Testing The Spirits
“Testing the spirits”
Prov. 23:29-35
Who has anguish? Who has sorrow?
Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining?
Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns,
trying out new drinks.
31 Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is,
how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.
32 For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake;
it stings like a viper.
33 You will see hallucinations,
and you will say crazy things.
34 You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea,
clinging to a swaying mast.
35 And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it.
I didn’t even know it when they beat me up.
When will I wake up
so I can look for another drink?”
A. Bubba Smith was a former great professional football player. He won his only Super Bowl
here in Baltimore with the Colts in 1970. He was also a spokesman for Miller Lite beer dong
commercials on TV. In 1986, Bubba’s Smith alma mater, Michigan State University, made
him the Grand Marshall for the homecoming parade. As Bubba Smith rode down the street
in an open car, the students on one side of the street started yelling “great taste” and the
students on the other side of the street yelled “less filling.” Smith said, “When I got to the
bonfire they were drunk out of their heads.” He said, “How much money can you make
before you ruin everybody?” So Bubba Smith quit as a spokesman for Miller Lite.
1. If I were to ask you to come up here this morning and give a testimony about the damage
alcohol has done to your family many of you could testify its destruction.
2. My father’s side of the family originated from Owsley County, KY. According to the
2010 census, Owsley County, KY in terms of income per household is the poorest in the
nation. However, Owsley County was also famous for something else that didn’t change
until 2013. Owsley County was a dry county until 2013.
3. According to MADD.org, in 2015, 10,265 people were killed and approximately 290,000
were injured in alcohol-related accidents. Alcohol is looked upon as a good thing to do.
4. I want you to know that I am prejudice this morning toward liquor of any kind. If I were
king for a day, I would outlaw the production of all of it. You didn’t come here today to
hear my opinions you came to hear something from the Lord and His word.
5. Eph. 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
Spirit.”
B. Scripture is clear that drunkenness is a sin and no drunk can go to heaven, but the debate has
been waged for centuries about what is the right perspective toward drinking in moderation
(social drinking).
1. The history of Christendom has fallen on the side of moderation rather than being a
Teetotalism. I want to look at 5 tests we need to give the spirits before we arrive at our
conclusion.
TEST #1: ARE WE COMPARING THE SAME DRINKS?
A. Often people will make a case for social drinking by pointing out that Jesus turned water into
in His very first miracle. “If it was good enough for Jesus it’s good enough for me.”
1. This sermon is not a study on Jesus’ first miracle, but the point I want to make with you
here is the wine in the biblical world is not the same as what we have today.
2. John Caldwell, “To drink or Not to Drink” “Alcohol use changed radically in AD 700
when Arab chemists discovered how to distill alcohol, which led to the ability to produce
highly potent concentrations. Thus the wine and beer produced previous to that was for
the most part very low in alcoholic content. You could get drunk, but you had to drink a lot
to do so. However, today…the natural fermentation process is bolstered by the addition of
distilled alcohol” (Christian Standard, July 29, 2012).
a. You have heard of liquor that was 80 or100 proof. 80 proof means 40% alcohol and
100 proof means 50% alcohol. 200 proof or 100% alcohol will kill you.
b. You know why a person who consumes a lot of alcohol throws up? Their bowels are
smarter than their brain.
B. On the day of Pentecost the Apostles were accused of being drunk because they spoke in
languages other than their own native tongue.
1. Acts 2:13 “These men are full of sweet wine.” Peter rejected that allegation by saying, in
Acts 2:15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the
day.” (9:00am)
a. If you got out of bed at 8:30 in the morning and you started drinking Jack Daniels, you
could be drunk by 9:00 am.
2. When you compare the wine of the Bible to Jack Daniels, Seagram’s 7, Kessler’s, and
Budweiser, you are not comparing “apples to apples.”
TEST #2: DOES THE THREAT OF ADDICTION PREVENT PARTICIPATION?
A. One of the reasons Scripture cautions against drinking is because of its enslaving ability.
1. Prov. 23:31-35 (NLT) “Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the
cup, how smoothly it goes down. 32 For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake; it stings
like a viper. 33 You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things. 34 You will
stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast. 35 And you will say, “They
hit me, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake
up so I can look for another drink?” (Written 3,000 years ago!)
2. No one who starts out drinking expects to become enslaved by alcohol and thus a drunk.
3. Caldwell says, there are more than 17 million alcoholics in America.
4. Dr. Ken Idelman said, “Every prisoner he talked to in Jefferson City, MO prison
committed his crime while under the influence of alcohol. One man sexually abused his
daughter, age 8, but he has no recollection of it.
5. In his book Young People and their Lord, Rubel Shelly says 1 out of every 10 people
who drink become addicts. (If 1 out of every 10 planes left BWI crashed would you fly?)
TEST #3: THOUGH LEGAL IS IT SPIRITUAL?
A. There are many things that are legal but are not spiritual.
1. Is it illegal to look at pornography? Is it spiritual? Is it illegal to take God’s name in vain?
Is it spiritual? Is it illegal to tell a lie if you are not under oath? Is it spiritual? Is it illegal
to have sex outside of God’s boundaries? Is it spiritual?
2. The statement, “You shall not drink Budwesier” is not in the Bible, but what advice would
you want me to give a new Christian about drinking?
3. No one has ever said to me, “Since I became a Christian I’ve discovered social drinking.
I’m enjoying beer and whiskey for the first time and you can’t believe what its’ done-faith.
I know all kinds of people who when they became a Christian were freed from that stuff.
4. 1 Cor. 10:23 (NLT) “You say, “I am allowed to do anything”[ but not everything is good
for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.”
TEST #4: IF I PARTICIPATE WHAT WILL IT DO TO MY WITNESS?
A. One of concerns we should have as it relates to alcohol is what our drinking would to the
faith of another non-Christian or a new Christian.
1. Rom. 14:21-22 “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might
cause another believer to stumble. You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you
are doing, but keep it between yourself and God.”
2. Scripture teaches that it does matter what others think of us if we are doing something that
is questionable or causes them think less of Jesus and Christianity.
a. Matt. 18:6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble
it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be
drowned in the sea.”
TEST #5: WOULD IT BE ACCEPTABLE IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH?
A. If drinking in moderation is okay outside of this assembly then its okay inside.
1. Would it bother you if I drank beer instead of water during the sermon? If I told you I
drank two Heineken’s every Sunday morning to relax would that bother you?
2. Would it bother you if we served cold beer instead of cold soda at our next church lunch
a. If it’s okay at the Orioles game or the Raven’s game or Applebees or the bowling
alley then it’s okay right here. What’s the difference?
3. Beulah is a Christian, but she was in the hospital. A priest came to her room to offer her
communion. She said that will be fine. He gave her the bread. She said, “What about the
cup?” The priest said, “I drank it on the way to the hospital.”
a. We don’t serve wine at the Lord’s Table for more than 1 reason: 1) There was no
leaven allowed at the Jewish Passover from which Jesus inaugurated the Lords Supper
and wine has leaven in it. 2) We don’t want to cause anyone who was an addict to
relapse.
4. Our church softball league has a rule, “No alcohol permitted.” Good rule!
TEST #6: CAN YOU PICTURE JESUS DRINKING MODERN LIQUOR?
A. Did you know when Jesus was hanging on the cross for 6 hours he was offered drinks?
1. John 19:29-30 “A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the
sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus
had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up
His spirit.”
2. Mark 15:23 “They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.”
3. Let’s imagine something for a moment. Imagine that Jesus resurrected from the dead here
in Severn. Tomorrow evening we walked into a liquor store and we saw Jesus. Could you
picture Jesus with a 12 pack of Bud Light in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in other
in front of us in the line?
CONCLUSION
A. Someone might say, “You are infringing on our liberty in Christ.”
1. Let me ask you a question, “Why do you need it?” If it’s to take the edge off that’s the
Holy Spirit’s work not the effects of alcoholic spirits.
2. John Caldwell said, “America’s number one problem drug is not an illegal drug like
cocaine, marijuana, meth, or heroine, as big a problem as they are. The number 1 problem
drug is alcohol.”
3. Dr. Charles Krauthammer, psychiatrist and commentator on Fox News, said on August 20,
2013 of alcohol. “I’ve seen what it does as a doctor; it destroys the body, aggression, car
accidents, a lot of damage. If I were starting a society from scratch…I would outlaw
alcohol.”
4. An unbeliever was attacking the Bible in a lecture. He attacked the miracles of Jesus
including the miracle that Jesus turned water into wine. Who ever heard of such a thing?
An old converted alcoholic spoke up and said, “Sir, I don’t know a whole lot about the
Bible, and I don’t know a whole lot about this miracle, but I want to tell you what Jesus
did in my life. Sir, Jesus turned beer and wine into groceries and clothes for my kids.” He
said, “I don’t know what you call that, but I’d call it a miracle.”
Bible verses to consider in light of the subject of drinking alcohol.
Lev. 10:8-9 “Then the Lord said to Aaron, ‘you and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle. If you do, you will die. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation.’”
Prov. 20:1 “Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.”
Prov. 21:17b “…those who love wine and luxury will never be rich.”
Prov. 31:4-5 “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol.
For if they drink, they may forget the law and not give justice to the oppressed.”
Is. 5:11-12 “What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing.”
Is. 5:22 “Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink.”
Is. 56:12 “Come, they say, let’s get some wine and have a party. Let’s all get drunk. Then tomorrow we’ll do it again and have an even bigger party!”
Hos. 4:11b “Wine has robbed my people of their understanding.”
Hab. 2:15 “What sorrow awaits you who make your neighbors drunk! You force your cup on them so you can gloat over their shameful nakedness.”
Luke 21:34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware.”
Rom. 13:13a “Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness.”
1 Cor. 6:10 “or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”
Eph. 5:18 “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.