reasons Christians shouldn’t drink.
I. A PLAGUE ON OUR NATION
A. STATS ON ALCOHOL ABUSE
1. Alcohol and alcohol-abuse annually cost the US $100 billion.
2. Alcohol is the number one drug used in the US. There are 65 million drinkers, of which 13 million are problem drinkers or alcoholics. In addition, 3.3 million young people ages 14-17 are problem drinkers. For every heroin addict, there are 15 hard-core alcoholics.
3. Alcohol-related deaths may run as high as 200,000 per year, equaling of the Vietnam war in two years! Half of all traffic fatalities, one-third of all traffic injuries and one-fourth of all suicides are alcohol-related.
4. It costs law officers an in excess of $100 million annually for the arrest, trial, and jailing of alcohol abusers. Half of the 5.5 million arrests yearly are alcohol-related.
5. It has resulted in the break up of many marriages, the impoverishing of many families, and the abuse of many wives and children.
6. Two-thirds of domestic violence involves alcohol; 40% of rapes; 70,000 students in 2002 who were raped, the incident involved alcohol; 480,000 children are mistreated each year due to a caretaker’s alcohol use.
B. IS THIS A TIME FOR DRINKING?
1. Most of us have heard these sad statistics before. But I want to address this morning, the critical area of Christian drinking. Some Christians justify moderate drinking on one of three pretexts:
a. Drinking one glass of beer/wine won’t send you to hell;
b. Some Bible verses seem to speak of consuming alcoholic beverages as okay;
c. Christians in some parts of the world or in certain denominations think drinking is okay (not that we know if they’re really Christians).
2. I think any Scriptures that convey that moderate drinking is okay, were spoken to a perfect world, where everyone was a Christian/righteous and no one would abuse alcohol. In such a world, maybe people could have a glass of wine with dinner and their freedom would not cause others, who are not as strong, to stumble. But that's not the world we live in.
3. We live in a world where alcohol enslaves millions, where it destroys families and results in murders, rapes, homicides, and rampant spouse and child abuse. We live in a world which desperately needs a Christian witness by people who are known by their set-apart lives to God. Such a lost world requires not compromising and sometimes not even using the freedoms we might otherwise have, so that people can be saved.
II. NEW TESTAMENT WINE USE
A. PURIFIED WATER
1. In his ground-breaking work "Wine-Drinking in New Testament Times," Robert H. Stein, Ph.D of Princeton University has demonstrated that during the New Testament period and before, wine was used to purify water, much as we use chlorine today, but it was still called "wine."
2. The ratio of water to wine varied. Homer (Odyssey IX, 208f) mentions a ratio of 20 to one, 20 parts water to one part wine. Pliny (Natural History XIV, vi, 54) mentions a ratio of eight parts water to one part wine. The poet Euenos, who lived in the fifth century B.C., gave a ratio of water to wine that was three to one. Others are mentioned in Athenaeus’ work The Learned Banquet (A.D. 200):
3 to 1 -- Hesiod
4 to 1 -- Alexis
2 to 1 -- Diocles
3 to 1 -- Ion
5 to 2 -- Nichochares
2 to 1 -- Anacreon
3. In the writings of the early Church fathers it is clear that "wine" means wine mixed with water. Justin Martyr (A.D150) described the Lord's Supper in this way: "Bread is brought, and wine and water, and the president sends up prayers and Thanksgiving" (Apology I, 67, 5). Hippolytus instructed the bishops to "eucharistize (bless) first the bread into the representation of the flesh of Christ; and the cup mixed with wine for the anti-type of the blood which was shed for all who have believed in Him (Apostolic Tradition XXIII,1). Cyprian, around A.D. 250, stated "... in considering the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, even as wine alone cannot be offered... each [must] be mingled with the other (Epistle LXII, 2, 1, 13). Clement of Alexandria stated "It is best for the wine to be mixed with as much water as possible..." (Instructor II, 23.3-24.1).
B. BIBLE USE OF THE WORD “WINE”
1. I believe the wine produced by miracle at the Wedding of Cana was non-alcoholic, the first-ever Welch’s grape juice! I have heard supposed scholars say that it wasn’t wine unless it was alcoholic. Those scholars didn’t study the Word on it.
2. There are four Bible words used of “wine”:
a. Shekar – “strong drink.” This is used of every kind of drink that is intoxicating. Its use is condemned in the Bible with one exception; Proverbs 31:6, as a painkiller for those in grief or physical suffering.
b. Tirosh – grape juice, “new wine found in the cluster,” Isaiah 65:8. The juice inside the grape, when it is still inside the grape, is called “wine”! “The presses break forth with new wine”(Prov. 3:10) – it’s called “wine” when it is just forced out of the grape, even though it hasn’t had time to ferment. Yet it is called “wine”.
c. Yayin – it may or may not be intoxicating. It is used like the word “drink”. In Isa. 16:10 it is used of grape juice; “no one treads out wine at the presses.” In Isa. 20:1 it is used of intoxicating drink. So you can only tell which one by the context.
d. N.T. Oinos – is sometimes intoxicating and other times not intoxicating.
3. So any juice that was in the grape, or had just come out of the grape, was regularly called “wine” in the Bible. Welch’s Grape Juice would have been called “wine.”
III. BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES WHICH CONDEMN ITS USE
A. HARMFUL TO THE BODY
"If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple" (1 Cor. 3:17). Medical findings show that alcohol is destructive to the body. It is a leading cause of cirrhosis of the liver. Even moderate alcohol use is linked to increased risk of breast cancer. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the third greatest cause of birth defects. Alcohol abuse shortens lifespans by 10-12 years. Alcohol is actually a poison.
B. ABUSE OF STEWARDSHIP
"... the land is Mine and you are but aliens and My tenants" (Leviticus 25:23). "There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he... said unto him, “How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship." (Luke 16:1-2). See Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:12-27. We will all give an account to God for our use of what He gives us.
C. DESTROYS YOUR CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY
What made the nation of Israel different from all the nations? It was that they were set apart unto God – God’s holy people. God has called us too to be His holy people. If you confronted the average unbeliever about his sinful lifestyle and they knew you drank, they would call you a hypocrite! "You're no better than me," they'd say. Talk is cheap; let me SEE how God has changed your life. If Jesus set you free, then you won't be in bondage to habits (1 Corinthians 6:12). "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22).
D. DRUNKENNESS IS A SIN
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 points out that drunkards "shall not inherit the kingdom of God." How many drinks does it take to get drunk? One? I don't know, but why court sin? Would you fly on a plane if you knew there was a chance of one in ten that it would crash? Of course not! Yet the chances of an occasional or moderate drinker becoming an alcoholic (drunkard) are in fact one in ten! Don't risk your soul for that lousy counterfeit of the joy experienced by the Christian filled with the Holy Spirit!
E. DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
The Christian must ask, "What effect will even an occasional drink have on my spiritual growth? Will it benefit me? Or, much more likely, won’t it be detrimental to my spiritual growth?" Paul tells us to consider, "Is it beneficial?" (1 Corinthians 10:23).
F. GIVES THE DEVIL A FOOTHOLD IN YOUR LIFE
The Christian who advocates drinking in moderation is providing Satan an opening to get at him in a time of weakness. Paul wrote, "Neither give place to the devil" (Ephesians 4:27). In addition, the Bible teaches that we must "mortify" or "put to death" our old sinful natures. To not do so reveals a secret love for sin; it is also a choice of sin over Christ, which is idolatry. The apostle Paul says "make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:14). Burn your bridges to your old life! Smash your idols! Come clean! Let God transform you into a totally new person.
G. MAKES OTHER CHRISTIANS STUMBLE
We are to conduct ourselves so that, if other believers follow our example, they will not be hurt in any way. "For none of us lives to himself and none dies to himself" (Romans 14:7). A Christian is responsible to God both for his personal actions and for the influence of these actions on others. "It is a good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak." (Romans 14:21); see also Luke 17:1-2.
H. DRINKING BRINGS DISGRACE
Noah, after saving his family from the destruction of the Flood, planted a vineyard, made wine, became intoxicated, and brought disastrous results on himself and his family (Genesis 9:20-27). Noah was no doubt surprised, upon his return to sobriety and clear thinking, to realize his simple act of taking a drink had ended in such shame.
The two daughters of Lot made their father drink liquor until he became drunk; then they committed incest with him (Genesis 19:30-38). Xerxes was powerful. He ruled over a great kingdom and had a beautiful wife. But his foolish action before his drinking guests resulted in the deposition of his queen and the dissolution of their marriage (Esther 1:9-22).
Belshazzar, in a state of drunkenness, committed sacrilege with the sacred vessels from the Jewish Temple. That very night he was killed as a fulfillment of prophecy (Daniel 5).
I. DO ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
Paul taught that whatever Christians do, it should be the kind of thing which brings glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Does drinking, etc. bring glory to God? The bottom line is, "Is this activity/action pleasing to the Lord?" "Does God approve of this?" We cannot honestly dodge this question. Romans 14:23, "... whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful." Does God really approve of something which is well-known to break down your moral inhibitions? I can't believe He would encourage lower morals.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil.
2. At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results: The first worm in alcohol - Dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive. So the Minister asked the congregation – “What can you learn from this demonstration?
3. Maxine was sitting in the back, quickly raised her hand and said, "As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won’t have worms!" That pretty much ended the service…
B. ALTAR CALL
1. SUMMARY
a. It is harmful. b. Abuse of Stewardship.
c. Destroys Your Testimony. d. Is a Sin.
e. Hinders Spiritual Growth. f. Gives Devil a Foothold.
g. Makes Others Stumble. h. Brings Disgrace.
i. Isn’t for God’s Glory.
2. John G. Paton, Missionary, tells that when natives got saved, they dug up the ROOTS of the plants they fermented; they removed the source of temptation! I encourage you to make a once-and-for-all decision to abstain from alcohol use.
