Biggest lottery in your life with 100% chance to win! Many people say that something drastic and final is going to happen to this earth. Sometimes end of your life may come sooner than the end of this earth. So this topic about lottery and betting has to do something with your life. There are some choices we have to make before it is too late. Most of the time we think that realm of the religion is ethereal, something which really can’t be known, which some feel it is true and some don’t feel it true. But here we are going to demonstrate with proof and evidence what will be the best bet of your life. Many people think that faith and evidence are in two realms. Faith is some sort of ethereal or ambiguous, while evidence is in the realm of empiricism, and it is what we know or science teaches us. So they think somehow science and faith are not complimentary, but contradictory. God in in Hebrews 11:1 say “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Thus in the classical definition of faith, faith and evidence is not stated as contradictory, but as complimentary. God never asks us to believe without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. Our faith must rest upon evidence. Those who wish to doubt will have opportunity, while those who really desire to know the truth will find plenty of evidence on which to rest our faith. So faith and evidence is not inimical, but complimentary. So faith is not a leap into the unknown, but a step into the light. Now we are going to talk about the single most compelling evidence, why you should follow God, why you should love him with all your heart and give him the first priority. Have you ever heard of Blaise Pascal? He was a French mathematician and scientist, born in 1623 and died when he was 39. At the age of 31, he experienced a conversion to Christianity and he began to write out his thoughts and ideas. All this thoughts were put into a compendium titled “Pensees”. He was respected in his days as a mathematician, scientist, philosopher and theologian. It is in the middle of that compendium is one of his most famous writing, which has come to be known simply as Pascal’s wager. How could it be that a very intelligent man like Pascal came to be a Christian? It is will be interesting to know that actually it is mathematics which led him to be a Christian. We are living in a day and age, where Science and Religion set apart. We are told that in order to be an intelligent person, you must put your faith on the shelf and believe in what science has handed down. History also tells us that and in the lives of many contemporary individuals also, you can be very intelligent person and at the same time have rock sold Christian faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t have to put your intelligence on the shelf to be a Christian. In fact Jesus did not come to enslave a man’s mind, but to enable a man’s mind and to set him free. This idea that Christianity is inimical or antithetical to thinking is absolutely without ground. So what was Pascal’s wager? It is just 2 or 3 pages, originally written in French, and now translated to English. Synopsis: God either exists or he doesn’t. Based on the testimony of both general revelation that is nature or the created works and special revelation i.e. the scriptures, it is safe to assume that God does in fact exist. It is abundantly fair to assume that there is at least a 50% chance that Christian creator God exists. Therefore we stand to gain eternity and thus infinity. The wise or safe choice is to live as though he does exist. If we are right, we gain everything and lose nothing. If we are wrong we lose nothing and gain nothing. Therefore based on simple mathematics Pascal reasons that only the fool chose to live the godless life! Pascal found the essential rules that govern all games of chance that can be used by gamblers to define perfect playing and betting strategies. Furthermore these laws of probabilities have applications in all series of situations from speculating on the stock market to estimating the probability of a nuclear accident. Pascal was even convinced that he could use his theories to justify an intelligent belief in God. Pascal stated “the excitement a gambler feels when making a bet is equal to the amount he might win multiplied by the probability of winning it.” He then argues that “the possible prize of eternal happiness has infinite value. Probability of entering heaven by living a virtuous life, not matter how small is certainly finite.” Therefore according to Pascal’s definition “religion is a game of infinite excitement and one worth playing because multiplying an infinite prize by finite probability results in infinity.” Basically a distillation of what Pascal says is better to be safe on the side of intelligence than to err on the side of ignorance. Have you ever gambled or did some betting? We are not going to talk about merits and demerits of gambling. But there is one gamble that everybody in this world is going to make and that is the gamble of your life. That is why this message is important. You bet your life. When you make a gamble or wager, there are three factors, which determine whether it is an intelligent wager or whether it is probably not best to enter into. 1.Size of the prize 2.Size of the risk 3.Chances or probability of actually winning Suppose we take a modern gambling situation – the lottery. Why some people spend their money on a lottery ticket? Size of the prize is very large, several million dollars. Size of the risk is a couple of dollars. It is a small risk. What is the chance of actually winning the lottery prize? It is very small. They are telling the chances of being struck by a lightning twice is more than winning the New York Lottery. What motivates them to buy lottery ticket is that the size of the prize is so large and the size of risk is very small. Suppose we talk about a fictitious game of flipping a coin. What is the chance that it will come up heads? We know it is 50%. Suppose the parameters of this wager are simply this. If you call it heads, and it is heads, then you win 10 million dollars. But if you lose, you have to spend the next 5 years of your life in prison. What is the size of the prize in this fictitious wager? It is large. What is size of the risk involved? It could be potentially very large indeed. But what makes the wager potentially attractive is the chance of actually winning the prize is 50%. Like this you can analyze any wager and determine whether it is worth spending your money and time on. Now we will look at a wager mentioned in the Bible. It is written in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but has everlasting life.” Let us for a moment enter into the mind of skeptic or to somebody who has not made up his mind to follow Jesus. Here Jesus makes this remarkable claim to Nicodemus. So what is the size of the prize? “everlasting life” What is the meaning of everlasting - Infinity or eternal. Now we place this gospel equation into wager. What is the size of the prize potentially we gain if we accept the wager? It is infinitely large. It is a true mathematical infinity. What are the chances of winning? “who so ever believes in him” That is one way of saying, everybody. So according to Jesus, actually how many could win the promised prize - everybody. So the chance of winning is a 100%. Now we will come to the second point, what is the size of the risk? We have to commit our whole life to the savior Jesus Christ, but without involvement of any financial commitment from our side like lottery and so completely free in one sense. In Mark 10th chapter, there is this story of the rich young ruler. When Jesus asked him to sell his wealth and follow him, he was extremely sorrowful, since he was immensely rich. Then Jesus said it is difficult for the rich to enter heaven. Then his disciples were amazed and asked, and then who can enter heaven. In this context, Peter makes a statement to Jesus “we have left all, and have followed you.” To this statement Jesus gives a remarkable answer “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, … for my sake, and the gospels, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren…with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” Jesus’ answer has two parts. That man will receive 100 fold in this world itself and in the age to come, eternal life. Jesus promised 100 fold more fulfilling and more satisfying life in this world. Notice the remarkable promise of Jesus. According to Jesus following him and being his disciple is not a pie in the sky, but it is a better, more fuller and exhilarating satisfactory life in this world itself. If Jesus’ claim is true, the size of the prize is infinitely large; the life of the Christian is 100 fold better here in now, so size of the risk is non-existent, while in fact a positive benefit is to be gained by entering into this wager. This is a testable hypothesis. Bible says “taste and see that the LORD is good” Become a follower of Jesus and you could evaluate 3 or 4 years later, and see candidly and empirically whether your life is better, fuller or more satisfying since you became a Christian. Now we can understand why Blaise Pascal told “only a fool could chose to live the Godless life”, because size of the prize is infinitely large, size of the risk is non-existent and there are only positive benefits attained by entering into the wager and the chance of winning is 100%. Here Jesus added one important phrase “with persecutions”. What did he mean by that? Chiefly this: when we surrender our whole heart, our whole life, everything to Jesus, there is somebody on the other side of this equation, who is not pleased with our decision. His name is Satan, meaning adversary or enemy. When you decide to follow Jesus, there will be troubles, will be difficulties. Jesus never promised smooth sailing, but did promise a safe landing. There may come persecutions, may come tribulations. But persecution with assurance of eternal life, tribulation with Jesus at your right hand is far better than life of pleasure, leisure, luxury and ease without the confidence of wellbeing in this world or life to come after. There are reasons, some of the super star elite, whether they be sports star, rock star, or music star, many of these people end up ending their lives. Having fame, fortune, that amenities of life cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the soul. Even persecution with Jesus Christ is far better than godless life without Jesus, in luxury and leisure without peace of mind or real happiness. Money, prestige, fame, wealth, academic excellences – all of these could not satisfy the deepest longings of your heart. 1 Tim 4:8 Paul says “godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” This is exactly like Jesus answered to Peter. For the Christian life is more satisfying, more fuller now in this world itself, and in addition he will win the greatest lottery of this universe - the eternal life, which is infinitely worth and that itself won with Just faith in Jesus, and costing nothing, absolutely as a free gift from God. To summarize for a human being entering into this gospel wager: 1.Size of the prize: infinitely large 2.Size of the risk: non-existent, in addition a positive benefit only to be gained by entering into this wager. 3.Chances of winning – 100% Suppose you have come to the end of your Christian life, you have been kind and gracious and lived by the great golden rules of God and you served the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, and in the highly unlikely, unusual, absurdly event that God is not real or God doesn’t exist, you have lost nothing. But in faith and experience we know that God is real, he is on the throne and if you chose to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul, then when you come to the end of that glorious life, you will be looking forward to that glorious celestial kingdom to live eternally. Friend don’t you want to be there. Is there anything better than this in this world, where you can hardly live for around 60 years maximum with health? Is the pleasure of this life worth, losing this wager offered by God, who with his infinite loves us to enter his kingdom as his children? Think of the question of ultimate reality at the moment of end of your life. When two of these people, one a non-believer and another a believer, are on the moment of their death. What will be the ultimate reality? Suppose the non-believer hold his belief, coming to end of his life, if he is right, he gain nothing and but if he is wrong, he lose everything. But unlike him the believer, when he comes to the end of his life, don’t lose anything, but he has only eternity to gain. So think of this lottery, my dear friend. Welcome to this page for more messages https://facebook/SomeTruthsThatYouShouldNotMiss
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 01:03:59 +0000
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