Introduction: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." (Proverbs 20:1) As I mentioned in our last study, it is evident from Scripture that no good thing has ever come from drinking wine or strong drink. Since there are no contradictions in the Bible, God cannot condemn alcoholic wine and strong drink on one hand and condone it on the other. Therefore, Proverbs 20:1 stands faithful to the whole of Scripture. Wine remains a mocker and strong drink remains raging, and both are great deceivers of mankind. Even a casual study of the Scriptures surrounding the use of wine and strong drink in the Bible, shows plainly that wine and strong drink are not good.
However, today there are still many who have swallowed wine and strong drink's lies, literally, by the bottle and glass-full. As has been said in an earlier study, wine and strong drink are liars. This should not be surprising because alcohol is of its father, the Devil. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)
Wine really is a mocker. The Hebrew word that God uses here is the same word He uses other places throughout the Bible for the word scorn. It means to mock anyone, a frivolous and impudent person who sets at nought and scoffs at the most sacred beliefs and duties of the child of God. A scorner is one who makes a mock of everything that is holy. The Bible says in Proverbs 20:1 that wine is a mocker, that is, wine is a scoffer. Wine and strong drink still bring about the downfall of many who would remain pure if it were not for the scorning of alcohol.
- Alcohol brings poverty. "Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." (Proverbs 23:20-21)
- Alcohol brings misery. "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." (Proverbs 23:29-32)* Here is an interesting statistic for you. The war in Vietnam, from 1960-1965, claimed 1,071 American lives. During that same time period, there were 108,929 automobile fatalities because of alcohol. While Americans were complaining about the loss of human life in Vietnam, they should have been up in arms about the destructive affects of alcohol.
- Alcohol brings immorality. "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things." (Proverbs 23:31-33)
- Alcohol brings instability. "Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." (Proverbs 23:34-35)
In that wine is a mocker, this means that wine is as the scorner. As I mentioned earlier, a scorner is one who mocks at that which is holy and makes little of that which is Godly. By learning what the Bible says about the mocking of the scorner, we can also learn what the Bible says about wine and the scorn it produces.
1. The scorn of hatred.
"Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." (Proverbs 9:8)
"A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise." (Proverbs 15:12)
- It is interesting to note that the word hate in Proverbs 9:8 means to despise or to look down upon or to think little of.
- The scorner is full of disrespect. Wine, being a scorner, produces disrespect.
- Wine does not make only the drunken sot a little drunker; it makes the successful business man drunk also. It not only makes the neighborhood drunk a little drunker; it also intoxicates the family man. It has no respect for anyone. It is full of hatred.
2. The scorn of refusing rebuke. - Proverbs 13:1
"A wise son heareth his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke."
- The picture here is that of a father guiding his son away from the wrong way.
- The scorner knows only his own way and refuses to be turned. He refuses to hear anything that may go against what he believes.
- When the Bible says that wine is a mocker, that is, wine is a scorner, it means that you cannot reason with it or those who are deceived by it. Of course, you know the phrase, "You cannot reason with a drunk."
- The one who has been deceived by wine and strong drink, is the one who will hear someone speak against it and will justify it still. He refuses rebuke.
3. The scorn of refusing wise counsel. - Proverbs 15:12
"A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise."
- The individual, who has believed alcohol's lies, will not have any respect for those who want to help him.
- He refuses to counsel with the wise. After all, why should one who already knows everything seek counsel from anyone else?
4. The scorn of ungodliness. - Proverbs 19:28
"An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity."
- The word ungodly here is the Hebrew word Belial, and it means that it is of the Devil and not of God.
- We have already established the fact that alcohol, being a liar, is of its father the Devil; and the will of its father, it will do.
5. The scorn of contention. - Proverbs 22:10
"Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease."
- Proverbs 20:1 told us that strong drink is a brawler.
- In that wine and strong drink cause an individual to become scornful, the best way to deal with a drunk is to cast them out. It is my understanding that bars and modern-day saloons hire men as bouncers. A bouncer's responsibility is to remove brawlers from the premises.
- Undoubtedly, alcohol causes problems in homes. The way to remove this kind of contention from the home is to remove the contention maker. When you remove alcohol, the scorner, from a home, you will also remove the contention it brings.
Conclusion: There is just nothing good to be said about alcohol. Everything in the Bible points to how destructive it really is. It destroys men's lives while destroying men's homes. If only God's people would believe what the Bible says about wine and strong drink! What kind of tragedy has to come before we believe what the Bible says? We have to remember that those who are holden with the cords of wine and strong drink, were not always held by them. There was a time when they only played with wine and strong drink. It wasn't long before wine and strong drink began to make a mock of their lives. Before everything was said and done, wine and strong drink had scorned that which was right and lied to those who drank them. Now, their lives are ruined while wine and strong drink stand back and mock them. "Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour." (Proverbs 14:9)