God Hates Booze! :: 7/1/12 AM

God Hates Booze!

Prov. 20:1

Intro: Alcoholic beverages are a multi-billion dollar industry.The total number of drinks consumed in the United States in 1999 was about 65.5 billion for beer, 13.7 billion for wine, and 29.3 billion for distilled spirits.

Nearly HALF of those polled that attend church weekly drink alcohol.

We are losing the war on drunkenness because preachers don’t preach about it anymore.

It has become socially acceptable to drink booze.

The manufacturers of alcoholic beverages know that advertising pays.

Alcohol companies spend approximately 10 billion in advertising per year.

• A study published of 1,786 sixth graders in South Dakota found that youth who were more exposed to alcohol marketing — including television beer advertisements, alcohol ads in magazines, in-store beer displays and beer concessions, radio advertising, and ownership of beer promotional items — were 50% more likely to be drinking when surveyed a year later.

BUT – THEY DON’T SHOW YOU THE DESTRUCTION TO YOUR BODY WHEN YOU DRINK IT!!

The Bible is very clear – Ephesians 5:18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

GOD HATES BOOZE…

I. Because it Disrespects His Creation- Wine is a mocker…

The Bible is filled with references to the mockery of those that are drunken with wine.

• Jeremiah 48:25  The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD. Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

Man was created in the IMAGE OF GOD – a living, breathing representation of GOD on the earth.

We were fearfully and wonderfully made – yet BOOZE MAKES A MOCKERY OF MAN – GOD’S CROWNING CREATION.

A. It makes you disrespect yourself.

FIRST MENTION PRINCIPLE: Genesis 9:21  And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

There’s a lot of speculation as to the circumstances of this story.  How did Noah get drunk?  Did he know the wine was alcoholic?  Did he get drunk on purpose?  What all did his son Ham do to him?

There’s one thing that we do NOT have to speculate about – wine is a mocker!!

A common result of strong drink is it makes a fool out of those that drink it.

Drunks are the butt end of jokes; everybody that sees them laughs at them for their stupidity.

• Job 12:25  They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
• Psalms 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
• Isaiah 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

B. It makes you disrespect others.

In Esther 1, we find King Ahasuerus and his friends “merry with wine” after 7 days of drinking.

He commanded that his wife be brought out to be admired by this crowd of drunken men.

Drunkenness causes people to disrespect and disregard other people.

• Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

This is why a Christian should NEVER work in a place that serves alcohol.  Or sells it either!

They used to be known as BOOTLEGGERS; today, they are WAITRESSES AT RED LOBSTER.

GOD HATES BOOZE…

II. Because it Destroys His Creation – …strong drink is raging…

Definition of Raging: to murmur, growl, roar, cry aloud, mourn, rage, sound, make noise, tumult, be clamorous, be disquieted, be loud, be moved, be troubled, be in an uproar

One of the most destructive elements in the world is BOOZE.

-The U.S. Department of Justice Report on Alcohol and Crime found that alcohol abuse was a factor in 40 percent of violent crimes committed in the U.S.

-Alcohol is involved in 50% of all driving fatalities.

-In the United States, every 30 minutes someone is killed in an alcohol related traffic accident.

-Almost every 90 seconds, a person is injured in a drunk driving crash.

-At least 33 young people ages 15-25 die every day in America in alcohol related traffic accidents.

-Over 15 million Americans are dependent on alcohol. 500,000 are between the age of 9 and 12.

-Americans spend over $90 billion dollars total on alcohol each year.

-Alcohol is the leading risk factor in deaths of males aged 15-59

-The highest percentage of heavy drinkers (12.2%) is found among unemployed adults between the age of 26 to 34

-The 2009 survey shows 25 million (one in ten) Americans surveyed reported driving under the influence of alcohol. This report is nearly three million more than the previous year. Among young adults age 18 to 25 years, almost 23% drove under the influence of alcohol.

-1,700 college students die each year from Alcohol Poisoning

-Alcohol is the number 1 drug problem in America.

-A staggering half-a-million US children aged 9 to 12 are addicted to alcohol

-Alcohol dependence and abuse costs the US $220 billion a year

-Four in ten criminal offenders report alcohol as a factor in violence.

-Among spouse violence victims, three out of four incidents were reported to have involved alcohol use by the offender.

-Drunk driving costs each adult in this country almost $500 per year.

-An average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before first arrest.

GOD HATES BOOZE…

III. Because it Deceives His Creation – …whosoever is deceived is not wise.

A. It is Deceitful about the SERIOUSNESS

The health risks of drinking alcohol are too numerous to list here.

Drinking can destroy your health in numerous ways.  It…

• Increases the risk of cancer in the liver, pancreas, rectum, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx and esophagus
• Increases risk of gouty arthritis
• Causes physical and behavioral abnormalities in the fetus
• Raises blood pressure, blood lipids and the risk of stroke and heart disease
• Raises blood glucose
• Enlarges the kidneys, alters hormone functions, and increases the risk of kidney failure
• Causes fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis
• Causes neuropathy and dementia; impairs balance and memory
• Causes depression, anxiety and insomnia

…and many, many more problems.

B. It is Deceitful about your SURROUNDINGS

Gen. 19:32 – Lot committed incest with both of his daughters while he was drunk. He had no idea it was happening.

C. It is Deceitful about the SINFULNESS of sin

• Romans 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting (drinking and singing parties) and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
• Galatians 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Conclusion: Proverbs 23 expounds on the sinfulness of drunkenness.

29 ¶  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

31  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

32  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

33  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

34  Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

35  They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

1. Booze produces Disappointment – vs. 29
2. Booze produces Death – vs. 32
3. Booze produces Depravity – vs. 33
4. Booze produces Denial – vs. 35
5. Booze produces Dependency – vs. 35b

Conclusion:

God’s Word teaches us that the sin of booze doesn’t satisfy.  It destroys and ruins everything it touches.

But there is Someone that WILL satisfy – Jesus Christ.

• John 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.