Next to such things as smallpox and cholera, whiskey was the most malignant and destructive force on the frontier.”
                    –Douglas C. Jones  (Winding Stair)

       “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”
                    –Ephesians 5:18 (ESV)
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          “God’s threats are designed to be trumpet calls that awaken us from our spiritual stupor, to shake us free of our drunken iniquity, and to sober us up, to open our eyes to our sins so that we fall on our knees, confess those sins, and receive the never-ending mercy of God in Jesus Christ.”
                    –Chad Bird

Woe! –to those who have “pleasure mania.”  Isaiah warns, 5:11-17:  “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them!  The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands.” (vs 11-12, NKJV)  These are people who are drunk, not only with alcohol, but also music and all sorts of entertainment.  They are so addicted that they do not recognize the peril of the times in which they are living.  In spite of the crisis, the issues, the conflicts, they will still party-hardy, living only for pleasure.
     These individuals live for pleasure.  “Pleasure becomes the supreme thing in life.” (Lloyd-Jones)  Listen, there is nothing wrong with pleasure, unless pleasure becomes the driving force in your life, or that it is perverse.  Pleasure worshipped, pleasure sought and bought, pleasure as an addiction all develop internal rot.  It is a type of “spiritual gangrene.”  People work only to provide money for more pleasure.  It is the “bread and circuses” of ancient Rome.  Dull the senses on booze and music, “who cares about the nation,” they cry, “as long as I have my enjoyment, my pleasure.”
     Now the results of their wantonness.  “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.  Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.  People shall be brought down, each man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.” (vs 13-15, NKJV)  I am reminded of the drunken feast hosted by Belshazzar.  Profaning the name of the Lord and God wrote, “Enough is Enough!” (paraphrase)
     What then is life?  Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “It is artificially produced, stimulated by drink, by singing and by music of certain types.”  What kind of life is produced?  “Nothing so measures the misery of this age in which we live as the way in which it is kept going by artificial stimulants.  It is artificial life.” (Lloyd-Jones)  And now we can add to that there is no longer the need to think, to reason, for we have AI.  It grieves the Holy Spirit when the people of God compromise using His Word as an excuse.  “I can drink, don’t be so legalistic.”  “I can party, listen to whatever music I want, go to any kind of entertainment I desire, don’t be so legalistic.”  Is there a day when God will say to the church in America, “Enough is Enough”?
     Sheol, the place of the dead, hell has opened its mouth for the wanton, the drunken, those who seek stimulants rather than God to descend.  Read again what was happening at the very time of Belshazzar’s party.  The enemy was breaking through the gates.  We cry for freedom then we abuse it.  Woe, for those will become slaves, maybe not to another enemy, but to the power and captivity of their addiction.  They become animalistic, “brute beasts,” as Peter calls them.  “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption.” (2 Peter 2:12, NKJV)  Jude declares, “But these speak of evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.” (vs 10, NKJV)  Yes, not only the attitude of “eat, drink, and be merry,” but also the perversion and twisting of God’s words to meet their agenda.
     A lifestyle of drink and merriment–of pleasure.  These are people of habit, people who act on physical and mental desires without spiritual discernment.  Isaiah uses the term “inflamed,” meaning to ignite or set on fire.  Their passions are set on fire for pleasure.  They are not controlled or realizing or caring that they are slaves to their carnal nature.  Lloyd-Jones tells us, “If you go in for the life of pleasure, you will never have enough–never…the godless life has never satisfied anybody.”  The words of Jesus, recorded in Luke, brings us back to the “woe” of Isaiah.  “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” (6:24-25, NKJV)
     Perhaps it is time to sober up.  Perhaps it is time to put aside our addictions, our wants, our cravings.  Perhaps it is too late for by-chance God could have declare, “Enough is Enough”!

 

 Do not let the years pass you by. When you reach my age, life will become primarily a memory. Don’t let the bad overpower the good.”
                    –Donald L. Robertson  (Lonesome Justice)

       “Since his days are determined.  The number of his months is with You; and You have set his limits so that he cannot pass.”
                    –Job 14:5 (NASB)
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March 17, 1883, saw the funeral of one of the most influential men of modern history.  Through his philosophy of socialism/communism, more people have died than any throughout history.  Eleven people attended the funeral of Karl Marx, penniless, almost friendless.  He once penned these words to Engels, “A lousy life like this is not worth living.”  He was not young, but by no means old.  Bob Beasley reminds us, “Even if a wicked person should live many years, they will be years filled with the guilt and sorrow that accompany unforgiven sin.”  And I will add, they will go to the grave uncertain of what lies behind the veil.
     Proverbs 10:27, “The fear of the LORD prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.” (NKJV)  First to remind you as you contemplate this verse, and I use the words of Chad Bird, “Proverbs are general observations, not an ironclad guarantee.  Proverbs are not promises.”  You could name many strong Christians who died young, as you can probably name several reprobates who lived to be of old age.  Therefore, I would admonish you to not “claim” any of the Proverbs as promises, but use them to guide your life, and in saying that I am not diminishing the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit to highlight some of them for your life.
     Bob Beasley gives some good advice and examples of how the fear of the Lord brings long life:
          1)  Our actual days on earth may be lengthened by a life led by the Holy Spirit.  Our habits will be purer and our minds will not be beset with worry and anxiety.
          2)  The days themselves will be longer, as we are given a fuller more meaningful life.
          3)  Our years will never end if we live and continue in the fear of the Lord.
Days will be sweeter and fuller, life will have more meaning to ourselves and to others.  And for sure, eternal life is a “better quality of life as well as quantity.” (J. Vernon McGee)
     Laughter may be a cover up for fear.  Anxiety often fills the wicked.  All sorts of escape methods are used to aid in living this life without the knowledge and fear of the Lord.  “A soul without godliness is a complicated mechanism which has never been rightly adjusted,” says J.L. Flores.  “There is no ruling principle, no guiding hand, one passion wars against another, the man bears the burden of life alone.”  The wicked live their life with relative truth, then when death hovers over them, there is uncertainty.  But as Samuel Miller says, no matter how long the righteous live, his days “are great and noble, and the wicked’s days are mean and small.”
     The words from an old hymn come to me that is from 2 Timothy 1:12:
               “But ‘I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able
               To keep that which I’ve committed
               Unto Him against that day.'”
                       –Daniel W. Whittle
Our trust is in Him, for every year, for every day, for every hour.  David tells us, “The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me.  LORD, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.” (Psalm 138:8, HCSB)

 

“The love of peace and the unwillingness to fight never kept anyone out of trouble.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (North to the Rails)

       “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
                    –John 16:33 (HCSB)

         “Blessed are the peacemakers:  for they shall be called the children of God.”  –Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
         “Blessed…are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they shall be called the sons of God!” –Matthew 5:9 (Amplified)

     From the start we need to distinguish the difference between peace and appeasement.  They are not synonyms!  The peace of God has a price–the precious blood of Jesus.  Appeasement is the easy way; the way of compromise.  Through appeasement Neville Chamberlain gave away peace in the Munich Conference saying, “We have made peace with honour.  I believe it is peace for our time.”  To which, Winston Churchill replied, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour.  You chose dishonour and you will have war.”  Britannica says that appeasement is “the foreign policy of pacifying an aggrieved country through negotiation.”  I think of appeasement every time I see someone put their hand up with the “chicken tracks” (i.e., the peace sign)  Back in the days of World War II, it meant something totally different–victory!
     Yes, we are to pursue peace.  We read in Hebrews, “Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness–without it no one will see the Lord.” (12:14, HCSB)  Peter states, “He must turn away from evil and do good.  He must seek peace and pursue it.” (1 Peter 3:11, HCSB)  How does one then go about pursuing peace?  I remember the days of the Cold War.  To be at peace meant having more formidable weapons than the Soviet Union.  First of all peace is duty implied.  We are to be people of peaceable-mindedness.  We do what we can to maintain peace, whether it be national, on the job, in the home.  Then peace is also duty expressed.  Where and when we can we are to be peacemakers.  
     However, we must beware of false prophets.  We must beware of peace-at-any-price.  We must beware of pseudo-peace.  We must beware of appeasement calling it peace.  Jeremiah gives two warnings regarding false peace.  “They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (6:14, HCSB) and “They have treated superficially the brokenness of My dear people, claiming:  Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” (8:11, HCSB)  Many of those who clamor for peace do not know that peace often comes at a very dear cost.  See, real peace, the peace in the heart of a Christian cost the blood of Jesus upon the cross.  John Stott reminds us, “Peacemaking is a divine work.  For peace means reconciliation.”  We must first be reconciled to God before there can be any true, lasting peace.  Salvation brings peace with God.  Paur writes in Colossians 1:20, “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (NKJV)  When we accept Jesus as Savior we then become the children of God.  Truly, one cannot make real lasting peace with others without being at peace with God and self.
     What then is peace?  The Greek term is “eirene.”  It is not spoken of in a negative state and it never means the absence of trouble.  It means peace in the midst of troubles.  In Hebrew, “shalom” means peace in the manner that everything which makes for man’s highest good.  It is not only the absence of evil things, but also the presence of good things.  The Bible proclaims, as William Barclay states, “In the Bible peace means not only freedom from all trouble; it means enjoyment of all god.”  Blessed are the peacemakers then are those who bring about good.  It is not necessarily stopping conflict, though that is to be sought, but it is in the midst of the conflict to bring about good.

But greed does things to some men, turns their souls black as midnight.”
                    –James Leonard  (One-Eyed Jack Reaper)

       “For the wicked are proud of their evil desires; the greedy curse and reject the LORD.”
                    –Psalm 10:3 (HCSB)
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          “God’s threats are designed to be trumpet calls that awaken us from our spiritual stupor, to shake us free of our drunken iniquity, and to sober us up, to open our eyes to our sins so that we fall on our knees, confess those sins, and receive the never-ending mercy of God in Jesus Christ.”
                    –Chad Bird

Before looking at the first “woe” of Isaiah 5, I want us to look at an important statement by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  Some will proclaim regarding Isaiah, “that’s Old Testament, it doesn’t pertain to us.”  But Lloyd-Jones takes a more truthful and thoughtful approach.  “Israel is a pattern or an example which God set before the whole human race in order to convey His great message that men and women, in their rebellion against God, are ignorant of their own true nature, they are irrational and perverse and, finally, they are utterly without excuse.  The only hope for them is to realise all this before it is too late and repent and turn back to God lest His wrath should descend upon them.”
     Woe to us!
          .8 Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
          .9 The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:  “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
        .10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a home of seed shall yield but an ephah.
                    –Isaiah 5:8-10 (ESV)
To have a better understanding, the TLB says, “An acre of vineyard will not produce a gallon of juice!  Ten bushels of seed will yield a one-bushel crop!” (verse 10)
     Greed and materialism depicts the first woe.  Before going on further, “woe” is not a feeling bad enough to just go eat some worms.  No, it is a dire warning of ruinous trouble, calamity, and affliction.  Many declare that real life consists of money, wealth, and the amount of possessions one has.  “More, give me more!”  The warning comes–“WOE!”
     It has been said that “it takes money to make money,” and there may be some truth in that statement, but it is not done at the expense of one’s character or at the expense of someone else.  It is not done by fraud, swindle, extortion, or cheating.  The words to an old song came to mind, “If I had his money, I could do things my way…”. (Jack Rhodes).  In other words, the lack of contentment and satisfaction with your lot in life and the covetous attitude of wanting someone else’s and more, more, more.
     What is it then that makes a person?  The size of their house, the car they drive, their bank account, their fashion-designer?  “What a conception of life!” declares Lloyd-Jones, who continues, “That non-Christian view of life makes us small creatures, it estimates us and judges us in terms of goods and the things that we possess, and knows nothing about our soul, our spirit, and what links us to God and the possibilities of eternity.”  
     When a person is identified by their possession then they are a slave.  Jesus reminds us, “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” (Luke 12:23, ESV)  If you are controlled by greed you will never have enough.  If you are not content with the life you are living, joy will forever be escaping you.  “The selfish spirit that comes in is an expression of this godless materialistic outlook upon the whole of life.” (Lloyd-Jones)
     The end result of the materialistic lifestyle is that God will turn it all to desolation.  Let us remember and heed the words of our Lord in Matthew 6:19, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.” (ESV).  He continues with 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (ESV).  “You will have enough, and more than enough, to satisfy you while you are in this life; you will have started with your soul, you will be right with God, and you will therefore succeed in time, you will succeed in death, you will succeed throughout the countless ages of eternity.” (Lloyd-Jones)  Perhaps we should grasp onto the the idea of Jeremiah Burroughs that he presents in his wonderful book, “The Rare-Jewel of Christian Contentment,” “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every direction.”
     Woe unto you who are greedy and materialistic in your approach to life.  Destruction will be your lot.  The soul will not be satisfied.  Dryness of spirit will come and there will be no inner harvest.