1. Good Morning,
Greetings…
Series of lessons on “Morals & Ethics.”
Last week we began to look at a specific moral issue “The Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages.”
We started this study looking at the O.T. prohibitions to the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
This week we are going to be continuing this study looking into what the N.T. has to say on this most important subject.
Next week we will look at arguments that have been formed over the years by some to try and justify the consumption of alcoholic beverages. (SLIDE)

2. New Testament Ephesians 5:18
Like with the O.T. it really doesn’t take much study to see that the N.T. prohibits Christians from consuming alcoholic beverages.
With that being said let’s examine our lesson for today.

3. Priests
Last week we started out looking at this most important law that was made in the book of Leviticus. (SLIDE)

4. “And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean”
Now here the law clearly points out that the priest under the Law of Moses were not allowed to partake of any alcoholic wine or strong drink.
Why, because they were the ones that entered into the temple which is holy and those beverages are called “common & unclean” not “holy and clean.”
If God did not want His priests partaking of that which is worldly and sinful then why would He want his “modern” priests to do so? (SLIDE)
Leviticus 10:8-10

5. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Notice, not only are all children of God “priests” we are also always in the “temple of God” now. (SLIDE)
1 Peter 2:9

6. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
As Christians we are priests of God who are continually in God’s temple making perpetual sacrifices. (SLIDE)
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

7. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
The verb “living” here is in the present tense and signifies continuality.
Like God’s priests in the O.T., God expects His present day priests who continually make sacrifices in God’s home to stay away from that which is common and unclean. (SLIDE)
Romans 12:1

8. “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct”
As priests today let us always abound in holy conduct!!! (SLIDE)
1 Peter 1:15

9. Abstinent
Now “social drinking” i.e. the idea of drinking with others socially has always been easily condemned by anyone competent in the Scriptures.

10. “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God…
1 Peter 4:1-4

11. …For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you”
The KJV has “excess of wine”
The NIV has “carousing”
The word here literally means “social drinking.”
In other words gathers where alcoholic beverages were offered and intended to be consumed.
Thus “social drinking” is only advocated by those completely ignorant of the God’s Holy Writ.
The question really is, can a Christian consume alcoholic beverages in the privacy of his/her own home?
Notice what Paul writes in Ephesians 5: Read “then” (SLIDE)
1 Peter 4:1-4

12. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”
Now here we have the most powerful verse in the New Testament on the issue at hand.
Remember, Paul has created a contrast between “that which is proper and that which is not proper” among the saints (vs 3).
Those that imbibe in that which is improper will have “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (vs 5)
Those that partake in the improper rather than the proper will be considered “unwise” by God. (vs 15)
Now with that being understood Paul then writes vs 18…
There are two things that are significant here and the reason why I said this is the most powerful verse in the N.T. on this issue of consuming alcoholic beverages.
First, Paul has established through contrasting the proper things with the improper things that you cannot be partakers of both at the same time.
You cannot be fornicators and sexually pure at the same time.
You cannot be thieves and honest at the same time.
You cannot have alcoholic wine in you and the Holy Spirit, why, because wine is debauchery. That’s right the word debauchery is grammatically attached to wine not “get drunk/filled.”
Second, this truth is bore out in the phrase “get drunk.”
Murphy states…(SLIDE)
Ephesians 5:18

13. “The Greek expression, mee methuskesthe "be not drunken" is present tense, imperative, and passive voice. It could accurately be translated today as, "be not being drunken or intoxicated." This prohibits the start of a process which ends in a drunken state...Do not find yourself in the process of BEING intoxicated and means to avoid the first drink!”
Willis states…
Murphey

14. “methuskesthe, 2nd person plural, present, imperative, passive form of the root word methusko....to get drunk, or to grow drunk...the process of...The clear import of the definition of the term is that we are not to engage ourselves in the process which will make us drunk...How much liquor starts the process? The answer is the very first drop. That means that the social drinker has sinned with his casual drink.”
The New Testament did not limit its prohibition of alcoholic consumption to Ephesians 5:18.
No, the Bible makes it very clear the type of mind Christians are expected to have. (SLIDE)
Willis

15. Sober-Minded There are several verses that show this expectation.
It is an elder qualification – 1 Timothy 3:2
It is a preacher qualification – 2 Timothy 4:5
It is a Christian qualification – 1 Peter 1:13; 4:7
The same root word found in these passages is found in another passage that is “once again” contrasting sin and righteousness. (SLIDE)

16. “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”
Isn’t it interesting that Paul, in contrasting righteousness with sin, would use the word “sober” for righteousness.
The Greek word for “sober” literally means…(SLIDE)
1 Thessalonians 5:6-8

17. “to abstain from wine (keep sober)”
Vine’s defines it as…(SLIDE)
Strong’s

18. “to be free from the influence of intoxicants”
Vine’s

19. New Testament Ephesians 5:18
Brothers and sisters the N.T. and O.T. for that matter are very clear, the consumption of alcoholic beverages was and is considered by God sinful, improper, unwise, and that which will keep us from heaven.
Next week we begin to look at a number of “arguments for” alcoholic beverage consumption” and some of those “supposed” difficult verses that are found in the O.T.

20. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Have Faith In Jesus
Repent/Turn To God
Confess Jesus As Lord
Obey The Gospel
Live A Faithful Life
Romans 10:17
Hebrews 11:6
Luke 13:3
Matthew 10:32
Romans 6:3-5
1 John 1:7

21. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Romans 10:17

22. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:17

23. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Have Faith In Jesus
Romans 10:17
Hebrews 11:6

24. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6

25. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Have Faith In Jesus
Repent/Turn To God
Romans 10:17
Hebrews 11:6
Luke 13:3

26. “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:3

27. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Have Faith In Jesus
Repent/Turn To God
Confess Jesus As Lord
Romans 10:17
Hebrews 11:6
Luke 13:3
Matthew 10:32

28. “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 10:32

29. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Have Faith In Jesus
Repent/Turn To God
Confess Jesus As Lord
Obey The Gospel
Romans 10:17
Hebrews 11:6
Luke 13:3
Matthew 10:32
Romans 6:3-5

30. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
Romans 6:3-5

31. God’s Plan of Salvation
Study God’s Word
Have Faith In Jesus
Repent/Turn To God
Confess Jesus As Lord
Obey The Gospel
Live A Faithful Life
Romans 10:17
Hebrews 11:6
Luke 13:3
Matthew 10:32
Romans 6:3-5
1 John 1:7

32. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7