He hasn’t always been a drunkard. Once he was young, fair and sweet. Once he was a baby held tenderly in some mother’s arms. Once he bounced on his daddy’s knee. What happened to make him take the wrong turn in life? Somehow he has missed God for his life or maybe someone else has missed God concerning him.

 Maybe he wanted to live life to the fullest. Non of that fuddy-duddy religious stuff for him! As a young person he set out in the pursuit of thrills and happiness. One thing led to another. Friends urged him to come and join them for a drink or a drag off a joint of pot or crack cocaine. They liked to laugh at him when he got drunk or high enough that he didn’t care and said and did funny things. Only he thought they were laughing with him. But before long he was hooked on the alcohol or drugs and couldn’t break its grasp. And as he would loose track of reality for hours and then days at a time, those friends began to stay away from him. It embarrassed them to be around him when he was that way. And some of them felt guilty because they knew they had started him down the wrong road, and because their guilt made them uncomfortable, they began to avoid him. Soon nobody but other drunks or drug addicts will have anything to do with him.

Maybe he had even gotten off to a great start in life with a college education, a good job, a pretty and loving wife, a nice home and car. Maybe he even had children that loved him. Maybe he got started drinking or using drugs  in high school  or college and for a while kept it under control. Maybe it was at the celebration of his marriage or buying that home or car or the birth of his first child that he took that first drink, drag off a joint or some crack. But bit by bit, day by day the alcohol or drug began numbing  his mind and causing him to want more and more until IT was in control and he but a helpless slave to its addiction.

 Perhaps he had gone to Sunday school as a small child, but heard nothing but a list of rules and regulations of what God doesn’t like and decided he didn’t care to serve a God who only took away fun and pleasure. Maybe the pastor who saw him going into danger was one who had “...a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” and was both powerless to help him get release, and lacking in credibility when he told the young drunkard or addict that Jesus was the answer.
 Parents, let me warn you to serve God. If you have children, bring them up to love the Lord, not only by the things you say, but also by the way you live.

 Young person, give your life to Jesus at an early age and live for Him, “Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

 There really is a joy in serving Jesus that the world cannot match. Don’t play with alcoholic drinks, drugs or tobacco. You may think you are having a good time now, but Satan demands a payday when you play with his toys!

 The scripture states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” God’s Word is true, and what is written in it will surely come to pass. Heaven is real. Hell is real. And Jesus is real. He lovingly stands with outstretched arms waiting for you to come to Him.

 There are skid rows across America where the young as well as the old live and die. The missions are filled to capacity with those seeking help. It is a sad situation, but there is hope in God. Despite all the efforts of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, only the Lord Jesus Christ can bring real, lasting deliverance to an alcoholic or drug addict, give him a whole new nature and set him free. Really  FREE!

  If you believe that you are a sinner and your present life is displeasing to God; if you believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God and can take your old life and give you a new one, obey the words of the Apostle Peter, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38). Repentance marks the death of your old self-will. Baptism is the burial of your old sin nature and resurrection with Jesus. Then God promises to give you the Holy Ghost that will give you the power to become a new creature in Christ Jesus and to have a whole new set of desires, goals and joy in your new life.