Welcome back to Aspastor John. This summer Pastor John is out of the studio preaching in Belfast in Scotland before returning to the States for a 40-day writing leave to finish up a book on Providence on the sovereignty of God a book he started last summer and hopes to finish this summer I cannot wait to see it and all of it the travel the book writing in this very podcast is all made possible by you we are supported by the prayers and the funding of God's people so thank you for generously

investing in this important and eternal work so with Pastor John busy we're diving into our archive of 1500 episodes and this summer we're pulling out some of your favorites about once every 50 episodes we release one that touches a nerve and touches the 300,000 play mark these are the elite episodes in our six and a half year history we only have about 30 of them and here's one of them

well here we are at episode number 200 Pastor John and it's a question we get a lot it's a question I know you have some thoughts on and here it is episode number 200 question number 200 for you is drinking alcohol a sin

let me start by putting my biases on the table okay my background my biases because everybody's influenced right by their family and experiences they've had I'm a default default T totaler

what that means is if I have my choice I don't drink alcohol but I might to be a good guest that's my little experience of freedom in Christ

in Germany I'm not going to be I'm not going to make a pain in myself they put something on the table I'm going to do my best to manage it for their to honor them as my guests I want to let love be the guide and loving climbs me away from alcohol in our day

but here's the new nuanced answer and a little bit of why I've chosen this path for myself and don't make it a requirement for everybody the first answer is that I would give is it a sin to drink alcohol is the same answer I'd give to is it a sin to drink water

and the answer is it could be drinking water when you should be giving a glass to someone else in need that's sin drinking water when you should be paying more reverence to the preaching of God's word that's a sin drinking water when just somebody just warned you it's contaminated might kill you that sin so drinking water can be sin and presumably then alcohol could be sin

but it may not be I mean Jesus made wine for the marriage at cana and I presume he made it because he expected people to drink it and he didn't want to participate in their sin Paul told Timothy to drink it medicinally the church leaders are not to be enslaved to it which I think implies a moderate use of it

and some 1 0 4 15 says it's a gift from God wine is to gladden the heart of man oil to make his face shine so I don't think anybody can make a case from scripture that T totalism is required if if you choose not to drink alcohol like I do is a kind of default way of life it's going to be based on some kind of principle other than what the Bible requires of us

so what might that be and it is remarkable how many warnings there are in the Bible about alcohol I'll just I'll just bullet a few here don't get drunk with wine if he's 15 or Romans 14 it's good not to drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble

Jose 4 11 beware of wine and new wine which take away the understanding Ezekiel 44 21 no priest should drink wine when he enters the inner court

Farberbs 21 is a mocker strong drink as a brawler whoever is led astray by it is not wise or Proverbs 21 he who loves wine and oil will not be rich

and the most extended statement in Proverbs goes like this in verse 23 I mean chapter 23 those who carry long over wine those who go to try mixed wine do not look at wine when it is red

when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly in the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder your eyes will see strange things

and your heart will utter perverse things you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea like one who lies on the top of a mast

that's a great image they struck me you will say but I was not hurt they beat me but I did not feel it when shall I awake I must have another drink

that's Proverbs 23 30 35 so I mean do not look at wine when it's red I don't know what that means except maybe there's a kind of drink that's just a little too dangerous

it's it's not here's another one from Proverbs 31 it is not for kings of them you will it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to take strong drink less they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert right the rights of the afflicted

or due to army 29 you have not drunk wine or strong drink that you may know that I'm on the word the reason they didn't drink anyone in the wilderness is evidently so that it would be an asset to their coming to know God fully

so you get the impression that even though wine was permitted and was a blessing that it was fraught with dangers and I would add to those the the situation in which I live in America

is why I feel zero incentive to try to like and enjoy alcoholic beverages I'm very content without them and here's what I have in mind

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