Posted on 01/19/2022 10:17:19 PM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1 KJV).
“Wine is a mocker,” some folks mock God, but I guarantee you that some of the stuff we do mocks us, showing how foolish we can be. “strong drink is raging,” to rage is to become mad, a mad man. Many believers drank heavily before they were saved, and by God’s grace they were able to have victory over it. From unfortunate experience, they know what alcohol can do in their lives. You take a quiet, docile, fellow and load him up with alcohol—you have no idea what he will do, or what kind of man he will become while under the influence. Some of these guys tear up a bar, throw a bottle through the mirror, wreck the joint—and pick fights with other men—they would never act like this while sober.
There was this one guy that everybody called “Boom-Boom,” he was an ex-prize fighter. He was only allowed in a couple of bars in the city because he stayed drunk all the time. Every once in a while, he would come unglued—his brain was all rattled and shook up. He was what the lost would term, “a nice guy,” if he had money, he’d buy everybody drinks. But every once in a while, he would just get angry. The guy was in his sixties, and there wasn’t anybody that could handle him. That booze would just do something to him, and he would rage and rage. He even wiped out a professional football player one day. He’d hit people so fast they wouldn’t even see it coming because he still knew all the tricks from when he was a prize fighter.
Anyway, “wine is a mocker.” We were fools, man, we were just fools. People just don’t know how close they are to death whenever they are messing around with that stuff. People die as a result of free-for-all bar fights. On occasion, a drunk will be thrown out of a bar, and then go home and get a gun and go back to the bar. In one heartbeat a man can step into eternity either for heaven or hell. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
These new Bible versions are not very hard on liquor.
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.” (RSV). In other words, they are saying it is the wine that leads you astray. That is, if you can handle it, you are all right, but if you can’t you are not wise. It’s okay to drink a little bit. No! wine is a mocker. It’ll make a fool out of you whatever you do with it or how it leads you.
In the ASV it changes 1Tim 3:2 from “Not given to wine,” to “not addicted to wine,” the RSV says, “no drunkard.” You know, if you get to the place where you are staying at the city mission it’s been bad for you, but “moderate” drinking is all right. Every guy that ever end up in a city mission started out as a moderate drinker. These new Bibles, they always tend to just sugarcoat everything.
There are a number of verses that deal with drinking in the Scriptures. The Bible is not silent when it comes to liquor. (Habakkuk 2:12-14; Proverbs 23:29-35, 31:4; Leviticus 10:9: Deuteronomy 29:19; 1 Sam 1:15-16; Isaiah 28:7; Luke 12:45. Proverbs 23:29-35 is the best passage in the Bible on drinking. You can’t talk about liquor and not read this passage. It says so much that is just so obviously true of anybody that has ever been involved with drinking. The writer of Proverbs knew people inside and out.
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