In Matthew 24:49-51 we
read of the evil man who believes that the Lord delays 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 a
hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
God say, "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another" (1st John 1:7). So, walking in the darkness and
depravity of strong drink one cannot have fellowship with God! Jesus said,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). And
the last book in the Bible gives us a solemn warning that there shall in no wise
enter into Heaven anything that defileth, even as God has before stated,
"No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." Thus we have the fearful
warning, "whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cats into the
lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15).
But here is good news! All that sinner looks for in the bottle is
to be found in Christ!
1- Does he want warmth? This is to
be found in our Saviour.
2- Is he seeking friendship? Then learn with multitudes of Christians, "What a
friend we have in Jesus!"
3- Does he attempt to escape from something? Then he discovers wonderful new
life in Him who said, "If ye know
these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:17).
4- Is it courage he wants? Then let him learn about Christ from who said, "I can
do all thins through Christ which
strengtheneth me" ( Philippians 4:13).
5- If it is happiness the drinker seeks, let him discover in the lives of those
who are truly surrendered to Christ what real
happiness is, and remember that God promises, "No good
thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly" (Psalm
84:11).
Which will it be--the
bottle or the Bible?
In a meeting I had conducted in Alabama recently a man raised his
hand for prayer on two different occasions, then would turn and leave the
church. The third time he attended the he seemed to have lost his conviction. I
learned that this man had been brought up in the home of drinking parents. One
drunk brother had burned to death in his home a few months before, and another
drinking brother had died in a wreck. This is a sample of the blight of booze.
Any of these men could have been wonderfully saved and gloriously transformed by
the message of the Bible and the Salvation Christ affords.
Remember, "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus said, "For what
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
(Mark 8:36). Salvation is the answer to the Liquid Devil!
Recently in the West a young man was lifted out of a wild scorching
canyon where he faced almost inevitable death if rescue had not come in the form
of a helicopter from above. Every one reading these words who is without Christ
is in a "wild scorching canyon" of sin and it will mean certain doom for you
eternally unless you allow One from above, even Lord Jesus Christ, to lift you
out of the pit of sin and bring you to Himself. "Therefore, if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new" (2nd Corinthians 5:17).
