by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Romans 6:8-15<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. I was asked recently what I thought about the argument that gambling once in a while\n(two or three times a week) wasn’t sinful because “anything done in moderation is not a\nsin.”\n A. We could address the issue of gambling from a number of viewpoints to show that\nit is sinful. \n 1. It is based on covetousness or greed because gambling is the taking of\nanother person’s possessions without fair or just compensation.\n 2. If you argue “it’s just a game,” then why not play without the involvement\nof money. Saying that money gives it more excitement is to say that it is\nnot the game that matters but the opportunity to win money.\n 3. Gambling is an attempt to profit without effort, but God tells us to profit\nby:\n
a. Labor – Ephesians 4:28; II Thessalonians 3:10-12<\/p>\n
b. Exchange or bartering – Acts 5:3-4<\/p>\n
c. Investing – Matthew 25:14-30<\/p>\n
d. Giving – Acts 20:35; Ephesians 4:28<\/p>\n 4. Gambling is an act of selfishness. A giver is happy to help another person.\nBut a gambler is unhappy if another takes his money.\n B. But the issue of something being wrong only if it is done to excess is what caught\nmy attention.\n
II. Can anything<\/i> be done in moderation without it being a sin?<\/p>\n
A. Let’s take a look at a list of sins – Revelation 21:8<\/p>\n
1. Can these be done in moderation?<\/p>\n
2. Some would argue so, but what about murder?<\/p>\n B. The argument is that anything <\/i>can be done moderately, so could a person commit\nmurder moderately? \n 1. If a person only committed a murder every ten years or so, would that be\nmoderate?\n
2. The fact is that God states murder is wrong. Period – Genesis 9:5-6<\/p>\n
3. Quantity is not a factor<\/p>\n
C. Perhaps the argument is that we can moderate the quality.<\/p>\n
1. So what if a person just almost<\/i> commits a murder, is that moderate?<\/p>\n
2. No, we recognize that it is assault<\/p>\n
3. God actually takes it further – I John 3:15<\/p>\n
4. Therefore, quality is not a factor<\/p>\n
III. The true problem is that the definition of sin is being ignored<\/p>\n
A. Sin is the breaking of law – I John 3:4<\/p>\n
1. It is not how often it is broken<\/p>\n
2. It is not how well it is broken<\/p>\n
B. Laws exist for our good – Deuteronomy 6:4<\/p>\n
1. Thus breaking laws is bad for us.<\/p>\n
C. Law breaking can’t be reduced, only engaged in or eliminated<\/p>\n 1. Does God ever teach that we ought to only reduce the amount of sin we\ncommit? Only if the reduction is to zero.\n
2. Consider these verses from Romans 6 – Romans 6:1-2, 6, 11-13, 15<\/p>\n
IV. What we really have is an advocation of situational ethics<\/p>\n A. Situation ethics is a denial that there is a strict concept of right and wrong. There is\nno absolutes.\n B. When the appeal is made to moderation, consider who is the judge of what is\nmoderate?\n
1. It is an individual’s judgment based on his own personal feelings<\/p>\n
2. This is anarchy of the worse sort – Judges 21:25<\/p>\n
3. Man is not able to make such decisions – Jeremiah 10:23<\/p>\nV. Instead of excusing sin, we need to face the fact that we are not here on this world to\nplease ourselves\n
A. Ecclesiastes 12:13 – Our whole<\/i> duty is to please God<\/p>\n
B. What God requires – Micah 6:8<\/p>\n
C. We belong to God – I Corinthians 6:20<\/p>\n
D. Our aim is to please God – II Corinthians 5:9<\/p>\n
E. If you want life, keep God’s commandments – Matthew 19:17<\/p>\n
F. Jesus saves those who obey – Hebrews 5:9<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 6:8-15 I. I was asked recently what I thought about the argument that gambling once in a while (two or three times a week) wasn’t sinful because “anything done in moderation is not a sin.” A. We could address the issue of gambling from a number of viewpoints to show…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[815,38,694],"class_list":["post-62843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-gambling","tag-morality","tag-situational-ethics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8004,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-about-the-idea-anything-you-do-in-moderation-is-not-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":62843,"position":0},"title":"What do you think about the idea “anything you do in moderation is not a sin?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My sister and her husband patronize the gambling casino's at least 2 or 3 times a week. I mentioned to them that I feel that gambling is a sin.\u00a0 My brother-in-law's answer was, \"anything you do in moderation is not a sin.\"\u00a0 I do not believe this to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53382,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-investing-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":62843,"position":1},"title":"Is Investing Gambling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford From time to time, I'll hear people arguing that, morally speaking, investing in the stock market is the same thing as gambling. Usually, the argument is advanced by folks who think that gambling is fine and want to expose what they see as hypocrisy in those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31544,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-the-site-i-write-for-also-advertises-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":62843,"position":2},"title":"What if the site I write for also advertises gambling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I write for a sports website which advertises a betting company on its homepage and also at the bottom of every article (including the ones that I write). I really enjoy my job but am concerned that whether working for a company that promotes gambling (indeed the betting company\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-article-on-gambling-is-one-of-the-most-helpful-i-ever-read\/","url_meta":{"origin":62843,"position":3},"title":"The article on gambling is one of the most helpful I ever read.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just wanted to say thank you for the article,\u00a0Is Gambling Sinful?, by T. Sean Sullivan on your website. One of the most helpful I have ever read! Answer: I am glad to hear the site is being useful to you.","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-gambling-sinful\/","url_meta":{"origin":62843,"position":4},"title":"Is Gambling Sinful?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by T. Sean Sullivan Are you familiar with, or have you ever heard any of these terms: Raffle, bingo, chances, scratch n\u2019 win, lottery, or gaming? Have you ever made a \u201cwager\u201d on the outcome of a sports event? The Super Bowl is coming up in a couple of weeks.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28419,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-problem-with-gambling\/","url_meta":{"origin":62843,"position":5},"title":"The Problem with Gambling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford In April of last year, the state legislature of Tennessee legalized online betting on sports. In November of this year, four online sportsbooks were approved to operate in Tennessee for the first time. Not surprisingly, since that time, we've been bombarded with ads trying to entice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/gambling-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}