The Dangers of Alcohol

Scripture in NKJV

NOTE: 1933 - Prohibition ends in the United States.
1935 - Bill Wilson founds Alcoholics Anonymous.

Cross Reference (KJV and NKJV)

Proverbs 31:4-5
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, It is not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating
drink; 5 Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted.

Revelation 1:5-6
5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for
ever and ever. Amen.

KJV
Ephesians 5:18
And do not be drunk with win in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.

I Thessalonians 5:5,7-8
5 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Luke 21:34
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5:18 PP17

1. He warns against the sin of drunkenness: And be not drunk with wine, v. 18. This was
a sin very frequent among the heathens; and particularly on occasion of the festivals of their
gods, and more especially in their Bacchanalia: then they were wont to inflame themselves with
wine, and all manner of inordinate lusts were consequent upon it: and therefore the apostle adds,
wherein, or in which drunkenness, is excess. The word asotia may signify luxury or
dissoluteness; and it is certain that drunkenness is no friend to chastity and purity of life, but it
virtually contains all manner of extravagance, and transports men into gross sensuality and vile
enormities. Note, Drunkenness is a sin that seldom goes alone, but often involves men in other
instances of guilt: it is a sin very provoking to God, and a great hindrance to the spiritual life. The
apostle may mean all such intemperance and disorder as are opposite to the sober and prudent
demeanor he intends in his advice, to redeem the time.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary)

Proverbs 20:1

Here is, 1. The mischief of drunkenness: Wine is a mocker; strong drink is raging. It is so
to the sinner himself; it mocks him, makes a fool of him, promises him that satisfaction which it
can never give him. It smiles upon him at first, but at the last it bites. In reflection upon it, it
rages in his conscience. It is raging in the body, puts the humours into a ferment. When the wine
is in the wit is out, and then the man, according as his natural temper is, either mocks like a fool
or rages like a madman. Drunkenness, which pretends to be a sociable thing, renders men unfit
for society, for it makes them abusive with their tongues and outrageous in their passions, <Prov
23:29>.
2. The folly of drunkards is easily inferred thence. He that is deceived thereby, that suffers
himself to be drawn into this sin when he is so plainly warned of the consequences of it, is not
wise; he shows that he has no right sense or consideration of things; and not only so, but he
renders himself incapable of getting wisdom; for it is a sin that infatuates and besots men, and
takes away their heart. A drunkard is a fool, and a fool he is likely to be.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary)

Proverbs 23:29-35 PP3

Solomon here gives fair warning against the sin of drunkenness, to confirm what he had said, v.
20.
I. He cautions all people to keep out of the way of temptations to this sin (v. 31): Look
not thou upon the wine when it is red. Red wine was in Canaan looked upon as the best wine, it
is therefore called the blood of the grape. Critics judge of wine, among other indications, by the
colour of it; some wine, they say, looks charmingly, looks so well that it even says, "Come and
drink me;" it moves itself aright, goes down very smoothly, or perhaps the roughness of it is
grateful. It is said of generous strong-bodied wine that it even causes the lips of those that are
asleep to speak, <Cant. 7:9>. But look not thou upon it.
1. "Be not ruled by sense, but by reason and religion. Covet not that which pleases the
eye, in hopes that it will please the taste; but let thy serious thoughts correct the errors of thy
senses and convince thee that that which seems delightful is really hurtful, and resolve against it
accordingly. Let not the heart walk after the eye, for it is a deceitful guide."
2. "Be not too bold with the charms of this or any other sin; look not, lest thou lust, lest
thou take the forbidden fruit." Note Those that would be kept from any sin must keep
themselves from all the occasions and beginnings of it, and be afraid of coming within the
reach of its allurements, lest they be overcome by them.
II. He shows the many pernicious consequences of the sin of drunkenness, for the
enforcement of this caution. Take heed of the bait, for fear of the hook: At the last it bites, v. 32.
All sin will be bitterness in the end, and this sin particularly. It bites like a serpent, when the
drunkard is made sick by his surfeit, thrown by it into a dropsy or some fatal disease, beggared
and ruined in his estate, especially when his conscience is awakened and he cannot reflect upon it
without horror and indignation at himself, but worst of all, at last, when the cup of drunkenness
shall be turned into a cup of trembling, the cup of the Lord's wrath, the dregs of which he must be
for ever drinking, and shall not have a drop of water to cool his inflamed tongue. To take off the
force of the temptation that there is in the pleasure of the sin, foresee the punishment of it, and
what it will at last end in if repentance prevent not. In its latter end it bites (so the word is); think
therefore what will be in the end thereof. But the inspired writer chooses to specify those
pernicious consequences of this sin which are present and sensible.
1. It embroils men in quarrels, makes them quarrel with others, and say and do that which
gives others occasion to quarrel with them, v. 29. He asks, Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow?
Who has not, in this world? Many have woe and sorrow, and cannot help it; but drunkards
wilfully create woe and sorrow to themselves. Those that have contentions have woe and sorrow;
and drunkards are the fools whose lips enter into contention. When the wine is in the wit is out
and the passions are up; and thence come drunken scuffles, and drunken frays, and drunken
disputes over the cups; many a vexatious ruining law-suit has begun thus. There is babbling,
quarrels in word and the exchanging of scurrilous language; yet it rests not there: you shall have
wounds without cause, for causes are things which drunkards are in no capacity to judge of, and
therefore they deal blows about without the least consideration why or wherefore, and must
expect to be in like manner treated themselves. The wounds which men receive in defense of
their country and its just rights are their honour; but wounds without cause, received in the
service of their lusts, are marks of their infamy. Nay, drunkards wound themselves in a tender
part, for they have redness of eyes, symptoms of an inward inflammation; their sight is weakened
by it, and their looks are deformed. This comes,
(1.) Of drinking long, tarrying long at the wine, and spending that time in drunken
company which should be spent in useful business, or in sleep, which should fit for business, v.
30. O the precious hours which thousands throw away thus, every one of which will be brought
into the account at the great day!
(2.) of drinking that which is strong and intoxicating. They go up and down to seek wine
that will please them; their great enquiry is, "Where is the best liquor?" They seek mixed wine,
which is most palatable, but most heady, so willingly do they sacrifice their reason to please their
palate!
2. It makes men impure and insolent, v. 33.
(1.) The eyes grow unruly and behold strange women to lust after them, and so let in
adultery into the heart. Est Venus in vinis-- Wine is oil to the fire of lust. Thy eyes shall behold
strange things (so some read it); when men are drunk the house turns round with them, and every
thing looks strange to them, so that them they cannot trust their own eyes.
(2.) the tongue also grows unruly and talks extravagantly; by it the heart utters perverse
things, things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility, which they would be ashamed to
speak if they were sober. What ridiculous incoherent nonsense men will talk when they are drunk
who at another time will speak admirably well and to the purpose!
3. It stupefies and besots men, v. 34. When men are drunk they know not where they are
nor what they say and do.
(1.) their heads are giddy, and when they lie down to sleep they are as if they were tossed
by the rolling waves of the sea, or upon the top of a mast; hence they complain that their heads
swim; their sleep is commonly unquiet and not refreshing, and their dreams are tumultuous.
(2.) their judgments are clouded, and they have no more steadiness and consistency than
he that sleeps upon the top of a mast: they drink and forget the law <Prov 31:5>: they err through
wine <Isa. 28:7>, and think as extravagantly as they talk.
(3.) they are heedless and fearless of danger, and senseless of the rebukes they are under
either from God or man. They are in imminent danger of death, of damnation, lie as much
exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, and yet are secure and sleep on. They fear no peril
when the terrors of the Lord are laid before them; nay, they feel no pain when the judgments of
God are actually upon them; they cry not when he binds them. Set a drunkard in the stocks, and
he is not sensible of the punishment. "They have stricken me, and I was not sick; I felt it not: it
made no impression at all upon me." Drunkenness turns me into stocks and stones; they are
scarcely to be reckoned animals; they are dead while they live.
4. Worst of all, the heart is hardened in the sin, and the sinner, notwithstanding all these
present mischiefs that attend it, obstinately persist in it, and hates to be reformed: When shall I
awake? Much ado he has to shake off the chains of his drunken sleep; he can hardly get clear of
the fumes of the wine, though he strives with them, that (being thirsty in the morning) he may
return to it again. So perfectly lost is he to all sense of virtue and honour, and so wretchedly is his
conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it yet again. There is no hope; no,
they have loved drunkards, and after them they will go, <Jer. 2:25>. This is adding drunkenness
to thirst, and following strong drink; those that do so may read their doom <Deut. 29:19-20>,
their woe <Isa. 5:11>, and, if this be the end of the sin, with good reason were we directed to stop
at the beginning of it: Look not upon the wine when it is red.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary)