Bible Matters 468:  Sober

In the early days of the jail ministry there was one young man that finished all the jail ministry workbooks.  Following his release, he came to the recovery program at church a couple of times.  When he failed to show up for a couple of weeks, another minister and I decided to visit him at his home only to find him stoned and his younger brother was in distress.   They were living at grandma’s and the roof leaked above the sink.   They were supposed to fix it and his older brother was stoned.  That young man said that it is not a sin in the bible to smoke weed.  If God didn’t want us to have weed, then he wouldn’t have created it!  That young man loved no one but himself.  He did not love God nor did he love his grandma and brother.  Being high on weed in a state o drunkenness offends God. 

In this state of sin, he will never come to realize the glory of following God’s gospel of Love.  God knew that you could not serve him, nor serve your neighbor by being high on drugs or drunk on alcohol.  Jesus knew that he could not serve God by being drunk on wine.  Out of the mouth of three witnesses, Jesus promised to abstain from fruit of the vine until he is with God in heaven.

Matthew 26:29 – But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

Mark 14:25 – Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Luke 22:18 – For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

For that young man that chose to be high, Jesus not wanting wine would not apply to him, except that multiple witnesses have testified that Jesus told his apostles and followers to follow him. 

Matthew 16:24-26 – Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Matthew 16:24 – Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mark 8:34 – And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mark 10:21-22 – Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Luke 5:27 – And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

Luke 9:23 – And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

John 10:27 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

John 12:26 – If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

John 21:19 – This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

Acts 12:8 – And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

The preponderance of evidence from the testimony of the witnesses, is that your walk with the Lord should be sober, serving God and neighbor and not in a state of drunkenness.   The Lord will come when you least expect it. 

Matthew 24:48-50 – But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

Luke 21:34 – And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares

Romans 12:1-3 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith

Romans 13:13 KJV – Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 – Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Titus 2:2-4 – That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.  The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

1 Peter 1:13 – Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace 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.that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1 Peter 4:7 – But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

1 Peter 5:8 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour

1 Corinthians 6:10 – Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

When you decide to love from the heart, you will follow the teachings of the prophets.  Your life, is not your old life, but born again in the Spirit, into a new life serving God and neighbor.  

Ephesians 5:17-18,21 – Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Matthew 16:25 –  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Luke 12:45-46 –  But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

1 Peter 2:1-3 – Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:  If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious

1 Peter 3:8-11 -Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.  For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:  Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

1 Peter 3:17 – For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

James 4:2-4 – Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

The preponderance of evidence is clear.  When you desire God’s gift of everlasting life, then you refrain from drunkenness.  You are a good steward and you serve the things of God. Serving not to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

1 Peter 4:2 – That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God

To God be the glory in all you do, Amen.