The Book of Proverbs
Living Life Gods Way
Lesson 7:
Part 2
The Un-Intoxicated Life
Are you so tranquil? Did you know we’re supposed to live a life in Christ, with His wisdom that transforms us,
so that people don’t see us.
As the goal in life is, not to get as many people noticing you, and your post, and your tan, and your hair, and
your shoes, but to see Christ. And when they see Christ in a human being, they go, why are you like that? Why do
you act that way? Why are you so kind? Why are you so… What they asked was, why are you so peaceful? Tranquil
is the English word. So, you know what we got to do? We shared the Gospel. That’s God’s plan for us. And that’s
what Proverbs is all about.
Well, let’s get to Proverbs. What are the characteristics of fools? Proverbs describes what a foolish person
looks like. They deny God. They worship themselves. They mock at sin. They love to contaminate others. They
want to get you doing what they’re doing. In fact, it bothers them if you don’t do what they do. Remember
Peter said that? Your friends, when you get saved, get bothered when you don’t run the same way they do,
after sin. They want you to be contaminated. They reject wisdom and they’re headed toward self-destruction.
By the way, that’s what Proverbs 1:32 says.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
This is where foolish people are headed. The turning way of the simple will slay them, and the
complacency of fools will destroy them. Fools self-destruct. They just keep going in a direction that God
says is headed toward destruction.
So, you say, well, so what? Well, guess what? When we as believers aren’t careful, we can be foolish. Look at
what Jesus said in Luke 24:25.
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
What did He say? He said, Oh fools and slow to believe. That’s what He said on
the road to Emmaus, to those that were walking with Him. He said, you as a believer act like a fool when you
don’t believe the Word of God. Let me talk about that.
Do you know what God says? He wants to keep you in perfect peace. He wants you to live in triumph. He wants you
to have the joy of the Lord as your strength. He wants you to reflect Christ in every way. When we don’t believe
Him, we’re acting like a lost person. We’re foolish. When we disobey the truth, what did Paul say to the Galatians?
O foolish Galatians! Who has deceived you? You know what they were? They were thinking by keeping a bunch of rules,
by their diet, by their observance of the Sabbath day, they thought that they were going to be pleasing God by
rule keeping. Did you know we’re supposed to keep the rules, but not to please God, but because we love Him. But
not to make ourselves righteous. See, there’s… It’s interesting how Galatians explains to us that we have the
Holy Spirit in us that changes us and causes us to want to obey God, but we don’t keep the rules to be better.
But I’m not teaching Galatians, someone else does that. When we desire wrong things, in 1 Timothy 6:9,
1 Timothy 6:9
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which
drown men in destruction and perdition.
When you want wealth so much that you disobey the Lord, the Lord says you’re foolish that you want wealth. And
James 3:13 when, and we’ve already covered that, when we want to follow the world and do wrong things.
James 3:13
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his
works with meekness of wisdom.
Okay, so that takes us to this lesson from Proverbs. I call it the Unintoxicated Life. Look at this. This is
America. Craft brewery, come drink beer with us. That’s the biggest thing in America. Everybody wants a microbrewery.
What does God want? He wants the unintoxicated life. So, let’s start. Here, I want to read these with you. And
let’s see, Let read Proverbs 20:1.
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Then will read Proverbs 23:20-21
20 Be not among winebibbers*; among riotous eaters of flesh:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Then read Proverbs 23:29.
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions*? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause?
who hath redness of eyes?
Then read Proverbs 31:4.
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for* princes strong drink:
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. It doesn’t say if you
drink. It says if you’re led astray. That was a good verse. You’re not wise. You’re not acting like a believer.
Okay, next, Proverbs 23:20-21. Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat; For the drunkard
and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. Ah, don’t be around people that
love to drink, but also people that eat too much food. Did you catch that? Glut, that’s what glutton is. How did
your Bible put it? Gluttonous. Isn’t that an interesting English word? I wonder what that is in Japanese.
Okay. Proverbs 23:29.
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has
redness of eyes? Now read Proverbs 23:30,
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
They that tarry long in the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Wow.
And finally, Proverbs 31:4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes
intoxicating drink; And, on and on. You can read Proverbs 31:6 too,
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to those who are bitter of heart.
Boy is that a great passage.
So, this says, don’t be around people that drink. And this says, watch out for people that are gluttonous and
love to drink. And this says, all the problems of people that drink. But this says in verse 6, drink. See what
Proverbs is? It’s very interesting. It gives us an understanding of what God wants for un intoxicated living.
Basically this, alcohol is described 256 times in the Bible. Drinking alcohol is talked about a lot, but let’s
talk about what it’s talking about. Did you know that in the Bible times, the highest alcohol level anybody could
ever get was 4% alcohol. Do you understand that? Did you know, it wasn’t until the Arabs, the Arabic people invented
distillation. Did you know that they invented a lot of stuff. Arabic people, the Islamic culture has invented in
architecture, in science, and literature. They’re not just what we see going on right now in Gaza. They’re not
all terrorists. Some of them are premier scientists, philosophers, and everything. They figured out in the Middle
Ages how to distill alcohol.
You understand how alcohol works? Alcohol is produced by what’s called anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic means
without oxygen. That’s why if you close something up, like water in something, after a while, if you open it,
it stinks. Like your hot tub, or your swimming pool, or your clothes that are wet, and you put them inside
something and close it up, what happens to them? They sour. They smell. What is that? That’s the growth of
bacteria that grows without air. It’s anaerobic respiration. That’s what alcohol is. It’s produced by sugar
being converted into alcohol by bacteria. So, next time you drink any alcohol, you’re drinking germs. Okay,
that’s basically it. But there’s a limiting factor. If it goes too long, it produces too much that kills the
bacteria. So, the most alcohol concentration you can get in wine is 4%, or beer. And they learned how to make,
kind of, strong beer. That’s why Proverbs says, don’t drink wine and those that follow after strong [drink.]
They found out that if you, it’s kind of like brandy… I don’t know. You know what an alcoholic is?
They would rather drink alcohol than eat food.
Right here, wine and beer, they finally figured out how to get something stronger, but they didn’t know about this.
So, when people today drink, kind of like in a western, give me another whiskey, that was impossible. Impossible
until about, I don’t know, 900 AD. They didn’t have any of what we call alcohol, distilled alcohol. Whiskey, vodka,
all that kind of stuff. None of that came around until about a thousand years ago. So, in the Bible, the reason it
keeps saying don’t hang around people that tarry by the alcohol… did you know if you drink 4% stuff long enough,
it will really affect you. If you drink it, enough of it. That’s why the Bible says that deacons are not supposed
to be tarrying around wine, and elders are not supposed to have any at all. It’s because God said, a spiritual
leader should totally have nothing to do with alcohol.
But, normal people could have some of this kind of stuff. Why? What did Paul tell Timothy? Drink wine for your
stomachs.
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
The Book of Proverbs Living Life Gods Way Lesson 7: Part 2