Gambling With Your Life
Over one hundred fifty thousand people are here at Churchill Downs for The Kentucky Derby to watch one of the greatest races in sports. Yes, people come here to watch the horses run, but they also come here to get drunk, lust, covet and gamble. For those who don’t know any better, all of these things are a sin. Not merely watching a horse race, but the getting drunk, lusting, coveting and gambling are all sins.
Can I show a specific Bible verse that condemns gambling? No I can’t. But everything about gambling goes against God and His nature that He has revealed to us. The love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Why else would you gamble if you didn’t love money? Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24).
Hebrews 13:15 state: Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Proverbs 13:11 says: Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
Whatever Is Not Of Faith Is Sin
Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty (Proverbs 28:19). But the strongest case against gambling is Romans 14:24: For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Betting on horses is not of faith. Gambling does not honor God. The chief purpose of man is to glorify God. So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Gambling is a sin, just like getting drunk is a sin. No drunkard shall enter into the kingdom of God. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Lusting is a sin. Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28). Coveting is mentioned as the 10th Commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Why Point Out Sins?
Why am I pointing out these sins today? Why are my friends and I warning you about sin today? Because we have all sinned against Almighty God and we have all fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23). You see, your biggest problem today isn’t that you are gambling on the horse races. No, if you are not a true follower of Jesus Christ, your biggest problem is that you are gambling with your life. Not just this life, but your eternal life.
The soul that sins, it shall die. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, then all you are doing in this life is working for death. Physical death and the second death (which is never ending death). The second death is eternal damnation and everlasting punishment. Pain and suffering like you’ve never experienced.
Losing money on a horse bet today is not your biggest worry. Facing the great Creator God on Judgment Day without the Advocate, without Jesus Christ as your defender, that is your greatest worry. You are gambling with your life, your very life and you may not even realize it. If you have never repented from your sins and surrendered your life to Jesus, then you are a guilty, unrepentant sinner.
Don’t Realize The Danger You Are In
Folks, you don’t realize the danger you are in. God hates all workers of iniquity (Psalm 5:5). God is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11). The wrath of God abides upon you if Jesus is not your Lord and Savior (John 3:36). You are making the biggest bet of your life and you are betting wrong. Don’t you see, you cannot win against Almighty God? You cannot cheat death today.
You and I were born to die. Yes, you have a birth date and one day you will have a death date. One day you will breathe your last breath. It is appointed unto man, once to die, but after this, the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). What will you do with your sins on Judgment Day? You will have no place to hide and on one to blame. You will stand (or actually kneel) before God and Judgment Day and you will have no excuse. Your mouth will be stopped and you will be guilty, guilty, guilty.
We are pleading with you today, don’t do it. Don’t continue going through life barreling down the broad road to destruction. Matthew 7:13-14 states: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Gambling With Your Life And Your Soul
Don’t continue gambling with your life. Don’t continue gambling with your eternal soul. This is a gamble you will not win. Oh, you may pick a winner at Churchill Downs, but you will not be a winner if you die in your sins as a rebel against God. All sin is rebellion against God. You cannot win betting against God Almighty. What is your life? It is but a vapor. You are here today and gone tomorrow. What if you live to be 100 years old? What is 100 years compared to eternity? It is less than a blink of an eye.
God gives you every breath that you take, yet most people take this for granted. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature (Genesis 2:7). The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4).
God is the giver and sustainer of life. Isaiah 42:5 states: Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it.
God Provides The Only Savior
Not only did God make you and give you every breath that you take, but He also provided the only Savior of mankind. There is nothing that you or I can do to earn salvation. Make no mistake, we need to be saved. Everyone of us have sinned against God. We’ve all gone our own way at one time or another (or most of the time for most people – remember Jesus said there are few that find eternal life).
Jesus is the promised Savior. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law (Isaiah 42:1-4).
Who Has Believed Us?
Isaiah 53:1-6 says: Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Jesus is the only way of salvation. There is no other. Jesus took the punishment that He did not owe in order to save His people from their sins. He was bruised for our iniquities. By His stripes we are healed. The sinless Son of God bore the righteous wrath of Almighty God that guilty men and women deserved. God poured His anger over sin out upon the Sinless One. Jesus suffered, bled and died on the cruel cross. He was buried and rose from the grave three days later. Jesus defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan.
Salvation Is For Who?
Salvation is for all who repent from their sins and put their faith in Jesus. Is this you today? Is God convicting you over your sins and revealing His righteousness to you? Oh if so, do not reject such a great of salvation. Admit that you are a sinner. Confess your sins to God. Cry out for God to have mercy upon you. Repent from your sins and surrender your life fully and completely to the Lord Jesus.
Christ Jesus said that unless you are born again, you cannot even see the kingdom of God. A person is born again when God draws you to Himself. When He shows you what a dirty, rotten sinner that you are and how Holy, righteous and just God is and Jesus is the only Savior. Come to Jesus today and be saved.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
One Lord Of All
For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:8-13).
Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Repent from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ. Trust in Christ alone for your salvation. Gamble no longer with your life. Do not gamble anymore with your eternal life. Gamble no more with your eternal soul.
Repent and submit your life to King Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But don’t wait until Judgment Day to do so. Willingly bow and confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in this life. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
(This message was proclaimed outside Churchill Downs on May 4, 2019)