Welcome to Authorized Sword Ministries. This is Breaking the Chains, Series One, Overcoming Addiction. Lesson Three: Alcohol, Wine Is a Mocker.

We're so glad you're here.

Before We Begin

A gentle note first. This course is Bible teaching and spiritual encouragement. It does not replace medical care, professional counseling, or treatment. We encourage you to use those good resources right alongside your faith. And if you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, please call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night, in the United States. In an emergency, call 911.

The Chain Nobody Wants to Talk About

Last time we talked about drugs and pills. Most people agree those are dangerous. But alcohol is different. It's legal. It's on every billboard and every ball game. It's at the cookout, the wedding, and the office party. People joke about it. Some even call it "harmless."

But the Bible doesn't laugh about it. And the people who have watched it wreck a marriage, ruin a career, or take a life on the highway aren't laughing either.

Our Key Verse

Today's key verse is Proverbs 20:1.

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." — Proverbs 20:1 (KJV)

Wine is a mocker. It makes fun of the one who trusts it. It promises courage, and then makes a fool of you. It promises comfort, and then leaves you lonelier than before. "Strong drink is raging." It stirs up anger, fights, and violence. And "whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Notice that word, deceived. Alcohol's main tool is a lie.

God's Own Picture of a Drunkard

There is no clearer picture of alcohol's chain anywhere than Proverbs chapter 23. Listen closely.

"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. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 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 23:29-35 (KJV)

Woe. Sorrow. Fighting. Foolish talk. Wounds without cause. Red eyes. That's the morning after.

Then look at how it starts: "when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup." It looks good. It goes down smooth. But "at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder."

It leads to lust: "Thine eyes shall behold strange women." It leads to a dirty mouth: "thine heart shall utter perverse things." It makes a man as unsteady as someone sleeping on the top of a ship's mast in a storm.

And then the saddest line of all. He's been beaten, he wakes up hurting, and the first thing he says is, "when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." That is addiction, written down in God's Word long before anyone called it that. Hurt by the bottle, and going right back to the bottle.

What Alcohol Is Doing in Our Land

This isn't just old wisdom. The facts today back it up.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIAAA, reports that about 178,000 deaths a year from excessive alcohol use happened in the United States in 2020 and 2021. That's about 5 percent of all deaths, and about 29 percent more than in 2016 and 2017.

NIAAA says the leading causes of those deaths include alcohol-associated liver disease, heart disease and stroke, alcohol poisonings, accidents like falls and car crashes, and cancers like colorectal and breast cancer.

On the roads, NIAAA reports 12,429 people died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in 2023. That's 30 percent of all driving deaths. Those are fathers, mothers, and children who never made it home.

And alcohol travels with other chains. NIAAA says alcohol played a role in about 16 percent of opioid overdose deaths in 2022. It also reports that 21 percent of people who die by suicide had a blood alcohol level of 0.1 percent or more. Truly, "strong drink is raging."

Be Filled With the Spirit Instead

So what does God want instead? He gives us a command and a replacement in one verse:

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" — Ephesians 5:18 (KJV)

Notice the trade. People drink to be filled with something. Courage. Calm. Fun. Forgetting. God says, don't be filled with wine. Be filled with the Spirit. What the bottle fakes, the Holy Ghost truly gives: love, joy, and peace.

The prophet Isaiah warned about the person whose whole day is built around drinking:

"Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!" — Isaiah 5:11 (KJV)

If you wake up thinking about a drink, and go to bed with one in your hand, God is warning you in love. That woe is not meant to crush you. It's meant to wake you up.

Watch the Company You Keep

"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 (KJV)

Drinking buddies will drink you broke. Who you hang around with matters. If every friend you have meets you at the bar, it may be time to find some new friends at church.

Jesus Himself warned His disciples:

"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." — Luke 21:34 (KJV)

Drunkenness weighs the heart down. It dulls you to the things of God. Jesus is coming back, and He wants His people awake.

Put On Christ

Here's how Paul says to fight it:

"Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." — Romans 13:13-14 (KJV)

"Make not provision for the flesh." In plain words, don't plan for failure. Don't keep it in the fridge. Don't drive past the liquor store. Don't sit in the place where you always drink. Cut off the supply line. And "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." Fill that empty space with Him.

Get Medical Help to Stop

This part matters a lot, so please hear it. If you have been drinking heavily for a long time, do not quit suddenly on your own without talking to a doctor.

MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, says alcohol withdrawal "may range from a mild and uncomfortable disorder to a serious, life-threatening condition," and that some people need to be treated in a hospital. So call your doctor first. Getting medical help to quit isn't weak faith. It's wisdom.

Then talk to your pastor. Find a Christian recovery group. NIAAA also has an Alcohol Treatment Navigator to help find care. And remember, 988 is there day or night.

Simple Steps for This Week

First, be honest with God about how much you really drink.

Second, tell one trusted person.

Third, if you drink heavily, call your doctor before you stop.

Fourth, make no provision for the flesh. Get it out of the house.

And fifth, read Proverbs chapter 23 and Ephesians chapter five.

Next Time

In Lesson Four, we'll finish this series with walking free and staying free: how to face temptation, what to do if you fall, and why you need people around you.

Until then:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." — Galatians 5:1 (KJV)

A Prayer

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father,

Your Word says wine is a mocker. Lord, open the eyes of everyone who has been deceived by it. Break the chain of alcohol in their lives and in their families.

Fill them with Your Spirit instead. Give them the wisdom to get medical help, the courage to tell the truth, and friends who will walk with them.

Heal the marriages, the children, and the homes that alcohol has hurt.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you for spending this time with us. We'll see you in Lesson Four.

This is Authorized Sword Ministries. God bless you.

Sources

All pages opened and checked on October 24, 2026.

1. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "Alcohol-Related Emergencies and Deaths in the United States," updated March 2026. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/alcohol-related-emergencies-and-deaths-united-states (About 178,000 yearly excessive-alcohol deaths in 2020–2021, about 5% of all deaths, up about 29% from 2016–2017; leading causes; 12,429 alcohol-impaired-driving deaths in 2023, 30% of driving deaths; alcohol in about 16% of opioid overdose deaths in 2022; 21% of suicide decedents at BAC 0.1% or higher; Alcohol Treatment Navigator.)
2. MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Alcohol withdrawal." https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000764.htm ("may range from a mild and uncomfortable disorder to a serious, life-threatening condition"; some need hospital treatment.)