Today we are addressing a sensitive and controversial topic among others as women in ministry, swearing, covering of head, divorce and remarriage. Today we will talk about alcoholic beverage drinking, should you as a Christian and child of God take part.
We want to first of all say that the gospel truth can not be altered. Just as it came down onto us from the Lord, we are to obey. Getting into the Rhema of the Word and not just limit ourselves at Logos brings about a difference. Remember;
The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Gives Life.
In 2 Corinthians 3:6; "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
The "letter," is the law of Moses, certainly; but the application can and should be wider, to encompass any law devised by man or another religion. Basing one's faith upon adhering to any set of laws or rules will inevitably lead to spiritual death. The letter kills!
How clear the Bible is on this point, but how stubbornly our untamed old nature yearns to placate God with rules and good works! Why? It's a question of control. Are we in control of our own ways before God through the Holy Ghost living in us?
WHAT WE MUST CONSIDER
We Are A Kingdom Of Priests.
In Exodus 19:5-6, God met Moses on Mount Sinai. There, God issued a series of commands for the nation of Israel. These commands were meant to draw the nation into holiness, from which state they could fellowship freely with God. God told Moses:
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)
In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter addressing the church say,
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;
They are a people separated from common. They are a chosen people, chosen by God to be His possession, a royal priest, a people given to holiness who have God for master.
A people who no longer worship at a tabernacle or temple. After the ultimate sacrifice was made when Christ died on the cross, the veil that provided a demarcation between the priest and people was torn from tom yo bottom making direct way for the israelites to contact God. Israel here after join the priesthood and are entitled to follow rules binding to the priest. So we; Christians are of God’s royal priesthood: People set apart for God's possession, and fellowshipping.
In Leviticus 9, following their consecration, God issued specific instructions to Aaron and his fellow priests:
“And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, and you must teach Israel all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses.” (Leviticus 10:8-11)
So, as members of a spiritual priesthood, we see that Aaron was told to refrain from “strong drink” prior to entering God’s sanctuary. Why? Because strong drink affects our ability to discern between “the holy and the common, the unclean and the clean”.
Wine Is A Blinds
Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn't get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king's palace guard. 2 Samuel 11:13
King David wanted to use the weapon of drunkenness on Uriah to get cover up for the sin of adultery he committed that led to pregnancy.
Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. And 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 all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
The next 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 offspring from our father.” 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. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab.He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
Genesis 19:30-38. This is the sad story of Lot and His Daughters.
Wine Is A Mocker
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” Proverbs 20:1
When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Genesis 9:21
“Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.” Proverbs 23:20
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
“Nowhere in the Old Testament is it forbidden to drink alcohol. But Drunkenness is absolutely forbidden to a member of the covenant people of God. Drunkenness is an acted insult to the holy character of the human life. The drunken man or woman has reached the point where he or she can no longer make judgments dependent on faith and love.”
Just as entering the tabernacle under the influence of alcohol was “a form of blasphemy” drunkenness in the life of a christian blasphemes the temple of God Himself because our bodies are temples of His Spirit.
We Are Temples Of God's Spirit
Wine is not evil, nor is it forbidden. But drunkenness and everything associated with it is consistently condemned throughout Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments. Why?
Because drunkenness inhibits our ability to fellowship with God.
So when our words, actions, and choices are altered by the effects of alcohol, we cannot protect the glory of God within us to the degree it deserves.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul made a distinction between being “drunk with wine” and “filled with the Spirit”. ...Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…” Eph. 5:15-19.
For some, it is easier to maintain holiness by avoiding alcohol completely.
Others are able to use discernment in the amount and location in which alcohol is consumed which of course is being hypocritical in what they will preach in the light or when seen and in darkness; when they are away from "eyes". We want to vehemently condemn this behaviour or principle as concerns alcohol and the Christian because like it or not, God can see in both positions they find themselves in, and in none of these positions have they ceased to be the royal priests.
Drunkenness is not a joke.
It is powerful message to all who want to hear. Drunkenness is a trumpet call to demons of disgrace, disorder, destruction and even murder in some cases to step in and take over things.
Drunkenness is a message to the devil. The drunkard says... " I love you Satan and I offer my body in worship by this alcohol I drink. It is also a message to ones own body and self. Haven failed to keep Luke 14:26 ... "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters yes, even their own life such a person cannot be my disciple...."
The drunkard is showing love and concern for his body's need of alcohol instead of love and devotion to God.
Drunkenness is an affront to the identity we bear as Christians. It is a must sacrifice for some? Yes. Those who have decided to keep themselves clean, holy, consecrated only and only life living for Christ and for His church. By choosing Christ, we chose to make our lives altars to His goodness, and our bodies temples to His Spirit. It’s a small price to pay for the fullness of eternity. It’s a small price to pay in light of Gospel Grace. Amen!
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