Don’t be Mocked or Deceived
Proverbs 20:1 & Proverbs 23:29-35
In Proverbs 20:1 we see wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging. We are also told not to be deceived by either one of them. In Proverbs 23:29-35 we are shown the consequences of those who tarry long at the wine. In life no one likes to be mocked and no one likes being deceived but yet in our present day millions of dollars a year are made on the sale of alcoholic beverages. Apparently many are deceived and mocked on a daily basis. With help from the Lord and his word and with dedication and self control we can avoid being in this crowd.
How does wine mock a person?
In Proverbs 23:29-30 we see a list of things that a person who tarries long at the wine is said to have. Below we will look at these things individually.
1) Woe – grief, sorrow, misery and heavy calamity.
- If partaking of alcohol causes these things which it does, why would anyone partake of it let alone waste money on it?
- This is one of the ways it mocks people. Good times and fun are usually promised at the start of a night of drinking but the next day a person winds up being mocked with headaches, vomiting, scares, worry over what you might have done and don’t remember etc.
2) Sorrow – To feel pain of mind in consequence of the actual loss of good, or of frustrated hopes of good.
- Friendships, families, homes, property are many times destroyed as a result of drinking, and these losses can mock people for years to come.
3) Contentions – strife, violent effort to obtain something, or to resist a person, claim or injury.
- Many things can happen while under the influence of alcohol that lead to contention not only the next day but for the rest of your life.
4) Babblings – Talking idly, telling secrets, foolish talk.
- Being under the influence of alcohol will cause you to say things that you would not normally say, and remember words are never taken back.
- Many are mocked daily by words that are spoken in drunken rage.
5) Wounds without cause
- A night of drinking can leave you battered and bruised both physically and mentally and you may not have any remembrance of why or where the bruises come from.
6) Redness of Eyes
- Physically drunkenness leads to red eyes but we can make a application to it mocking us because drunkenness causes us not to see things clearly which lead to terrible decisions.
How does wine deceive a person?
1) They always think they can handle it in the beginning (Verse 32)
- No one ever intends on becoming an alcoholic, but it bites as a serpent and stings like an adder in the end.
2) It has a direct connection to immorality (Verse 33)
- In Genesis 9:20-27 Noah’s drunkenness led to a horrible sexual sin.
- In Lamentations 4:21 nakedness follows drunkenness.
- In Habakkuk 2:15 we see a warning against those that get others drunk to commit fornication or adultery with them.
3) It makes them unstable (Verse 34)
- Anyone who has had to spend much time around a drunk person knows that they are unstable in both their walking, speaking, and mental state.
4) It destroys you with you wanting more (Verse 35)
- The verse says “thou have stricken me and I was not sick”. Many have died from alcohol poisoning or an automobile wreck while driving drunk.
- The verse says “they have beaten me and I felt it not”. Many have died of liver disease and never felt the damage until it was too late.
- The saddest thing the verse says is “when shall I awake? I will seek it again”. It is if it is saying that once a person is deceived by alcohol they know it and want out but it is too late and the addiction causes them to seek it again and again.
Don’t be Mocked or Deceived : Handout
Proverbs 20:1 & Proverbs 23:29-35
1) What do we see concerning wine and strong drink in Proverbs 20:1?
2) List six ways that wine is said to mock a person in Proverbs 23:29-30. Give example with each.
3) List four ways that wine is said to deceive a person in Proverbs 23:29-35.