What horrid incest did righteous _Lot_ commit with his own daughters, when they had made him drunk? And, I doubt not, but there are many amongst you, who have committed such crimes when you have deprived yourselves of your reason by drinking, that were you to hear of them, your heart, like _Nabal_’s, after he was told how he had abused _David_ when he was drunk, would die within you. And, had any one told you, when you were sober, that you would have been guilty of such crimes, you would have cried out, with _Hazael_ before-mentioned, “Are thy servants so many dogs, that they should do thus?”
But no marvel that drunkards commit such crimes; for drunkenness drives the Holy Spirit from them; they become mere machines for the devil to work up to what he pleases; he enters into them, as he entered into the herd of swine; and no wonder if they then commit all uncleanness, and any other crime, with greediness. But this leads me to a
_Fifth_ consideration, which highly aggravates the sin of drunkenness, it separates the Holy Spirit from us.
It is to be hoped, that no one here present need be informed, that before we can be assured we are christians indeed, we must receive the Holy Ghost, must be born again from above, and have the Spirit of GOD witnessing with our spirits, that we are the sons of GOD. This, this alone is true christianity; and without the cohabitation of this blessed Spirit in our hearts, our righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and we shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of GOD.
But now, drunkards do in effect bid this blessed Spirit to depart from them: for what has he to do with such filthy swine? They have no lot or share in the Spirit of the Son of _David_. They have chased him out of their hearts, by defiling his temple; I mean their bodies. And he can no more hold communion with them, than light can have communion with darkness, or CHRIST have concord with _Belial_.
The apostle, therefore, in the words of the text, exhorts the _Ephesians_, “not to be drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but to be filled with the Spirit;” thereby implying, that drunkenness and the Spirit of GOD could never dwell in the same heart. And in another epistle, he bids them to avoid unprofitable conversation, as a thing which grieved the Holy Spirit: whereby alone they could be sealed to the day of redemption. And if unprofitable conversation grieves the Holy Spirit, at what an infinite distance must drunkenness drive him from the hearts of men?
O that you were wise! that you would consider what a dreadful thing it is to have the Spirit of the living GOD depart from you! for, assure yourselves, if you live without him, you will live without GOD in the world. You are in the same miserable forlorn condition as _Saul_ was, when an evil spirit of the LORD came upon him; and you are only so many vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. But this brings me to a
_Sixth_ reason against the sin of drunkenness; it absolutely unfits a man for the enjoyment of GOD in heaven, and exposes him to his eternal wrath.
To see and enjoy GOD, and to be like the blessed angels; always beholding the face of our heavenly Father, in the glories of his kingdom, is such an unspeakable happiness, that even wicked men, though they will not live the life of the righteous, cannot but wish their future state to be like his.
But think you, O ye drunkards, that you shall ever be partakers of this inheritance with the saints in light? Do you flatter yourselves, that you, who have made them often the subject of your drunken songs, shall now be exalted to sing with them the heavenly songs of _Sion_? No, as by drunkenness you have made your hearts cages of unclean birds, with impure and unclean spirits must you dwell.
A burning _Tophet_, kindled by GOD’s wrath, is prepared for your reception, where you must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, and in vain cry out for a drop of water to cool your tongues. Indeed you shall drink, but it shall be a cup of GOD’s fury: for in the hand of the LORD there will be a cup of fury, it will be full mixed; and as for the dregs thereof, all the drunkards of the land shall suck them out.
But perhaps you may not believe this report. These words may be looked upon by you as idle tales, and I may seem to you as _Lot_ did to his sons-in-law, when he came to warn them to get up out of _Sodom_, “as one that mocketh.” But if you believe not me, believe eternal truth itself, which has positively declared, that no drunkard shall ever enter into his kingdom.
And I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that as surely as the LORD rained fire and brimstone, as soon as _Lot_ went out of _Sodom_, so surely will GOD cast you into a lake of fire and brimstone, when he shall come to take vengeance on them that know not GOD, and have not obeyed the gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.