February, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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powers are destroyed; even though he be beaten, the drinker is sunken in a stupor of insensibility and knows not when he is hurt. “They have beaten me and I knew it not,” he says. And finally, the drinker’s will is destroyed; knowing what intem perance does to him, he seeks the wine again; as soon as he recovers from one debauch, he is ready for another, having no will to resist the lure of it. With results like these following the in temperate use of strong drink, such things as taking the pledge are of little value. They become mere mockeries to one who- has become enslaved to the tyranny of in toxicating liquor. Nothing but a new birth can suffice. And such a new birth can come only by the acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s personal Saviour. The teacher will do well to dwell more upon the method o f receiving Christ as Saviour than upon methods of keeping sober or doing away with the so-called liquor traffic. The most intemperate of all inebriates is the person who refuses to accept God’s gift, eternal life in Christ. This alone can preserve one from intemperance in all its forms, whether the use. of strong drink or any other sin o f the flesh. II. T h e J udgment upon I ntemperance ( I s a . 28 : 1 - 4 ). This passage records the judgment upon national intemperance. Ephraim, the ten- tribe kingdom, is spoken to because o f her folly and intemperance. Samaria, the cap ital city of the kingdom, is mentioned as being the “crown o f pride.” Her beauty, fa mous throughout all the country, had be come a fading flower because of the drink ing carried on by the leaders of the peo ple. Her strength had become depleted, so that she could not offer resistance when the enemy appeared. Her judgment , had become distorted, so that she could not reason aright. Her resistance had been weakened, so that she was an easy prey to foreign aggression. And to crown all her sins, the law had been trampled under fo o t; this was, indeed, the beginning o f her downfall. This should be impressed upon the minds of the scholars. When the law is forgotten through the intemperance o f the people, the nation is weakened and ready to be destroyed. Treating the law in a light manner should be warned against repeatedly. The judgment is national. The Lord raises up “a mighty and a strong one” against the people. This “mighty and strong one” is Sennacherib, king of As syria, who came upon Israel like a “tem pest of hail and a destroying storm,” and like a “flood o f mighty waters overflowing.” But the storm and the flood had been al ready set loose, when Israel gave herself over to intemperance. It was intemper ance, not Sennacherib, that destroyed Is rael. Sennacherib was merely the instru ment, or the agent, who executed the judg ment pronounced against the intemperance of His people, by the Lord. III. T h e C haracter of I ntemperance (D a n . 5 : 1 - 4 ). This portion of our lesson is from the record of Belshazzar’s loss o f the empire which had come to him, through the provi dence of God, from his father, the great king Nebuchadnezzar. Impiety and sen suality, godlessness and licentiousness, marked his career and brought at last the judgment of God upon him. Frivolity, to gether with splendor and luxury, was the order in his court. But underneath all the outward show, there lay the one character istic which could end only in ruin—the sin of intemperance.
small loaves of brea3®^Sfef two fishes. He was willing to share what he had. While this seemed much too little to share among so many, still Jesus took it, and blessed it, and gave it to His disciples to give to the people. And in a marvelous way, the food lasted until “they did all eat, and were filled.” Jesus called Himself the Bread o f life. Perhaps He worked this miracle to show His disciples that they were to share Him with others, and to show that from Him came the power and strength to do this.
At last, His disciples came and said, “ It is getting late. The people have had noth ing to eat. Send them around into the towns to find food.” Jesus said, “ Give ye them to eat.” The disciples didn’t understand. They said, “ Shall we go and buy them food?” And they must have wondered where they should get the money! Jesus said, “How much food have you?” Now among the crowd, there was a lit tle boy who had a lunch with him—five
MARCH 19, 1933 THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLIC DRINKS P rov . 23:29-32; I sa . 28:1-4; D an . 5:1-4
which would disappear if man would use his reason. Intemperance results in woe and sorrow ; in contentions; in babbling, or com plaints; in wounds without cause; in red ness of eyes. Who hath these things? “They that tarry long at the wine,|»fthey who are intemperate in the use of alco holic drinks. The ruined mental condition of humankind is revealed when, knowing that these things will surely follow, alco holic drinks are indulged in to the point o f intemperance. Further, intemperance in strong drink uses up valuable time, brings the drinker to poverty, and ruins the mor als. From beginning to end, the Scriptures warn us against the sin of intemperance. The record of Noah is ever before us as a man who not only debased himself, but who was the cause o f dishonor and ruin to his posterity. The example o f Abihu and Nadab, recorded in Leviticus 10, is another manifestation of what the intemperate use of strong drink can do to a man’s reason, the whole chapter implying that these two priests, who died because they offered strange fire unto the Lord, offered it while they were under the influence of strong drink. “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the Cup, when it moveth itself aright” (or, “goeth down smoothly” ). These expres sions reveal something of the fascinating character o f the wine, but they also reveal something of the utter falseness that is in it, and the certainty that it produces fatal effects. It is like a subtle, silent serpent whose bite brings death; or, like a swift, darting adder whose sting slays. The terrible results of intemperance are recorded in verses 33 to 35. The moral self is destroyed, and the drinker comes to delirium and sees “ strange things” (R. V .) and utters perverse, or froward, things. The physical self is ruined, and the drinker is heedless o f danger and reckless o f the threat of death; he is like one who “lieth down in the midst o f the sea,” or as one who would lie down to rest upon the “top o f a mast.” The mental BLACKBOARD LESSON
Golden T ext: “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder” (Prov. 23:32). Grape Growing V ery few grapes are grown in Pales tine today. This is due to the atti tude of the Mohammedans toward liquors. Whatever may be their faults, we must commend the Moslems for their tem perance. Very few o f them drink intoxi
cating l i q u o r , and since nine-tenths of the population o f the Holy Land is Moham medan, grape growing for wine purposes is very scarce. There are s o m e grapes grown in the southern part of Ju daea, however. Rocky
hills, which can be terraced, provide an excellent place for vines. When one stands below one of these rock-terraced hills, it seems to be nothing but a desolation of stones. This aspect is occasioned by the rocky sides of the terrace walls, which are about all that can be seen from below. When one stands upon the top of the hill and looks down, all is changed. Now one looks upon the tops of the terraces. Cov ered with their luxuriant growth of grape vines, they present the appearance of a delightful garden. During the summer time, there is prac tically no rain'in the Holy Land. Irriga tion in the rocky hill country is either im possible or impracticable. As a conse quence, the grape vines must depend upon the moisture which they get from the air. This 'is possible through that peculiar at mospheric phenomenon known to us in Southern California as “high fog.” The dry, hot air in the summer rises from that natural furnace, the Dead Sea Valley, and comes in contact with the cool, moist air which is blowing in from over the Mediter ranean. This causes the moisture to be congealed into dense vapor. This conden sation takes place at an altitude o f be tween two and three thousand feet. Since this is precisely the altitude of the hill country of Judaea, the grapes thrive upon natural irrigation. Outline and Exposition T he W arning A gainst I ntemperance (Prov. 23:29-35). The degree to which sin has eaten its way into and despoiled man’s reason is revealed when intemperance must be pro hibited. One would think that the mani fest results of intemperance would be enough to cause reasoning beings to avoid it. But intemperance continues to be one o f the great curses of the world, a curse
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