All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to the book of Genesis chapter 19. Genesis 19. I'd like to look at one verse
of scripture, verse 26. Genesis 19, verse 26. This is
what it says. But his wife, looked back from
behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. I've entitled this message, Remember
Lot's Wife. And those words, Remember Lot's
Wife, are not fine. Turn over to Luke 17 while I'm
saying this. I'm taking this out of this passage
of scripture, Luke 17, and it's not actually found, those words
are not actually found in Genesis 19 where I just read, but I'm
taking this title from the words of the Lord Jesus when he referred
to this event. And that record of His words
is found in Luke 17. I'd like to just read verses
26 to 31. Luke 17, verse 26 to 31. Now, the Lord said, as it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son
of Man. They did eat, they drank, they
married wives, They were given in marriage till the day that
Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed
them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot. They
did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they
built. The same day that Lot went out
of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed
them all. Even thus shall it be in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he shall be upon
the housetop and his stuff in the house. Let him not come down
to take it away. And he that is in the field,
let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever
shall seek to save his life shall lose it. And whosoever shall
lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you in that night
there should be two men in one bed. The one should be taken,
the other should be left. Two women shall be grinding together.
The one should be taken, the other left. Two men shall be
in the field. One should be taken, the other
left. And they answered and said unto him, where, Lord? And he
said unto them, wherefore, no, no, wheresoever the body is,
thither will the eagles be gathered together. Now, the lesson taught by the Lord
unto his disciples was this. May we all be found holding loosely. to the things of this world that
are perishing. Remember Lot's wife. Now, back in Genesis 19, as we
remember Lot's wife, let me give you just a little snippet of
history about Lot's wife. Everything we know about Lot's
wife is right here in this chapter. It's everything we know about
her. Some say, I don't know, some
say that she was from Sodom. That may be, may be. But I can tell you this, knowing
the little bit that I know about Lot's wife, she was a woman that
had the great privilege of being married to Lot. Lot was a believer. Lot was referred to by the Lord,
by the Spirit of God, as being a just man, justified. Justified, known that he was
justified by God, by the grace of God, because he believed God. Justified by faith. I've said
before, faith does not justify anybody. God justifies, but we
know it by faith. That's how we know it. We believe
God. This woman had a believing husband. And she wasn't just
found to be in a house where they went to church. A lot of
people go to church. Everybody goes to church, or
has gone to church, or say they need to start going to church.
But this woman was in a home where the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace was taught and believed by her husband,
for sure. Lot believed God. But not only
was she found to be married, she had the privilege of actually
entertaining angels from heaven who came into Solomon, son of
God, stayed in her house. The night before, God destroyed
the city. We talk about a privilege of
having these angels. How was that so? What was the
privilege? Well, she was there when the filthy language of the
men of Sodom that night before was hollering, send out those
guys that we may know them. She heard that. And she witnessed
those two angels rescue her husband from bodily harm. He was out
there trying to reason with them. She knew what was going on. He's
out there, and they're here, they're coming in, and these
angels pull, lock him, shut the door, and then struck those men
out there with blindness. And they continued to weary themselves
to find the door. And then this woman heard these
angels exhort Lot, you go if you've got anybody else in your
family, got sons-in-laws or daughters, anybody that's of you, that's
found in this city, you go tell them. leave this wicked place
now because this place is gonna be destroyed by the Lord because
the wickedness of this city is waxing gray before the face of
the Lord. She heard that. And then she
heard the angels. The next morning, sun's just
breaking, you know, I talked to you about that. And they hastened
light, told him, they said, listen, You and your wife and your daughters
that's here with you arise, lest you all be consumed. Get out
of this place. Get out of this place because
the iniquity of this city is going to be judged of God. And
then she saw her husband lingering. you know, procrastinating and
she felt the hand of those angels that grabbed her husband's hand
grabbed her hand and the hands of her daughters. And they took
hold of them and they took them out of the house. They found
them to be out of the house. And so she witnessed the mercy
of God to take them out of that place. And then not only did
she hear those angels talking, Then also, she heard in verse
17, it says, and when it came to pass, when they had brought
them forth, that he said, I told you, because I know it's the
Lord talking now, because Lot talks to him in verse 18, and
he tells him, not so, Lord. So she heard the Lord Jesus Christ
actually say, the Lord of glory actually say to those, Lot and
his wife, two daughters, Escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest
thou be consumed. And then, as the Lord promised
he would do, he did. Verse 24, 25. The Lord rained
upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone, fire from the Lord. out of heaven.
He overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants
of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind
him and she became a pillar of salt. Now this scripture as all
scripture, is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable. This is the only thing that's
profitable, right here, this word. It's profitable for doctrine,
for what we believe, the truth. It's profitable for reproof,
correction, and for instruction, in righteousness. So this, that
scripture, verse 26, Genesis 19-26, that scripture is given
for our correction, for proof and instruction in righteousness.
Here's a warning, and I know it's a warning because the Lord
said in Luke 17, you remember, remember. Now listen, I pray
God bless this to our hearts. We all need to hear it. We need
to hear it. There's gonna come a time, as
I've said so many times before, we're gonna stand before God.
And in that day, books will be open, the book. May the Lord help us if we hear
the gospel of God's grace. and we refuse it. Remember Lot's
wife. Here's what happened. The scripture declared that what
she did was, and that's what I asked myself. I said, okay,
I've heard this passage. Now I want to read this passage
and ask the Lord, give me some understanding into this passage.
But his wife looked That's the first thing I know
she did. She looked back. What did she do that moved the wrath of God to fall
upon her? The word looked totally reveals
the heart of Lot's wife. She looked. Now, you know, I've
always encouraged you, anytime you're looking at a passage of
scripture, and I do understand the blessed privilege that I've
got to be able to sit down and take concordances and look, and
that's something that a lot of times you don't have, and I understand
that, but anytime you got a question on the word, look it up. Look
it up to find out what it means. But I'll just, I'll tell you
this, Check me out, check me out. The word looked. His wife looked back. That word looked wasn't the same word as when
Abraham, look at verse, hold your place, turn back to Genesis
18, verse two. Genesis 18-2. Well, I'll read
1 and 2. Genesis 18-1 and 2. And the Lord
appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the temple
door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Now, that word right
there is the word that means to gaze at something. to behold, see the features,
you know, of something that is a spectacle. Okay, I'm just looking. I'm looking at Chuck. I see Chuck. I know Chuck. That's
look day. Okay, that means, you know, and
our look wasn't the same look as when Abraham looked toward
Sodom. I mean, look in Genesis 19, In verse 27-28, we'll look at
this, Lord willing, a little later, but Abraham got up early
in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord, and
he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain,
and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the
smoke of a furnace. So Abraham looked. He looked. He looked. He saw the Lord coming.
In chapter 18, he saw those two angels. He looked. And he looked
at Sodom, he looked at it. But the look of Lot's wife, that
word look, was that look that revealed her desire and her hunger. That word look means to scan,
to look intently, to regard with favor, pleasure, or care, to
have respect. Different look. Different word. Her heart was still in Sodom. Though she stood, she was between
Sodom and Zoar. And what the Lord had said, and
again, I want to make sure, I want to make sure on this. Back in
Genesis 19, verse 17, came to pass when they had brought them
forth that he said, escape for thy life, You see that next word? Look not behind me. That's the same word described,
you know, the definition of what she did. He used exactly the
same word. Don't look back with regard. Don't look back hungry. Don't look back and scan intently,
lovingly, longingly. And that's what she did. She looked while Lot and his
two daughters were escaping for their lives. Now listen to what
the Lord said, came to pass, verse 17. Escape for thy life,
look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Now, Genesis 19.26 says, But
his wife looked back, now see where it says from behind him?
From behind who? From behind Lot. What was she
doing? She was found to be behind him
and again this word means to loiter, to be behind by implication,
to procrastinate, to continue, defer, delay, to be late, slack,
Stay there, tarry to be longer. What was she doing? She wasn't
with her husband. He was fleeing for his life.
And she did exactly that which the Lord commanded her not to
do. Don't look behind with desire. Don't look behind. And don't
be in the plain. Everything outside that little
city of Zoar was going to be destroyed. And where was she? She was lingering, she was in
the plain, loitering, and she was consumed. And the scripture
says, latter part of verse 26, and she became, that is she existed,
a pillar, stationary and erect, that's what it means, of salt. The judgment of God was upon
her, according to her disobedience. Oh, remember Lot's wife. What did she do? She was going
through the motions, but her heart was in Sodom. Sodom, a picture of this world,
a picture of all false religion, that which dishonors God, She
hungered after that and God saw it. What does the scripture say in
closing concerning look? Lord said, look unto me. Look unto me. I look this up
too. Turn, appear, regard, and respect. Look unto me and be ye saved. The old man, by nature, the old
carnal man, I tell you what he's going to look to for salvation.
He's going to look to himself. He's going to look to all that
Sodom sets forth and represents the world. Love not the world. Now, when I say that, I'm going
to tell you something. It doesn't mean these things
of this world that God has created. I love, I mean there's some things
in this world that I really love. I like food, I like the comfort,
I like, you know. This world was created by God
and it was very good, but to set my heart upon it, and to
think that this is all there is to it. Love not the world. Don't love the world and don't
love the world's religion. Look unto Me, regard Me, and
be you saved, rescued, delivered, freed, defended, preserved, all
the ends of the earth. For I'm God and there's none
else. What she did was she had no heart
for Christ. She wasn't looking to Christ.
She was looking back to this world and the love of it, the
hunger of it. We look to the Lord. She looked. Believers look unto Him. He is
our wisdom. He is our righteousness, our
sanctification, our redemption. We just sang that song. He is the life, He's the way,
the truth unto the Father. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. I can't look to myself, to my free will. I can't look
to my ability to do the works of the law for righteousness.
I'm looking back to Sodom. You look back to your decision. You look back to your baptism.
You look back to your professional faith, walking down the aisle
and repeating the prayer, the pastor's prayer. You look to
the altar. I told you before, this is just
wood and carpet is all this is. We have one altar. We look to
Christ. Looking to anything. except Christ
is looking back to Sodom and God's going to destroy it. Whenever the nation of Israel
was in the desert, remember this one, they were murmuring against
God and against Moses. And God sent fiery serpents and
they were biting the people, they were dying. What did God
tell Moses to do? He said, I want you to take a
piece of brass And you form that piece of brass into the form
of a serpent. There's a picture of Christ being
made sin. And hold it up on a pole. The
Lord gave us interpretation of that scripture. He said, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. He was lifted up on that cross
as the substitute of his people. He was made what they are, sin.
Those snakes was a picture of sin. They were biting the people.
They were dying. You make a brass snake hold him up, and whoever
what? Looks. Whoever looks. That's a picture, that's a type
of looking to Him and believing on Christ, resting in Christ. She looked back to Sodom and
was judged of God. The Scripture says, Hebrews 12,
2, unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him in the
redemption of his people, satisfaction of God's justice, honor in the
law, who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the
cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God. Friend, God's going to judge this world. There's one hope. One hope. Looking unto Him. Looking unto
Christ. looking away from me. If I look
at me, what have I got? What can I do for myself? I can
do nothing for myself. Looking to myself, looking to
my faith, looking to anything I can do is looking to Sodom,
looking back to Sodom. To that which is gonna be destroyed,
looking unto Him. May the Lord bless this to our
hearts. For His glory, our good. Amen.