What the Bible REALLY Says About Alcohol

a study by Mike Winger

So this is a study I've never done before, and I've never heard before. Out of the thousands and thousands of Bible studies I've heard, I've never heard a study where the goal is what my goal is today—which is: What the Bible really says about alcohol. Just a full, full scope: what the Bible really actually says about alcohol.

I think it's an important message, but I also think that it's one of those things where this is not taught carefully and accurately by most people I've ever heard teach it. Guys I respect, godly teachers, and then it comes to this topic and all of a sudden they want to give you their version of things instead of just giving you the text.

So my goal is to just give you the text. I just want to know what the Bible actually says.

Heading into this, I want you to know this: this is not to change your convictions. If you have convictions about your own drinking—so you don't drink or something—this is not to change that. In fact, I don't drink. The goal here isn't to change that. The goal is to ask this:

What does the Bible say about alcohol?

That's simply the question.

Because pastors skew this stuff regularly, and it can be hard—as a teacher—it can be hard to even tell when you're forcing your traditions onto the text. It's always been that way in your little circle and in your group, and you were raised this way, and so I've heard pastors say, "Well, the Bible says this, but let me give you my reasons why I think you should have a different set of rules." I've literally heard this sort of study, especially this week as I was preparing.

But there's another problem as well: it's just that people abuse alcohol. And so it's almost like you've got these two polarized versions of the Bible when you hear people teaching. Either they try to put a burden on believers that doesn't really exist and shouldn't be upon them, or they casually talk about it without worrying about the very serious warnings in Scripture on the topic.

And so I want to do the whole thing. Let's just do it all.

So here's what we're going to do. We're going to try to give you a balanced teaching. We're going to talk about the positive passages—that is, passages in the Bible that speak positively of alcohol. I'm going to cover those in order, just a bunch of passages. Then we're going to look at the negative passages—passages in the Bible that speak negatively of alcohol.

Then we'll look at a couple of other, like "in addition to this," important points, like for instance: alcohol as medicinal use. There are two passages in the Scripture we're going to look at that relate to this, which I think are very different passages but very interesting content that we have in the Bible.

And then, finally, we'll try to give you a little bit of clarity if you're wrestling with, "Should I be drinking or not?" Hopefully we'll do that, and then we'll do our Q&A at the end. And if you're watching online, do our Q&A in the comment section.

Before we do anything else, you have to get this right: you have to get the lordship of Jesus right in your life. If Jesus is not Lord of your life, and if this is really about alcohol and not about Jesus, then something's wrong with you, and nothing I teach you will be used properly.

If you're the abstinence person, you'll abuse people with your abstinence. If you are the liberty person, you'll abuse your liberty because Jesus is not Lord in this area of your life, and there's nothing that will fix that.

But that's not the topic of the study tonight. It's not the lordship of Jesus. It's just to get clarity on this topic—but that's got to be first.

So let's dig in now to the positive passages.

Deuteronomy 14 – Wine at the Firstfruits Feast

Deuteronomy 14. This is a passage dealing with the firstfruits. Israel would plow their fields, they'd bring in the firstfruits, and then they would have a feast to the Lord, and they'd offer their firstfruits to God. This is what it says in Deuteronomy 14:22. I'll read all the way through verse 26:

"You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.
And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe…"

Notice this was not a money tithe. This was actually physical produce from their farms and stuff.

"…or if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you"

That would be Jerusalem; they're too far from there.

"…then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses."

So they trade their tithe and all the produce, they get cash, then they take the cash to the place. And then what do they do with that cash?

"Then you shall exchange…"

Verse 25… excuse me, verse 26:

"And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household."

Now I've actually heard a pastor take this verse, and he sat there for I don't know how long, and he basically tried to explain how this was not alcoholic wine. But the Hebrew is pretty conclusive. What it says here in verse 26 is that it's "for wine or similar drink," and there's no way around it. This is definitely an alcoholic content. It's not just grape juice. The Hebrew is clear: wine or similar drink. This is definitely including an alcoholic beverage.

And they're to take it in there. And he says, "Well, oh, but it's the firstfruits, so they just pressed the grapes. So, if you just press the grapes, they don't have time to ferment." Yes, but it's once a year, and it's in the first part of the year, in April–May, right? Well, the harvest for the wine was months before that. So this is, yes, firstfruits, but anyway, the point is this: if you've sat under that teaching where someone tells you this is not alcoholic, that's just not true.

And we can't build our theology off things that aren't true because we feel like it makes people's lives safer. We've got to deal with what Scripture actually teaches.

So they're to spend this money on wine or similar drink—whatever they want—and enjoy it unto the Lord. This is a positive passage, right? It's not specifically about alcohol or wine as such, but it includes that. And this obviously could get somebody intoxicated, but they're not to get intoxicated. They are to enjoy that liquid as part of their feast to the Lord. That's something that they're able to do.

Do they have to drink wine? No. But it's an option.

Numbers 15 – Wine as a Drink Offering

Numbers 15. Let's look at another passage, another positive passage.

So just to recap: Deuteronomy 14 is showing us they're eating it before God, they're rejoicing there, loving God in the feast of their firstfruits, and that would include alcoholic beverages—at least potentially—and God was okay with it.

In Numbers 15:7, it says:

"And as a drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine as a sweet aroma to the Lord."

Now, in the Hebrew, there's like three different words they typically use for alcohol or for wine or new wine. One of them is a word that means "new wine" or "sweet wine," and it was more recently made. It may be alcoholic, or it might just be grape juice—same word. Then there's another word used for more aged wine, and that's the word we have here. Forgive me if I mispronounce this, but it's yayin, and it is a word that means definitely a fermented drink. This passage is definitely a fermented drink. So it can't be referring to grape juice. Numbers 15:7—this is where God says you can offer alcohol in this sense to Him as a sweet offering.

In the Old Testament Law—right, we're not following these same rituals; we see the fullness, not just the shadow—but we can learn from the principles, and there's a principle here where God allows them to offer wine as a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Now, if you're like me and you grew up the way I grew up, you feel like—especially when I was younger—it was like, "Alcohol is just wrong. Alcohol is sin. Maybe, maybe, maybe I haven't found the verse that says it yet, but I'm sure it's in here. It looks like it's got to be in here." And that's kind of how I started. I've literally been dragged by the Scriptures away from that perspective into a perspective that says, "No, this is just my conscience. It's not some rule I can press upon other believers."

Because what does the Scripture say here? God's like, "You can offer this thing to Me."

Now, did God allow them to offer wicked things to Him? No. It has to be a lamb without spot or blemish. He doesn't say, "You can offer disgusting things to Me, things I hate. Pour your wine out to Me because that way you won't be drinking it." That's not what God's doing. That's not the biblical idea here. He's saying, "Take the best. In fact, it's a sweet aroma to the Lord."

And so this is a positive passage.

Now, there will be negative passages, so if you hate alcohol, don't worry. I'm going to help you out here in a minute. But I want to be fair. I just want to give us what the Bible says and let the chips fall where they may, because God's right about what He says in His Word. And I believe that, even if it conflicts with my own natural inclinations to be sort of opposed to these things, because, like I said, that's kind of where I'm coming from.

In fact, I feel like I'm the perfect guy to teach about liberties of alcohol in the Bible, since I don't ever take them—except NyQuil every once in a while. So maybe that makes me evil, but I have Scripture for that today; I'll share with you later.

Genesis 14 – Melchizedek, Bread, and Wine

Genesis 14:18. This is, again, that word yayin, the word that refers to definitely a fermented beverage with alcohol in it. It's not fermented in the sense of like a scotch or vodka or something like that—it's not as strong. What do they call those? There's a term for those more strong drinks—"strong drinks." It's not one of those. It is, however, talking about really, truly fermented wine.

Genesis 14:18 says:

"Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High."

So Melchizedek—here he is, he comes out, and you guys know the story, many of you, right? This is a picture of Jesus in the Old Testament. And he comes out, he brings to Abraham bread and wine, picturing the Communion and the body and blood of Jesus Christ, His offering for our sins.

Which, by the way, consider the fact that the great picture of Jesus's sacrifice involves wine. And then he brings it out. This is definitely a fermented beverage, and he brings it out to Abraham. Abraham partakes of it. It's considered actually a very glorious moment in Scripture, and it is not tainted by the fact that it involved alcohol.

Now, did it involve drunkenness? No. We'll get there in a minute. It didn't. But it did involve alcohol.

So we're just talking about the positive passages here for a second.

Psalm 104 – Wine to Gladden the Heart

Psalm 104:15. If I've bothered you so far, I'm probably really going to bother you now—not because I want to, but because this is what the Bible says.

Psalm 104 talks about things that God has blessed man with. You can read it starting in verse 13 if you like, but verse 15 says this, listing those things:

"And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine,
And bread which strengthens man's heart."

Again, this is that word yayin. This is definitely an alcoholic or intoxicating beverage. I stayed away from a lot of the verses that dealt with what might have been fermented or might not, and just stuck with what we know was.

According to Psalm 104, it clearly indicates that the wine was meant to be a blessing. This is an eye-opener for me as I read and studied this. Wine is meant to be a blessing.

And let me point out to you: it not only says that God has given us this as a blessing, it specifically says "wine to make glad the heart of man." So it mentions not only wine, but its effects as being a blessing. Because some people say, "Wine is meant to be a blessing, but if you ever feel its effects, you're in sin." But that's not what this text says.

This text is implying—and it's kind of odd to think that wine is supposed to be a blessing but you can't ever feel any of its effects of any kind. That just seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? A little bit.

But follow the hermeneutic here as we look at this verse. Oil to make his face shine, bread to strengthen man's heart, and wine to make glad man's heart. You see how it's the thing and its effect that is also blessed.

Now that is actually the first effect of alcohol: it just lightens your mood. It brings you up a little bit. It brings you up a little bit as far as a sense of pleasure or joy in that sense. That's the first effect of alcohol, and that's actually definitely endorsed by God.

The later effects we'll see later are rebuked. So, you know, you consume a little bit more alcohol, now you're moving into the sin territory. But the initial small amounts of alcohol—moderate drinking in a biblical sense—is considered a blessing from God.

Now this might come as a shock to you as it is to me, because I haven't drunk since I was 12. Long story—thanks to my cousin, I hope.

But I'm like, "What? That's okay?" But this is what the text says. And I just want—this is why I'm saying, let's just talk about what the Bible really says about alcohol and let's let God shape our thinking.

Now, your conscience is fully allowed to restrict you further than this. But let's not press that on others if it's not based on Scripture and it's just based on my conscience. That's the thing.

Proverbs 3 – New Wine as Blessing

All right, let's keep going. I feel like there are two groups of people, right? The ones who are going to love the first half of this study, and the ones who are going to love the second half. We're still in the first half.

Proverbs 3:7–10. It says:

"Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.
Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine."

Now again, this is the word that could mean grape juice, but it also meant probably a lower alcohol percentage wine, just because it was newer. That's why it's also called "sweet wine," because, as I was researching these things, the sugars break down and that increases the alcohol content. So the sweeter wine has less alcohol, but it's still there.

So it's seen as a blessing again. There's a blessing in this.

Proverbs 9 – Wisdom's Mixed Wine

Proverbs 9:1–6. It talks about wisdom. It says this:

"Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
'Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!'
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
'Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.'"

Now, this is really symbolism, not literal wine here. This is symbolic. But you can't use wine symbolically as a blessing and good thing if it's actually an evil thing. So it's symbolically being used as a blessing, speaking of plenty, speaking of benefit, speaking of having more than enough in your life. That's the idea, and something we should be aware of.

Isaiah 25 – Well-Refined Wine in the Kingdom

Isaiah 25:6. It says:

"And in this mountain
The Lord of hosts will make for all people
A feast of choice pieces,
A feast of wines on the lees,
Of fat things full of marrow,
Of well-refined wines on the lees."

This is speaking actually about probably the millennial reign—it's a future time, if you read the whole passage. And that phrase, "well-refined wines on the lees," that's speaking of aged wines, definitely, and that includes a noticeable alcohol content. That's seen as a good thing.

You can't make it symbolic in the sense of "good symbolism" if it's actually bad. You can't say, "And you shall be blessed—like the snake in the garden." That just doesn't work. You can't use that kind of symbolism. It has to be, in some sense, a blessing, a good thing.

This is the thing that I've been dragged to as I've studied this idea over the years: the idea that wine, alcohol, is something God intended to be used as a blessing for mankind. I just have seen it used as abuse so much that it was hard for me to perceive of it that way. But the Bible is—you know, the Bible is the Bible. So let's let it speak.

Isaiah 1 – Watered-Down Wine as a Picture of Decline

Isaiah 1:21–22. It says:

"How the faithful city has become a harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now murderers.
Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water."

So it's considered a bad thing that their silver has become like dross—dross is like the off-scouring, the impurities in the silver—and their wine has been mixed down with water now. We might be like, "Hooray! Mix it down!" But this is seen as a sad thing: "Oh, your wine's been watered down." That's seen as, I think, not good.

John 2 – Wedding at Cana

We can also go to the New Testament. We can look at John 2, and we think of the wedding at Cana, Jesus's first miracle. Everybody knows this. Every drunk in the world can tell you what Jesus's first miracle was. It's like the only verse they know in the Bible.

Some people say that this was not alcoholic. Now, I have looked this stuff up because I'm open. I'm open either way. "God, I just want to know Your Word so I know what it really says." And they quote some of these guys. There are these Greek and Roman writers that lived around that same time, and they said that the best wine was wine that had lost all of its alcohol through fermentation or filtering, and through processing, it would not cause people to be intoxicated. That was the very best wine.

And then, in the wedding at Cana, the toastmaster is like, "Hey, this is the best wine," and they combine those two ideas.

But what I was able to find online, just doing some research, looking for people that would actually give me some ancient history on this stuff, is that the Romans did have a typical practice where they would water down pretty strong wine. They'd water it down about two parts to one back then—so about two parts water to one part wine—which would make it more like modern-day beer in its alcohol consistency.

And then the Jews—the only source I could find on this was one source that suggested the Jews didn't do this. They would consider it uncouth to water down the wine. And, of course, we're in a Jewish environment. So I don't know if I want to quote the Romans to find out what the Jews were doing at that time. The Jews very much had their own culture, very much did their own thing.

But let me say this: in John 2:9–10, let's look at the comments of the master of the feast. What did he say about this?

"When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.
And he said to him, 'Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now.'"

Now these comments—I'm just doing Bible study here, just hermeneutics—this is obviously not to feed my own drinking habits. I haven't drunk, right? Because I like pomegranate juice; it's really good. Grape juice, just grapes—you know, I'm down. But this is just because I want to give us the Scriptures here.

And the Scripture here makes it clear that this was definitely alcoholic wine that Jesus made. How do I know this? Because the guy says normally the host sets out the good wine, and then, "after the guests have well drunk," and the Greek there means that they've become somewhat intoxicated. That's what that means in the Greek.

So he then compares that wine, that intoxicating wine, to the wine that Jesus made. So his version of "good wine" could intoxicate people, and he calls Jesus's wine "good wine." So we know what kind of wine he was talking about. It's right there in the text. You don't need to study ancient Greek. You don't need to study ancient Roman cultures to see it. Just read the text.

Now, I just want to add this: some people will take this and they'll act like it means Jesus is okay with drunkenness. Jesus sends people to hell for drunkenness. We'll get to that in a second, okay?

Any use of this text—I've seen this many times—this text used to excuse drunkenness or to have a low attitude on the sinfulness of drunkenness. We'll come to that in a minute. It just means that Jesus did, in fact, make alcoholic wine for the people that were at that event.

Matthew 11 – Jesus Accused of Being a "Winebibber"

Matthew 11:19. Jesus says that they accuse Him of being a bad guy because:

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'"

Now, if Jesus only drank grape juice, then you couldn't be accused of being a "winebibber," probably. So Jesus Himself would have drunk—never once, ever, becoming too tipsy or a little bit over the line of what's appropriate, never ever ever—but He would have drunk.

So, to me, those are a lot of really important positive passages. I draw from this the conclusion that wine is intended by God to be a blessing for man, used in moderation.

Transition to Negative Passages

But now we'll talk about the negative passages. Here's the negative passages.

Proverbs 20:1. And there's a lot of them. We will not cover all of them because we don't have much time.

Proverbs 20 – Wine as a Mocker

Proverbs 20:1:

"Wine is a mocker,
Strong drink is a brawler,
And whoever is led astray by it is not wise."

You drink, you become the mocker. You become the brawler. That's what happens. I lose my inhibitions. I start to say dumb things, foolish things. I criticize, I ridicule. I have no filter for this mouth, which I desperately need, you know. I become a fighter. I'm more likely to get into trouble and cause battles and fights—both physical and just strife emotionally.

And so it says whoever is led astray by it is not wise. That's the point. Though it may be intended to be a blessing, it can lead you astray, and that's the danger.

I imagine that if you love the first part of this study the most, you probably need the second part the most. And if you love the second part the most, you probably need the first part first. Because that's kind of the way this balancing act goes with understanding alcohol. It is something that can lead you astray. If you are being led astray, there is no excuse. This is not wise. It's not okay.

Proverbs 21 – Loving Wine and Pleasure

Proverbs 21:17:

"He who loves pleasure will be a poor man;
He who loves wine and oil will not be rich."

The danger here is not just that I can enjoy it; it's that I love it. Are you a little too romantic with your glass of wine, with your beer? Is it like too much to you? Is it out of its proper place?

I mean, hamburgers are great, but am I like, "I need them"? It's not like I have this passionate love for burgers. There could just be an over-commitment of my heart to this substance that's actually going to mess me up. And that's, of course, a possibility.

The people I've known who can handle wine can easily not have wine. The people I've known who can take it can easily set it aside as well. And this person probably has an issue with that.

And it's included with oil; it's just a lover of pleasure. "I just like pleasure too much. I want to feel good. I want the oil. I want the finer foods. I want the alcohol. I just want to partake in more of this stuff." That's a danger.

Proverbs 23 – Don't Mix with Winebibbers

Proverbs 23:20–21:

"Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags."

This glutton and the drunkard are those who eat food or alcohol to excess—to excess. Now, both of these things are bad, and gluttony is wrong. And at this point, someone's like, "You should teach more about gluttony, Mike!" And I'm like, "That's great; wait for that study."

How about you pay attention to the alcohol for this study instead of using gluttony as an excuse for your alcoholic nature? Because I see that way too often. "Well, let's just change the subject and ignore what the text says about the thing we're actually talking about right now."

So yes, gluttony is an issue. It's not the same thing as wine, but it's connected, for sure—not in excess.

And here the statement is this: if you know people who drink too much and they're habitually "too much"—they drink too much of whatever the pleasurable things in life—don't even hang out with them. Don't even make them part of your friend circle. That's what the proverb is saying here. Don't let this be part of your cluster of friends. It's not good. It doesn't do good for you.

Proverbs 23 – Vivid Picture of Drunkenness

Proverbs 23:29–35:

"Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly…"

And someone's like, "I need some wine right now." If you're just craving it just hearing that, maybe something's wrong.

It is very vivid. So what do they have? They have woe, sorrow, contentions, complaints, wounds without cause. How'd that happen? "Oh, I don't know. I just woke up and I had an injury. I don't know what happened." Redness of eyes. That's interesting. Redness of eyes is thrown in there. If you see these symptoms, something's wrong with you.

If your wine causes problems in your life—who has woe?—causes woe in your life, you're doing something wrong. If it causes sorrow in your life instead of bringing a sense of joy, something's wrong. If it causes contentions and fights in your life with loved ones and friends, something's wrong. If it causes complaints or downsides because of the drinking of alcohol, something's wrong. If it gives you wounds without cause—even redness of eyes—if you wake up the next day and you have something of a hangover, you did something of a sin the night before. Pretty simple.

"Those who linger long at the wine." Notice it's not just—if the Bible was just against drinking altogether, it would just say "those who drink wine." But it says "those who linger long at the wine." That's the issue. It's too much, man. It's too much.

"So don't look at it." And maybe that's the advice for you—for those who linger long at wine, those who abuse it: "Don't look at it when it's red in the cup, when it sparkles and goes down smoothly." Maybe this is the statement to those who say, "Man, this is an area for me. I stumble in the area of drinking." Then maybe you need to not drink at all. Maybe that's the best thing for you.

Do you have woe and sorrows and contentions and wounds without cause and redness of eyes? Then don't even look at it. Just stay away from it. Maybe that's advice from the Scripture to say to the drunkard, "Don't even touch the stuff."

Let me keep reading, because it goes on.

"At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things."

That jumps out to me because, do you know that it's so interesting—even secular information about alcohol: when people have a lot of alcohol, they say bad things. This is just what people do. It's not like they go, "Man, I thought, 'I'm going to give all my money to the poor!'" This isn't generally what they do. Their perversities come out. The inappropriate, ungodly things come out. The selfish things, the wrong things come out. And so this is the nature of man—the sin nature of man having easier access to control you when you drink too much.

"Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
'They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?'"

If you wake up craving alcohol, something's wrong.

"When shall I awake that I may seek another drink?" Like, "I wake up and I already want it in the morning." Something is seriously wrong. Don't put the name of Jesus on this and try to make it okay. Something's wrong.

The description of one who sleeps in the mast. Now, the mast of the boat is on the top of the boat. The boat's rocking. Well, nothing moves more than this mast. This thing's just going all over the place. And I think, "Sleeps in the mast? Why sleeps in the mast?" My best guess is that the guy sleeps in the mast—that's his position up there—and then when he comes back ashore, he has the hardest time walking on solid ground because he's used to the constant rolling of the waves and everything. And so that's, I mean, there's the drunken person. "Are you all right? Do you have a hard time walking?" "No, I think I'm fine. I think I'm fine."

The funny thing about alcohol is: the more of it you drink, the less you think it's affecting you, because it impairs your judgment. The worst person to know if a drunk person is drunk is the drunk person.

So the advice, "I think you'll know when you've drunk too much," is actually really terrible advice, because the more you drink, the less you tend to be aware of it. We need better rules in our lives than, "I feel pretty good about it." Good luck living life like that. "I feel pretty good about it."

So specifically it says, "Do you not feel pain? They struck me but it did not hurt." So are you at the point where you drank and you're like, "Right, I'm numb. I have more pain resistance!" It's not pain resistance. You're just pain-numb. You just don't know what's going on. "They struck me, but it didn't hurt." If that's you, you drank too much. I think that's a biblical boundary to say, "Yep, you had too much," because your pain resistance—that's fun—has "gone up." You drank too much.

Are you saying sinful things? You have drunk too much. Is your body unable to balance and walk properly and normally? You've drunk too much. And again, if you crave alcohol in the morning, you've drunk too much.

That's based—at least I'm trying to look at the Scripture for cues as to what is too much alcohol, because I feel like nobody talks about this, and I want to know what the Bible says about it.

Proverbs 31 – Not for Kings, Not for Priests on Duty

Proverbs 31:4–7. It says:

"It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
It is not for kings to drink wine,
Nor for princes intoxicating drink;
Lest they drink and forget the law,
And pervert the justice of all the afflicted."

Again, a negative passage about alcohol. Specifically, it's like: kings, don't drink wine.

The question is: does that mean kings never drink wine? I don't think so. I think specifically it's talking about not in the discharge of their duties.

For a king, they're making judgment calls on the entire nation, decisions for the nation: "Should we go to war?" Do you really want to make that call after you've been drinking? Someone comes before you and you have to use your discernment to figure out who's guilty and who's innocent, who to protect and who to go after, and you've been drinking and your judgment's potentially somewhat impaired—even a little bit. That's not going to be good.

I can understand how, like, a U.S. president should probably never have any moment in their life when they're drinking while they're president. I would hate it if the president had put back three or four beers, and then someone asked him if they should drop a nuke in response to some crazy thing that just happened, and he's like, "Yeah, let's do it." That scares me to think that someone would be making judgment calls in a moment of—even just appropriate drinking—it could be a little scary to be thinking, "I'm making those kinds of judgment calls."

So the principle here is that there may be certain duties that you're doing where it's like, "Don't even—" You know, like if a pastor's like, "I'll just have a beer right before I go teach," I'm like, "You're going to go handle the Word of God, and you're a little bit happy or whatever?" This does not seem right to me. This seems like your judgment is going to be a little bit off.

There's another verse that talks about this. It's Leviticus 10:9. Now the context is this: here we are, Old Testament, we have the Israelites and they have the camp where they have the tent, where there's the meeting place and all this other stuff going on. They have the tabernacle.

We have Nadab and Abihu. These are the sons of Aaron. They go in to minister to God and burn incense, and they drink too much—or at least drink some, but probably were intoxicated—and they go into the presence of God that way and they burn "strange fire," is the statement. God fires them—destroys them, burns them, kills them. And then He tells this to Aaron. It says in Leviticus 10:9:

"Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations."

So there are certainly moments in life where no alcohol is acceptable in any regard. At this point, this is too much of a holy moment, too much of an important thing.

Ezekiel 44:21 reinforces this. It says:

"No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court."

If you find that your worship is just better when you've had a couple, that's not worship. That's a problem.

Ephesians 5 – Don't Be Drunk, Be Filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:17–18. This is where we get what may be the strongest statements about alcohol in the negative sense—actually in the New Testament, not the Old.

"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit."

Now there may be times where no one should drink at all because they're in the discharge of some important duty, but there are also simply rules about drunkenness. And the rule is: never, ever, ever, ever is it okay to get drunk as a Christian. That's the general rule of thumb.

People think, "Oh, drunkenness is like when it's habitual. But, you know, every once in a while on a Friday night, a guy can have a really good time, he's okay." You're in sin. This is clear. The Scripture is very clear on this. You're sinning against God in a very serious sin.

In all reality, in fact, I'll put it this way: how often should I, as a Christian, be filled with the Holy Spirit? Yes: every Sunday morning for two hours. No—all the time. I should always be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So how often should I avoid drunkenness? All the time. All the time.

These things are mutually exclusive. Drunkenness means you will not be controlled by the Holy Spirit. You want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Let me put this into simple terms: when I drink too much, I hurt my relationship with Jesus in a very present and immediate way. I'm not going to be filled with the Spirit when I'm drunk with wine. That's what Scripture says.

Or drunk with anything else, for that matter. It's a sin that messes up your walk with God. This is a pretty serious thing.

In my opinion, people who feel the liberty to drink—who, biblically speaking, do in fact have that liberty, though there are other restrictions we'll discuss—must be more strict about drunkenness than anyone else.

People who don't drink—you don't have to worry about it. You know how many hours of my life I've spent worrying about "Where's the line between not enough and too much?" Like, never. Because I don't drink. So it didn't even come up.

But if you drink, you better be very serious and concerned about what is too much versus too little, because it's a serious relational issue of sin between you and God that hurts your walk.

Hosea 4 – Enslaved Hearts

Hosea 4:11:

"Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart."

Speaking here, the biblical point is addiction. Wine, new wine—this stuff can cause addiction. It can enslave the heart. And if I see that happening, that's a bad thing. This is not a good thing.

1 Corinthians 6:12 has this great principle that applies very much to this topic:

"All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

Meaning, if wine is bringing you under its power—if you are enslaving yourself to this issue—then that's a real problem.

Now this is a separate issue, which is this: I've known several people who had drinking problems, and very rarely would they admit it, even to themselves.

All I'm going to say is this: you've got to deal with it if it's you. Like, you've got to—like, I don't need to have an intervention. You need to do this for yourself. Grow up, take a look in the mirror, and deal with it if it's you. If it's you, you just have to look at it straight on and deal with it, because it is causing problems. Don't be brought under the power of anything. And yeah, big warning against that.

And I could go on for days about statistics about alcoholism and drinking and car accidents and you name it. But the Scripture is clear: that's a big issue.

Habakkuk 2 – Using Alcohol to Manipulate

Habakkuk 2:15. It says—and this speaks of a different side of the alcohol issue; it's about using alcohol to manipulate others. It's really interesting.

Habakkuk 2:15:

"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
Pressing him to your bottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on his nakedness!"

Or his shame. You want to watch him do something shameful. You want to see him get drunk; he'll do something embarrassing or funny that you can make into a Vine video or whatever it is. They don't even have Vine videos anymore—sorry, that was like seven seconds ago. They're coming into… there's a new one coming out, "Vine 2." Okay, there we go. That's what I meant.

This is God's judgment—"woe to them"—on those who use alcohol to manipulate other people or cause other people to sin, or to watch other people's inhibitions fall away so that they might be entertained or exhilarated by the things those people will do now that they've been drinking.

God has judgment for those people.

Lot's daughters did this. Lot's daughters gave him alcohol so they could do inappropriate things with him. David got Uriah drunk so that he could get him to go back to Bathsheba against his vows, so that he could cover up his adultery. And God says, "Woe to you"—to use this drink to manipulate someone into sin.

Isaiah 28 and Isaiah 5 – Erring Through Wine

Isaiah 28:7:

"But they also have erred through wine,
And through intoxicating drink are out of the way;
The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink,
They are swallowed up by wine,
They are out of the way through intoxicating drink;
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment."

They err in vision, they stumble in judgment. These are a couple of specific areas they're erring in.

Some people I've met—have you met this guy?—he says, "I'm not like that, man. I'm better when I drink. People like me when I drink." They err in vision; they stumble in judgment. You're not the best person to make this judgment call.

God makes it pretty clear: if you think, "I'm better when I drink. When I get a little tipsy, when I get a little bit drunk, that's when I'm my best person," no, you're not. You're not. You're deceived and you're insane. That's what Scripture would say.

Isaiah 5:11:

"Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
That they may follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!"

This would be like a shameful thing: they get up early, and they drink all day. This is what most people think should happen at some point when you're in college. But not God. Not God. God's very much opposed to this sort of thing. It's a shameful thing. It's not a "college liberty" thing—"sow my wild oats." All right, you're insane. This is pretty simple, pretty basic stuff.

Isaiah 5:22 says it even stronger:

"Woe to men mighty at drinking wine,
Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink."

The world likes to boast about how much they can handle in alcohol. If you're a Christian, you should never know how much booze it takes to take you down.

If you even know how much alcohol it takes for you to black out or not remember the night before, then you were in sin. And it's like, "Oh, I can handle that," or, "I can have the drinking competitions," and things like this. This sort of thing is wickedness. It's evil in the eyes of God. No disagreement about it whatsoever.

And if you're going to have the liberty to drink, you have to have some serious sin radar when it comes to the issue of drinking and not be casual about those issues. "Woe to men mighty at drinking wine." Are you really great? You're really powerful in your wine drinking? You're a great fool. Woe to you.

A godly person shouldn't even know what they're like when they're drunk. No one should ever know what you're like when you're drunk, because you should never be drunk. Easy peasy.

So these are severe warnings.

Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6 – Drunkards Will Not Inherit the Kingdom

Galatians 5:21. Let me give you—it gets stronger. God says to us in Galatians 5:21 that there's a list of people who will not go to heaven; they will not inherit the kingdom of God:

"…envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

If you practice drunkenness, we can assume you're not saved. I'm not sure how else to interpret this passage.

1 Corinthians 6:10 says something similar:

"Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God."

I cannot overstate this warning. It applies to all of the topics we mentioned. It applies to thieves. It applies to covetous. It applies to revilers, extortioners. But it also applies to drunkenness: will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I cannot overstate this warning. Drunkenness is a great sin. It's kind of like, you know, God invented marital relations for the marriage bed, but you do this outside of that environment and it's a great and terrible sin. Alcohol seems to be very much the same kind of thing: in its right context, in its right way, it's a blessing, it's meant to be there to encourage your heart, bring joy. Outside of that context, it's a great wickedness that God's very serious about.

Wine as Symbol of Judgment

Psalm 75:8:

"For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup,
And the wine is red;
It is fully mixed, and He pours it out;
Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth
Drain and drink down."

And we have lots of verses like this in the Bible where God uses wine to symbolize judgment. So wine is like, they're getting their just desserts now.

Now, what some pastors will do—I've heard this—is they'll take all these bad passages, but they'll ignore the positive ones I mentioned earlier. We want to take them all, get the full teaching of God's Word on the topic.

John the Baptist – Abstinence as a Special Calling

Luke 1:15. This is about John the Baptist—properly called John the Baptizer, actually. The word "Baptist" is actually a verb in the Greek—he's a baptizer. He's not a "Baptist" like Southern Baptist or something like that.

"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb."

John did not drink ever in his life. That was the rule for him. Jesus did. That's an interesting idea, isn't it? You got one person who never drinks wine at the command of God, and someone else who does, and there's no sin in it whatsoever.

And this describes some of the church, doesn't it? Some of you—you don't. You have a conviction: "I don't touch this stuff. I will not touch it." Good for you. But don't put that piety on someone else as though that's piety for them.

John, honoring God, didn't drink wine. Others can drink it to the Lord and honor God in it. And I think that's the balanced thing: don't make it a rule for everybody if it's a rule for you.

Titus 2 and 1 Timothy 3 – Limits for Leaders and Older Believers

In Titus 2, we have recommendations for the older men and the older ladies. Of course back then, we're talking like—you know, you're past like 18. Okay, maybe not 18, but "old" back then was probably considered younger than we think. I'm old compared to them.

Titus 2 says:

"But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things."

Of course, if wine was—if we were to completely abstain, then it would say "no wine at all." But here it says "not given to much wine."

There's also instruction given to leaders, and we have strict instructions given as requirements for bishops or elders (same term there), and then deacons in 1 Timothy 3.

1 Timothy 3:3:

"[A bishop must be] not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous…"

So these are character qualities, meaning this: if you are "given to wine," if wine is an area where you compromise in your life on some sort of regular basis, you are disqualified for this position of Christian leadership—not because everyone else can compromise there, but because it is that much more important that the leaders in the church have godly character, not just speaking skills.

1 Timothy 3:8:

"Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money."

So they're told to not have these qualities, to not be given over to this sort of thing.

There's the old story about the pastor who gets drunk—he's disqualified. This is a serious issue in the Scripture. I don't say that callously. I just say it to get us serious. I want us to realize a couple of things. For one: wine, intended by God as a blessing; alcohol, intended by God for a blessing; abused by the sinfulness of mankind. And the abuse is far more serious than most people admit. They just think, "Well, maybe I had a little bit too much to drink." That was grievous sin in the sight of God, that Jesus had to die for. It was pretty serious.

So we want to put these bookends together and have a full-scoped understanding.

Medicinal Use – 1 Timothy 5:23

Let me give you a couple of other informative passages in the Scripture.

1 Timothy 5:23. This is where Paul tells Timothy—many of you are thinking of this passage already. He says:

"No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities."

He's actually implying, "Use a little wine." He's implying taking wine and mixing it into the water. So this is like a mixture in order for it to probably kill some of the bacteria or something like that, because Timothy is a guy who traveled with Paul. He knows that, "Man, I'm just going to guess here that his stomach and his issues couldn't handle the different water as he went from place to place." Like if you go to New Mexico, the water's, you know—"Yep, they're coming: water's going to come out water," like that's what's going to happen. They'll say, "In Mexico, you can drink the alcohol down there, but not the water," if you're from California.

Well, that's what he's told. So I think this is essentially—really—it's just a purification thing. He's being told, "Yeah, you know what, Timothy? Obviously Timothy's normal policy is: I don't drink wine. I don't drink alcohol at all." That's Timothy's normal policy. But because of a medical issue, he says, "Go ahead and mix in some wine."

I don't think Timothy was ever going to even probably get buzzed or anything off of this. That was just for him to be medically taken care of.

Proverbs 31 Again – Strong Drink for the Perishing

But there's one other really intriguing passage, and I kind of saved this toward the end here because I thought it was so interesting.

Proverbs 31. Turn back to Proverbs 31. We read it earlier, where it's the king's mother saying, "O Lemuel, it's not for kings to drink wine. It's not for kings to drink wine; you'll lose judgment, you'll forget justice; don't do it." But then it goes on.

Proverbs 31:4–7:

"It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
It is not for kings to drink wine,
Nor for princes intoxicating drink;
Lest they drink and forget the law,
And pervert the justice of all the afflicted.
Give strong drink to him who is perishing,
And wine to those who are bitter of heart.
Let him drink and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more."

Is this just exaggeration and they don't really mean it? Like, "God's like, I don't really mean give drink to people that are poor. Like, 'Oh, you're poor? Have a bottle of vodka or something like that.'" But if you read the passage carefully, that's not exactly what it says. It says:

"Give strong drink to him who is perishing."

Perishing—dying. Someone's on their deathbed. Isn't that interesting?

Now I'm just curious—raise your hand if you've been at someone's deathbed before. Would you have withheld any medication that would make it easier for them? I wouldn't. And that's what they do at the end. They say, "We're just trying to make them comfortable." And at that point the family's like, "You don't need to be sober-minded right now, buddy. We just want to help you through this."

And I think there's a biblical precedence for this in Proverbs:

"Give strong drink to him who is perishing…"

But it also implies something else: when is it really okay to get drunk? Well, when you're dying anyway. So it really is—God understands. He's giving us, I think, medicinal use of not only alcohol, but whether it's morphine or whatever it is you're going to give this person to help them through this incredibly bad time, incredibly hard time. There's no u-turn here; they're dying. Let's help them out.

And I think there's a biblical precedence. I don't think I should feel guilt. I don't think a Christian should feel like, "Oh, I've stayed sober my whole life and now I'm going under the influence of this." It's like, no. This is—I think that this is the exception to the rule, and it's in the text, which I think is kind of exciting: that God gave us such a rounded teaching in His Word.

I think this is a case for hospice or for making them comfortable in those moments.

Now obviously this can be misused: "Oh, my back really hurts, so I have to drink to feel better, or I have to take these drugs," and so on. But there is such a thing as medicinal use, or taking even a painkiller that you normally would stay away from under all conditions, because of this particular situation. Easily abused, frequently abused—just like alcohol. But I don't want to take away the baby with the bathwater. There may be—I believe there is—an appropriate time, and I think that the Scripture gives us room for that in this passage.

Romans 14 – Don't Make a Brother Stumble

So what are some conclusions? Let me, to round this all out, go back to Romans 14. We've been in Romans; we deserve a little pause to talk about the issue of alcohol because it's been coming up in the passage.

Romans 14:21:

"It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak."

This is the clause where you say, "At least temporarily, at least in the presence of this brother, I wouldn't touch the stuff, because I don't want to hurt or offend them." Entirely appropriate. I've taught a lot about that recently, so I won't get into great detail.

1 Corinthians 10 – Do All to the Glory of God

And then, if you would, turn to 1 Corinthians 10. One of our last verses for tonight.

1 Corinthians 10:30–32. This is really a great balanced passage for us. There's the person who drinks and says, "I drink and I thank the Lord for it," and someone else who says, "I would never touch the stuff." They really both need to be able to respect each other, appreciate each other, and try not to change each other. This passage helps.

1 Corinthians 10:30:

"But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for the food over which I give thanks?
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

If you can hold this glass in your hand and drink it and say, "I will not cross the line with this. I'll just enjoy it and be like, 'Lord, You gave me this, and it's a blessing. Thank You for it. Praise You, Lord,'" and then two houses down, there's the other believer who's in their living room and they're just drinking their glass of grape juice or whatever—milk or Martinelli's—and they're having their non-alcohol, and they're going, "Lord, thank You for this. I thank You that I'm free from having to be in some bondage to something." And they both are glorifying God. And God goes, "Great. Do what you're doing. Do it all for the glory of God."

But don't speak evil of the one who drinks purely without compromise as unto the Lord, and don't look down upon the other.

Then it has this in verse 32—really interesting:

"Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God."

So he's like, "Yeah, you could eat anything, drink anything, whatever, as unto the Lord, with those biblical boundaries in place." But then it adds the issue of culture. He goes, "There's a Jewish culture, there's a Greek culture." And Paul knows, because he's been in both. He's done outreach to both.

"I'm over here with the Jews; I don't do anything that's outside their culture. If their culture sees drinking as wrong, what am I going to do? I am not going to drink, because I would not want to offend them." It's not because it's wrong; it's because, "I don't want to offend them." Same thing over here. "I'm not going to offend the other culture."

I want this teaching to go out and not be a teaching for Americans but a teaching for Christians. Now we have to apply it in our culture and consider where you live and the people around you. If it's a cultural issue around you, respect the culture and be wise and honor God with it.

And I think, like I started out by saying, if your heart is all about serving Jesus with this stuff, then you're going to be fine. I think you're going to be fine. But if you're leaning towards liberty, then you probably need to come down a little bit. And if you lean towards abstinence, you probably need to relax a little bit, at least in your attitude toward others.

There's a lot of issues I didn't get into tonight about the ancient wine, like "What percentage proof was it?" I don't think that matters, because the issue isn't about how much alcohol you drink versus how percentage-proof it is. The issue is really one thing: the issue is how it's impacting me. Am I getting drunk?

So whether it's stronger drink or less-strong drink, I need to stay sober, but I'm still able to enjoy its effects with God's liberty, unto the glory of God.

So there is the Bible study that I've never heard anyone teach, and I hope it's a blessing to you guys. Because, in my opinion, I really believe that pastors—by and large, the pastors I've heard, the circles I've been in (not our pastor; my pastor has never done this)—but I've heard many pastors do this, where they literally, in my opinion, abuse the body of Christ trying to steal their liberties from them because the pastor doesn't trust them with those liberties.

Well, I don't get to trust you with anything. I get to teach you God's Word. I don't want to be the filter who protects you from the liberties of God. That's not my job.

So let's take it to heart, and hopefully we can see ourselves responding perfectly in these situations because we have the balance of Scripture.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray.

Father God,
We ask for wisdom for us, for those who hear this message later—whether it's tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, a year from now. We just pray, Lord, that every one of us has to make decisions about whether we should drink and when and all that. We just pray for great wisdom: to be led of Your Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, to be able to do so for the glory of God always, whether we drink or don't.

*We pray, Lord, for unity amongst believers who drink and who don't drink—for clarity. I pray that pastors who get in the pulpit and, out of fully sincere—in a sense good—motives, still misrepresent the Scripture when they give "fifty reasons why no one should drink" after casually acknowledging that the Bible says you can.

Lord, we just pray that the church would grow up on this issue more, and it would not be a cause for division or for hurts or for wounds, and that we can learn moderation just like the Scripture tells us.*

In Jesus' name, Amen.