Drink a Lot of Budweiser

Budweiser

Do we have any Broncos fans out here tonight? After the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl last Sunday, Peyton Manning said this in an interview: “I’m gonna drink a lot of Budweiser tonight, Tracy, I promise you that.” Peyton’s big plans after winning his second Super Bowl was to drink a lot of Budweiser. How many of you out here tonight are going to be like Peyton Manning? Are you planning on drinking a lot of Budweiser tonight? Is this your goal tonight? Are you planning on getting drunk tonight?  

In addition to getting drunk, Peyton’s next big plan was to do the following “then I’m gonna say a little prayer and thank the man upstairs for this great opportunity.” So after getting plastered, the next thing on his agenda was to say a little prayer and thank the man upstairs. Is this also your plan too? Are you a professing Christian? Is your little g god – also known as the man upstairs ok with you getting stumbling drunk as long as you say a little prayer to him before you go to sleep?

Little g god

I’m really not trying to make fun of you tonight. I used to worship this same little g god for years. I worshipped this same little g god for over 30 years. I used to live my life like the devil, but the whole time I professed to be a Christian. I was as lost as I could be, but I foolishly thought that I was alright because I had asked Jesus into my heart. I thought I could sin at will because Jesus forgave all my sins. All I had to do was make sure that I asked this little g god, this man upstairs to forgive me before I went to sleep then he would automatically forgive me just because I asked him to. I wrongly thought that I would be alright, all because I had asked Jesus into my heart.

But you see; I had no concept of repentance. I had no concept of the truly horribly high price Jesus paid for sin. I had no concept of what the Bible really said, because I never read the Bible. I didn’t feed on God’s word daily. It is the Living Word of God. Now, I don’t want to go a day without feeding on God’s word.

When I was lost, I didn’t have that desire. When I was lost, I used to drink Busch beer and I would raise that beer can high in the air and say yeah, I’m a Christian. I used to spout off the drunkards favorite verses, in fact I really wonder if most drunkards know any other ones. But back then I’d argue with any teetotaller that Jesus turned water into wine. I used to offer up this lame argument when I was a drunkard. The second verse that I used to throw around was judge not lest ye be judged.

Jesus Turned Water into Wine

Tonight I want to start with the first excuse used by most drunkards and that is that Jesus turned water into wine. First of all, they didn’t have different words for fermented wine and unfermented grape juice, it was all called wine. Also, Jesus is God, so He knows the Scriptures better than any of us. He knew that Proverbs 20:1 says: Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Jesus was the wisest person who ever walked this earth. Do you really think that He would participate in getting people drunk? Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. The wisest man who ever lived wouldn’t do something or cause others to be unwise.

Proverbs 23:19-21 states: Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Jesus knew these words of Scripture better than anyone. Drunkards shall come to poverty. One out of every 13 people who take their first drink becomes an alcoholic. This is a horrific statistic. Jesus would never encourage someone to become an alcoholic.

That same chapter of the Bible continues: 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. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again (Proverbs 23:29-35). Again, Jesus knew these verses. He would never encourage people to sin. He did just the opposite. He came to save His people from their sins and Jesus never condoned sin, not one time.

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people (Habakkuk 2:4-5). 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! (Habakkuk 2:15). Again, Jesus knew these verses better than anyone. The Scriptures were written by the Holy Ghost through men that God chose to write them. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). Woe to him that gives his neighbor drink. Jesus never sinned. He wouldn’t cause those around Him to get drunk. Jesus came to set the captives free, not to help put them in bondage.

Judge Not

Seemingly, the drunkards other favorite verse is Matthew 7:1 which says: Judge not, that ye be not judged. That’s a pretty straight forward verse. We shouldn’t be out here telling you that you shouldn’t drink, right? Wrong!  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye (Matthew 7:2-5).

Matthew 7:1-5 aren’t saying don’t judge, they’re saying don’t be a hypocrite! We aren’t supposed to come out here and preach against drunkenness and then go home ourselves and get drunk. Jesus was saying don’t be a hypocrite. We’ll, I’m here to tell you that my friends and I are not hypocrites. We are pleading with you to turn from alcohol and turn to Jesus. Our Lord and Savior came to set the captives free. You can be set free tonight, repent and trust Jesus.

Don’t be like Peyton Manning. Don’t go out and drink lots of Budweiser. No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. Please listen closely to the following verses: Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. No homosexual shall inherit the kingdom of God. No effeminate (or transgender or cross dresser) shall inherit the kingdom of God. No thief shall inherit the kingdom of God. No adulterer shall inherit the kingdom of God. No fornicator shall inherit the kingdom of God. No idolater shall inherit the kingdom of God. The list in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is not an all inclusive list by the apostle Paul. These were just sins that were prevalent 2,000 years ago and they are still prevalent today. But these aren’t the only sins.

But we could update this list today. No drug addict shall inherit the kingdom of God. No porn addict shall inherit the kingdom of God. No one that’s hooked on racy tv shows or commercials shall inherit the kingdom of God. No one that’s addicted to raunchy Hollywood movies shall inherit the kingdom of God. It’s not so much about the specific list; it’s more about your heart.

The heart of an unsaved person is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). None of us have loved God with all of our heart, soul and mind every day of our lives. No idolater shall inherit the kingdom of God. But those of us who are saved, will inherit the kingdom of God. We love God because He first loved us. We want to please God. We want to serve Him. We want to worship Him. We want to praise God.

But all unbelievers have made themselves enemies of God. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). Unrepentant sinners love their sins. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). They are rebellious against Almighty God and they are lost and on the broad road to Hell (Matthew 7:13-14).

Judgment Day

Riches profit not in the day of wrath (Proverbs 11:4). Peyton will stand before God on Judgment Day – without his Super Bowl rings, without his fame, without his riches and he will have no excuse. He will have no excuse for owning two Budweiser distributorships in Louisiana. He will have no excuse for buying 21 Pappa Johns restaurants before Colorado legalized marijuana because he knew it was going to pass and that people who get high get the munchies. He will have no excuse on Judgment Day and neither will you. Nobody will be crying “but You Jesus, You turned water into wine” on Judgment Day. You won’t say anything because your mouth will be stopped and you will be without excuse and all unrepentant sinners will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.

We don’t want to see anyone go to Hell. We want you to turn from your sins and turn to Jesus. We want you to be saved. We want you to come out from the bondage of Satan and be set free from your sins. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15). We want you to come out of the darkness and into the light. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God (John 3:20-21). Jesus is the Light. He is the only Savior. Repent and put your faith in Jesus.

Forget the King of Beers

Forget the king of beers and submit to the King of kings. Surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Bow your knee to the Lord of lords. Confess and forsake your sins. Come to Jesus. Come to the Jesus of the Bible. Come to the One who is Lord of all.

Come to Him the Bible way – through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). Quit praying to the man upstairs. That little g god that you have invented in your own mind cannot save you. A figment of your imagination cannot save you. Only the shed blood of Jesus can cleanse you. Only the One who bore our sins and who suffered God’s Holy and righteous wrath can save you. The man upstairs is not real. He cannot save you from your sins. He cannot cleanse you. He cannot break the bondage of your sins.

But Jesus can do these things. He paid your sin debt. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). When you are saved, when you are born again, God sends the Comforter to you. The Holy Spirit lives inside of true believers. You cannot continue in your sins. The Holy Spirit convicts those who are truly saved. Be saved today. Repent and believe the Gospel.

This message was proclaimed in the open in downtown Springfield, MO on February 12, 2016