SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/29/2019
2:02 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Scripture
Always Condemns Drunkenness
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:18a
Message of the
verse: “Don’t
get your stimulus from wine (for there is always the danger of excessive
drinking)” (Phillips).
It
is probably not any surprise to anyone who reads the Word of God to find out
that getting drunk is never supported by the Bible. If we think back to after the flood when Noah
and his family got off of the ark we read that Noah got drunk and his son Ham
had some kind of sexual relation with his father. Noah actually cursed the son of Ham, Canaan 9:24
When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25
So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his
brothers.’” It is believed that before
the flood that things could not ferment, so there could never be any fermented
wine or other things that make liquor, but after the flood it could happen and
that is why Noah got drunk. Perhaps he
had made grape juice from grapes before the flood and did not realize that it
could now make him drunk, at any rate we see what happened to Noah once he
drunk wine and perverted sexual relationships happened due to wine and this still
goes on today, not just homosexual but also sexual relationships between a man
and a woman can happen easier once one of both are drunk.
I
want to give some different verses from the Word of God to show that drunkenness
is against it.
The
first one we will look at is what happened to Lot and his daughters after God
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. 30 Lot
went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him;
for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two
daughters. 31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old,
and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth.
32 “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may
preserve our family through our father." 33 So they made their father
drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and
he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 On the following day,
the firstborn said to the younger, "Behold, I lay last night with my
father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with
him, that we may preserve our family through our father." 35 So they made
their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with
him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the
daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son,
and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 As
for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the
father of the sons of Ammon to this day” (Gen. 19:30-38).
This
would not have happened with Lot being drunk is the first thing I want to say
about this, and there are many other reasons that we will not get into as to
why this happened. Next I want to say
that the word “incest” is a new word. In
today’s world this would be called incest, and it was just as wrong then as it
is today. However when we look back at
when Adam and Eve were living on the earth the only way the human race could
continue is if brothers and sisters, and then cousins could get married and
have children. The reason that this
could happen then is because the gene pool was not as corrupted as it is today.
In
the fifth chapter of Daniel we see how the Babylonian Empire ended and it also
had to do with drunkenness. I will let
you read that chapter on your own.
If
you scan through the book of Proverbs you will see it has much to say about the
harsh realities of drunkenness. We did
look at a section in our last SD. John
MacArthur writes “Drunkenness mocks a person by making him think he is better
off instead of worse off, smarter instead of more foolish, and happier instead
of simply dazed. It is a favorite tool
of Satan for the very reason that it deceives while it destroys. Surely it presents vulnerability to
demons. The drunk does not learn his
lesson and is deceived over and over again.
Even when he is waylaid, beaten, and finally awakens from his drunken
stupor he “will seek another drink” (23:35).
One
more quote from MacArthur and we will be done with this section: “In Ephesians 5:18, Paul was therefore not
simply making a moral but also a theological contrast. He was not only speaking of the moral and
social evils of drunkenness, but of the spiritually perverted use of drunkenness
as a means of worship. Christians are
not to seek religious fulfillment through such pagan means as getting drunk
with wine, but are to find their spiritual fulfillment and enjoyment by being ‘filled
with the Spirit.’ The believer has no
need for the artificial, counterfeit, degrading, destructive, and idolatrous
ways of the world. He has God’s own
Spirit indwelling him, the Spirit whose great desire is to give believers the
fullest benefits and enjoyment of their high position as children of God.
“The
context of this passage further indicates that Paul was speaking primarily
about the religious implications of drunkenness. The frenzied, immoral, and drunken orgies of
pagan ceremonies were accompanied by correspondingly corrupt liturgies. In verses 19-20 Paul showed the kind of
liturgy that pleases God: Spirit-filled believers ‘speaking to one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart
to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ to God, even the Father.’”
I
think that in reading over these last two quotes that we are able to see why
Paul wrote this section in Ephesians. I
once was in a Sunday school class at the church we used to go to and the
subject of moral issues came up. One of
the Pastors stated that it is not the job of the Church to just show people the
moral high ground, as they will still end up in hell, but it is our job as
believers to show people their spiritual needs, that is to realize that they
are sinners, that they were born sinners, and need to repent of their
sinfulness and sins and accept what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross and
then to accept and believe that He did this for them and invite Him into their
lives to be their Savior and also the Lord of their lives.
Spiritual meaning for my life: It is, and has been my desire for many hears
to have the Spirit of God fill me in order to do the things that God planned
for me to do in eternity past.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire for the Lord to continue to teach
me, and that the Spirit of God continues to encourage me to seek humility.
Today’s quotation is from a man named
Spiros Zodiates who was a Greek American Bible scholar. He said “The wise man is He who has given
himself to Jesus Christ, and who, by the help of the Holy Spirit, keeps his
intellect in submission of the will of God.”
Remember I shuffled these cards that the quotations are on and had no
idea that this one would be similar to what I have written today.
6/29/2019 2:50 PM
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