ALCOHOL, THE CURSE, THE CAUSE, THE CURE

By Pastor Dennis Dills

 Number 3B

Proverbs 23:32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

      Alcohol is America’s number one youth drug problem.  Nearly 14 million people in the United States, one in every thirteen adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholic. However, more men than women are alcohol dependent or experience alcohol-related problems. In addition, rates of alcohol problems are highest among young adults, ages 18-29 and lowest among adults 65 years and older. 

      Many in the medical world along with society and many in the religious ranks treat alcoholism as a disease.  Alcoholism is not a disease, it is a SIN.  Ladies and gentlemen, look at this from a practical standpoint.  If alcoholism is a disease, it is a disease with a cure.  Ban all use of alcohol.  Make it a serious crime to produce, use, and have possession of.  Then this disease “so-called” would cease.  Our nation has stooped to an all time low when we push to eliminate smoking cigarettes from the land and refrain from doing the same for alcohol.  I am against smoking, it is a nasty filthy habit, but alcohol has led more souls to hell than smoking.

      Strange as it may seem, alcoholism does have a cure.  We will discuss its cure a little further in this booklet.

      Teenagers are starting to drink earlier than ever, typically at age thirteen or fourteen, and more of them are drinking to intoxication on a regular basis. 

      Alcohol is the drug used most often by high school seniors. Even though such students cannot legally buy alcohol, over 90% of them have tried alcohol and almost one-third of them report that they have had more than 5 drinks at one time in the past two weeks. With college students, over 40% report recent heavy drinking. On one college campus, an informal survey indicated over 90% of first-year students had drunk to intoxication in the previous month.

Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

     It has been estimated that over three million teenagers are out-and-out alcoholics. Several million more have a serious drinking problem that they cannot manage on their own. Teenage drinking problems account for tens of thousands of highway deaths and nearly half of all teenage suicides each year.  Dependence on alcohol and other drugs is also associated with psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, or antisocial personality disorder.

      God said through the Apostle Paul in: Ephesians 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.  It is high time we awoke and begin to see the awfulness of drunkenness across our land.

      The Bible calls those who have the habit of drink, DRUNKARDS.  Modern society calls them: abusers of alcohol, heavy drinkers, or those who have a chemical dependence or those who have a disease.  Place any title on them you want to.  Soft titles may soothe your conscience, but God still says that they are DRUNKARDS HEADED TO HELL.

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.

Nahum 1:10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

 THE CONCERN OF DRUNKENNESS

     There should be a real concern  of drunkenness across the land.  Two out of three American adults drink alcoholic beverages.  Alcohol use is involved in:

1. One-half of all murders, accidental deaths, and suicides

2. One-third of all drownings, boating and aviation deaths

3. One-half of all crimes

4. Almost half of all fatal automobile accidents

  The health problems associated with alcohol include brain damage, cancer, heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver.

UNDERAGE DRINKING IS WIDESPREAD IN THE U.S…

          More than 10 million current drinkers in the United States are between the ages of 12-20.

1.  On average, young people begin drinking at 13.1 years of age. 

2.  By the time they are high school seniors, more than 80% have used alcohol and approximately 62% have been drunk.

 3.  Girls are beginning to drink at younger ages. In the 1960s, 7% of 10 to 14-year-old females used alcohol; by the early 1990's, that figure had risen to 31%.  Now it is even higher.

   Young people have easy access to alcohol. In alcohol purchase attempts made by researchers across the U.S., buyers who appeared to be underage were able to purchase alcohol with no questions asked at least 50% of the time.

     Personally, I do not like the term underage drinking.  This makes it sound like there is an age that it is okay to drink.  The Bible totally forbids and teaches against alcohol in any shape, form, or fashion and any and all ages.  Saloon’s, bars, bartenders, winery’s, distilleries, and all those who vote for the use of alcohol take note at what God says:

Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!

     We are living in a time when alcohol is a way of life.  Children are introduced to it at an early age.  Many are raised from the cradle around it.  Even so-called “Christian people” use it from time to time, and even defend social-drinking.  If you claim to be a Child of God and use alcohol, you ought to drop your claim immediately.  Furthermore, you should drop down on your knees right now and get right with God.  Beer in a refrigerator and a Bible on the coffee table do not mix.  One is light and the other is darkness.  Which do you choose?

     Alcohol is seen everywhere.  In the convenience store, the grocery store, the restaurant, at many public gatherings, and it is heavily promoted on television.  Many children’s hero’s are drunkards.  No wonder it is so accepted in our society today.  Many religious orders and religious denominations use alcohol and think nothing of it.  What a shame and a disgrace to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  Woe unto those who ignore the Word of God or try to make it of none effect.

God’s people are commanded in:

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

    Any Christian, Church, or Preacher who does not cry against this terrible sin that has pointed and led multitudes to Hell is not worth the salt that goes in their bread.  The Judgment of God will be rough on you.  We need to repent or else wait on the wrath and judgment of God.

 Habakkuk 2:12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!

THE CONSEQUENCES OF DRUNKENNESS

1. Alcohol is a factor in the four leading causes of death among persons ages 10 to 24: (1) motor-vehicle crashes, (2) unintentional injuries, (3) homicide, and (4) suicide.

2. Young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21.

3. More than 67% of young people who start drinking before the age of 15 will try an illicit drug. Children who drink are 7.5 times more likely to use any illicit drug, more than 22 times more likely to use marijuana, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than children who never drank.

4. Teens under 15 who have ever consumed alcohol are twice as likely to have sex before marriage as those who have not. Nearly 4 in 10 sexually active teens who use alcohol have had sex with four or more individuals.

5. Underage drinking costs Americans nearly $53 billion annually. 

6. Researchers estimate that alcohol use is implicated in one to two-thirds of sexual assault and acquaintance or "date" rape cases among teens and college students.

In 1999, 21% of 15 to 20 year old drivers who were killed in crashes were intoxicated.

     Now, let us look at what the Bible says about the consequences of drinking alcohol. 

1. In Genesis 9:20-26, you find the first mention of drunkenness.  Noah got drunk and brought a curse on the whole world.  God divided the races because of it.  Up until that time there was only one race of people.  Drunkenness will carry the judgment of God upon it.

2. In Genesis 19:30-38, you find Lot is intoxicated by the hands of his daughters and he commits incest with them.  They bare children by him.  Drinking is always associated with nakedness, sex, drugs, and many other sins.

     We will now show just a few things that drunkenness will cause.

1. Drunkenness will cause stubbornness, rebellion, dishonor to parents, and gluttony. Deuteronomy 21:20, "And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard."

2. Drinking leads to poverty. Proverbs 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

3. Strong drink produces woe, sorrow, contentions, babbling, wounds without cause, and redness of eyes.  Proverbs 23:29,30 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

4. Drinking fills the mind with adulterous thoughts and produces vain talk.  Proverbs 23:33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

     Drinking and drunkenness is as old as man.  God has never blessed it and He never will.  Our nation, our homes, and our communities have been affected by alcohol.  There is probably not a home in America that has not been affected by this terrible sin in some way or another.

THE CAUSE OF DRUNKENNESS

     Many studies have been made concerning the cause of drinking.  Some results say that alcoholism is hereditary and it is in the genes.  I will agree that if a child is exposed and raised in a home of drunkenness, it is likely he will follow in the foot steps of that life style.  But to say that the genes determine whether you will be a drunkard or not is absurd.  This is a sin problem.  It needs to be dealt with as a sin problem and treated like any other sin that entraps, blinds, and binds the sinner.

     Man has been born in sin.  Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Every man and woman was born with this sin nature.  This sin nature will set out to control you from the cradle. 

     Strong drink is so common because preachers have grown silent and society has accepted it.  There was a time when Churches stood against liquor and alcohol of any sort.  Now we have spiritual lock jaw and do not voice the Word of God on the issue.  Let me give you some reasons why drunkenness is so common and accepted in our society as well as reasons why we have a drinking problem world wide.

I.  Not enough strong Bible teaching at an early age. 

     It is important that we teach our children against this awful sin.  Boys and girls need a Christian atmosphere to grow up in.  Strong Bible churches will do much to teach, warn, and produce strong men and women who will not be lured into strong drink.

     The modern and average parents do not have time, they think, to teach the little ones what is right and what is wrong.  The fact is, they will not take time.  For parents to fail to teach their children against alcohol or any other sin is to prove that they do not love them as God so desires them to.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

II.  Lack of Bible preaching on this subject.

     We are living in a day of the lovey-dovey gospel.  Pastors and preachers do not preach against alcohol often enough.  If they do it is in a mild way because they are afraid they will make somebody mad or lose them and hurt their pocketbook.  It is high time preachers quit preaching like they had one lung and a bunion on their tongue. Look at what God said:  Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

     As a matter of a fact, God will hold the parents accountable to make sure they are trained up in the House of God under strong preaching from the Word of God.

III.  Lack of Godly parents who are an example to their children.

     The greatest influence on the life of a child is a Godly mother and Dad.  God so ordained it that way.  Children need not only to be told and taught, they need to be showed how to live a Godly life.  A mother or dad who drinks is a bad influence on their precious heritage.

     After many years in the ministry, I have experienced many things in this area.  I have been in homes where the mother was drunk and the dad as well.  Little children were looking on and did not know what was going on.  The sin of drink is a terrible sin.  It enslaves those who use it.  Not only have I seen mothers and dads drunken in front of their children but grandparents also.  What a shame.

IV.  Lack of Godly parents to care about the outcome of their children.

     Sad, but true, many parents do not even consider the outcome of the lives of their children.  Children will go in the way you lead and teach them.  Parents are tied up and controlled by the affairs of the day.  They are more concerned about paying bills and making ends meet than they are the spiritual outcome of their children.  Mom is concerned about her so-called “career” and dad his possessions while their precious children are left to raise themselves.

     This is called selfishness.  Over and over, I have seen the parents grow up years later and begin to get concerned why their children turned out wrong.  You can mold and shape character in the young tender years.  It takes time, patience, and lots of work to do so.  To fail to do so because of selfishness will be a regret the rest of your life.

V.  The influence of Television.

     Beer commercials are prominent and piped into the living rooms of small children.  Sports has become an influencing god to many and the sports world promotes alcoholic beverages.  Many of the prime time programs promote the use of alcoholic beverages.  Favorite movie stars and sports hero’s promote it as well.  Soap operas are drenched in booze.

     Television has become the baby sitter of this day.  Children are entertained at the base of a television instead of in the lap of a Godly parent.  Television and Hollywood will steel their minds and then their hearts.

VI.  Peer pressure.

     Peer pressure does much to cause teens to try alcohol.  They want to feel accepted and to do so they must do what everybody else is doing.  No one wants to be an odd-ball, so they give in to the pressure.

     Day after day and week after week their peers break them down with little remarks.  After awhile not fitting in, they give in.  This is not just on alcohol, but drugs, violence, and sex as well.  According to a recent study I read, girls are more swayed by peer pressure than boys.  That is not saying boys are not.

VII.  The wrong kind of friendships.

     Many have fallen into strong drink and ended up in a drunkards grave because they simply had the wrong friends and relationships.  Parents need to watch who their children are running with.  Remember the old saying:  “Birds of a feather flock together”.

     Many times parents make the mistake of just letting their children run with any and all they become friends with.  To let your son or daughter run with those you know drink or use drugs is just setting yourself up for some real headaches and heartaches. 

II Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

VIII.  No parental control on where their children are.

     We are living in a time when mom and dad do not care where their children are as long as they are not in their hair.  Teens are allowed to go to rock concerts and parties where drinking and drugs are prominent.  This type of life style will influence young minds quickly.  Controls of where they go and when they come in are very important.

     Teens are allowed to stay out late and come in as they please.  Children left to themselves will bring trouble down the road.  You say, “I trust my child”.  Don’t be foolish, you can’t trust flesh.  Have you forgotten how it was when you were their age?  There is more out there to get their attention now than there was when you were their age.

   IX.  No concern for morality.

     Morals have been traded for loose living and wickedness.  Strong drink has been accepted by the public and to many there is nothing wrong with it.  People do not seem to care what God or His Bible teaches.  They feel the Bible is okay for the old fogies and the religious crowd but not for this modern age.  

THE CURE FOR ALCOHOL

     Many programs have been designed to help those who have become dependent on alcohol.  I might add, many good programs have been used.  The only sure cure for alcohol dependence is the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

     Many have tried to quit on their own and have for a period of time.  Then something happens in their life and they are back on alcohol again.  This can’t be classified as a cure. 

     Many have enrolled into programs and attended them regularly to later end up on alcohol again.  On again, off again.  It seems like a hopeless process.  Family members and friends have given up on many because it just seems like there is no cure.  Everything they have tried has failed.  But, Thank God, there is hope.  There is a cure. 

     The cure is not of man but of God.  It is called the “New Birth”.  The Bible title given to it is “born again”. 

John 3:3, "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

WHAT IS THE NEW BIRTH?

     The New Birth is not religion.  Many have tried religion and have become religious and still have not been able to escape the enslavement of alcohol.  Many religions even use alcoholic beverage and think nothing about it.  So, religion is not the cure nor is religion the New Birth or being born again.

     The New Birth is not works.  Many have quit doing things they thought was sin.  Many have even turned over a new leaf in their life hoping to escape the clutches of alcohol.  Works too, have failed them.  Man can’t save himself or keep himself saved.  Works will not save. 

Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not  of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast."

     The New Birth is a gift of God.  The New Birth is God changing the heart. 

II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

     I have watched God reach down time after time to a drunkard and save his or her soul.  I have watched that same individual never touch alcoholic beverage again the rest of their life.  Not only that, they will not even have to enroll in programs or homes to help themselves with it.  Only God can perform this miracle.  The New Birth is a miracle and it only comes from God.

HOW TO RECEIVE THIS NEW BIRTH.

     First, you must realize that you are a sinner.  Notice what God says:

Romans 3:10, "As it is written, There  is none righteous, no, not one:"

Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

Ecclesiastes 7:20, "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."

     Second, you must realize that sin has a penalty that must be paid.

Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Ezekiel 18:20, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of thewicked shall be upon him."

James 1:15, "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

     Third, You must realize that your sin debt has been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.

Titus 2:14, "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

John 10:17-18, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father."

     Fourth, you must repent of your sin and call upon the Lord for salvation.

Luke 13:3, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

     Fifth, you must believe and receive the Lord Jesus into your heart.

John 1:12, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that Believe  on his name:"

     There is enough power in the hand of God to pick you up where you are and establish you on solid ground spiritually.  It is left up to you.  The Lord has done His part.  He has come to this earth in the Person of Jesus Christ through the womb of a Virgin.  He was crucified on a cruel cross, buried in a borrowed tomb, and arose on the third day for you.

     Not only has He died for you, He has given you the Word of God to tell you the truth about sin.  He has also sent preachers to tell you about the consequences of dying in your sin and spending eternity in the lake of fire.

    And now you have this booklet as well to awaken and warn you.  God loves you and is calling you unto repentance today.  Will you hear his call?  Will you call upon His name today?  Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Booklet 3B

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