Be Not Drunk with Wine, Part 1 B

True Christians whose faith is real will not be content to deny the filling of the Spirit of God, no.

I think this is a command command goddesses and binds itself one of the only thing to do with the done raise awareness of the danger of alcohol abuse than mothers against drunk driving or mad.

Of course, long before Matt began spreading its message. The Bible gave plenty of instructions about the dangers and the evils of drunkenness, but the Bible stop short of commending you not to drink, how should you respond then to those who say Christians should never drink or those who say it's okay that they do today on grace to you. John MacArthur point you to answers you may never have considered. It's part of his current study titled living in the spirit and now with today's lesson. Here's John like a Bible.

Would you please in turn with me to the fifth chapter of Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 18 and were going to be looking at the spirit filled life. The spirit filled life before we can get to the phrase it says be filled with the spirit, we gotta get past the one that says don't be drunk with wine right this is part of a contrast of Paul is giving so were going to talk about what it means in the first phrase be not drunk with wine and witches exit but be filled with the spirit. Now Paul presents a contrast is between drunkenness and being spirit fill. Paul is saying to the Ephesians and to us like you have a higher kind of life you don't seek your joy and exhilaration the bottom of a bottle you get it from the wonderful Holy Spirit listen. That's not the main meaning of what he say that was just now just little free part. The main meaning of what he saying to give your right now I want to listen Paul's main thrust here is religious is religious is talking about systems of religion, this may surprise you solicit drunkenness was associated with pagan religion. The pagans believe that to commune with the gods you had to put yourself in a drunken stupor to come to the highest level of communion with the God. This was what was called the mystery religion. These are the roots of Greek, Roman mythological religious system, and they believe that you could commune with the gods through ecstasy. That was the frenzies and the ecstasies, the whirling dervish is self hypnosis. The demonic things that went on they called it ecstasy asked Ozzie and enthusiasm us enthusiasms and they would get themselves worked into a literal frenzy and emotional back and in addition to that they would drink and drink and drink until they were drunken and they thought that lifted them to the level of communion with the gods. That's not unlike what we hear today there from Timothy Leary on people have been saying that if you get high on drugs on alcohol you reach a greater level of consciousness your consciousness is heightened and you can literally commune in a religious way a higher level. You hear the mystics talk about this Eastern mysticism advocates is the cult advocates.

This all kinds of mystical religions advocated as there are people involved in this because I believe it raises them to a higher level of religious consciousness. This is nothing new. It's right out of the history of paganism. It's exactly the way it used to operate normally tell you how it came about in terms of the culture of the Ephesian church and how this relates to the great God of the Greek mythology was a God that we know as Zeus and Zeus was the great and mighty God. God who was great and powerful and Zeus somehow implanted to his productive potential in similar way and they did it without ever meeting because no one could ever look on Zeus because they would be instantly incinerated by his glory. Sounds like a satanic counterfeit of God the father. So Zeus since Emily never met but subtly was carrying in her womb. This child of Zeus and similarly decided that she had the right to see the father so she edited of the presence of Zeus and was instantly incinerated in his present and Zeus snaps the body of the baby from the womb. Yet unborn and sold it into his thigh Zeus.

So this into his thigh and carried the baby in his thigh until its full term from which it was born. Now you have heard anything the infant God was then born and it was destined by Zeus that this infant God should become the ruler of the world of the planet or this God was going to rule the planet or well there were some beings sub gods already on the earth. According to Greek mythology called the Titans and the Titans were the sons of earth. They kinda ran their and when they saw that this was just this son of Zeus was going to come down to take over. They were very upset so they got a hold of the baby. They torn limb from limb and the eight but Zeus rescued the heart swallow the heart and gave birth to the baby now friends that's what I call weird kind of stuff but that is what the Greek mythology teach. I got that out of the direct source so finally after Zeus had swallowed the heart. The child was reborn. He name the child dialed me see it. That's important because that name comes up in Greek religion. The ancient religions of the mystery religions of Babel and over and over and over again.

Dionysus is a very familiar name you read anything on Greek mythology and you see his name everywhere he was the number one God of earth and Dionysius was born. Now Zeus was mad at the Titans so we blasted all the Titans with lightning. They were reduced to ashes, and out of those ashes came human rights. So now you know the whole story. Now Dionysius was then in control of your said the Greeks, and as Dionysius was in control of the earth. He began to develop a religion in the religion that he developed was this religion of ascendancy where the human beings arose out of the ashes of the of the incinerated the Titans, these human beings could rise to a level of divine consciousness they could rise to commune with the God and it was a religion of ecstasy and emotions. It was a religion where there was wild music and the agent writers say there was quote dancing madness where there was sexual perversion and finally it was all induced by drunkenness right and they would all meet together, they would begin with the music and then the dancing and the frenzy would continue and when they began to dance and drink and become drunken, they came to a high point where they would eat the raw flesh of the mystic bullet was brought in, and finally they would integrate conclave of voices. They would call out to Dionysius with this phrase come thou Savior. That was their worship. It was recognized for its music.

This worship for its dancing madness for its ecstasies, its enthusiasm us its six perversions and all induced by drunkenness and Dionysius became known as quote the God of wine, the God of wine so you can see that the core of this whole concept of drunkenness is a file pagan counterfeit of true religion is. And when Paul is saying, lack don't be drunk with wine is not simply dealing with the social problem.

He is dealing with a theological one is dealing with something way deeper than just a little fun game. This is Satan's counterfeit. This is the way Satan captures minds and bodies into his system. Through this method of drunkenness, Dionysus became known as a God of wine. You know what the Romans Roman name for Mark. The Greek is Dionysius, the Latin name for him is Bacchus same one same God BAC CH US you heard of a bacchanalian feast at the drunken feet. Bacchus is the God of wine. If you know any any Roman history know that Bacchus was the jovial Jolly God of wine red, the nymphs, although funny women in the funny little flimsy white things and the satyrs all around playing the flute. You know the nymphs in the satyrs in the Jolly God of wine. Bacchus was not nothing other than the Roman equivalent of Dionysus and the worship was the same when I had the opportunity fears go to go to the holy land. I was able to go to the to the Arab countries to Lebanon at the Beirut to to Syria to Jordan so far that we went to the easternmost point of the ancient Roman Empire, which was a city called Baalbek or Bill Beck, named after Bale and they have built incredible temples just absolutely astonishing temples with massive huge long solid stone pieces of rock sitting on the top of Collins and there are three main temples and Bill Beck right in the middle and they're all the same area there there stands out among those three, one that is the best, remaining one and is the temple to Bacchus this God Dionysius the God of wine and the people there were telling us that this was where the people met for their religion. The three different temples signified three different elements of the same expressions of worship but culminated in the temple of Bacchus and is reproaching you see these tremendous columns and and parapets and all of these forms of stone of their carb intricately and you don't really know what it is you get very close. And also you realize it's all vines with the with leaves and grapes hanging on the whole temple is literally just covered with grapes and vines because that's the whole thrust of their expression of worship was drunk. There were even telling us that they made the place so that the the overflow of wine. The spillage and that which they literally vomited out would have a way to roll and flow out. And so it was a drunken orgy they had built they had sexual involvement with it and so forth. This is the thing that is behind the scenes of what Paul is saying here is not just social. It is theological. He is saying to these Ephesians. Your background was a place where you commune with the gods through drunkenness, but I'm saying to you if you want to really commune with God be filled with what is spirit is a great truth is that that's really the heart of what he saying and that's what he saying to us, we don't need the artificial stuff of the world you want to be raised to the highest level of religious consciousness just in of the presence of God through the filling in the spirit. You know, this very corruption stood behind the Corinthian church to look at first Corinthians with me for minute chapter 10.

In fact, the whole problem of the Corinthian church was that they never were able to cut themselves off from the evil system they never were able to divorce themselves from the world at whatever corrections they had known in paganism.

They managed somehow to Dragon to the church if they if they were cliquish in their pagan life. They were cliquish in their church if they were hero worshipers and their pagan life.

They were hero worshipers in their church if they were fascinated by certain philosophers and their in their pagan life.

They were in their church life. If they sued each other in their pagan life. They were suing each other in their church like that they were proud and egotistical and uncaring in their pagan life. That's how they were in the church if they did not make a marriage work in their pagan life. They didn't seem to be able to do it when they entered the church either. If they had trouble with meat offered to idols in their pagan life is the same trouble when they became believers if they didn't know what to do about the gifts of the spirit if they if they didn't know the true gifts of the spirit in the church. It was because they had corroded them all and corrupted the mall by the paganism and you'll never understand the meaning of tongues or prophecies or anything at first Corinthians 1214 unless you understand what was going on in the pagan world behind the seat as a whole was a whole mishmash. Everything was counterfeit in the Corinthian church. The whole thing was being scrambled because they dragged her paganism right into the church and in Dragon her paganism in the corrupted everything now in the in the early church and in the church today. What is the one ordinance.

The one beautiful remembrance God is given the church that is the highest act of worship. What is communion is that which our Lord Jesus Christ himself designed to lift us into his very presence that which the Lord designed for us to remember him that which the Lord designed for us to commune with you was his table, and the Corinthian Jesse. They were used to communing with the gods through drunkenness.

So when they came to the Lord's table. Guess what, they brought drunkenness and so Paul is really approaching the subject in chapter 10 verse 60. He says to them, the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ. Since there is one bread, we who are many, are one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. In other words, what he saying is hey we are all one. We partake of one bread and one blood, one body. Now that's the basis of his point. This unity then he goes on to say in verse 20 the pagans they sacrifice to demons to a know God and I don't want you to fellowship with demons. You can't drink the cup of the Lord, which is the cup of communion and the cup of demons which is the cup of drunkenness, you can't do those two things. Why back to verse 16 because we are communing with Christ in one body. Verse 17 as one bread and one body you can't divide it that way.

You can't take Christ in commune with this cup run over here and drink yourself blind and drunken worship some demonic title you can't do that get me. Verse 21 to the particular, the Lord's table. Table demons don't. You can't mix those things you provoke the Lord to jealousy, and you better be strong to him. If you do that see that was the whole point. They drink the cup of the Lord which was the lovely couple of communion, remembering Christ ago drink the cup of demons with his drunkenness, thinking they're getting to the highest level religious consciousness through drunkenness and our Lord was saying.

You can reach the highest level of religious spiritual perception by taking simply the cup of remembrance. What a beautiful contrast well go to verse 19 a Chapter 11 and this is where it becomes crystal clear that this is what they were doing because there must be heresies among you must be heresies and you and you should manifest you know what's true and what's not.

But look at verse 20. When you come together into one place. This is the Greek translation.

This is not the Lord's supper which you eat when you come together you might call the Lord's supper and you might say everybody would have communion now and you might say that it's that, but it is not that for anything everyone takes before the other his own supper.

That's gluttony and leaves people hungry and another is drunk. Nothing was what you're doing is not the large table is the table of demons you're doing it the way you used to do it the way paganism does you see that was behind-the-scenes or that was the issue is contrasting a satanic counterfeit with the divine reality of true worship and true community.

What you see, that's what he saying he saying don't worship God the way used to not. That doesn't hit our culture because we didn't used to worship God through drunken hope. Maybe somebody came out of some mysticism when you got high on drugs and thought you were getting some religious level of super consciousness. I don't know but that's what he was saying here because the Ephesians had this counterfeit religious system and he saying come to the pure don't let anything falsify what the spirit wants to do.

Don't let anything falsify what God can do by filling you with the spirit.

What a tremendous truth is just a fantastic reality that we don't need anything in the world you know Satan is the aim of God and he'll always feel always add some artificial thing phony joy. Phony fellowship, phony communion now. I think that that's just precisely what Paul is talking about Ephesians. I can look back in Ephesians 5 and a choice of interest.

The reason I think this is a religious issue here is because of the context involved in those pagan religions when they got drunk, they went into their liturgy.

When they got drunk. They wanted to their singing in their dancing in there while activity and that's what's in Paul's mind and that is indicated by the fact that he follows verse 18 with the true Christian liturgy in verse 90, the true Christian liturgy is to speak to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord and then giving thanks always for all things in the God father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God sees contrasting the spiritual real liturgy with the phoniness that Satan had invented at this point. Well, I think you see, you're not a man of distinction when you get drunk all you don't distinct your stay with yourself you get drunk, not distinct from anything. You are just parroting Satan's age old lie and there's no civilization.

The world has invented a way to get drunk. Satan's after altar. I've driven down the rows in the jungles of Ecuador watch the Indians stagger from side to side with stuff they make out of some kind of stuff. They grind with their feet push with rocks in every culture I've ever known. I've seen it in the Arab world. I've seen it all over the place. Everywhere I've ever gotten. Every city had ever been in the ancient ancient people all man is all I think is part of the curse. I think the that when God cursed the earth, it became possible for the fruit of the earth to be corrupted to the point where Satan could use it to destroy.

So Paul says be not drunk with wine, in which is excess can I say a word about the word access. So Tia it means uncontrolled dissipation, uncontrolled dissipation, don't be drunk because it leads to uncontrolled dissipation in another way to translate. Also GIs with the word debauchery debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit when a beautiful contrast all what a beautiful and simple contrast, look at your life, what is a controlled by what you find your joy when you find your exhilaration where you find your comfort in a bottle swordfish somebody might say, well says don't be drunk. What about if you just drink don't get drunk about that.

Well that's for next time let's pray thank you father for helping us to get some insight into your word or not. My prayer is that this little verse tucked away almost nondescript leg in the midst of this letter will have an impact on our lives like it's never had before. What you're really saying is you have a totally new resource for joy, for comfort for exhilaration for fulfillment for communion with God than the world is ever known. And it's the filling of the holy spirit the world was philosophical so many things wine alcohol money pleasure, possessions, and you simply said for yourself spirit stay that way that your response might not be the phoniness and the hangovers that the world has but it might be speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord and giving thanks submitting one to another in loving your husband's loving your wives caring for your children. All of these things flow out of this text.

Father, help us to know the simplicity of what it is to be controlled by your spirit and help us to know this, that more than anything else you desire to fill us with your spirit, and all you ask. We should do is to empty ourselves of our selves so that the spirit can rush into the vacuum's, thus, can we commune with, thus, can we reach levels of spiritual consciousness on green. Thus can we know what it is to be filled with all the fullest of God thus can we understand how it is that we can do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power notice.

Look forward to next talk about this whole issue to the Christian brick'. Our hearts for what your words and and with that prayer. John MacArthur wraps up today's look at living in the spirit that's the title of his current study here on grace to you along with teaching each day here on radio John serves as Chancellor of the Masters University in seminary. Now John several times today you went back to this principle that we are what we fill ourselves with fill your mind with truth and you will be conformed to it.

On the other hand, fill your mind with lies and you start believing them. So here's a simple question. How do we keep guard on what's going into our mind. Talk about that a little bit. This might be a little bit in an obtuse way to answer the question fill, but I don't know what your experiences but I rarely have moments when I'm not in a conversation or focus on something else when I'm just going through life when I don't have hymns running around in my head you I can get it I can come off of a Sunday and have some to him and I can't get that him out of my head and it's Thursday and it's still recirculating in my head this. It reminds me not only of the power of hymns, no great theology attached to music but of the reality that something planted in my mind stays and recycles and re-circulates if it makes a deep enough impression on me. So, from my standpoint, I want to put things in my mind that are rich, compelling, powerful, influential, hopeful, promising that is all that's in the word of God. Right now I get the truth of the word of God in my head I don't have to fight to keep it there once I've gone through it and you know me well enough to know sometimes when I'm in the middle of studying something I can't get out of my head. So if you have a conversation with me here to get it because it's just going to come out because it's it's where my mind is all the time that know the Bible says as a man thinks in his heart so he is you thoughts drive everything so think on things above, not on things on the earth right this all about the mind it's all about what you think about.

Obviously we live in a world of ubiquitous junk that can take the mind over it at any point in time and waste a mind like never possible in previous yet, even some of the stuff that's not overtly sinful is just a trivial wasteland.

It's all accessible through the iPhone in your hand so you can junk up your mind pretty fast you were trying to take advantage of that medium to poor the word of God and the people so I would just suggest a good way to start doing that is to get a reading plan, and I'd like to encourage you to get a MacArthur daily Bible. If you don't have one. It takes you through the whole Bible in one year.

A portion of the Old Testament, New Testament part of the Psalms and Proverbs for every day with some daily comments to help you go through the Bible in one year. It will re-organize your thinking and focus you in the place where you going to draw the greatest amount of strength for the greatest amount of spiritual joy and usefulness. The MacArthur daily Bible very reasonably priced and available from Grace to you.

Yes, this is a great resource. I use one for my daily devotions and I encourage you to do the same or perhaps get a copy to read each day with your family to purchase the MacArthur daily Bible. Contact us today as John said it's available for a reasonable price and shipping is free to order, call 855 grace or visit our website TTY.org again, the MacArthur daily Bible makes it easy to read through the entire Bible in 2020. Just call us at 855 grace or shop online at TTY.that's our website, TTY.org and while you're there, make sure you tap into the thousands of Bible related resources that are available for you free of charge. You can read the grace to you blog you can find out what John and the staff say about topics like spiritual growth, evangelism, and much much more.

You can also catch any episodes of this broadcast. You may have missed or download any of John's 3500 sermons, free an MP3 or transcript form that web address again why.now for John MacArthur and the grace to staff. I'm Phil Johnson encouraging you to be here for our next broadcast. John's going to look at the connection between your view of alcohol and your relationship with the Holy Spirit living in the spirit that's John's current study and it comes your way again tomorrow with another 30 minutes unleashing God's truth one verse at a time wasting