What’s Wrong with Gambling

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

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SPEAKER 02 : 0:25

What we have here is the story of the Apostle Paul. who got in trouble with the city fathers because he opposed something that was going on and preached Christ. The Apostle Paul threw a rock into a hornet’s nest. when he went to Ephesus and began to preach the truth. And what he did when he preached the truth was to stick his finger in the eye of those, those who were making a lot of money through their false religion. Now, you’re going to learn this, that if you take a stand for the truth, you’re not always going to be popular. You’ll be popular with some people, but you’re not going to be popular with a certain crowd. And don’t expect to win any awards for popularity if you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember this. We are twice-born people in a world of once-born people. So we’re going to be going against the tide much of the time. Now, as a Christian, you should never try to cause trouble, but you should always expect it because we’re soft. And salt, when it is rubbed into wounds, it irritates even while it’s healing. And truth, when it is laid alongside of error, always causes controversy. And so that’s what happened here at Ephesus. And there were three things that really drove the situation there at Ephesus. Number one was money, the profit motive. It’s always there. Look in verse 24 and 25. “‘For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen.'” And he says in the last part of verse 25, Sirs, you know that by this craft we have our wealth. Now these people did not want Paul to say what he was about to say because what buttered their bread determined their conduct. It was the money. The most vital nerve in the human body is the one that runs from the heart to the pocketbook. And what Paul had done is put his finger on this vital nerve here. Now, not only that, but there was a great propaganda machine that was turning out propaganda in favor of Diana here. Verses 25 and following, I want you to notice how he begins to stir the people up. He says in verse 27, so that not only is this our craft is in danger to be set at naught, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and that her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. Now he’s using loaded words. This man Demetrius is a master at mind control. He’s pushing the right buttons and He is appealing to three things. Number one, their religious freedom. Number two, their patriotism. And number three, their pocketbooks. He’s using words here very shrewdly. You can read this and find out that Demetrius was a good speaker. And you’re going to find out that in this battle against gambling, that we’re really in a propaganda war. And if somebody is here from the media saying, One of the things they will call me is, number one, part of the religious right. Something else they will call me is a fundamentalist. And somewhere in the article, if they write long enough, they’ll use words like Puritanism, sectarianism, mindless orthodoxy, blue-nose Puritan, censor, and other things. I mean, those words will just be sprinkled all in there. And then for those who are in favor of gambling, there’ll be high-sounding phrases of economic growth and tourism and prosperity, da-da-da-da-da-da. Then on top of that, this thing of mob psychology gets in here and he gets the people going where they begin to shout. And they’re saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Notice that in verse 28. He gets them all whipped up. That amphitheater seats 25,000 people. Can you imagine 25,000 people shouting, great is Diana of the Ephesians? Everybody’s looking around saying, well, it must be right because everybody’s for it. This is morality by majority. The biggest religion in America is the cult of the crowd. The altar of that religion is conformity and the chief hymn is everybody’s doing it. Well, let’s talk about gambling. What the Bible has to say about gambling. Is it right? Is it wrong? The Bible is not a book of minute laws primarily. It is a book of great principles. And we’re going to find out are there some biblical principles that that make it wrong for any Christian to gamble and unwise for any society to endorse gambling. Now before we do that, I want to define gambling. When we’re talking about gambling, we’re not talking about taking a risk. You cannot live without taking a risk. You can’t be a farmer without taking a risk. The Bible says, he that considereth the wind will not sow. That is, if you’re waiting till you are guaranteed perfect weather to be a farmer, you’ll never be a farmer. Isn’t that right? You won’t invest in the stock market if you’re waiting till you have something where you know you can’t lose money. If you’re not willing to risk your money in the stock market, you probably won’t make any money in the stock market. Now, I don’t have any stocks. I don’t know enough about buying stocks. I invested one time in an avocado mine, and that didn’t work, so I’m just not investing in the stocks. But you take a risk when you go in business. If you open up a business to sell frozen yogurt or anything else, there’s a certain amount of risk. And the Bible is not against taking risks. The Bible actually encourages you to take a risk. Did you know that? He that considers the wind will not sow. As a matter of fact, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, you have to risk your life sometime. Acts chapter 15, verse 21, the Bible says, these men have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, they put their lives at hazard. As a matter of fact, our Lord Jesus gave a parable about a man who hid his talent in the ground because he was afraid to invest it. He was afraid that he might lose it. so he wouldn’t take a risk. There’s nothing wrong with taking a risk. There’s nothing wrong with being an adventurer in business, investing in bonds and in stocks. Now, I tore this out of USA Today the other day, and this is a man who happens to be the reporter for sports, business, and special projects for USA Today. And what he is saying is, look, how can you be against gambling? If you put money in stocks and bonds because that is gambling. No, friend, that is not gambling. That’s taking a risk. Now, there’s a difference. Anybody that’s got anything but spaghetti between his ears knows there’s a difference between betting on a horse race and investing money in stocks or planting a good crop. You see, in gambling… For every winner, there must be losers. What gambling is predicated on is one person getting what belongs to another person. In gambling, money simply changes hands. Gambling is a win-lose situation. For every winner, there has to be a loser. In business… It is a win-win situation. You are investing in business to meet another person’s needs so that your needs will be met. When you invest in the stock market or in some business, the money goes to build factories, to pay wages, to create goods and services, which in turn create new wealth, and that rewards the investor. In gambling, Nothing is produced. Now, the states want to have a lottery, and there are those who want to have a lottery here in Tennessee. And in order to get the lottery, they have to have a lot of people who will give money with a hope of winning, but only a handful will win. And the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast majority of them will lose. Do you know what the state therefore when it produces the lottery is in the business of doing? It is in the business of producing losers. Now you think about it. The state, in order to make the lottery work, must produce millions of losers. That’s what it’s all about. In business, you’re trying to produce winners, not losers. Gambling is win-lose. Business is win-win. No wonder… George Washington, the father of our country, said that gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief. I want to give you some principles right out of the Word of God, not minute laws. There’s no law in the Bible that says don’t play the horses or don’t dabble in roulette or don’t buy a lottery ticket. There’s something far more wonderful than that. Let me give you some principles. Principle number one, gambling transgresses the principle of honesty. Gambling transgresses the principle of honesty. Let me give you some verses. Exodus chapter 20, verse 15, thou shalt not steal. Exodus 20, verse 17, thou shalt not covet. thy neighbor’s house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything. Now listen, don’t covet anything that is your neighbor’s. Gambling breaks the spirit of this commandment, Because gambling, if you let all of the air out of it, is a form of thievery. It is robbery by mutual consent. It is the transfer of wealth, wealth not earned and wealth not given, without giving anything back in exchange. If I were to gamble with you, I would hope to get what belongs to you into my control without your having received anything from it. That’s the spirit of thievery. Now the fact that you agree to give me a chance to do that, the fact that we have the spirit of thievery by mutual consent makes no difference so far as the morals are concerned. Suppose two men agree to a duel. THEY HAVE AN ARGUMENT AND THEY AGREE TO SHOOT IT OUT. WELL, WHAT THAT IS IS MURDER BY MUTUAL CONSENT. THAT DOESN’T MAKE DUELING RIGHT BECAUSE TWO MEN AGREE TO TAKE AN OPPORTUNITY TO KILL ONE ANOTHER. It doesn’t make gambling right because two people agree that I’m going to try to get what belongs to you without giving you anything for it. And you agree to try to get what belongs to me without giving anything for it. Somebody has said this and said it well. He who gambles and loses is a fool. He who gambles and wins is a thief. I am trying to get what belongs to you in my hands without giving you anything for it. Let me give you an example. Suppose two men meet in a dark alley. One of them has a gun and he comes out of that alley with what belongs to the other man. What do we call him? We call him a thief. Now suppose two men meet in a back alley and they have a pair of dice and one comes out of that alley with what belongs to the other man. What do we call him? We call him a gambler. But what is the major difference between In the first instance, there was one thief. In the second, there were two. You see, both of them had the same spirit that the man has with the gun. The fact that there’s mutual consent makes no difference. What gambling does, it transgresses the law of God, which is the principle of honesty. And the Bible says, Thou shalt not steal. Here’s a second principle that it transgresses. Not only the principle of honesty, but It transgresses the principle of love. Let me give you a verse. Matthew chapter 22, verses 37 through 40. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Now, do you know what the major motive of gambling is? Listen to it carefully. Now, let me tell you what gambling is. Gambling is pleasure and profit. at the cost of someone else’s pain and loss. Pleasure and profit at someone else’s pain and loss. You cannot win at gambling unless someone else loses. Now, when I want you to lose in order that I might win, that is not love. I cannot love you and try to get what belongs to you in my possession when you don’t receive anything for it. Listen, if you win at gambling, you lower yourself and you victimize your neighbor. Did you know that we have in America 10 million compulsive gamblers? Compulsive gambling is a problem just like compulsive use of narcotics or liquor or anything else. The same symptoms as the alcoholic and the dope addict. You see, love says, I don’t want to do that to any individual. The person who suffers is not just simply the gambler. I’m not talking about the recreational gambler. Now, I’m talking about the compulsive gambler. It’s his family that suffers. It’s his children that suffers. These innocent persons are real people. And it is the poor, it is the poor people who suffer the most. They’re the ones most psychologically tempted. The ones who can least afford it are the most tempted to gamble. People in genuine poverty often see their only hope for wealth in a lottery ticket or at a casino of somewhere where somehow they’re going to turn their dimes and their quarters and their dollars into megabucks by the goddess of chance. They’re waiting for that chance. MAGIC MOMENT. I WAS READING THIS AFTERNOON THAT IN NEW JERSEY, ONE-THIRD, LISTEN TO THIS, ONE-THIRD OF THE FAMILIES WITH INCOMES OF LESS THAN $10,000 SPEND ONE-FIFTH OF THAT INCOME ON THE LOTTERY. ONE-FIFTH. THESE ARE FAMILIES WITH INCOMES OF LESS THAN $10,000. WHY? because they’ve been told that’s the way out. It’s not by accident that the tables in Atlantic City do their best business on the days when the welfare checks are received. See, gambling is a form of regressive taxation. Love for people, love for people is a principle, the Word of God to love people. How are we going to try to build an economy on something that wrecks and ruins the lives of so many people? Nevada. Oh, Nevada. The gambling capital of our nation. Did you know that the crime rate in Nevada is double the national average? The suicide rate triples the national average in Nevada. How can we say that we’re operating by the principle of love? Somebody says, well, there may be some people who get hurt, but I still think it’ll be good for the economy. Well, I’ve got a word for you. If that is your motivation, if you are in favor of taxing men’s weaknesses and profiteering in human misery, I would hate to have your heart beating in my chest. even if it did pay, even if it did somehow help the local economy. And yet at this cost of human misery, I would pity you. Love says that gambling is so vitally wrong. I’ll give you a third principle now. Talk about the principle of honesty. Talk about the principle of love. There’s a third principle, and it’s the principle of work. The Bible does not teach getting wealth by gambling. The Bible teaches getting wealth through work and industry and business. Now… When the state gets in the business of gambling or getting revenue for gambling, then the state has to look favorably upon gambling. In the lotteries, the state itself has to begin to advertise the lotteries. In New York City, you can look around and see signs like this. Play your hunch. You could win a bunch. Now that’s not the gambler saying that. That’s the government saying that. I think it might be better if they would put up signs to say, fight poverty, go to work. But you know, we get the idea that somehow, some way, that we’re going to strike it rich. You’ve got a much better chance of being stricken by lightning than winning the lottery. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10 says, For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he. Now God knows that the government, the churches, and every one of us who names the name of Christ ought to have a compassionate, caring, loving attitude toward those who are impoverished. to help them in every way that we possibly can. But gambling does not help these people ultimately. It ultimately hurts them. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28 says this, Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. If you want to help the poor, The very best thing you can do to help the poor, number one, is not to become one of them. But on the other hand, go to work and use that talent that you have to make money to give to him the needs. Gambling is an economic fraud. It produces no real wealth. It is a social leech. I mean, listen, folks. The Bible teaches industry, integrity, and work. Virgil Peterson, who was the director of the Chicago Crime Commission, said, and I want you to listen to this quote, “‘Gambling produces no wealth. It merely redistributes it from the hands of the many.'” into the hands of the few. Did you get that? It produces no real wealth. Or you say there’s some restaurants that are going to do good. You better believe it. Or there’s some motels that are going to do good. You better believe it. We’re going to get some taxes. Oh. Well, friend, when you get to the bottom line, you’re going to find out that the taxes and what is collected and what is spent cleaning up the human misery When you get to the bottom line, you’re in the hole, ultimately in the hole. There was a donkey who was approached by a flea. And the flea said to the donkey, I’ve got a business proposition for you. And the donkey says, what is it? And the flea said, I would like to sit upon your back and suck blood. And if you let me suck your blood, for every gallon of blood I suck, I’ll give you back a pint in revenue. The donkey said, it sounds like a good deal to me. You make the application. Gambling produces no wealth. It merely redistributes it from the hands of the many into the hands of the few. Harry Reid, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Commission, told U.S. News and World Report, listen to this, any state… Trying to follow Nevada’s lead will find out that the social costs will far outweigh any economic benefits. That is not me. You say, what does Adrian know about it? Friend, that’s Harry Reid, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Commission. Any state trying to follow Nevada’s lead will find the social costs far outweigh any economic benefits. I’m going to tell you a fourth principle. that gambling transgresses. Now the first one, the principle of honesty. When you gamble, you’re trying to get what belongs to somebody else in your possession. Have you got that? Without giving him anything for it. That’s the spirit of a thief. The fact that it’s by mutual consent makes no difference. There’s just two of you immoral when you get in that situation. Number two, it transgresses the principle of love. Because it’s the most regressive form of taxation there can be. It harms and hurts the poor the most. And there are those compulsive, addictive gamblers. And it’s not just those gamblers. It’s their children and their families that are so often hurt. The ultimate question is not, will it hurt me? But will it hurt somebody else? And then it transgresses the principle of work. Oh, the Bible teaches that there is a principle of industry and work that is honest and noble. And even when you invest in the stock market, you’re investing in the lives of workers, industry, and business. Fourthly, gambling transgresses the principle of providence. The gambler wants to live by luck rather than providence. Now, if you’re not a Christian, this would not apply to you. What I have to say probably will not persuade most people who want to gamble. I’m talking to believers now. And don’t expect that we’re going to put society in our mold. I’m just trying to tell you why you as a Christian would say, for me, this is wrong. And I would to God that others wouldn’t do it. And I’ll do everything I can do to speak out and stand up. But many of these things are not even going to be considered. What I’m about to say wouldn’t even be considered by a person who does not know and love the Lord. Gambling transgresses the principle of providence. Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 11. It’s an interesting verse. It speaks of those who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, and who set a table for fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for destiny. I’ve read that out of the RSV because it’s clearer at this point. What is fortune? That’s the God of chance. The goddess of luck. Did you know that the very word luck is derived from a pagan goddess? If there’s anything that gives me a pain, it’s for me to go off somewhere in a revival crusade or something and for some well-meaning brother or sister to say, well, pastor, good luck. Don’t tell me good luck. Say, God bless you, pastor. God go with you. May God guide you and guard you and help you. But you see, a gambler is depending upon chance. The Bible says that we’re to rest upon providence. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Well, you say, but pastor, look, I’ve got 10 bucks. If I want to spend it on gambling, if I want to spend it on ice cream, that’s my business. It’s just recreation to me. I don’t care if I lose it. I can afford to lose it. That’s the way I get my jollies. I can afford it. Do you know who you’re thinking about? You. That’s the whole point. You are not thinking of other people. Now, you’re putting your confidence… in chance, and you’re putting your motivation in yourself. Somebody says, I think it’s beautiful to see the horses run. I think it’s beautiful to see the horses run also. Now, I like the dogs. I like the dogs too. But don’t try to equate that with gambling any more than you would equate mountains with bush beer. They say, oh, everybody loves to see the horses run. Well, hey guys, if you want to see the horses run, get some horses and watch them run. It’s gambling. That’s what people are talking about. There’s no law against horses running. You know that. True recreation will relax, refresh, renew. Have you ever been in a casino? I have. Not to gamble. I was in a casino one time when I went down to Bahamas. to witness to Muhammad Ali. I went down there and talked to him about Jesus and did. But he was staying at a place called Paradise Island. Big casino there. I had to go through that place. Friend, I want to tell you something. I have never seen such a grim bunch of people in my life. If that is recreation, deliver me. I mean, now they might say that they’re having fun, but folks, I’m telling you, that was a somber looking group. True recreation is a blessing to be enjoyed. Gambling is a curse that brings vice and crime. Have you ever noticed that everywhere there’s gambling, the flesh holds sway? Gambling finds itself matched with immorality, greed, licentiousness, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, envy, drunkenness, and crime. You say, oh, Pastor Rogers. Well, if that’s not true, why do they keep telling you how much control they have? Don’t worry, we got this control. Well, you don’t have to control a Sunday school picnic that way. I’m telling you folks, where there’s something rotten, you’re going to find a lot of buzzards. All of these things come in. There’s less laughter and gaiety in the casino than almost any other public resort. The Christian doesn’t need to get a thrill from covetousness and dishonesty. Here’s the bottom line. Gambling contributes nothing to the common good. it undermines values, it mocks work, it finances crime, it robs children, it enslaves people, and it poisons whatever it touches. And if you just take the four principles of honesty, love, work, and providence, you’ll find out that the Bible is very much against, not risk-taking. The Bible is very much in favor of that. But it is against gambling, which says, I want to get what belongs to you into my possession by sheer chance. The fact that you agree to have it done just means that you have the same kind of a bad spirit that I have when I want to have it done because you’re hoping to do the same thing to me. I’m going to wrap up the message and tell you there are two sure things. Number one, be sure your sin will find you out. Number two, be sure that Jesus will save you if you trust him. Give him your heart. Trust the Lord Jesus. There’s a hope that is steadfast and sure. Do you know Jesus? You know, we who are Christians, we’ve got something wonderful. to know Jesus. And the only thing that will deal with this monster called more that lives within the human heart is Jesus who satisfies the deepest human need. And friend, when you receive Christ, you’re not gambling with your soul. He’s a hope that’s steadfast and sure.

SPEAKER 01 : 30:58

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