It's a $30 billion industry and growing by the day. It's convenient, available, seems like it's everywhere. So what's the problem with gambling? Find out, see what it says about your relationship with God, next on Grace To You. The Internet, with its seemingly unlimited access and convenience, has brought gambling out of the casinos, the horse tracks and the bingo halls, and right into your living room. These days you can bet on sports, play poker, even pull the virtual lever of an online slot machine from the comfort of your own couch. So what is the big deal? How should you, if you're a Christian, view gambling? And if you gamble, how might it affect your relationship with God? John MacArthur considers that today on Grace To You, continuing his study, So, What's Wrong With Gambling? Now, this study isn't just for those who gamble. As John will show you today, gambling is about more than just placing a bet. Here's John MacArthur with today's lesson. We closed our discussion last time by understanding that the success of gambling is based on certain sins. If those sins didn't exist, gambling wouldn't either. The sins that support gambling are materialism, greed, discontent, exploitation, laziness, distrust of God's provision, disdain for the virtues of labor, irresponsible stewardship, and indifference to those in need. Now those are not the only sins connected to gambling, those are just the sins that feed it. You will also find that where there is an escalating preoccupation with gambling, there is usually an escalating involvement with every other kind of sin. And as I noted last time, the church hasn't made a big issue out of it, but it ought to. The church has to be faithful to address this disturbing sin. The early church certainly did. I want to give you some excerpts from a sermon. This sermon was preached in Latin originally in North Africa, probably around Alexandria when Rome was the power in North Africa. It was preached in the second century. It has stayed in existence until now, been translated into English and gives us a great insight into how the second century church viewed gambling. The sermon begins like this. We don't know who the preacher was. Christians, great and abundant is the Lord's mercy. And he says this, Satan's temptations are numerous, but the principal ones among them are idolatry, fornication, theft, extortion, greed, fraud, drunkenness, impatience, adultery, murder, jealousy, false witness, lying, envy, wrath, slander, heresy and a thousand other crimes like them and of this number is gambling. Pretty contemporary list, wouldn't you say? The game of dice is an obvious snare of the devil, the preacher said. He presides over the game in person, bringing to it the deadly venom of the serpent and even inducing ruin, which when it is seen to be nothing, a great letdown is brought about in the players. I ask you, O Christians, why is the former the case? This hand has been purified from its sins which were committed prior to conversion. And the same hand has been admitted to the Lord's table, having received by God's mercy that which concerns the salvation of the soul. The same hand that rolls the dice is lifted up to the Lord in prayer. What shall we say when the very hand with which we consume the Lord's table is involved again in the devil's noose from which it formerly had been delivered? I speak of this hand which is always given over to gambling, causing its own ruin and damnation. This hand is accustomed to the unbridled passion of gambling because gambling is like the devil's hunting spear and those who play the dice are wounded with an irresistible allurement. It is at the gambling table, the preacher said, I tell you, it is at the gambling table where the devil slyly watches for the moment when he shall surprise the players and immediately rejoice in his triumph over his victim. I tell you, it is at the gambling table where one loses his possessions and enormous sums of money. The loss leads him into court battles and insane passions of theft. O noxious gamblers, you are pernicious and filled with indolent iniquity. O cruel hands which turn their own arms against themselves, ruining with disgraceful zeal the estate which their ancestors have amassed by the sweat of their brow. Those savage hands that run to the dice, guilty and indefatigable, applying themselves day and night without leave. You damn yourselves by your sin, yet after you have committed it, you do not stop." The preacher says, the gambling board is the devil's snare and the enemy's trap which indices greed but in actuality brings utter ruin. By gambling, men become poor, squandering their own riches. Stop being a dice player and start being a Christian before Christ beneath the gaze of the angels and in the presence of the martyrs. Cast your money upon the altar of the Lord. Distribute your money to the poor before you allow it to be squandered by your unruly passions. Entrust your stakes to Christ who is always victorious. Divert all your fortune and surplus for the necessities of the church. Deposit your gold and silver and all your riches in heavenly treasure. Snatch your hands back from the game and turn your heart away from its allurement. Keep the darkness of the enemy out of sight and keep your hands pure from the sacrifices of the devil. Break away from these unruly customs and pursue being a self-controlled Christian. Apply yourself to wisdom and teach yourself in the counsels of the gospel. Lift pure hands to Christ. No longer look upon the dice. Amen. Pretty strong sermon, huh? St. Augustine said the devil invented gambling. John Calvin outlawed gambling in the entire city of Geneva. Martin Luther said money won by gambling is not won without self-seeking and sin. Now we talked last time something about the issue of gambling, but I want to speak today with regard to the biblical principles that we must bring to bear upon it. To understand the immorality and sinfulness of gambling completely, we need to grasp some biblical principles. Principles why gambling is wrong. One, it denies the reality of God as sovereign by affirming the existence of luck or chance. It denies the reality of God as sovereign by affirming the existence of luck or chance. Luck is an anti-God idea. By the way, there's no such thing as luck. Luck is nonexistent. Luck is an anti-God idea. Scripture clearly and repeatedly teaches that God is the sovereign of the universe and that as the sovereign of the universe, He both miraculously, that's by suspending natural law, and providentially, that's by operating through natural law, controls every detail of the outworking of the events in this universe to achieve His own purpose. He is sovereign. He is in control of everything. Nothing happens by chance. There is no such thing as chance. There is no such thing as luck. They are nonexistent. They are the fabric of human imagination that wants to deny there is a God who is sovereign. In Psalm 103, 19, it says, the Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. And you can see that in Psalm 47 verse 4, it is even God who determines how much of an inheritance every person gets. In Deuteronomy, it is God who gives you the power to get wealth. In Daniel chapter 4 verses 17 and 25, it is God who lifts up rulers and puts them down. It is God who is the sovereign of the universe. But most notably, I would draw your attention to Isaiah chapter 65 verses 11 and 12. These are worth writing down. Isaiah chapter 65 verses 11 and 12 help us to understand how God views this matter of gambling. It says in verses 11 and 12, but as for you who forsake the Lord, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for fortune and who fill cups with mixed wine for destiny, I will destine you for the sword and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter." We'll stop at that point. This is the most interesting portion of Scripture. And God says, for you who spread a table for fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for destiny, I will destine you for the sword and you will all bend down or bow down for the slaughter. You'll bend over to be decapitated by Me. Why? Because you spread a table for fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for destiny. Spreading a table means bringing food to an idol. Filling bowls of mixed wine means bringing wine to an idol. And the two gods that the people of Israel were worshiping, one was the god fortune and the other was the god destiny. If you want another name for destiny, it's luck or chance. God says, because you are bowing to luck and chance, I'll decapitate you. Our God is a sovereign God and He reigns in heaven above and on earth below. And a worship of idols is detestable to Him. and believing in luck and chance is idolatry. Whatever you have is not by chance. Whatever you have is from God. Whatever you don't have, God didn't give you. Whatever you do have, He gave you. If He's withheld from you, it's according to His purpose. If He's given to you, that's according to His purpose also. And in the end, it works into His plan. Gambling is not good stewardship of what God has given us. In fact, it's not stewardship at all. Gambling is not good stewardship of what God has given us. In fact, it's not even stewardship at all. The Bible teaches us, and here's the bottom line on this point, the earth is the Lord's and all that contains the world and those who dwell in it, Psalm 24, 1. Everything is God's. Everything is God's. Everything in the whole universe belongs to Him. It doesn't belong to us, it belongs to Him. And it all is to be used for His glory, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all of the glory of God. Everything is to be for His glory. Psalm 50, listen to verses 10 to 12. Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains and everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you, for the world is mine and all it contains. Everything is His. He owns it all. It's all His. And we have it put into our trust to be used to bring Him honor. The illustration of this that is most notable is found in Matthew chapter 25, and I want to have you turn to it for a moment, Matthew 25. Jesus in verse 14 gives a parable of some stewards who were given some property to manage by the estate owner, the homeowner, landowner, and he was going away and he wanted to see how they would manage what they were given. When he came back, you remember the story, he gave to the first one five talents. Now those would be a measurement. A talent was a measurement of silver, usually. So he gave him five talents. He gave another one two, verse 15, and another one one. And he went away. See what these guys did with the stewardship. And immediately, verse 16 says, the one who received the five talents went out and traded. He went out and went to work. He went out and did some business, buying and selling and whatever, investing, whatever he did, and he doubled his money. And the next guy who took the two did the same thing. The one who received the one talent went away and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. He didn't do anything. He just buried it in a hole and just kind of hung around. Well, the man came back and, of course, he rewarded the ones who had demonstrated such good stewardship. In verse 24, the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I think he exaggerates the case here, how tough this guy is, expecting something out of nothing. And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. I didn't lose it. I didn't lose it. It's here. I buried it real deep in a secret place so nobody could get it. You say, well, you know, it's hey, I mean, he could have lost it. Maybe this is okay. Maybe this is passable. Well, verse 26, his master answered and said to him, you wicked, lazy slave. And there's the point. Why didn't he multiply the amount? Because of what? Laziness. Every opportunity was provided for him with a little bit of effort to multiply that. And it was not enough for the master that he hadn't lost it. That didn't gain him any ground at all. He said, the least you could have done was taken a walk to the bank and put it in there and I would have had some interest. So verse 28, take away the talent from him, give it to the one who has ten talents. And then verse 30, cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness in that place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Send him to hell. You say, well, boy, I mean, he didn't lose what he had, no, but the point was he should have made something of it. God is not content that we just keep what we have. He wants us to use it for His honor and His glory. I'll tell you something. If that servant was sent to hell just for keeping what he had and not multiplying it, what's going to happen to the person who wasted what he had? When God gives you a stewardship of resources in life, He expects you to use them for His glory. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all of the glory of God. Moreover, 1 Corinthians 4 to it is required in stewards that a man be found...what?...faithful. You certainly can't gamble. You can't bring your offering and bow before the God of destiny, or the God of fortune, or the gods of luck and expect that to be a stewardship to God's glory. Everybody who gambles loses their money. The few who win a little usually lose that later on. The worst stewardship of God's gift possible is to throw it away at some god called luck. That's idolatry and bad stewardship, third principle. Gambling displaces and demeans the God-given place of work. Gambling displaces and demeans the God-given place of work. God has designed work as a blessing. You understand that? The old saying, idle hands are the devil's plaything is true. God didn't just give us work because it was good for Him. He gave us work because it was good for us because fallen people need to be preoccupied with something other than temptation. Genesis 3.19, God laid it out, by the sweat of your brow you'll eat your food. You're going to have to go to work. It's for your benefit, the battle for bread. Proverbs 12.11 says, he who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment. Now there's not a better example of chasing fantasies than gambling, which causes people to disdain work and throw away their money like fools. Now you can even do it by phone on the internet and throw away money you don't have and get so badly in debt that you may never be able to extract yourself. Proverbs 13.22 says, a good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren. Instead of wasting your money, chasing the God of chance, you ought to be setting it aside so that as a good man you have something to leave to your children and your grandchildren. Work is a command from God. It's a gift from God. It's a good gift. Ephesians 4.28 says, let the one who stole steal no more, but let him work with his hands, providing for himself and those around him. Colossians 3 talks about how we're to work as if we were working for the Lord Himself. 2 Thessalonians says, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. 1 Timothy 5.8 says, if a man doesn't work and provide for his household, he's worse than an infidel. an unbeliever. Irresponsibility in the realm of work is an abdication of what it is to be human, to say nothing of abdicating and disobeying the duty that God has given to us. God's world is a place of order and purpose. It's not a place of undefined chaos being run by the gods of luck. And God has designed for us to work and that we should be blessed by that work. He's designed for us to use our reasoning capability and be blessed through the application of that reasoning ability. And by those means, He would meet our needs and we would enjoy the goodness of life. Fourthly, gambling is driven by the sin of covetousness. Gambling is driven by the sin of covetousness. Gambling violates directly the tenth command, which is not to covet, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy Gambling exists because the sin of greed feeds covetousness. It betrays discontent with God's provision. Luke 12, 15, Jesus said, beware and be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. I mean, we're warned about that repeatedly over and over and over again. Whatever you have is what God has provided for you. And whatever you don't have is what He hasn't provided for you. But gambling makes a persistent appeal to covetousness and that is fundamentally opposed to the unselfishness which was taught by Jesus Christ and by the New Testament. The attempt, inseparable from gambling, to make a profit out of the inevitable loss and suffering of others is certainly the antithesis of loving your neighbor as yourself. If we're ever going to curb gambling, we're going to have to curb covetousness, a pretty formidable task. Greed, materialism, love of money, they flourish in a gambling environment. Gambling built on covetousness is an act of unfaithfulness to God because it assumes that God has not given us what we ought to have. He hasn't given us enough and it assumes that more is a good thing. Is it? Listen to Proverbs 30 verse 7, two things I asked of thee, do not refuse me before I die. I only want two things in life, he says. One, keep deception and lies far from me. Keep deception and lies far from me. I want the truth. I want truth. That's a noble request, much like Solomon seeking wisdom. Here's the second one. Give me neither poverty nor...what?...riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion. You know what I can handle. You know what you want me to have. Give me that. If you give me too much, I'll be full and deny you and say, Who is the Lord? I don't need Him. Or if I have too little, I'll steal and profane the name of my God." I know myself and if I have too much, I'll be proud and boastful and I don't need God. And if I have too little, I'll be tempted to steal and I'll become a thief." God knows you and He knows me and He knows what we need and He knows what we can handle and He knows what tests He wants to bring into our life and He's defined the stewardship and the character of that stewardship for each of us. I don't want yours and I hope you don't want mine. Gambling seeks gain from the loss of others. Gambling is a violation of the eighth commandment because gambling in the end steals. You might as well break into the house and take what they have. It steals from the losers. It is fundamentally a violation of the command to love your neighbor. It takes money from others. It strips families of resources. It increases debt. It leads to poverty. It leads to suicide. Twenty percent of addictive gamblers have attempted suicide, and the suicide rate of the spouses of compulsive gamblers is 150 times the national average. Gambling is pursuing prosperity at another's expense, exploiting the poor and the undisciplined, teaches greed, covetousness, and attacks the ethics of hard work, saving, self-denial, capital accumulation, exalts hedonism, and on-demand gratification. And so gambling is seductive. It lures people in. And Paul says, some things are permissible but not beneficial. Some things are permissible but I won't be brought under the power of any. Gambling is a choice. It's a bad one. It's a bad one. It destroys individuals. It destroys marriages. It destroys families. It destroys society. For anyone to support it, including the United States government, is a travesty on moral and social responsibility. The government might as well sell drugs. Gambling is the result of post-modern pessimism, the hopelessness of practical atheism that says there's no God, no hope, no future, no reason, no rationality, just luck. That's something we can thank evolution for. There's no God. It's all just luck. And so the senselessness of gambling makes sense. It succeeds in a mood of despair and hopelessness, a mood of moral relativism and atheism. But it doesn't belong with biblical Christianity. It is a sin to be avoided, and bless God, a sin to be forgiven. You've been listening to John MacArthur, looking at the subtle dangers of gambling. Along with being the featured Bible teacher here on Grace To You, John also serves as president of the Masters College and Seminary, both in Southern California. Today's lesson is a part of his thought-provoking study, So What's Wrong With Gambling? John, if I could, one last question. What triggers your decision to take on a subject like gambling? How do you know when it's the right time to address this kind of issue from the pulpit? Well, I don't know that there's a specific answer to that question, Carl. I don't know that there's any sort of epiphany or any word from the Lord that tells me when. I guess it's just kind of watching the times that I'm living in, watching the things that are going on in my culture and my society that prompts me. Usually it comes out of not only that, but having studied the Word of God on a certain subject and the issue is raised in the Scripture. And because it's raised in the Scripture, I think, wow, I haven't addressed that issue, maybe I need to do that. Sometimes it'll even come out of a counseling situation where somebody talks to me and says, I have a serious problem, and in this case, a gambling problem, and I need to know what the Bible says. And so, you know, then I'm stimulated to go back to the Word of God, and once I've taken a look at it again, I think it's something that maybe more people could benefit from, and it sort of launches into a study. So it can be any and all in that kind of a mix of things. This is a very important issue. We're literally being stimulated to gamble. We're being motivated to gamble by the tremendous onslaught of the lottery and of all the little scratch cards and all those kinds of things that are all over everywhere, the constant promotion of Las Vegas and the growth of the casino industry and all this. And people are being sucked into the vortex of this very destructive behavior that makes the poor people even poorer and promises false hopes. It is a disaster every way you cut it. And that's why we're doing a series, so what's wrong with gambling? And subtitling, Luck Gaming and the Christian. You don't even need to be a compulsive gambler to benefit from the study. If you'd like to get a copy, let us know. Whether you've personally experienced the dangers of gambling, or you think it's prudish or legalistic to oppose it, John's study, So What's Wrong With Gambling?, will give you a biblical perspective on the issue. Get a copy as you contact us today. Order when you call toll-free 1-800-55-GRACE or go online to gty.org. The two-CD album is available for $12 and shipping is free. You can download the messages, So What's Wrong With Gambling?, as two MP3 files available free of charge online at gty.org. While you're online, be sure to take advantage of the numerous free resources available there. You'll find daily devotionals, the Grace to You blog, all of John's sermons, that's more than 3,400 sermons, free of charge in the MP3 or transcript format. That's at the website, gty.org. Now, if you're being encouraged and growing spiritually from John's teaching, let me remind you, this broadcast is available in your area because of faithful support from listeners like you. To partner with this ministry and help spread the gospel around the globe, send a tax-deductible donation to Grace to You, Post Office Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Or you can give online at gty.org, or when you call 1-800-55-GRACE. For John McArthur and the staff, thanks for tuning in today. Join us again at this same time tomorrow, as John continues unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You. The economy still has its struggles, so how can you honor God with your finances in these difficult times? John MacArthur answers that important question on tomorrow's Grace To You.