Mark Driscoll from his Good Wine, Glad Hearts Sermon:

A couple of things, if you were raised in the legalistic church are this. One, some say, “Oh, when the Bible says wine, it doesn’t mean wine.” What does it mean, pony?

I mean, when it says wine, it means wine. Okay, when it says God, it means God. When it says hell, it means hell. It just—the Bible speaks of wine frequently, and every time it does, it means wine. Some will say, “Oh, well, it speaks of new wine and new wine is wine that’s not fermented, doesn’t have alcohol.” But, the Bible says that, “Don’t get drunk on new wine.” So, obviously, new wine still has alcohol. Some—how many of you were told that the Christians only had mixed wine? Wine that was mixed with water to dilute it, okay? They lied to you.

Mixed wine does not refer to wine that is diluted with water. Only once in your Bible, Isaiah 1:22 does it speak of wine that’s mixed with water and there, it’s condemned because what it is is certain people are trying to sell wine and they’re diluting it with water. They’re ripping off their customers. Merchants are ripping people off, so it’s unacceptable. And when it speaks of mixed wine in the Bible, in Psalms and in Song of Solomon Chapter 8, it speaks of mixed wine as being wine that is mixed with spices to give it additional flavor. Sometimes, it refers to wines that are mixed together to create a particular taste for the palette and, as well, occasionally mixed wine is wine that is mixed with fruit to create such things as a dessert wine.

Okay, and so, the other thing, too, is the Bible does speak of grape juice. In Number 6:3, it speaks of grape juice. So, if God was speaking about grape juice, it would seem that he would say grape juice, right? If he has a word for wine and he has a word for grape juice, and he meant grape juice, it seems like he should have used it, rather than speaking wine. My point is simply this. When the Bible says wine, it means wine. And when it says grape juice, it means grape juice. Now, here’s what we’ll get into. First of all, the point that all Christians agree on, that drunkenness is a sin, okay? We all agree on that. To get drunk is a sin. The Bible’s clear on this. Paul says in Ephesians 5, “Don’t get drunk.” I don’t know how much more emphatic and clear you can get than that. “Don’t get drunk.” What does drunk mean? Drunk means drunk. Wine means wine. “Don’t get drunk.”