In Isaiah chapter 40, you don't
have to turn there, but in the book of Isaiah chapter 40 verse
one, the Lord says, comfort ye, comfort
ye, my people saith your God. So in obedience to him, that's
what I hope to do. I hope. I hope to comfort me. I hope
the Lord will bless us and let us truly enter into worship.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. And look at verse 32. It says, remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife. I love the word of God. I hope we find great comfort
this morning remembering Lot's wife. Verse 29 here says, 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 which 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. Remember Lot's wife. Now let's
go to our text. That's not our text yet. Let's
go to Genesis chapter 19. And we all know this story, how
God sent two angels to Sodom to deliver Lot and his family
from destruction. And in Genesis 19, verse 12 says,
And the men, the angels, said unto Lot, Hast thou here any
besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and
thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring
them out of this place. For we will destroy this place
because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the
Lord. And the Lord has sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out
and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters,
and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will
destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked
unto his sons-in-law. Lot's sons-in-law, son-in-laws,
were technically a part of his family. But unfortunately, they were
not a part of the family of God because they stayed in the city
of destruction. God left them there. Now, verses
15 and 16 are gonna tell us that Lot is not any better than they
are. Verse 15 says, when the morning arose, then the angels
hastened Lot, saying, arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters,
which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the
city. And while he lingered, Lot lingered. God sent two angels
to Lot, and Lot knew they were angels sent from God. saying,
Lot, get out. Get your family and get out.
I'm destroying this city. God is destroying this city.
And Lot went and told his son-in-laws, they were not interested. And
they said, Lot, you better go right now. And Lot lingered. He wasn't running out of the
city for dear life, like the angels told him to do, and his
wife wasn't either. But first 16 says, while he lingered,
the man laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife
and upon the hand of his two daughters and the Lord being
merciful unto him, they brought him forth and set
him without the city. The Lord being merciful laid
hold on him. He wasn't going anywhere. They
said, get out, get out, and he wasn't going anywhere. And they
laid hold on to him, and they set him and his family without
the city. That's the mercy of God. Verse
17 says, And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth
abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life. Look not behind
thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain,
lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, O not
so, my lord. Behold, now thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life, and I cannot
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die.
Behold, now this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little
one. O let me escape thither. Is it
not a little one? And my soul shall live? And he
said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also,
that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast
spoken. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till
thou become thither. Therefore, the name of the city
was called Zoar. Now, how comforting is it that
this angel said, I cannot do anything until you're safe. I'm going to destroy this place.
You better get out now. But I cannot do anything until
you're safe. You cannot be destroyed. That's direct order from God
Almighty. You cannot destroy the city until
Lot is safe and his family. Verse 23 says, The sun was risen
upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained
upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord
out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities and all the plain
and all the inhabitants of the city, that which grew upon the
ground. But his wife looked back from
behind him, And she became a pillar of salt. Now there's great warning for
us in this. Luke 17 said, when the Lord comes
back, if you're on your housetop, don't go down and get your stuff. When He comes back, this is it. He said, if you're out in the
field and the Lord comes back, don't return back. Let no thing
be a greater treasure to us than that pearl of great price. Where your treasure is, that's
where your heart will be. That's where your heart will
be. Lay not up treasures on this
earth. That's our warning. Now, our Lord God has given us
all things on this earth richly to enjoy. Everything. but let's hold them and enjoy
them with an open hand. It's the Lord who gave and it's
the Lord who takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Everything with an open hand. Our Lord said in Luke 17, whosoever
shall seek to save his life here in this world, Whoever will try to gain the
whole world, hold on to the whole world, shall lose it in eternity. Save his life here, shall lose
it in eternity. But whosoever shall lose his
life here, in this world, whoever says everything here is empty,
it's just empty. Everything this world has to
offer is empty. It's vanity. It's nothing. And Christ is all. The Lord says
His life shall be preserved. Preserved. All of Lot's wife's
earthly treasures, all of her earthly treasures were in Sodom. Her home was there. That was
her home. Her money was there. Her things
were there. Her people were there. She had
son-in-laws there. You know she loved those boys.
They were probably good boys. She loved those boys. And if I get honest with myself,
I understand Lot's wife. If I get honest and I look down
deep inside my heart, I understand Lot's wife. She was one of the
ones whom God had mercy on and saved from destruction. But she
was weak, weak in the flesh, weak. She was a weak vessel who
did not have the ability in her to do the commandment of God.
She didn't have it in her. Even after all the goodness and
mercy that God showed to her, our text says in Genesis 19,
26, but his wife looked back from behind him, looked back
in her heart, Looked back in her mind, thinking about it. Looked back in her will, in her
desire. And I believe she turned and
actually started running back to Sodom. Verse 26 says, And she became
a pillar of salt. Salt. Now that scares me to death. that really scares me to death
because I am a weak vessel. I'm a weak vessel. Hebrews 11,
15 says, and truly if they had been mindful of that country
from whence they came out, they might've had opportunity to have
returned. It says that, doesn't it? If God Almighty leaves me to
myself, I will run straight back into the city of destruction,
just like Lot's wife. I'm no better than she is. Now, where is my comfort in all
of that? Where's my comfort in all that?
We began by reading, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God. Where is my comfort in Genesis
19, 26? It has to be there. It has to
be there. This one verse is its own paragraph. You see that little P, that backwards
P, and then there's a backwards P on 27? This one verse is its
own paragraph. It must be there. The whole Gospel
must be in there. Where is the Gospel in verse
26? Where is my good news? Well, let's read it again. It
says, but his wife looked back from behind him and she became
a pillar of salt. It doesn't say, and God let her
go. He didn't let her run back in.
It doesn't say, And she became a pillar of stone, just like
her cold, dead, stony heart. It says she became a pillar,
head to toe of salt. Now let's see what our God has
to say about salt. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter
two. Leviticus chapter two. And let's look at verse 13, Leviticus 2, 13. And every oblation, that's a
sacrificial offering, every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou
season with salt. Neither shalt thou suffer the
salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering. With all thine offerings, thou
shalt offer salt. First, our Lord said, no sacrifice
is going to be accepted without salt. I won't have it. With every offering, you better
offer salt. Why? Turn to Numbers 18. Numbers chapter 18. The Lord
is speaking to Aaron here. Numbers 18, look at verse 19. It says, all the heave offerings
of the holy things which the children of Israel offer unto
the Lord have I given thee and thy sons and thy daughters with
thee by a statute forever. It is a covenant of salt forever
before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. Salt is
the representative of God's covenant. Now turn to 2 Kings 2. 2 Kings
2 and look at verse 19. 2 Kings 2.19. And the men of the city said
unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is
pleasant, as my Lord seeth, but the water is not. It's bad. It's evil. And the ground is
barren. It's causing our women to miscarry,
is what my margin says. And Elisha said, Bring me a new
cruz, and put salt in it. And they brought it to him. And
he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt
in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these
waters. There shall not be from thence
any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto
this day, according to the saying of Elisha, which he spake. The Lord God says, salt brings
healing. Salt brings life. And salt brings fruit. He said, I've healed these waters.
There's not going to be any more death and no more barren land. I put salt in there. Now turn with me to Ezekiel 43. In verse 23, Ezekiel 43, 23 says,
When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer
a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without
blemish, and thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the
priest shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up
for a burnt offering unto the Lord. Seven days shalt thou prepare
every day a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young
bullock and a ram out of the flock without blemish. Seven
days shall they purge the altar and purify it. Salt purges and
salt purifies. Last one. Turn to Ezekiel 47. Ezekiel 47, look at verse 9. It says, And it shall come to
pass that everything that liveth, which moveth whithersoever the
river shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great
multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither, for
they shall be healed. And everything shall live whether
the river cometh. And it shall come to pass that
the fishers, the preachers, shall stand upon it from Engidae, even
unto Eneglium. They shall be a place to spread
forth their nets. Their fish shall be according
to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea exceeding many,
but the miry places. the miry places thereof, and
the marshes thereof, shall not be healed, they shall be given
to, they shall be overtaken by, they shall be consumed by salt. I'm just going to cover them
over. Salt. Jesus Christ is this salt. No sacrifice will be accepted
without Christ. Not just any blood, it must be
His blood. There is no covenant without
Christ. There can be no agreement between
God and man without Jesus Christ. He's the Christ of the covenant.
He brings healing in His wings. and you hath He quickened. He's
the giver of life. It is God which worketh in us
both to will and do of His good pleasure. He brings forth much
fruit in His people. He by Himself purged our sins. He purified us. It's His blood
which cleanseth us from all sin. He is the one who lifted me out
of the deep miry clay that he was about to consume. He is the one who took me out
of the dunghill and set me among princes. Oh, to grace, how great
a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. let thy goodness like
a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wonder lord
i feel it prone to leave the god i love here's my heart take
and seal it seal it for thy courts above don't let me go Lot's wife was a sinner chosen
to be saved by God's divine mercy and grace, who was running head
first back into sin and death and hell. But God, who was rich
in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, cried, Salt, you
can't go. Covenant, you can't go. Sacrifice, you can't go. She was running, but God cried,
Christ, you cannot be destroyed. It is
Christ who died. Jesus Christ was destroyed for
you. You can't run back to death,
it's not possible. Life is in you. Give me a new
cruise and put salt in it. No matter how weak you are, no
matter how badly your flesh wants to, if God has had mercy on you
and delivered you from destruction, you are preserved. Salt. Preserved with salt, preserved
with Christ. I think that's good news. Now let's close by looking at
something in light of this salt, in light of Christ. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 and look at
verse 13. Our Lord is speaking and He says,
ye are the salt of the earth. If we are His elect, we are the
ones whom the covenant is given to. We're the ones whom the blood
was shed for. We're the ones whom life has
been given to, healing has been given to, fruit has been given
to. He says, but if the salt have
lost his savor, if we lose the savor of Christ, if we lose the
sweet savor of grace, if we just put it on our sign and leave
it out there and it's not in here, this sovereign grace, if
we lose the savor of peace, peace, if we lose the savor of mercy
and the savor of forgiveness, the sweetness of His kindness
and His goodness and forgiveness, if we've lost our savor It's
not good. We're good for nothing. We're
good for nothing. Our Lord says it is thenceforth
good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot
of men. Now turn with me to Mark chapter
9. Mark chapter 9, look at verse
49. He says, For every one shall
be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with
salt. Salt is good. But if the salt
have lost his saltness, wherewith will you season it? He's saying
Christ is in you and Christ is good. Christ is good. But if we've lost sight of the
fact that Christ is in us, if we've lost sight of His character,
of who He is and what He's done, and the fact that He did it for
us. Oh, so unworthy and He's so good. And look at everything He went
through and everything He did for us. If we've lost sight of
the fact that everything we are is by His grace. Not have I gotten. It's what
I received. Who are we? Who are we? I'm going to get mad and point
my finger and start judging my brethren. Who am I? I was running
back to the city of destruction. If we lose our grace, If grace
is not on our lips and in our hearts, we've lost our goodness. We've lost our savor. We haven't
lost our salt. We haven't lost our salt. We
cannot lose our covenant. We cannot lose His blood. But
if we've lost our savor, the salt is still salt even if it
doesn't have that savor. It's still salt. But the exhortation
here in Mark 9 verse 50, the end of it says, have salt in
yourselves and have peace one with another. Because Christ
made peace for us, let us make peace with one another at all
cost. At all cost, let's make peace. Last one, turn to Colossians
chapter 4 and I will close. Colossians chapter 4. Colossians 4 and look at verse
6. It says, let your speech be always
with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought
to answer every man. I fall so short of this. Oh, I say things and I think,
why on this earth did I say that? Forgive me, I didn't mean it
like that. But my desire is that a person
may not leave a conversation with me having a bad taste in
their mouth. You know what I mean? Lord, by thy grace, by thy work,
by thy goodness, let me be an enhancement to a conversation. So many people have said if it's
not kind, if it's not true, if it's not necessary, don't say
it, right? Just let me be an enhancement
to a conversation. Lord, let me be an enhancement
to a gathering. Lord, let me be an enhancement
to a congregation. Let salt be in me, have salt
in ourselves. For salt's sake, for Christ's
sake, salt is good, Christ is good. Oh, give thanks for he
is good. Well, may the Lord bless his
word. Let's stand together and have a word of prayer.