To God be the glory!

Frequently, people get together in a setting, such as this,

and along with their dinner they serve wine to drink.

Is there anything wrong with that? Is that appropriate?

You know, popular liquor commercials that air on television conclude with the

words,

"Drink responsibly."

And alcohol commercials depict

healthy, athletic people having a good time and engaging

in outdoor adventures.

Are those commercials accurate? Are they painting a true picture of what alcohol

will do for you? And is it possible to

drink responsibly?

I want to talk with you for a few minutes about the other side of this picture.

I know that alcohol has many defenders,

but I like what Abraham Lincoln said.

He said, "Alcohol has many defenders

but no defense."

I want us to begin by considering the evil effects of alcohol, and I want to start

with a verse from the Bible. Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 1.

The Bible says:

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler,

and whoever is led astray by it

is not wise."

In the United States of America everyday there are more than 700,000

people who receive treatment for alcoholism.

In the year 2002, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration,

41% of all the deaths that occurred in traffic accidents

were alcohol related. Now, that means that

every 30 minutes someone was killed in a traffic accident

because of alcohol.

You know, it if there were a disease that that was killing off this many people, the

government would be

vehemently warning against it and funds would be given to study it, and to try

to find a cure.

We'd be having telethons to raise money to find a vaccine.

But alcohol, instead, is promoted and advertised at every turn.

In the year 2000, the alcohol industry spent

$1.42 billion

on advertising through television,

radio, print and outdoor advertising.

The resources spent on advertising alcohol is enough to feed 20,000,000

people.

One study says that young people view approximately 20,000 commercials

each year, of which 2,000

are for beer

and wine.

Now, that's an average of more than five TV commercials per day.

Now, do you think it has an effect?

The median age at which children begin drinking is 15.7 years

old.

One statistic that I read said that college students spend approximately

$5,500,000,000 each year

on alcohol. Now get this.

That is more

than they spend on soft drinks, milk, juice, tea,

coffee

and books

combined.

About 18,000,000 Americans experience problems with alcohol

and 10,000,000 are alcoholics.

Alcohol is involved in

50% of spouse abuse cases,

38% of child abuse cases,

65% percent of drownings. 54% of those in jail for

violent crimes are there because of the use of alcohol.

49% of those convicted for murder or attempted murder,

had been drinking when they committed those crimes.

I can go on and on with statistics like these,

and as powerful as these statistics are,

I'm not going to bore you with any more of them.

Neither do I want to spend all of my time talking about binge drinking or

drunkenness or any of those things.

Because just about everyone would agree that those things are wrong. At least

anyone who

says they respect the Bible,

because the Bible so plainly states it.

Galatians 5:21 says that drunkenness is a work of the flesh

committed by those who will not inherit

the kingdom of God. It's very plain, there's no doubt about it. Everybody

believes that. But you see,

the problem is generally not over what we call "drunkenness." It's over what is

called "social drinking,"

or what some people would call "drinking in moderation."

That is, people

drinking at their meal, like a setting such as this. Or people drinking at a

wedding, or

getting together with other people for the purpose of recreation and just

having a few drinks. Now, that's where the argument starts with a lot of people.

Now, we could approach this subject from several different standpoints. But what I

want to do is to

look at the arguments that are made by religious people, people who say they

have respect for the Bible.

And I want to look at some of the best efforts they make

to defend what we call

"social drinking."

Alright, let's consider some of the arguments that are made in defense

of social drinking.

Number one. Here's the first one.

Sometimes it's said,

"There is not any verse in the New Testament that specifically forbids

drinking in moderation.

All of the verses address only the subject of drunkenness."

What about that?

First, let me say this.

There are a lot of things that are not specifically condemned in the Scriptures,

but are still wrong. You know, using heroin is not specifically condemned.

But who's going to argue that

since the New Testament doesn't specifically command people to

abstain from heroin, then

its use must not be forbidden.

But you know, many things in the Scriptures are forbidden in principle.

Now listen to me.

I do not believe, listen carefully, I do not believe this is the case when it

comes to drinking.

I don't believe drinking is forbidden in principle only,

but rather that it is forbidden specifically.

Now, you say, "Where?"

The answer is,

in every verse that forbids drunkenness. Now, a person might say,

"I don't understand. You're saying that social drinking is forbidden in the

verses that discuss drunkenness? What are you talking about?"

Let me explain this.

In Ephesians 5:18, the King James version, says this:

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."

Now, the phrase

"...be not drunk" is translated from the Greek root

"methusko."

That word means, according to Young's Analytical Concordance,

"to begin to be softened." According to S.T. Bloomfield, "to moisten,"

or "to be moistened with liquor,"

and, in a figurative sense, "to be saturated with drink."

E.W. Bollinger

says, "Methusko means to grow drunk, marking the

beginning of methuo."

Now, this word "methusko" is an Inceptive verb. It's a

word that "marks the process of becoming drunk."

So what Paul is actually saying here is,

"Do not begin the process of becoming drunk."

And when a person consumes alcohol,

he is beginning to be softened.

He is beginning to be intoxicated.

And that's why I say social drinking is condemned

in the verses that discuss drunkenness and in the word "drunk."

The implication here is that

persons

begin to be drunk when they begin to drink. Now, I believe that the reason

people struggle with this is

because of what they see, or perhaps I should say, because of what

they don't see. If they don't see the person staggering or in a drunken stupor

then they don't consider the person be drunk.

But that's not the Bible basis upon

which drunkenness is determined.

And I think science and medical studies also bear out the fact

that when a person begins to drink, they are to some degree,

drunk.

So, how much alcohol does a person have to drink in order to be

affected?

As early as the 1960s, the Journal of the American Medical

Association stated:

"There is no minimum (of blood alcohol concentration)

which can be set, at which there will be absolutely

no effect."

Now, somebody might say, "Well, that's old. You know, we're wiser now. We have

had scientific advancements in the last forty years."

Listen to this quote from the Journal of the American Medical Association,

dated May 3,

in the year 2000.

It says, "Although legal limits for blood alcohol content levels

have been set in most states,

impairment in driving skills can occur

with any amout of alcohol

in the bloodstream."

Now, listen to this.

There's a website, it's overseen by the University of Oklahoma Police Department.

You can go to this website, you can put in your weight, you can put in what

you're drinking, the length of time you're drinking, the number of drinks,

and it will approximate your blood alcohol content. Now, I did some samples

for a 160 pound person. That's approximately

what I weigh.

I put in one drink, five ounces, a fortified desert wine, drinking it

immediately.

It said that it put this person at .05 blood-alcohol content.

A 160 pound person,

one drink, twelve ounces

of reduced alcohol beer, now notice, reduced alcohol beer,

drinking it over a period of one hour,

put them at .02 blood-alcohol content. Now, you say, "That doesn't mean

anything to me. What is .02? What does that mean?"

Another website

at "stopimpaireddriving.org" says

that, "At .02 -

some loss of judgment,

relaxation,

slight body warmth, altered mood,

decline in visual functions

(such as rapid tracking of a moving target), decline in ability to perform two

tasks at the same time (divided attention)."

The world admits, not even considering religious people,

but the world admits some amount of drunkenness, impairment, loss of judgment,

soberness, however you want to say it,

with one drink.

Now, in light of that,

how can a Christian possibly defend social drinking. With one drink, you are

already affected

or impaired

to that extent. And it gets worse with each consecutive drink.

And so, the Bible does condemn social drinking.

And it's in the verses that discuss

drunkenness.

Ok, I want to show you another verse. It's 1 Peter, chapter 4, and verse 3:

"For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the

Gentiles--when we

walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries,

drinking parties,

and abominable idolatries."

Now, I want you to notice that Peter condemns

"drinking parties."

Now, the commentator, Albert Barnes, wrote about this first. Now listen, it's

a lengthy

section we're going to discuss here.

He said, "The idea in the passage is, that it is improper for Christians to

meet together

for the purpose

of drinking..." Now, before we go any further, let's ask this,

"What does that do to the idea of social drinking?"

You know, another reference book by Richard Trench in "Synonyms of the New

Testament" says

that the Greek word here means,

"the drinking bout, the banquet, the symposium

not of necessity excessive...

but giving opportunity for excess."

Now, if that's a correct understanding of this word,

then the idea is that drinking parties are wrong regardless of whether or not

we get drunk.

Alright, let's continue with Albert Barnes' comments.

This is what he has to say about the phrase "drinking parties."

He says the things forbidden by it is in assembling "together for the purpose of

drinking..."

The idea in this passage is

"...that it is improper for Christians to meet together

for the purpose of drinking-- as wine, toasts, etc. ...It would forbid, therefore,

an attendance on all those celebrations in which drinking toasts is understood to

be an essential part

of the festivities, and

all those where hilarity and joyfullness are sought to be produced

by the intoxicating bowl."