Text: Proverbs 23:31-33

 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.     

Monday, 30^th September 2024

SERPENTS ARE GREAT LOVERS OF WINE

Text: Proverbs 23:31-33

Memory verse: Amos 5: 18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.

Pliny, the Roman author, and naturalist who writes the natural history, said, "If serpents come where wine is, they drink insatiably." Though the Scripture allows the use of wine, Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23 ‘use a little wine for thy stomach's sake’ yet it forbids the excess, Ephesians 5:18 "Do not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess."  

Luke 17:27 “The people went on eating and drinking until the flood came and destroyed them all". Drinking is not a sin, but the meaning is they drank to excess. They disordered themselves with drink and God let them have enough of the wine, they became drowned in wine and then in water.

There is no sin that defaces God's image, than drunkenness. It disguises a person. Drunkenness makes a man have the throat of a fish, the belly of a swine, and the head of a donkey. Drunkenness is the shame of nature, the extinguisher of reason, the shipwreck of chastity, and the murder of conscience. Drunkenness is upsetting and harmful to the body. The cup kills more than the big gun.

Drunkenness fills the eyes with fire, the legs with water, and turns the body into a hospital. But the greatest hurt is what it does to the soul. Excess of wine breeds the worm of conscience. The drunkard is hardly ever reclaimed by repentance, and the ground of it is partly because, by this sin, the senses are so enchanted, reason is so impaired, and lust is so inflamed. Partly, it is judicial, the drunkard being so besotted with this sin. God says of him, as of Ephraim, Hosea 4:17, "Ephraim is joined to idols let him alone." "This man is joined to his cups, let him alone, let him drown himself in liquor, until he scorches himself in fire!"

CGDS HYMN 31:

ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME

1. Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.

2. Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

3. Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

4. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

 Prayers 

1.  Lord Jesus, help me to only use wine for the right purposes when necessary.

2.  LORD God Almighty, take away my appetite for wine and drunkenness, but filled me with the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Amen.    

3.  Pray for others in this regard.