Epp, Theodore: Studies In Proverbs-09

I know there are verses in the book of Proverbs and many other passages of scripture you've heard over and over again, and if you are in any way bothered with this problem, you possibly don't want to listen. I beg you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you listen to his word and see what God has to say, what the end thereof is. One introductory verse from the book of Proverbs. I'll have many more later on, but just this one from the twentieth chapter, verse one: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I want you to note especially that last sentence. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. We're deceived thereby. To show you what God's attitude toward this is, I think we need to have a little other introduction. I'll read one verse from, uh, Jesus here, uh, speaking, and then the word has to do with John the Baptist. And John the Baptist was a special servant of the Lord, and note what God had to say about him in the fifteenth verse of the first chapter, when Zacharias was receiving the message from the angel who was telling him that there he was going to have a son in his old age. His name was to be John, and here's what he says about the son. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. This at once reminded me of Ephesians five and verse eighteen, another good key verse. And be ye not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, the next verse I'd like to read for you is found in Judges, the thirteenth chapter, and this has to do with Samson and also has to do with the announcement when it was announced that Samson was to be born. And here is what the angel said unto the father and mother of, uh, Samson. I read especially this has to do with the mother, beginning with verse four uh of the thirteenth chapter of Judges. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, or eat not any unclean thing. This was spoken to the mother who had at that time had conceived, or was to conceive and was to have a son, and all during this time she was not to drink strong drink, nor wine, nor any unclean thing. For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to, he shall deliver the people of Israel. Now, one other passage that I like to read, namely the law of the Nazarite. God gave a law concerning it in the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers, verse two and three. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. First, he gives us a little bit of a statement concerning what Nazarite really means. It means a separation unto the Lord. The actual, the, uh, one separated is the actual meaning of the word. This was a person, either sex, man or woman, separated wholly unto the Lord. Now, absence from wine, the symbol of mere earthly or natural joy, was the expression of a devotedness which found its own and main joy in the Lord and in the Lord only. He goes on to say in this verse, we, he shall be separating himself from wine and strong drink. Not even shall he drink a vinegar of wine or vine vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried. Now, this was the strictness of the Lord concerning a person who was to serve him full time, uh, in the service of the Lord. Now, we know several words that are used here to describe the beverages in the Bible. I'm going to give you just an introduction to this subject today, and then go into the detail of what the Bible teaches about, but especially from the book of Proverbs, where we'll find mo- almost all of our scriptures. Now, wine or any alcoholic, uh, beverage, um, comes from a Greek word, uh, which simply means, uh, and covers various kinds of drink. The word wine, then, uh, in the Bible covers many different kinds of drinks, from the simple grape juice to the strong, fermented, uh, intoxicating alcoholic drink. Anywhere in between, the word wine covers that. So it's the context that's going to have to tell us what kind of drink he's talking about. Let me illustrate this for you. For instance, in uh, the the ninth chapter of the book of Matthew, beginning with verse sixteen and seventeen, he's talking about new wine, and he's telling us, uh, the difference between that and that which is already fermented. Now, new wine is simply grape juice as such. Matthew, the ninth chapter, verse sixteen and seventeen. First he says, no man putteth a piece of new cloth on- unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh the garment, and the rent is made worse. In other words, uh, they didn't have pre-shrunk, uh, cloth at that time, and so if an old cloth, a no dress or something, or trousers or a shirt or something that had been washed many times and had shrunk to its, well, as far as it would shrink, and then it suddenly needed the patch, it would not be good to put a new piece of cloth there because the new piece of cloth would shrink and would at once tear loose or tear, make the tear even greater. Now he's using that as a sort of a jumping off illustration of what he wants to say next. For in the verse seventeen he says, neither do men put new wine, this is grape juice, into old bottles, else the bottles break and the wine runneth out and the bottle perish. Now, though the bottles that he's talking about here are wine skins, they're not bottles made of glass like we think of them. And the bottle perish, but they put new wine into new bottles or new wine skins, and then both are preserved because as it ferments and possibly spreads or whatever it does, uh, the cloth will, the wine, uh, skin will do the same thing. So, also we note that in the Old Testament, they used to mix or mingle strong drinks with wine. Isaiah, the fifth chapter, verse twenty two gives us a little clue on that. He says, Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength who mingle strong drinks. Now, among the Israelites, they used to mix certain drugs with their wine to make it stronger and to make it more, uh, capable of easing pain. Now, an illustration of this is given to us, uh, with reference to Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ was being crucified, I read in the fifteenth chapter of Mark in verse twenty three, and they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. They offered this to him. This was a sort of a, a hypo of some kind, we would call it today, and he did not accept it nor take it. Now, that was a custom, uh, in their particular day. Now, wine and strong drinks are often mentioned separately. Uh, they, uh, can be different, and therefore meaning that the wine may be grape juice, it may be beginning to ferment, it may be mixed wine, and we'll talk about that, or it may be a strong drink as such. So in the twentieth chapter of Proverbs, verse one, we've already read it, but notice again, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Note there we have wine and strong drink used separately, speaking of two different forms of this kind of drink. Now, the mixed wine of the Bible days, we want to talk about that for a moment. They mixed it with water. The ratio differed from two parts of to five parts of water with one part of wine. Only the barbarians in those days drank wine unmixed. Then it was definitely, uh, forbidden that the Jews should drink it, for Israel's wine was already diluted all the time. The Talmud, which has something to do with the law, states that the Passover wine, which was new wine or fermented wine, it doesn't say at all, was to be mixed three parts of water with one part of wine. Now, we cannot read into the scripture when it doesn't say anything about it, so we do not know here what kind of wine it was. But the potency, uh, of the alcoholic beverage, when thus compared with today's beverage, is, and get this, twenty two glasses of this Jewish wine was equal to the alcoholic content of about two uh martinis today. I do not, I've seen martinis, I've seen them served, that's all I know about them. I've never drunk one, I've never tasted one, and don't ever intend to. But what I'm trying to say is, twenty two glasses of Jewish wine compared to two martinis. That gives you an idea. And I understand martinis are not the strongest of drinks, and so the wine that the Jewish people were allowed to drink was way mixed down. Well, the major passage is then in Proverbs that will be, we will examine concerning fermented wine, strong drinks, uh, including what we label as whiskey or liquor. We've already read to you from the twentieth chapter and the first verse. Another verse in that chapter is the seventeenth verse. Bread of deceit is sweet to the man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. This is referring to, uh, verse one where he says, whosoever is deceived by either wine or strong drink, uh, thereby is not wise. Then he says, bread of deceit. In other words, they have been deceived. Then in the twenty third chapter, I read two verses, the twentieth and twenty first verse. Be not among wine bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. I'm just reading a series of verses now, and then in our next broadcast, the days to come, next couple of two, three weeks, we will be discussing these in more detail. Now, here is a description of the Bible's description of what happens to when a man, when he drinks strong drink, and you have seen much of this, but, and it reads very familiar. I begin reading with the twenty ninth verse of the twenty third chapter. Uh, who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? Who hath babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Who? They that tarry long at the wine. They that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it have, uh, giveth off color like that. Uh, at the last it biteth like a serpent, it stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, thine heart shall utter perverse things. This is what a man that has drunk too much is act is like. This is the Bible's description. We- we're very familiar with it. Yea, thou shalt, uh, be as that one that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as one that lieth on the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say. I was not sick. They have beaten me. I felt it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. This is God's description of a drunkard, a man who drinks too much. I turn also to the thirty first chapter, that great chapter about the woman, but we read just a couple of verses there, verses three to seven, he describes it again. Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drinks, lest they drink and forget. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto him that has a heavy heart. Well, we'll discuss all of this in the future. Trust that you will be right there with us. May the Lord bless you as you think upon these things. The subject today by Mr. F is again, what does the Bible say about strong drink? Now turn with me again to the book of Proverbs. At the close yesterday, we gave you a number of scriptures that we were going to discuss with you these days on the subject of hard drink or liquor as such, what the Bible has to say about, especially the book of Proverbs. In the twentieth chapter of the book of Proverbs, verse one, verse seventeen. today. We also will discuss with you from Proverbs twenty three, verse twenty, twenty one, verse twenty nine to thirty five. and then from chapter thirty five thirty one, verses three to seven. But right now, these two verses from Proverbs, the twentieth chapter, verse one: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Verse seventeen says, the bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. Society labels excessive drinking or alcoholism as a sickness. That, uh, they say should be treated accordingly as a sickness. The Bible labels excessive drinking and alcoholism as sin. Now, who are you going to believe? And it must be treated accordingly. Let me turn to one or two passages of scripture where we see that it is labeled together with the worst of worst sins, the sins of the flesh. Galatians five twenty one says, envings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and so on, he mentions. They shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Now, how plainer can the scriptures be? First Corinthians six verses nine and ten, he has this to say, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor thieves, nor covetousness, nor drunkards shall inherit the kingdom of God. So God lists these as the work of the flesh, and they will be punished by eternal death. So let's take God's word for what it says. Drunkenness appeared early in the Bible, and we're going to look at just a couple of cases that we have before us. The very earliest case mentioned, the first case mentioned is the first man that came out of the ark, namely Noah himself. I want to read that portion. It's found in the ninth chapter of the book of Genesis and in verses twenty to twenty five, about Noah getting drunk. And Noah began to be a husbandman, that means a farmer, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within the tent. That's the shame of drunkenness. And Ham, the father of Canaan, and now note where Canaan comes in, which is the grandson of Noah, saw the nakedness of the f- of his father and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. Now please note what follows. Then Noah awoke- woke from his wine, and he knew what his younger son had done unto him. And may I say, in Bible times and in Bible use, a son often could mean a son, grandson, great-grandson, maybe several generations. The son of. Jesus Christ is spoken of as the son of David, but there are at least fourteen generations between the two. So this is what I want you to keep in mind. And so when he speaks of the son here, does he mean Ham, or who does he mean? Well, let's see the next verse will give us the answer. And he said, cursed be Canaan. Who? Canaan, the grandson of Noah, the son of, uh, Ham. He, a servant of servants shall he unto his brethren. And he goes on describing that. Now, who were the Canaanites? The descendants of Canaan. Play, what I want you to note now is, God said that, uh, that is, first of all, I want you to note this, that he did not say anything, uh, with reference to, uh, Noah's sin of getting drunk. And could this not be, and I, I rather believe it was, an experience without knowledge of the effect. He had just begun to be a farmer. He had planted the vineyard, he had pressed out the grapes, and the stuff had fermented, and he drank it, not possibly not knowing at all its effect. He soon learned, sadly so, of course. Now, this is my personal opinion. I have no scripture for that, but God does not reprimand him. The curse was placed upon Canaan, the son of Ham, not on Ham personally. In other words, the grandson of Noah. Then now the descendants of Canaan were the Canaanites that finally went into Palestine, and that is the, those are the people, the wicked people. They were wicked all their lives for generation, hundreds of years, following this incident with Noah, and that is why Joshua was told that he should annihilate them completely from the land. So you see, drunkenness became the underlying cause, uh, and or the effect of the wickedness of the Canaanites, which, uh, was, uh, God says they are to be annihilated. Now, the second case that we have of drunkenness in the Bible is one of the most shameful, uh, shambles and disgraceful shambles in history. But this one we read about in the nineteenth chapter of the book of Genesis, beginning with verse thirty. and I want to read that incident to you. I want you to see, uh, how far drunkenness leads and where it leads to. Now Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains with his two daughters with him. The firstborn said unto the younger, get what they said, our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth. So come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him that we may preserve seed of our father. What a disgraceful shamble. But let's read on. They made their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he perceived not when she lay down nor when she arose. And then the, the next d- night, it was the, the second one. I won't read all of that. Thus were both daughters of Lot with child by their father, and the firstborn bare a son and called his name Moab, and the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. The younger also bear a son and called his name Ben-Ami. Uh, the, the same is the father of the children of Am until this day. So there you have the Moabites and the Ammonites as descendants of Lot through his two daughters, through this shameful act. To follow the history of the Moabites and the Canaanites, uh, the Ammonites, and you'll see what this is all about. This was a terrible, terrible, wicked sin. Now, the daughters, of course, carry the direct blame for this sin. God did not reprove Lot for it because the daughters were responsible. Why did I bring this? To show you God's hatefulness for the sin of drinking and drunkenness. So now, back to Proverbs, the twentieth chapter, verse one. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. And then verse seventeen, which we already read to you. The deceitfulness of wine and strong drink is what I want to talk to you about. Now, the history from the days of Noah proves that the love for wine and strong drink is the most insidious vice and sin mentioned. The wretched victims are often convinced of this much too late, only after they have been deceived, uh, properly. Now they have been mocked, they have been deceived. At first, it overcomes them before they even are aware of it. That's deceit. Then it promises pleasure, which it can never, never fulfill and give. Yet so mighty is its spell or its grip upon the victim or the slave of this, that he consents to be continually mocked again and again, until at last it says it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. Let me read to you from the twenty third chapter, uh, beginning with verse twenty nine. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? He's describing a drunkard. They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, for at the last it biteth like a serpent, and it stingeth like an adder. What a vivid description of the outcome of this kind of deceitfulness. This deceitful and raging power so degrades man, even below that of beasts many times. The drinker, his understanding is gradually impaired. We note in the thirty third verse of this twenty third chapter when he says, uh, thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. What is he describing? That drunkard. And so, my dear friends, the understanding of a man who dares to drink is gradually impaired. Listen to Luke, the twenty first chapter, where we have a warning from the Lord. And take heed to yourself, lest any of you at any time that your hearts be overcharged with serviting and with drunkenness and with cares of this life, so that that day comes upon you unaware. Be ye not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. Today's message by Mr. F takes us to the subject of the deceitfulness of wine and strong drink from Proverbs chapter twenty. Turn to the twentieth chapter of the book of Proverbs, please, where we have our lesson today. Shall we pray? Again, our Father, we've opened thy book. You have information for our hearts. You have correction for us. You give us the, the, the word straight, right from your heart to our heart. And so, Father, we want thy word to sink deep into the hearts today and bring about fruit, the fruit unto eternity, to thy glory. Amen. The deceitfulness of wine and strong drink is our basic general subject. Turning once again to the twentieth chapter of the book of Proverbs, two verses. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I want to discuss you with you especially this idea of being deceived. Verse seventeen: bread of deceit is sweet to the man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. The history from the days of Noah proved that a love for wine and strong drink is the most insidious vice and sin. The wretched victims are often convinced of this too late. They have been mocked, they have been deceived. Uh, first, it overcomes them before they are even aware of it. Then it promises pleasures it simply cannot give. Yet, so mighty is its spell upon and a grip upon them that the victims, who are often slaves to this, consent to be mocked again and again and deceived over and over again, till at last, as we read in the twenty third chapter, verse thirty two, it biteth like a serpent and it stingeth like an adder. Let the word of God speak, friends, today. Be much in prayer, my dear Christian friend. Uh, we, we do not hate people who drink. We love the people, but we hate the sin. This deceitful and raging power so degrades man that even many times it's below the level of the animal life. Wine mocks a man. Strong drink deceives to the ultimate degree. Many ways in which it is deceives, we're going to discuss with you. First of all, it's false claims. One of them is that alcohol is nourishing. Well, to begin with, we have a little truth there, just a little truth. That's the way Satan likes to come. He likes to bring a little truth, but it's mostly a lie. It helps to destroy man's food potential. Grain used for alcohol could feed multitudes who are starving today. Frankly, that which should be used to feed the thousands who die daily, I said daily, of starvation is now used to gratify the greedy appetite of many drinkers. Is that not a major deceit? The Bible says it is deceitful. Secondly, it claims to be of medical value. Again, Satan comes with just a little truth, but mostly a lie. It certainly is not curative of any curative value. It only gives a man the feeling of well-being, if you please. It may stir up his courage, if you please, but all of this is transitory. It is just for the moment. It does not satisfy. Alcohol never adds to man's strength, nor to his days. In fact, the opposite is more true. It saps the man of his strength, and it shortens his day. How many people have died as a result of overdoing this? Now, I know, I know what some of you are thinking, but the Bible speaks of it. Yes, it does. Speaks of it in Israel. We're going to get to all of that. We're going to discuss that with you. Our basis is in Proverbs, of course, but we're going to find many other passages and many other incidents. So instead of really giving man strength, it saps man of his strength and shortens his days. Alcohol is now considered the third killer in our nation. Heart disease is number one, cancer is number two, and then alcohol is the number three killer. Listen to this. This is a based on facts, factual statistics. Drunkenness has killed more men than all the wars of history. Now there's a third claim. And this is one of the most absurd and inconsistent. The claims of a great source of revenue. All right, let's take a good look at that. According to Isaac Thomas, and an authority on this, says that in nineteen seventy eight the Americans spent three million dollars per hour on alcoholic beverages. I want to repeat that. This is from the figures of Isaac Thomas, an authority on this, that in nineteen seventy eight the Americans spent three million dollars per hour on alcoholic beverages. That amounts to twenty eight billion dollars per year spent on alcoholic drinks. Now, how much revenue comes from that? The revenue amounts to eight billion dollars annually. Now, you take that figure by itself, and that's usually the figure that they give you, as it it has great revenue value, and there are eight eight billion dollars collected each year from taxes and so on. That sounds great. But what they don't tell you is that it, they spent twenty eight billion dollars annually on the al- alcoholic beverages in order to net eight billion dollars for the government. Well, according to uh, uh, Isaac Thomas again, we need to add to that another twenty five billion which are paid out to pay for the results of alcoholism. Now, this includes all the related results and costs, such as absenteeism, accidents, medical care, welfare which is connected with the, uh, alcoholic drinking, the support of the victims' families, the penitentiaries, upkeep for the alcoholic criminal, and then the upkeep of the institutions for the lunatics caused by the liquor, and so on, and so on, and so on. Add another twenty five billion cost to that. Frankly, the drain on the country's treasury is three times as much as the revenue, or three and a half times as much as the revenue received from this cause. So there now you have the figures. So there, it- it's deceitful, we say. Let's not believe all of it. But the question is, who does paying for this deficit? You, I, the taxpayer. There's something wrong, something very inconsistent. When the state license a saloon keeper who, uh, make the drunkard paupers, then taxes the sober non-drinker to care for the down sodden wretches. I know I get in inner indignation when I think of some of these terrible inconsistencies. Yes, the Bible says wine is a mocker. It makes fools of us. It is the great deceiver. And I was just thinking of Elijah today as I was going over this and thinking about this, when he said to the people of Israel, how long halt ye between two opinions? Today, as I was going over this and thinking about this, when he said to the people of Israel, how long halt ye between two opinions? If God be God, then worship him, if Baal, then Baal. I would say, how long are we willing to be deceived in this manner, and there also halt between two opinions? President Abraham Lincoln in his time said, liquor may have many defenders, but it has no defense. I repeat that. This is from Abraham Lincoln. Liquor may have many defenders, but no defense. At present, there's a move to point out the ills of drinking. Now, I'm not talking about that which is sponsored by the churches. Much of that has been done, and thank God for the churches and the Christian people and the Christian women and all of those who are helping to offset this. But I'm talking about a move by the agency of our government. It is an attempt to make people think about the awful results of drinking. And I ask another the question again, where is their consistency? We're being told that a man must be free to practice his rights, that is, free to buy and drink as he wants to. So, uh, they give license to the, uh, seller of liquor, and then accept his r- the revenue that comes from the sales of it, uh, to, and then they pay the cost of the awful result of, uh, this vicious and evil freedom, then add to all of that, spend more money to try to teach people the evil result of liquor. Where is their consistency? The Bible says, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise, meaning he's a fool. Sin is irrational. Sinful man is irrational. So his reasoning is also all irrational and all mixed up. Mockery and deceit are the kindest words, and that's the words that the Bible uses. They're the kindest words that one can say about this kind of reasoning. Sometimes I think we would like to say some harder words, but these are the words God uses. Now, we patrol our highways, and that is good. We cut the speeds and the speed limits, and that is good. We punish the drunken driver, and that is good. But we sell him the liquor. Half of the highway deaths are liquor, liquor related. Where is there any consistency? This is all deceit. Now turning to the seventeenth verse, I want to read it again. Bread of deceit is sweet to the man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. Now verse seventeen here is an enlargement beyond, of course, alcoholic problems, but it includes the problem, if you please. Let me read to you from the ninth chapter of the book of Proverbs, verse seventeen and eighteen. Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depth of hell. The direct interpretation here has to do with the fornicator, but certainly the interpretation also includes, and the application includes, their drinking, please. Let me use a few illustrations, if you please. One of them I take from the Old Testament. We see Achan, his secret sin of deceit, which brought upon himself and upon his family death. Let me read about it. In the seventh chapter of the book of Joshua, beginning with verse twenty one. And this is Achan now speaking after Joshua has confronted him, uh, with a terrible sin. And he says, when I s- saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and two hundred uh, shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, I coveted them. Notice this, please. That's that here is sin. I saw, second, I coveted them. Thirdly, I took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver and so on is under it. Then we find that there, that Achan is brought out, and his family is brought out, his cattle is brought out, and they are all stoned to death as a result of this terrible deceit and sin. Even Jacob, a true servant of God, was chastened heavily for his sins of deceit. Whatever the tempter offers at first, my friends, it follows, is followed by deceit, always. And often the price is the ruin of the soul. The end cost is enormous for a trifle of enjoyment for the moment. It just doesn't pay. Now I have just time today to introduce to you our subject for next week, namely the warning against evil results of the drinking habit. And we're going to give them under five different topics, the results that come as a result, as I should say, of this drinking