Living Under the Influence (Intro) Eph 5:18 | Adult Sunday School

Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.

You want to come in and find your seat? Well, welcome back to our series on parenting and family, or marriage and family, what do we call it? Marriage and family, sorry, marriage and family. What am I calling this thing?

I'm calling it marriage and family, but this morning what I'm calling it is living under the influence, that I do know. So I'm calling this morning living under the influence, and it is the introduction to that series.

The Spirit, the New Covenant, and the Christian Life

So we will be in the fifth chapter of Ephesians this morning, Ephesians 5 .18. So let's pray and we'll begin. Father, thank you for time together this morning. Grateful for all that have come out. We look forward to hearing from you through your word this morning.

Give us attentive ears and faith-filled hearts to receive what you have for us, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, on the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus taught his disciples about the coming of the Spirit.

Specifically, he promised that his departure would bring the long-awaited age of the Spirit. He said in John 14, verses 16 and 17, that I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever, that is, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive.

Because it does not see him or know him, but you know him, because he abides with you and will be in you. You and I, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, live now in what the Bible would call the age of the Spirit.

We live in the age of the Spirit. He, that is, the third person of the triune God, is both the sign and seal of the new covenant, both the sign and the seal of the new covenant. And it is his presence in us, beside us, and with us that is the key to the Christian life, is the key to the Christian life.

The Grammar of Ephesians 5:18 and the Household Code

In Ephesians chapter five and verse 18, which is our text for this morning and for the next few weeks after that, what we learn, and actually letting our eyes go back to verse 15, and you'll remember from last week, we talked about that Paul provided five commands.

We looked at this last week, five commands, five imperatives, and he had arranged them in a series of three not this but that statements. You remember that? Verse 15, therefore be wise, be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise.

So not this, not unwise, but wise. So three of those not this but that statements which pack in the five commands in this section, verses 15 through 18, and we're looking at verse 18. The third not this but that statement is found here in verse 18.

You'll see, do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. So not this but that, do not get drunk with wine, that's the not this, but this, be filled with the Spirit.

That contrast, and furthermore, in verse 18, we find the fifth of those five commands that we looked at last week. The fifth of those five commands, and it is to be filled with the Spirit. Be filled with the Spirit.

This command is what governs, grammatically, the text that follows. We talked about this, that verses 18 through 21 is really all one long sentence in the Greek, and that the command found in verse 18, to be filled with the Spirit, is what controls grammatically all that follows in verses 19 to 21, where he talks about speaking and giving thanks and then being subject to one another.

Beyond that, it controls and provides the foundation for what follows in verse 22 of chapter five, all the way through chapter six and verse nine. That is the grammatical linkage, and I'm laboring this point for you, and will continue to labor at it, is because it's really key to understanding how this text is put together and how we're to understand it.

The be filled with the Spirit is the key command that unlocks all that follows in 5 .19 and following, but specifically for our great interest, in verses 22 of chapter five, where wives will be subject to your husbands, and following all the way through chapter six and verse nine where it deals with slaves and masters.

So what is called the household code, the household code and the relationships of husbands and wives, fathers and children, masters and slaves, all controlled by the leading command to be filled with the Spirit, okay?

So that's grammatically how it's put together for us. So what I want to do with you, beginning this morning here, as under this title of living under the influence, is I want to begin to unpack verse 18 of chapter five.

So do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. I want to begin to unpack that for you. And I think the way to do it is to ask and answer a series of questions. So I've arranged a study over these next few weeks, I can't remember how many it is, it might be six or seven, as we unpack this one verse, to do so in a series of questions.

So I have 10 questions that we're going to ask the text and answer as we seek to understand this very, very important command, okay? So that's where we're beginning with the introduction this morning, and that's where we're going over these next weeks.

So 10 questions that'll help us understand and live under the influence of the Spirit. Because why? Well, because living under the influence of the Spirit is key to fulfilling the requirements for husbands and wives and parents and children and masters and slaves, okay?

Why Spirit-Filled Living Matters for Christian Growth

So, first question, why is this study so important? Let's just begin generally. Why is this study so important? Why would we take six or seven weeks to look at this study? Why is it so important? Well, in Romans chapter eight, verses 28 through 30, Paul says we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.

We have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. He says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, and here it is, to be come conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called, and these whom he called, he also justified.

And these whom he justified, he also glorified. Romans 8, 28 to 30. But how? How does it happen? How does this glorious chain of redemption work itself out practically in the here and the now? Is it the conformity to the image of Christ?

Is it the result of effort on our part? Or is it just sort of a let go and let God do it? This question about growth in the image of Christ, whenever this comes up, and basically what we're talking about is Christian growth, whenever the topic of Christian growth comes up, inevitably Ephesians 5, 18 is brought to bear on the discussion.

Be filled with the Spirit, you'll hear it. If you've spent any time at all around Christianity, and the vast majority of us have, and we've talked about how do we grow as a Christian, that's what we'll hear.

We need to be filled with the Spirit. And people will say that, and it's true, but there's usually not much elaboration beyond that. And so as an early Christian, you walk away, scratch your head, okay, be filled with the Spirit.

That sounds profound, but it doesn't really get me down to the shoe leather of what do I need? How do I do that? So this discussion of Christian growth and being filled with the Spirit is huge. In fact, John MacArthur in his Ephesians commentary, he writes the following, and I'm quoting him here.

Outside of the command for unbelievers to trust in Christ for salvation, there is no more practical and necessary command in Scripture than the one for believers to be filled with the Spirit. Now that's a pretty bold statement, to say that outside of the call for an unbeliever to come to salvation in Christ, there's nothing else that's more important for the Christian than this command of Paul to be filled with the Spirit.

And so it seems to me that understanding what it's all about is a good idea, and will really yield great benefit for us. So this study is important precisely because it takes us into the heart of the doctrine of sanctification.

It plunges us right squarely into the heart of the doctrine of sanctification and our relationship as believers to the third person of the Trinity, to the Holy Spirit himself. And how we understand Paul's teaching here in Ephesians 5, 18 will affect how we approach the commands that are contained in verses 22 and following of the household code.

Husbands, love your wives, that we will get there. Believe me, we will get there. We will spend a long time there. And that is a command, for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. But to get to the heart of that command and to be able to begin to make progress in putting it in action in our lives requires us to understand what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

Husband loving their wives is an outgrowth of Spirit-filled living, an outgrowth of Spirit-filled living. So men, we cannot love our wives like Christ loves the church without the Spirit's enablement.

It's impossible. Wives, children, employees, employers, and so forth, they also have much to learn. We also have much to learn in a very practical way in order to understand what it means to do these things in the power of the Spirit.

Okay, so this is why it's important, very important. So let's dig in together, okay? You ready? Second question, why warn about wine? Why warn about wine? Do not get drunk with wine, but that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

Why Paul Warns About Wine in Ephesians 5:18

Do not get drunk with wine. Why wine? Why does Paul bring wine up in this? It seems at first glance to be a little bit out of the flow. It seems perhaps to kind of come out of left field, and so you go, oh, that's interesting.

What's going on with all of that? And so commentators, and there's lots of them, and they wrestle with an answer to that question. Why warn about wine? Why does Paul warn about wine in a discussion of being filled with the Spirit?

There are some commentators who believe that Paul is referencing the ancient pagan cult of Dionysius, which was practiced in Ephesus, a thoroughly pagan, you know, Gentile pagan city, and warning about this, this pagan cult of Dionysius, also known by the Roman name Bacchus, which was the god of wine.

So Dionysius Bacchus was the pagan god of wine. And the adherents to Dionysius, or Bacchus, believed and taught that one rose to the level of divine consciousness through the use of intoxicating drink, and wild music, and sexual immorality.

So the combination of those three toxic blends, according to the adherents of Dionysius, produced a divine consciousness by which Dionysius would enter into the worshiper, into their bodies. Their bodies would be taken over by the spirit of Dionysius, okay?

So some commentators think that that's what Paul is specifically referencing here in Ephesus, the warning against, for these former pagans, about participating in the cult of Dionysius. Maybe, maybe. Others believe that Paul is aware of wine being misused in the communion.

So, 1 Corinthians, that is clearly happening. In 1 Corinthians 11 .21, Paul specifically warns about that, that the Corinthian assembly is misusing wine in the communion service. And so some say that Paul is writing here to the Ephesian believers in order to correct and warn them against the misuse of wine in the communion service.

The problem with that is that there's no evidence, really, directly to support that thing. So that's just a hypothetical. And so, for me, that's not particularly persuasive. A third explanation about why warn about wine is that Paul is continuing his teaching that he has begun back in chapter four and verse 17, so you can let your eyes go back there, where he is contrasting the believers' former pagan darkness with their new life as children of light.

So you see there in verse 17, chapter four, so this I say together and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer, just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind. And then he goes on and talks about the darkened mind and that that is who you were, that's not now who you are.

Chapter five, verse eight, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light. Now, interestingly, notice in verse 18, that it begins with the conjunction and, which it kind of indicates it's a carry forward of an idea.

And it actually would work pretty well if nine through 17 were in a big bracket as kind of a detour. And if you said, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of light and do not get drunk with wine.

See, if you stitch them together, it seems to flow pretty good in terms of the logic of what Paul might be saying. So perhaps there's some strength to this. Furthermore, we note that the three commands contained in verses 15 to 17 are rather general in nature, but this one is very specific.

This one's specific, right? So be careful how you walk. That's a general command, not as unwise, but wise. That's just kind of a general command. This is a very specific command, don't get drunk with wine, very specific command.

So as the temple of the spirit of God, it seems to me that what Paul is saying to them is that they are allowed, they are to give the spirit unhindered access to every room in the house, every room in the house.

So live as children of light and don't get drunk with wine. So I'm inclined towards that explanation for it, that it is, that being drunk, and historically it's a reality that the Roman world had a terrible problem with drunkenness at this stage in the empire, and that what Paul is saying here is that drunkenness characterizes the former life.

It's a specific sin, it is a widespread sin, and it characterizes in a very neat package the former life of darkness. And in fact, what he'll say is do not get drunk with wine for it is dissipation, you see that?

For it is dissipation. Now the command to do not to get drunk here, again a little grammatical flavor, is a present middle imperative, which so what, well what that means is that it's the idea of don't make it your habit to get drunk with wine.

If it was a present active imperative, it would say stop getting drunk with wine, all right? So he's not saying that the Ephesians have a drinking problem, okay? So he's not commanding them to stop something that they're doing.

What he's saying is don't start this. Don't make this your habit. Why? Because drunkenness leads to asotia in the Greek. It leads to asotia, translated dissipation or debauchery. Drunkenness leads to debauchery.

And it is debauchery that is probably singularly characteristic of the spiritual darkness. It characterizes spiritual darkness. It is the antithesis of the work of the spirit of God. So don't get drunk with wine, why?

Because it is, doesn't say that it leads to, it's interesting, it says it is asotia. It is debauchery. Now the word asotia only occurs two other times in the New Testament. So it's kind of a rare word.

Only two other times besides this and then once in an adverbial form, asotos, and just once there. So there's only four occurrences in the entire New Testament to this particular word. And in each case, it is associated with excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure.

Excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure, which is typically in the realm of darkness, drunkenness, and sexual immorality, okay? They all seem to go together. For example, Titus chapter one. Titus one, verses five and six.

For this reason I left you in Crete that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. Namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife having children who believe not accused of asotia or rebellion.

Not accused of dissipation or debauchery and rebellion. Requirement for an elder. First Peter chapter four, verses three and four. I'll read this from the English Standard Version. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you, okay? So those are the two other noun uses of asotia, or debauchery, or dissipation, and you can see they're both used as a way to summarize a life of darkness.

Luke chapter 15, and verse 13 is the adverbial use of it. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

Asotos, debauchery, right? The prodigal son not only disrespected his father and demanded his inheritance early, and took it off, and squandered it, but it's what he squandered it doing. He squandered it in asotos, in debauchery, loose living.

In the Old Testament, and in particular in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, Proverbs 28 and verse seven uses asotia. Or it says in 28 .7, he who keeps the law is a discerning son, but he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father.

Now there it's translated gluttons, okay? But it's the same word, asotia, right? So gluttony is related to debauchery. Gluttony is related to debauchery. Now gluttony is not just simply eating more than we should.

It involves a lifestyle of sensuality given over to the taste buds. So why, why does Paul contrast drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit? We now understand what it is, what it does, but why does he contrast it with being filled with the Spirit?

And I think the answer is that he's presenting two contrasting lifestyles, two contrasting lifestyles. A lifestyle of dissipation, which is a great old word, by the way, that we don't hear very often.

We don't use that much anymore, do we? We don't look and say, you know what, that's dissipation. I guess because we'd have to use it all the time when we look around us. But it's contrasting two lifestyles, a lifestyle of dissipation, a lifestyle of debauchery versus a lifestyle of moral excellence and power.

One belongs to the old man in Adam, the other belongs to the new creation in Christ. The life of the old man is the life of dissipation, that united with Adam. That united with Christ is the life of moral excellence, power.

Now, some conclude from this verse and others that alcoholic consumption is therefore forbidden by Scripture, okay? There are those that teach and believe that. But I would suggest to you that the use of alcohol is more nuanced than that, more nuanced than that.

The Scripture clearly prohibits drunkenness, why? It's debauchery, it's dissipation, it's asatia. And they clearly prohibit it by both command and example. There are numbers of examples in the Old Testament where drunkenness exhibits itself in debauchery.

So, both by command, here, and others, and by example, drunkenness is off-limits to the new life in Christ. It's the antithesis of the new life in Christ. But the overall treatment of the topic of alcohol is more nuanced.

And I would suggest to you that it's actually one of cautious enjoyment, cautious enjoyment under the lordship of Jesus Christ. So, a cautious enjoyment under the lordship of Jesus Christ. It is also a place to carefully respect and honor the scruples of brothers and sisters whose convictions differ, right?

So, those who have differing convictions on this matter, from our own, we need to be careful and tread lightly in these areas. That's Romans 14 and verse 21, right? There are different scruples. I would imagine, in a room this size, that we have differing scruples among us here, okay?

Alcohol in Scripture: Celebration, Caution, and Conscience

But let me share with you some biblical facts about alcohol. These are some things that perhaps you're not aware of. In the Old Testament, an abundant harvest was a blessing from God and provided much wine, and provided much wine.

Proverbs chapter three, we'll be skipping around the Old Testament here now. Proverbs chapter three and verse 10. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. You see that?

An abundant harvest, a blessing from God, results in much wine. The use of wine was associated with celebrations in the Old Testament. In Job chapter one and verse 13. Job 1 .13, now on the day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house.

So the consumption of wine was part of celebration. We see, for example, in the New Testament, we'll go there to John chapter two and verse 10, right? John two, verse 10, this is the wedding feast at Cana, where Jesus turns water into wine and he doesn't turn it into cheap wine.

In fact, the steward of the feast says in verse 10, to the bridegroom, who he thinks the bridegroom has really done an amazing thing here, he says to him, every man serves the good wine first and when people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine, but you have kept the good wine until now.

The idea being that after you've consumed some of it, there's a dulling of the taste buds and you can't tell the cheap from the good. So you serve the good first, the cheap later, okay? Now, I don't wanna get all lost in all of that, other than just to observe that the use of wine is very much part of a cultural celebration for them.

Very much. Deuteronomy 16, Deuteronomy 16, we find the seven day feast of tabernacles or feast of ingathering and it was celebrated in the autumn every year. It is still celebrated in the autumn. I've been in Israel for the feast of tabernacles.

It is a time of celebration and it comes at the end of both the grain and grape harvest. Okay, it's an autumn feast that comes at the end of the grain and the grape harvest. Chapter 16, verse 13, you shall celebrate the feast of booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat, okay?

So you're gathering in the grain, you're gathering in the grapes that you have placed into the wine vat, so you're gathering that all in and it is a seven day party. By the way, it's a great study of the feasts of Israel.

God really, this is like completely side note here, so anyway, I'm just gonna say it. God is really interested in periods of rest and recreation salted into hard work and so if you study the feasts of God, what you see is, you know what?

He provided a lot of vacations for people, a lot of vacations and times for rejoicing in his goodness. Wine was offered to God as part of the Mosaic sacrificial system, Leviticus 23, 13. Its grain offering shall then be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil and offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma with its drink offering a fourth of a hint of wine.

Okay, so wine was offered, prescribed by God and offered as part of the sacrificial system. But the priests were prohibited from drinking wine or strong drink while ministering in the tent of meeting.

So we see that in Leviticus chapter 10, verse nine. Do not drink wine or strong drink. By the way, strong drink would be probably beer since distilled product wasn't, or distilling was not invented till 800 BC, right?

So this is 600 years before that, before the invention of distilled products. So it's probably beer. But here it says in verse nine, do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you when you come into the tent of meeting so that you will not die.

It is a perpetual statute throughout your generation. Some think, and perhaps with good reason, that that may have been the origin of the sin of Nadab and Abihu, is that they went to Achar sacrifices, the strange fire, while under the influence of alcohol.

That's certainly contextually a good possibility. It could have been Bud Light. Yeah, indeed. But it wasn't vodka. Vodka. So, interesting, huh? It's part of the sacrificial system, but the priests are not to take part of it while they minister, okay?

Meaning when they're in the tent of meeting in service of the Lord. Well, number six, and by the way, we're not exhausting this. We're sort of just jumping around and looking at some stuff here. But a person under a Nazarite vow, a Nazarite vow distinguished himself or herself by abstaining from the normal practices of cutting their hair and drinking wine and other fermented beverages.

So, number six, verses one to eight, and I'm short on time, so I'm not gonna read them all to you. You can read it on your own. But the point of the matter is, number six, one to eight, oh, I'm sorry, Numbers, open Numbers.

Numbers chapter six, verses one to eight, where the Nazarite vow is laid out. The important thing for me this morning, for us, is that to undertake a Nazarite vow was to abstain from normal activities of life, okay?

It was to abstain from normal activities of life, which meant that when you were abstaining, people would notice. Hey, dude, like, look at your hair. You can't afford a barber? Oh, you're under a Nazarite vow, I get it.

Okay, the normal activity of life, you get a haircut, okay? Also, by the way, the hippie idea that Jesus wore long hair, get rid of that, okay? They cut their hair, they cut their hair. Psalm 104, Psalm 104.

Wine is used as an image of joy and blessing. Psalm 104, like this, verses 14 and 15. Psalm 104, 14 and 15. He that is God causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine, which makes man's heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food, which sustains man's heart.

So you see there, the idea that the wine brings joy, it brings blessing, okay? A few more. Wine is also used in the Old Testament as an image of the great blessing of the coming millennial kingdom. When Messiah's kingdom comes, it will be a time of great blessing, and wine is used in the prophets to speak of the coming kingdom, and to illustrate the tremendous joy that will be associated with it.

So, Isaiah chapter 25 is a good one. So Isaiah 25, and verse six. Isaiah 25, and verse six. The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain. So this is not just for the Jews, this is for all the redeemed of the Lord.

A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined aged wine. So in the coming Messiah's kingdom, it's illustrated, the joy of it, the abundance of it, by, I would say ribeye, but some might say filet mignon.

That would, you know, you can have your filet mignon, I'll eat my ribeye. So for me, it would be ribeye. But anyway, it's the idea of choice cuts of meat and wine. Okay, we can talk after. John chapter two, verse 11, we looked at John 2 .10, but there in the wedding feast, when he changes the water to wine, it's called his first sign.

It's his first sign, why is it a sign? It's a sign of the coming kingdom, because the king is among them. And so that's why he creates the wine. Okay, it's not just that, hey, you know what, the party was running low.

That's not the point of it. Amos chapter nine, verse 13. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows seed, when the mountains will drip with sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved.

Okay, he's talking about just the abundance of productivity of the earth during Messiah's kingdom will be such that you'll be planting next crop before we can even get the last one all gathered in, that kind of abundance.

One more from the New Testament, Matthew 26, verses 28 and 29. Wine was drunk by the participants at the Passover and its deep red color symbolizes Jesus' shed blood. 26, 28, and 29, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. That deep red liquid perfectly symbolizes his blood that he will soon shed.

Warnings About Drunkenness and the Limits of Alcohol

Now, beyond that, okay, so we've been talking about the way wine is portrayed in the scriptures as a place of cautious enjoyment. Beyond that, the scriptures repeatedly warn, all right, this is where the cautious side, so we've looked at the enjoyment side, now the cautious side.

The scriptures repeatedly warn about the capacity for alcohol to cloud our judgment and lead us to foolish behavior. It has a capacity to cloud the judgment and lead to foolish behavior. Proverbs 20, in verse one, wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise, okay, Proverbs 20, in verse one.

Proverbs 23, verses 19 to 21. Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine or with gluttonous eaters of meat, for the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

So there are, that's just a few, there are many more cautions associated with the use of wine, alcohol, okay. Now, some Bible teachers will argue that the wine of antiquity was of a lower alcoholic content than today's wines, and thus we should completely abstain from these modern beverages, okay.

I will just tell you I've never seen any evidence of such a thing. I've looked, I can't find any evidence, so if someone has the evidence, I would love to see it, okay, but as far as I can tell, there's no evidence of that.

Beyond that, beyond that, now listen carefully here for me, I think the alcoholic content of the wine in antiquity versus today is basically irrelevant to the fundamental issues. In other words, whether it was, whatever it is, was it 14 or something today?

I'm not a big wine guy, but 12%, I don't know what it is. Something like that, okay, versus antiquity. So say it's like double what it was. I still think that's really kind of irrelevant. It's really kind of irrelevant, and what I mean by that is that whether today's wines have a higher alcoholic content than biblical wine does not affect the basic purposes, cautions, and prohibitions related to its human consumption.

Now what about the tragedies associated with drunkenness? What about them? Isn't that reason enough to abstain from alcohol? Isn't that reason enough? And for some people, the answer is yes. For some, the answer is clearly, definitely yes, okay?

Either because of their own past or home circumstances that they grew up in or maybe they have ministry to those who are drunks, and so they see all of that, and their conclusion is total abstinence is the right response.

And if that is your perspective, then you should abstain for conscience' sake. That's Paul's teaching in Romans 14, 22, and 23. If that's your conviction, then you should keep your conviction, and don't let anything you've heard here change it, okay?

Other than your own independent study of the scriptures, and let that inform your conviction. But beloved, listen to me now. The antidote to sin is not law, but gospel. The antidote to sin is not law, but gospel.

If law could restrain sin, there would have been no need for the new covenant. You understand that? Just as the solution to gluttony is not a prohibition against supersized fast foods, so also the solution to drunkenness is not prohibition of alcohol.

By the way, I believe it was Philadelphia, and I think it's like five or six years ago, passed a statute where they outlawed supersized fast foods in an attempt to deal with gluttony, okay? Law never restrains sin.

As we draw this to a close, let me just observe this with you. I want you to notice, back here again, Ephesians 5, 18, so let's go back there. Here's what I want you to notice. I want you to notice that Paul prohibits drunkenness.

Do not get drunk with wine. But then commands being filled with the Spirit rather than abstinence as the Christ-honoring alternative. Do you see that? Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation.

He doesn't say, and therefore never touch it, but he contrasts being filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit. May we think on these things. May we think on these things. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you that it is comprehensive and it gives us everything we need for life and godliness. And so, Father, as we begin our study of Ephesians 5, 18 with just this brief introductory look at the prohibition of drunkenness and the place where alcohol is a sin, occupies in the word of God, I pray that your Spirit would make it instructive in our lives.

Father, give us whatever corrective we need in our thinking. Help us to have hearts of compassion and large-heartedness toward one another, particularly those whose convictions differ from our own, that we might live together as believers and be filled with the Spirit.

We pray in the name of Christ who sent him, amen. All right there, folks.