What should a Christian think of the national lottery? If we were to give an alternative title, as used to be the practice in former times, there would be a title and then there would be an alternative title. Our alternative title would be Christ's kingship over our possessions. Christ's kingship over our possessions. be quite clear, first of all, that the national lottery is a big affair. In Northern Ireland, apparently, some 350,000 people participate in the lottery or the instance. And that's 350,000 out of a population of one and a half million. And that one and a half million includes all the children as well. So we begin to understand something of the proportion of people, even in Northern Ireland, who participate in the lottery. And we can also add that some 18 million pounds a year from Northern Ireland goes to the Irish Republic's lotto as well. So we're talking about something that is large-scale. Northern Ireland, thankfully, lags a little bit behind the UK as a whole, but not by all that much. There isn't that much difference between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. And in the United Kingdom as a whole, the national lottery draw is the third most popular children's program. The third most popular children's program is the national lottery draw. So a generation are growing up with a lottery mentality. Now either this represents a big amount of harmless fun or it represents a big amount of sin. It's certainly one or the other. It's either a huge, harmless bit of fun, or else it is sin amounting to virtual national disaster. Well, what should a Christian think about it? The first thing I want to say is this. Christ the King has spoken in His Word. Christ the King has spoken in His Word. A Christian is someone who has been born of the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit has changed their hearts, and they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from their sins. They trust in Christ as the one who, as a substitute of sinners, bore the punishment of sin on the cross of Calvary in the place of all who put their trust in Him. that when a sinner trusts Christ as his Saviour, he invariably and without exception bows the knee to Christ as his Lord. There is no such thing as someone who is saved from their sins and who does not acknowledge imperfectly, yes, in this world, but who does not acknowledge Christ's Lordship over him. And every Christian then acknowledges that Christ has the right to tell him what to do. And if you meet someone who says, I'm a Christian, I'm saved, but they don't accept that Christ is the one who has every right to tell them how to live, then you've met someone who thinks they're a Christian when they're not. Now, if the Christian is someone who is marked by this submission to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in his personal life, in his family life, his church life, even his political life, this must include what we do with our money. If Christ isn't Lord over our money, he isn't our Lord at all, and if he isn't our Lord, he isn't our Saviour. So a Christian, when he asks the question, what are we to make of this national lottery? He will inevitably ask, what does the Bible teach? A Christian should think what the Bible teaches about the national lottery. we read in Philippians 2 that Jesus Christ is Lord and the Christian is someone who according to Colossians 2.6 has received Christ Jesus the Lord and who therefore walks in him and so for the Christian whatever other people may take as their guard stick for the Christian what the Bible says is final What the Bible says is the last word. And this needs to be stressed because we are living at a time when the propaganda is strong with respect to gambling in general and the national lottery in particular. We feel everyone is doing it. And why spoil what is, after all, just a bit of harmless That is the atmosphere in which we live day by day. And it can affect the child of God. Christians are affected by the world around them. That's why the Apostle Paul had to warn the Roman Church, he says, in the book of Romans, chapter 12, he says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. So our interest then this evening is solely to discover what the Bible teaches. That brings us secondly to the truth that Christ the King approves of personal ownership. Christ the King, or King over all, approves of personal ownership. Our opposition to the national lottery is not because the Bible condemns individuals having possessions. It doesn't. Individual ownership is legitimate. The Bible does not condemn individual ownership, and it does not support communism. In the Old Testament, Abraham had great possessions, but he was the friend of God. is Job was a wealthy man, a very wealthy man, when the Lord himself testified of him. Job 1 verse 8, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and is sheweth evil. In the book of Acts chapter 4 and verse 42, we do indeed read there in Acts 4 and verse 32, sorry, verse 32, we read, And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. Now what this means is simply that such was their willingness to give when, as need required, that they were willing to sell things and to give the money to help those who were in need. So you see, in verse 34, neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold. But this was a purely voluntary giving. So in the next chapter, when we read of Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted to pretend that they'd given more than they had, the apostle Peter says to Ananias, verse 4 of chapter 5, whilst it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." Ananias' sin was not that he'd only given part of the price of the land that he'd sold into the fund to distribute to the needs of the poorer Christians. It was the fact that he pretended that he'd given all. So it was a purely voluntary giving. The Scriptures warn constantly of the danger of riches but they presuppose that in the church there will be those who are relatively wealthy and those who are relatively not wealthy. So in the book of James and chapter 2 and the first three verses there are warnings against not showing favouritism to the wealthy. Verse 2 of James 2, For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in virement, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? So it warns against making a fuss of the wealthy man and the poor man. Well, he said anyway, it doesn't really matter. But it presupposes that there will be variation in wealth. And in 1 Timothy 6, 17, which we read earlier on, the apostle says to Timothy, charge them that be rich, that they be not high minded. that they be ready to distribute, ready to give, but he does not deny that there will be variation amongst the members of the Church. So Christ the King approves of personal ownership. But then thirdly, Christ the King tells us the only ways that we may increase possessions. Christ the King tells us the only ways that we may increase possessions. The Bible tells us the legitimate ways of obtaining material possessions. The Bible tells us those ways which are acceptable to God, whereby we may get those things, those possessions, that income that we have need of to live in this world. Now this is important because we are to be willing to do with our material things whatever the Lord requires of us. In Mark 10, 17 to 22, we have the rich young ruler who came to the Lord Jesus, and he said to the Lord Jesus, good master, what good thing, what thing must I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord Jesus tells him, well, you know, the commandments and so on, and he says, oh, I've kept them all, I've kept them. Now he hadn't, but he thought he had, because he didn't understand that the commandments have to do with our thoughts as well as our outward actions. And so he said, I've kept them all from my youth up. And the Lord Jesus told him what to do. He said, go and sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor and come and follow me. And we read, he went away sorrowful for he had many possessions. He went away knowing that he was a covetous man, that he loved his money, and that he wasn't willing to give up his covetousness. He wouldn't repent of the sin of his attachment to his material things. So he went away not a Christian, knowing that he wasn't saved, sorrowful, and yet unrepentant. Now, the Lord doesn't tell every one of his people to sell all that they have immediately. But Christ was asserting his right to tell anyone what to do with their possessions. He has that right. He has every right to tell anyone what they should do with their possessions. And real Christians acknowledge that. And so we must accept his authority over not only what we do with the possessions we have, but also what means we may employ to maintain and increase those possessions. Well, what are the methods that the Word of God approves of? The Word of God approves of labour and trade. The Scriptures condemn unjust dealing, dishonesty in trading, but trading as such is a food. So in the book of James, again, chapter 4, verse 13 to 15, where as you say, tomorrow, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and buy and sell and get gain, whereas you know not what a day will bring forth, you ought to say, if the Lord will, we will do this or that. Now in that passage the apostle James is condemning the assumption that we know what the future holds, but he isn't condemning the idea of buying and selling and getting gain, making a profit out of trade. In Proverbs 11 verse 1 we read, A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. So God God detests dishonest dealing, but he approves honest trading. And of course, labour is part of trade. A man deals by selling his labour to another. If a man is an employee, he is selling his labour to the employer for a certain amount, an agreed amount of money. He trades his labour for a wage. So in Colossians 4 verse 1, masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal. And the scripture says the labourer is worthy of his hire. So it is right and proper for Christians to trade their labour, to sell their labour for reward. The man who works for himself, he labours to produce what he can use himself, or he labours to produce goods that others will buy, or he offers his services in some particular field at a price to other people. So it is right to trade in goods and in labour. These things are legitimate according to the Word of God. So that's one way of obtaining material possessions and money. Another way is gift. Giving to others is biblical. The Lord Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And again the scripture says, freely have ye received, freely give. If giving is legitimate, then receiving must be legitimate also. So as well as trade and labor, gifts, a gift, it is legitimate to receive a gift. Inheritance is another legitimate means of obtaining goods or possessions. Abraham left his goods to his family, especially to Isaac. We're told that Job gave his daughters an inheritance along with his sons. So this is a legitimate means of increasing material possession. So then, possessions either have to be earned by labour and trade, or received by gift or inheritance for them to be legitimately obtained possessions. You'll notice that in the case of gift and inheritance, that the initiative lies not with the one who receives, but with the one who gives or bequeaths. That's important because that's not the case in gambling. So what is gambling? What is gambling? You think, well, we've spent a lot of time and we haven't got to the national lottery yet. But it's important because many Christians are vague about what gambling really is. Not all financial risk is gambling. Sometimes we use the term gambling very loosely, so that any financial risk, we say, well, it's a bit of a gamble, and we use the term rather loosely. But in the bad sense of the term, not all financial risk is gambling. There could be no trade at all if that were so. Every time you buy something, there's an element of risk. you may find that what you buy is not what you thought it was. If you go to buy a car, if you know something about cars, well, you take a good look over it. If you don't, you perhaps chase someone along who does, and they look over it for you, to reduce the risk. But having done all of that, there are no infallible guarantees. It may turn out that there was some hidden defect that you couldn't see, Or if you buy a house, the house market could slump and your house be worth much less than what you paid for. And so every purchase, every act of trade involves risk. There is no infallible guarantee. Riches are always uncertain riches. So not all risk is gambling, not all risk. Risks within biblical activities are not gambling. But gambling entails agreed risk of loss to or gain from another party on the basis of the outcome of a disconnected event. Now that's a long mouthful, but I'll say it again. Gambling entails agreed risk of loss to or gain from another party on the basis of the outcome of a disconnected event. We'll understand it better if we break it down to examples. Gambling is when the basis on which money changes hands is not in exchange for labour or goods, nor is it a gift. but it is based on the outcome of an unrelated event. Which horse wins the race? Which football teams score draws? Which particular number and colour the roulette ball lands on? So it's not trade, it's not gift, it's not inheritance, it's risk of losing something and the hope of gaining something for nothing. Fourthly, Christ the King condemns gambling. Gambling is sinful before God for the following reasons. First of all, it is contrary to the fact that we are stewards of what we have. Here we're thinking of the state money on the bet, or the wager, or whatever. The state money. That stake money, we're risking losing it, and that stake money we have at the hand of God. God is the one who has given us all that we have, even if we've worked for it. It's still God's. Our work wouldn't produce anything without the blessing of God, the providence of God. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain, but build it. Our work is only effective in producing income at the hand of God. So that even money that you've worked for and you're inclined to say it's mine, I've worked for it, I'm a self-made man and so on, it's still God's. And you are only a custodian, a steward of that which you have. and it is required of a steward that he be found faithful. And only the Lord, who gives us all that we have, has the right to indicate what use or uses we may make of that which he puts into our hands. What hast thou? But thou hast not received the scripture, saith. So if we've received it, then we are accountable to God for what we do with it. To use what the Lord puts in our hand to try to get what He has not given us and risk the loss of what He has given us is discontentment and abuse of His provision. To use what He has given us as a means of indicating our discontent with what He has not given us is rebellion against the Lord. It is a rejection of His authority. It's doing our own thing with His gifts bestowed upon us. So if in His providence He has put money into our hands, for us to take that to the bedding shop and to risk the loss of it, is to treat it as if we have absolute rights over it, which we do not. It's a breach of the first commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Everything we have belongs to God and should be used for God. It's also a breach of the eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal. If you win, you become a thief. The lottery winner is a thief. You take money for nothing. You see, whenever there are winners, there are also losers. By the very nature of the case, even on the vast scale of the national lottery, the person who wins the millions has taken a pound or two or three or four from a vast number of people. However you say, it's with their consent. They gave the state money for their lottery tickets on the understanding and in the full knowledge that if it wasn't their number that came up, they would lose it. So how could it be stealing? They're not complaining. The losers are not complaining. They wish they'd won, but they're not complaining. If two people agree to fight a duel, and one kills the other, he's still a murderer. You see, the fact that the man who's got killed agreed to the duel does not alter the fact that one man has killed another without divine authority. And the fact that the other man knew that he might get killed and agreed that they would fight a duel and that one or the other could be killed in doing it does not alter the fact in the slightest that the man is a murderer. And if he doesn't kill him, if he wounds him, and the man who's wounded at the end of the duel says, well, that's all right, I accept it, it's part of the risk involved in dueling, it doesn't alter the fact that the other man has wounded him, that he is guilty of attempted murder. In fact, both of them have tried to kill each other. And so in terms of the Sixth Commandment, which extends beyond the actual act of murder to the thought and the intention of the heart, both men are murderers. So it is here, all the participants in the lottery have tried to steal from each other with common consent. They all hoped that they would be able to collect all the money from the others. So whether it's a wager between two people or the vast thing of the lottery, it is stealing. The fact of prior joint agreement to the terms of what takes place is irrelevant because sin is not defined by human agreement. but by divine pronouncement. And so it doesn't matter how many people say that something is not sinful, and they're quite happy to be the victims of it. It's still sin, because God says it's sin. So that if we all agree to be robbed, it doesn't make any difference. The man who does it is still a robber. Because God says so, and no amount of human consensus can ever overturn the authority of the command of God. It's also a breach of the tenth commandment, thou shalt not covet. Paul warns against covetousness, which is idolatry. The man who lives for money is an idolater. Because what we live for is our God, and if it's not the living and true God, then we're idolaters. And the man who gambles is saying, I want more. The legitimate means of labor and trade are not sufficiently effective to get me all that I must have. Therefore, I will engage in gambling. so as to get, or hope to get, what I really want. It's a symptom of ungodly discontent. In 2 Timothy 6 verse 6, which we read, we read, Godliness with contentment is great gain. A gambler is not content, and he's not content because he's not godly. But then we may also say that it is an insult to God and his providence. Much of the propaganda and the thought behind the lottery is bound up with the anti-Christian notion of luck and chance. Let me say freely, There is no such thing as chance or luck. These are words used by people to explain the ultimate cause of things without acknowledging the ultimate cause of things, which is God. They are terms that atheists use, whether atheists in explicit profession or atheists, just as it were, in their way of thinking. There is no such thing as love. What does love mean? It means nothing. It's an excuse. It's a term used by people who don't want to acknowledge God. And so they invent these terms, or rather they use terms that once had a different meaning. and they apply them meaninglessly as if things just happen. But things do not just happen. There is nothing, nothing ever happens because it just happened. A sparrow doesn't fall without the will of the Father. God is in control of everything. He preserves and governs all His creatures and all their actions. All the vast complexity of history in all its infinitive detail and all the connectedness of all the events that take place and make up history and affect one another, all is planned and brought to pass by the power and in the providence of God. Nothing just happens. Nothing. The Scriptures teach that God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1 verse 11. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to see that when he said that the most high rules among the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? Daniel 4, 35. In Psalm 135, and verse 6, we sang earlier on, What things to ever please the Lord, that in the heavens did he, and in the earth, the seas, and all the places deep would be. Proverbs 16 verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the law. So the lottery gambler is denying the God of the Bible or else, and this is the only other alternative, he's either saying God isn't in control and blaspheming God or else He says, God is in control and I'm going to try and force his hand to give me through illegitimate means those things which he has not given me through legitimate means. Either way, it's an abomination to God. And this, if you're a Christian, this above all else is what we need to bring to the ears of men a biblical view of God. Many people still acknowledge there's a God, but their idea of that God is pitiful. They believe in a helpless God. They believe in a God who maybe interferes occasionally in the affairs of men. But they don't believe in a sovereign God who's in control of everything. And the people of God need to make known the truth that the real God, the living God, is not this pitiful, pathetic being, this convenience God that people like to imagine. He is the Lord God Omnipotent, the Greatness. And that brings me fifthly, Christ the King must be honoured by his own. Christ the King must be honoured by his own. There has of course been gambling in this country for many, many years. But the lottery represents something of a change, although it's not the first time in history that it's happened. The lottery represents something of a development downwards. For a long time, the government has regulated gambling instead of outlawing it, as it should according to God's will. It has simply regulated it, contained it, or tried to. and in so doing they've also used it to raise tax, the betting tax. But now things have gone a little further. The government has actually engaged in organising gambling for the purpose of raising revenue so that instead of paying for various things out of the taxes, they can keep the taxes that little bit lower and gather in the money by way of the national lottery. And they tell us it's in a good cause. Gambling is often justified by this slogan, it's in a good cause. Good causes are never ultimately benefited by sinful policies. Sin never does good. Never. And so, we've reached something of a new development. State-organized gambling. So that that which the state ought to outlaw, it is now organizing. The scriptures call this framing mischief by a law. Psalm 94 verse 20. Moreover, we have the unseemly spectacle of professedly Christian churches, first of all condemning the lottery purely on the basis of the effect it has on the poor and the side of the pride money. These are legitimate considerations, of course, but they're not the fundamental reason for condemning the lottery. If the prize money was reduced a hundredfold or a thousandfold to borrow, it wouldn't alter the fact that the lottery is sinful because gambling is sinful. So we end up with professionally Christian churches condemning it on the wrong footing or at least missing out the most fundamental reason for condemning it and then receiving money from the lottery funds at the same time. And they wonder why the nation takes no notice of the church when such blatant hypocrisy is engaged in. And it's left to the Muslims to show some kind of consistency by refusing to have lottery money. What must we do? Well, we must do at least four things. First of all, we must take no part whatsoever in the lottery. We must not participate in it, we must not buy lottery tickets, we must have absolutely nothing to do with it. And at the same time we can bear testimony against it, both to individuals and to those stores and so on which sell the lottery tickets. Christian churches and Christian organizations should accept no money whatsoever from lottery funds. Then we must secondly bear testimony to the true God of Scripture. Only the biblical view of God as Almighty and Sovereign is adequate to confront this degenerate world and generation in which we live. There is a desperate need for people to be confronted with the real character and nature of God. They need to know what God is really like. People are being softened up for superstition by the lottery. They're being softened up for superstitious religion by the lottery. By the whole luck, chance, nonsense. To believe in any old rubbish and religious nonsense that they'll be taught. We must bear testimony to the truth of what God is like. We must pray for our nation that has sunk into such squalid wickedness. That's the third thing we must do. And fourthly, we must hold forth the word of life, the gospel of salvation. Why do people do the lottery? Why do they do it? Because they're bored, they're dissatisfied, they're depressed, and they're despairing. And why is this so? Why is it that if they're in such a depressed condition that they want to have the excitement, the fleeting excitement of the lottery and the prospect, however ridiculously long the odds of it were, of something better, of vast amounts of money. Why are they so miserable that they need this fantasy? Because of sin. That's why, because of sin. And who is it who can save sinners but the Lord Jesus Christ? His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's the message that these poor, wretched, unbelieving, despairing, lottery players need to hear. that there is a Saviour from sin and a sovereign God in heaven, that their lives are so meaningless because they are without hope and without God in the world, and that they must seek, seek the Lord, seek salvation. Forget about the fountain, the broken system that can hold no waters, and seek the Lord Jesus Christ. the one who can give the waters of everlasting life to poor, helpless, despairing sinners. That's what men and women, that's what sinners, that's what lottery ticket buyers and all other sinners need to hear. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Amen.