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[0:00] Proverbs 20, if you've got your Bibles there, and it starts off from verse 1.!

[0:30] And the thing really is, drinkers are losers. Drinkers are losers. It says that you're going to lose some things when you drink. If you're a drunkard, first thing you lose is your credibility.

[0:42] It says that wine is a mocker. You lose your credibility. People are affected by drink. It's kind of funny in a way, isn't it? When someone's drunk, stagging around, people kind of laugh and joke and think it's a funny thing.

[0:55] It is kind of a sick joke, isn't it? When you see someone stumbling around, acting crazy, wine is a mocker. It makes them look a fool. It makes someone look stupid.

[1:06] It makes men look foolish. It's a shame job. It's a disgrace. What a waste. What a shame. When people drink the fridge filled with booze, people are slobbering this, caught in its vice-like grip.

[1:20] That's what drink does to people. It's a mocker. It's going to poke fun at you. And drinking leads to drunkenness. People experts say that one out of every ten drinkers becomes an alcoholic.

[1:30] One out of every ten becomes an alcoholic. That's a lot, isn't it? And the man who resorts to the bottle is a loser. Wine is a mocker. He's a joke.

[1:41] A waster. A disgrace. He becomes a clown. A buffoon. A fool. He loses his sense. He's standing. His common sense. He staggers and reels and vomits.

[1:51] And people laugh at him. Wine is a mocker. It's going to make a fool out of you. A drinker is addicted, chained, controlled. He becomes a laughing stock.

[2:02] A pathetic drunk. A spectacle. They tell stories about people who are under the influence. They tell stories.

[2:13] And then afterwards when they wake up they don't know what they've been up to. You don't know when to take them seriously or not. A drinker. He becomes ashamed to his family. It's a sad, pathetic sight.

[2:25] On average every year, every year in the US, more than 600,000 college students are assaulted by other students who have been drinking. More than 70,000 students are sexually assaulted or date raped by people who have been drinking.

[2:41] More than 100,000 students say they were too drunk to know if they willingly have sexual relations. 2.1 million students drive under the influence of alcohol.

[2:53] Huge drinking is another problem amongst young people. It's a huge problem. One person dies every 33 minutes in an alcohol-related incident in the US.

[3:04] That's massive isn't it? One every 33 minutes. There's so many sad statistics we could say about drinking. Booze. It brings heartache.

[3:16] It brings sorrow and death to the families of our nation. We've seen people in our circle who have come to the church and they've given up the booze, but it's done its damage.

[3:26] It's done its damage in the early years. You reap what you sow. It's going to hurt you. Don't make the mistake. Don't become a drunkard. It's a dumb thing to do.

[3:38] If you're a drunkard, you're going to be a loser. You're going to lose your credibility. Secondly, if you're a drunkard, you're going to lose your cool. You're going to lose your cool.

[3:49] Strong drink is raging. Strong drink is raging. It makes you mad. Drink can lead to violence and rage. It turns people into monsters. We've seen that. I've seen people get like that with a bit of alcohol under their belt.

[4:03] You don't know what they're going to do. It turns people into another person. It can send people crazy into fits of temper and fighting, into violence and rage.

[4:14] Not only do you lose your credibility, you lose your cool. We know in the world that we're living in, in this community, or in many communities where we see the sad effect of what alcohol does, tearing people's families apart because people can't control themselves.

[4:30] They've got domestic violence, people getting bashed up, abuse, people losing control of their faculties and their self-control and their reason. You know, Julie and I lived down the road here, Davies Street, Elizabeth Park.

[4:45] Our first home was a semi-detached housing SA home. That was our first home as a family. And in our first nights there, we would hear through the wall of the semi-detached home, the drunken fights next door.

[4:59] The man, big guy, a nice guy. But when he got alcohol in him, he turned into a monster, bashing up his wife, beating her with uncontrollable anger, smashing and damaging house and furniture.

[5:11] He became a monster. If you drink, you're going to lose your cool. Drink is a killer. It's the cause of much evil in our world today. There are high in alcohol-related crashes every day.

[5:23] Ninety percent of inmates on death row come from homes where drug abuse and alcohol abuse played a prominent part. It's often those that are behind bars, drink had a part to play in locking them up.

[5:37] Monkers are noisy brawlers. Drink makes men fight and argue. They rage and rave on. These are things that we all know. We don't even have to read the Bible to know this.

[5:47] This is fact. This is a reality. This is a real thing in many people's lives in our world today. It's common. Sadly, it's commonplace. And drink, it damages a Christian's influence.

[5:59] If you're a Christian, you say you're a Christian and you're boozing away, it's going to destroy your influence. How much of a witness can you be? A credible witness when you're drinking, when you're going down the bottle shop with all the worldly crowd and buying your junk to booze with?

[6:16] What kind of an influence will that be? It's going to damage your testimony. It's going to damage your walk with God. It's going to damage what kind of a witness you can be to the world around you. And it's going to destroy your ability to control yourself.

[6:28] And it can lead directly to more and more sin. People tonight, I'm just being honest with you. As the Word of God tells you, strong drink is raging.

[6:38] It's going to destroy your ability to control yourself. So don't give way to this addiction. Don't give way to it. In the Word it says, not to give place to the devil.

[6:48] Don't give him an inch. Drink is going to give him an inroad. It's going to open up your mind and your thinking to that influence, which is another influence than God's influence.

[7:00] It can lead to more and more sin. So think about what's dominating your life. Is it the Holy Spirit? We know the Word says, be filled with the Spirit. Don't be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

[7:14] And drink. It's going to dominate and destroy you and the lives of those you love. So we've seen here, if you're a drunkard, you're going to lose. If you're a drunkard, you're going to be a loser. You're going to lose your credibility and you're going to lose your cool.

[7:28] And thirdly, another area that drink will lead to is if you're a drunkard, you lose your common sense. You lose your common sense. It says there, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

[7:43] It's not a wise thing. It's not a smart thing to do. You're going to lose your common sense. Really, it's stupid. It's stupid. We see the folk down there glugging away down at the pub and just drinking themselves stupid.

[7:58] And you lose your common sense. You don't have control of your mind anymore when you partake of alcohol because really it's a trap. And many people that fall for this trap.

[8:10] We know that we need to be wise instead. Not to be deceived, but to be wise. Drink is poison. Literally, it's poison. Alcohol contains C2H6O.

[8:24] Ethyl alcohol is another name for that chemical. It's a chemical. It's actually a poison. When you have enough of this stuff, it'll burn your mouth and it will sour your stomach.

[8:37] This is why people often vomit when they drink alcohol. When they drink too much of it, they often vomit because it's doing the damage on the inside. It's literally a poison.

[8:48] It's like, you know, there's a saying that goes at the bars, I'm told, name your poison. What do you want as your poison? And that's really, that being real. That being true because that's what alcohol is.

[9:01] It is poison. If you eat enough of it, rather drink enough of it, it's going to hurt you. And we know that there's a limit to how much you can drink before you do actually die from it.

[9:13] And years ago, a study found that alcohol was responsible for 20% of divorces, 25% of insanity, 27% of poverty, 47% of child misery and 50% of crimes.

[9:29] Massive, isn't it? Just the statistics would tell us these figures are now likely much worse as well in today's time. And medical reports show that alcohol affects your esophagus, your stomach, your liver, your intestines, your bloodstream, your pancreas, your heart, your bladder, your kidneys, your glands and your brain.

[9:53] You know, it pickles you from the inside out. It brings a loss of coordination, confusion, disorientation, stupor, anaesthesia, coma and death.

[10:06] Alcohol, it kills brain cells and brain damage is permanent. You can't replace those brain cells that the poison destroys, the poison of alcohol.

[10:19] And drink is often seen by many as a way they think, oh, I'll drown my sorrows. It's the kind of saying they have, isn't it? The kind of thinking they have. Let's have fun and party on.

[10:32] But really it's an illusion. It's deception because as they drink of that alcohol, it's really, it's damaging their brain! And the other body parts I talked about, it's actually not really drowning their sorrows at all.

[10:45] It might give them an artificial distraction from what's going on in their life. But really it's not any help to them at all. And drink damages your capacity to think.

[10:55] It damages your capacity to make moral judgments too. It can lead to fornication and sin because people are not thinking straight. They're not in control of their minds.

[11:06] And of course we know that it's a fact too that pregnant women have a much greater chance of permanently damaging their unborn children.

[11:17] Even just a few days after conception. Now this is a reality that there's a syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, where the baby is actually swimming in a bath of alcohol.

[11:32] That is effectively what's happening because the alcohol that's inside the mother is damaging the child. And that's why some children are born with all kinds of problems because of the alcohol, the damage that's done.

[11:46] So alcohol, it can bring pain, misery, sin and death. Like the devil, it deceives. It attracts and tricks you.

[11:57] It will come and cheat you. Now there's different views about alcohol. Some people think it's okay. The danger is certainly drunkenness is very plain in the Word of God.

[12:11] That we're not to drink to get drunk. And people, there's much warning in the Word of God to avoid that kind of danger.

[12:22] And like the devil, alcohol can deceive. It can trick you. And drink, it brings waste. It brings disappointment. Hangovers and regrets.

[12:32] People don't know what they've done while they've been under its control. We know it talks in the Word too about how people have hurts and wounds. And they don't realise how.

[12:44] It's because when they were drunk, they were throwing themselves around or getting in fights. It leaves behind a trail of wrecked relationships of shame and despair.

[12:55] It's powerfully addictive. The drunkard says in Proverbs 23 verse 35, he says, I will seek it yet again. So it doesn't matter what wreckage has happened and what damage he's done to himself.

[13:10] The drunkard wakes up and he says, oh, I'm going to seek it yet again. I'm going to go and get another bottle. He's hooked. He's hooked. It's got a hold of him.

[13:21] And we can be trapped by that. We can get trapped by booze. So people tonight, young people, older people, choose not to drink.

[13:31] Choose not to take drugs. Choose to give your life over to the Lord and to his control instead of things that are going to take away your self-control.

[13:42] The Bible is very clear about how we should live with self-control. It talks about temperance. It talks about having control of yourself. And when alcohol's got a control of you, then you're disobeying that scripture.

[13:56] And surveys have found that one of the top five reasons teenagers drink is because their parents drink. Parents, you must remember that whatever you do in moderation, your children will likely do in excess.

[14:13] And as a parent, how much it is important upon you to set an example to your children. And if they see you drinking in moderation, whilst you might think it's harmless and you can excuse it for whatever reason, beware that your children are watching you.

[14:31] And they likely will partake in a greater measure. And some ask, is it okay for a Christian to be a moderate drinker? That is a question we all have to answer for ourselves.

[14:42] I'm not here to condemn anyone or put any laws on you. But just to simply state, the Bible clearly says, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

[14:55] And parents need to set a good example and steer clear of that danger. And Christians are urged, the word tells us, abstain from all appearance of evil, even the appearance of it.

[15:08] The Bible condemns drunkenness. I do not believe it's right for me to drink. I will not walk into a bottle shop and order an alcoholic drink or into a hotel and buy alcohol.

[15:22] How can I support an industry that blinds and binds so much of humanity today? How can I be seen to favour the sale of liquor when it destroys so many lives and wrecks homes and tears families apart with violence and waste?

[15:41] You know, I've been at the doors of some of the bus kids and seen a mother, her face blackened, blackened and blue where she'd been bashed up.

[15:52] I'd say the likelihood is that alcohol was in that home the night before or the preceding nights. And that was the damage that was done. The damage of this dangerous substance.

[16:06] It's dynamite. It's dangerous and we should handle it with care. How can I in good conscience possibly cause my brother to stumble for whom alcohol is a chain around his neck?

[16:20] Of course, the Bible says that we that are stronger, you know, some might think I'm strong enough to do whatever it might be. And yet I need to watch out for my brother who's weaker and for which it is a chain around his neck.

[16:34] And if you're addicted to drink, people tonight, you're going to lose. You're going to lose every which way. Every which way. You're going to lose your credibility. It says wine is a mocker.

[16:46] It's going to make a fool out of you. If you get sucked in and become a drunkard, it's a whirlpool of destruction and misery. It's going to take from you and rob from you.

[16:57] It's going to be in poverty. It's going to damage your life and you're going to lose your credibility. You're going to lose your cool. You're going to get caught up, swept away by the party, by the company.

[17:08] So the night after you don't know what's happened. You're going to hurt those you love and yourself if you cannot control. And if you have a temper that you lose, be sober.

[17:23] The Bible is certainly very strong on saying be sober. Be sober, be vigilant. The enemy's all around people tonight. Be sober. And it's not for you fellow believer to lose your senses and your Christ-likeness.

[17:39] Exercise temperance and self-control. And lastly, you'll lose your common sense. You'll lose your common sense. It says that, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

[17:50] You're going to lose your capacity to think and judge rationally. Now that's important, isn't it? We're living in a day where we need discernment, where we need to be switched on and be alert to what's right, what's wrong.

[18:01] And not to be deceived as the enemy is all around at his work. And you're going to lose your ability to make right decisions if you've not got control of your mind, of your thinking.

[18:13] So don't be fooled. Alcohol can take charge of you. And really we want the Lord to be in charge, don't we? And thank God there is hope tonight.

[18:23] Perhaps you're feeling like, wow, that's me. That's what this proverb is talking about. That's me all over. There is hope for you tonight.

[18:34] If alcohol's got a grip on your life, he can give you the victory over alcohol. The Lord Jesus can give you victory. He can help you to overcome drunkenness. He can help you to resist temptation, whatever it be in your life.

[18:47] Whatever is a problem for you in your life, the Lord Jesus can make you more than a conqueror. You can be more than a conqueror through him who loved you.

[18:59] And instead of being a loser, you can be a winner. You can be a winner. Now I'm not saying that necessarily you're going to have a Rolls Royce in your drive and everything going rosy in your life.

[19:12] But you're going to win in those areas of your life that count. You're not going to come under the enemy's grip and in his vice. You're not going to come under his control. You're going to be under the Lord's leading and he's going to guide your life.

[19:26] He's going to help you to walk in his ways and to know his will and to bless your life in ways that it'll be evident that you belong to him and he belongs to you.

[19:38] It's not about material possessions. It's about that relationship, that beautiful relationship that you can have with the Lord Jesus personally. And people tonight, just to close, the question is, do you know him?

[19:51] Whom to know is life eternal? And the one I'm talking about is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who came. He left heaven's glory. He left behind the royal robe of his kingship of the universe and he clothed himself with human flesh, just like our flesh, just as we are yet without sin.

[20:17] That was the one distinction that this man, this perfect man, this perfect God man had no sin and that is why he could come and bleed and die on the cross for our sin to pay the penalty, to pay the price that we had to pay really for our sin.

[20:34] Because the Bible says that the wages of sin, that which sin needs to pay is death. And Christ paid that penalty of death for us so that we can have the exact opposite, everlasting life and complete forgiveness of our sin.

[20:50] And friends tonight, that can be our wonderful gift that he can give to you as you receive. It says, to as many as received him, to them gave him the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

[21:08] And as we trust him, as we call on him, as we receive his work on the cross for our sin, he imparts to us his everlasting life, his free gift.

[21:20] And that can be your experience tonight as you call on Christ to save you. If you'd like prayer or you'd like counsel, please see me or another trusted Christian tonight to find out how you can take that wonderful step of trusting Christ tonight.

[21:36] And just to leave it there, we'll just close with a prayer. Lord, we thank you tonight that you love us. And Heavenly Father, that the Lord Jesus came to bear that rugged cross and to die upon it.

[21:52] Lord, and most of all, to die for our sins, to bear that there on that rugged hill, on that rugged piece of wood. Lord, we thank you that you loved us so much, that you gave yourself in Christ to be that one who would come.

[22:07] And that you are in Christ, drawing the world to yourself. Lord, we thank you that you do welcome us, unworthy ones as we are, that as we come to you, we can receive that free gift of everlasting life.

[22:21] And Lord, help us to think about this message and to think about how we live, whether it's a witness, whether it's a testimony, whether it's a reproach. Lord, whether there's things in our lives, whether it's drink or whether it's whatever it might be that's a hindrance to our Christian walk.

[22:39] Help us, Lord, to have your help and grace to abstain from that which is going to damage our testimony and to, in good conscience, work out what it is that you're saying to us from your word about these things so that we can be led by your spirit into wise choices about these matters, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[23:24] Amen. Amen.