Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. Proverbs 23:31-32

As we continue our look at the dangers of alcohol abuse we are warned that wine will look good when we see it.  There is a certain asthetic beauty to a beautiful glass with wine in it.  We see its color and note that it sparkles in the cup.  The alcohol industry does everything that it can to enhance the look of their product.  Beer is sold to us with people pouring it into a glass where we watch the foam grow along with the beer itself in the glass.  Everything is done to make sure that we are enamoured with the sight of this drink.  Consider as well that every commercial that seeks to sell these things is filled with skinny people who all look amazingly good - and voila - they are all drinking what we are supposed to be buying as well.  The secret message to us is that we can look that good too if we drink their beer, wine, or whiskey.  But, the proverb warns us that there is a different experience awaiting us when we actually drink this stuff in abundance. 

We are told the truth here - that alcohol bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.  What we are being alerted to is the effect of the alcohol on our system as we become more and more inebriated with it.  We will find ourselves experiencing a type of poisoning of our system.  Just like a snake and a viper bite will affect our vision and our ability to speak and walk - so also does the imbibing of alcohol.  We will find ourselves strangely affected as this stuff hits our bloodstream and begins inhibiting our brain and physical functions.  I find it somewhat disingenuous that we hear over and over again that alcohol can actually enhance our health.  But what we are NOT told is how alcohol can poison our system and destroy our bodies.  The amount of alcoholic drink we can have to make us healthier (and this is not in every case) is rather small - a small glass of wine often being used as the example.  The problem is that in our party society we are not drinking for our health - we are drinking to party - to lower our inhibitions and help us do things we normally would not do.  But the problems come not just to our mental state - but there are damages that happen to our brain, our kidneys, and our liver when we poison ourselves with too much alcohol. 

As I've said earlier, I was a weekend drunk before I was saved.  That also means that I have had the unfortunate situation of not only being drunk - but also of having a hangover and of being very sick when I poisoned myself wth alcoholic drinks.  To describe what happens when you do this is difficult because it is hard for some to grasp what it might feel like to have multimple sledge hammers converging on the sides of your head while having a stomach ache and a feeling like you are going to throw up.  It is difficult to describe how someone's whisper can sound like someone shouting in your ears.  Yet these things are signs that you are poisoning yourself with the venom of alcohol abuse.  Oh, before I leave this aspect of our current proverb I would like to regale you with what it looks like when someone abuses alcohol for a lifetime.  They die of something called scirosis of the liver.

I was able to lead a man to Christ who had been a drunk his entire life.  He was in his late 40's but looked like he was around 70.  He came to Christ just as he was learning of his condition.  His alcohol abuse had effectively destroyed his liver, which was in the process of shutting down.  He told me to use his situation to warn others to stay away from alcohol and drunkenness.  His body began to turn yellow as it also swelled to about twice its normal size.  As his liver shut down he was blinded by the impurities that were in his blood.  They also began to kill all the other organs in his body.  It was not a pretty death that he died.  That was the lifetime effect of someone who literally drank themselves to death.

The Word of God is trying to warn us of the dangers of alcohol.  If we are wise we will approach alcoholic drinks in a similar way that we would approach drinking Draino or some other kind of known poison.  Just because alcohol will poison us slower than these things is no reason to treat it any less cautiously.  We live in a culture that glories in its alcohol abuse - and does not let us know the backside of this lifestyle.  I've always wanted to cut one commercial for a Super Bowl that would present alcohol truthfully.  It would involve people who are not pretty - drinking alone or even at a party.  We would watch as they drink themselves into a foolish stupor - but the commecial would continue to follow them as they began throwing up uncontrollably.  Then the commercial would end with them waking up the next morning as the sound track would distort with the sound of people talking to them - yet sounding like a bullhorn being used to deafen them.  The tag line on the commercial would be something like this, "People who tell you to drink promise a good time."  At this point the commercial would review the people throwing up uncontrollably and say, "Does this look like a good time?"  A quick shot of someone dying of liver disease in all its horror would come next with the final statement, "Yeah, good times."  That would at least begin to balance the scales just a little with wisdom when it comes to drinking alcoholic drinks and the truth.  Will it ever happen?  What do you think?

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?  Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.  Proverbs 23:29-30

We are about to read one of the most amazing sections of Proverbs that there is.  These next seven verses are one of the most poignent commentaries on alcohol and drinking that there is in Scripture.  It is also one of the most plain statements against getting drunk.  I am not one who states that the Biblical view is complete abstinence from alcohol - simply because Scripture itself does not state that.  The Bible teaches us to steer clear from getting drunk.  It also warns against lingering long over wine - and I would also argue that the Bible militates against the whole "party culture" that exists in our society today.  My own personal stance is complete abstinence from alcohol.  The reason for this is because I've led at least two men to Christ who were alcoholics.  If I were to drink - and they were to follow my example - there is good reason to be concerned that they would be ruined by my abuse of my freedom in Christ.  Therefore, rather than make my brothers stumble, I will renounce my freedom to have anything to do with alcohol.

This passage though is about abuse of alcohol.  It asks a series of questions that are all rhetorical in nature.  They are this way because they have to do with the consequences of alcohol in someone's life who is abusing it.  Who has woe?  The answer is the alcohol abuser.  Woe means to have a horrific distress.  Take a close look at the drunkard and you will find plenty of woe and sorrow in his life.  There are so many ways that this happens - through broken relationships - through wasted lives - through the regret and horror of the aftermath of a drunken driving accident or arrest.  There is so much sorrow from the immediate consequences - as well as the long term ones that come out of drinking and drunkenness.  But too often men want to make it look as if these are rare consequences rather than the norm of alcohol abuse.

The next set of two questions here deal with the issue of contentions and complaining.  Unfortunately, before I came to Christ, I was often in parties where the abuse of alcohol was frequent.  I can tell you from experience that the contentions and complaining are very much true.  Guys would break out into fights and would have major altercations when they were drunk.  I remember one friend who not only had a fight, but was beaten bloody and shot before the night was over.  He survived, but the gunshot wound is still in his body to this day as a monument to his stupidity and drunken lack of sense.  The complaining usually comes from those who have to deal with the drunk.  Their wives complain of their actions.  Their children complain of their actions.  Their employer complains of their alcohol abuse.  They all feel the effects of the lack of self-control - and in some cases the anger that comes with a drunk stumbling into the home.  It is a sad but true fact that many men return home to beat their wives and children in their drunken state.  Their complaining is testimony to a man who has lost all self-control and who is slowly ruining his life.

The next couplet here has to do with questions about wounds and redness of eyes. The wounds come from stumbling around drunk - running into things and injuring oneself.  They may come from fights and their aftermath.  The redness of eyes comes in the morning when the drunk gets up and faces the difficulty of recovering from the previous evening's activities.  Not only is there redness of eyes - but there is also a pounding headache - and at times a stomach that is sick from the alcohol of the previous night. 

These things are all said of those who "linger long over wine."  This speaks of someone who drinks - and stays at a place where they serve them.  These are the men who stay at bars well into the night.  They may start at happy hour and not finish his drinking until after midnight.  The drunk may have 5 to 10 drinks as he pours out the problems he has with the bar tender.  He lingers long over a beer or a hard drink - and has another when he is done.  The passage here also says that there are those who go to taste "mixed wine."  Mixed wine refers to ways that men would mix wine with other things to make it better - and often to make it more intoxicating.  It would in some ways refer to the way that men mix drinks in bars today. 

We are going to get a pretty good picture of the drunk over the next several days.  We are going to see his actions as well as the consequences of them.  We are going to hear warnings against the things that he does.  We will hear warnings about alcohol and the way that it can lure someone into its trap.  We will hear about how alcohol promises one thing, yet delivers something quite different.  We will also see that when we give ourselves over to this habit and this abuse, we will find that it is a trap that shuts over us and does much to bring great destruction in our lives.  The wise man knows that wine and strong drink are deadly and deceptive.  That is why he stays away from them.