Genesis 19. Read verses 23 through
26. The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew
or destroyed those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants
of the cities and that which grew upon the ground, every living
thing. But his wife looked back from
behind him and she became a pillar of salt. Go with me to Luke chapter 17. It says the sun was risen upon
the earth when Lot left Sodom. It was a beautiful day and life
was going on as usual in Sodom and Gomorrah. They built it on the same day
that Lot went out of Sodom. It rained fire and brimstone
from heaven and destroyed them all. It was a beautiful day,
and most folks woke up to see that beautiful sunshine. They
ate breakfast, drank their coffee or whatever they drank then,
tea or whatever. Their new day was to go to work,
or some were going to buy something, thinking about buying something,
selling something, a new car, a new chariot, a new horse, a
new something, a new house, a new tent. Others had business to
attend to. All things which are lawful.
Nothing wrong with those things. But most of them didn't give
God a thought. certainly didn't thank Him for
those things. A bright sunny day, and the Lord said that very
same day, the day when they thought not that the farthest thing from
their mind was eternity and dying on a beautiful sunny day, fire
fell. And our Lord warns us. These things are written for
our example, for our learning, and our Lord who warned us more than anyone about judgment,
he said that same day. That same day. And he said it
will be the same when he comes back. Our God who is a consuming
fire, it will be the same as it was in the days of Noah, as
it was in the days of Lot. A time when men think not, a
beautiful sunny day. It could be today. This is a
real story. Our Lord confirmed it, this fire
falling on Sodom. A real story, though most of
the world does not believe it. They reject this as fantasy.
And when they do that, they are calling Jesus Christ a liar,
aren't they? Whatever people reject from God's
Word, they are calling God a liar, especially the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord says, in the days of
Lot, and then in three words, he uttered the most, how do you
put it? Dire warning and severe warning
and thought provoking, should be warning. In three words, he
said in verse 32, remember Lot's wife. He said in verse 30, and it all
goes together, verse 31, in the day, that day which is upon the
housetop, the stuff in the house, let him not come down and take
it back, take it away. He's in the field, let him likewise
not return back. Verse 33, who shall ever so seek
to save his life, that is, if the things of this world, the
people of this world, We're going to see how Lot's wife had some
people she didn't want to leave behind. If the people of this world,
the things of this world are our life and we hold to them
or it, we'll die with it. But if we count it lost, she
said, he that loses his life, verse 33, will preserve it. Remember Lot's wife. Those who
count loss for Christ, these things and people, will save their life. The Lord
will spare them. Remember Lot's wife. Three short
words that are life or death. Remember. Remember. How sad it is that we often forget
the most important thing, but we remember. Think about the
most useless thing, don't we? We can remember trivial things,
useless things that are of no value, but things that really
matter, we tend to forget them. That's because this vanity, this
world which is vanity, which is deceitful and so forth, deceives
us. Satan, we're not wrestling with
flesh and blood either. We're wrestling with someone
who would like nothing more than for us to not think on eternity.
So he bombards us with these things. We need to be reminded. We're
just like little children. We forget so easily. We need
to be reminded over and over again. You go through school,
don't you? You're taught the three R's from
the outset, aren't you? You never get away from that.
You build on that. But the same lessons, and we
do too, We need to remember. Remember. There are ways in which
the Lord reminds us. Prayer is what causes us to call
on Him, because without Him we can remember nothing. We won't
learn anything. Hearing God's Word. Not only
reading it, but hearing it. The same things repeated over
and over again. We need that. And we've learned.
David said this, Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which
you have caused me to hope. Remind me. The world's not reading
it or hearing it at all, so they're not thinking on this time. And
the only way we will is for God to remind us through His Word
and through the reading of it and the hearing of it. Trials.
God sends trials to remind us. You have here no continuance
in it. To wean us and so forth. And that's the next message in
the next hour. Lot's wife. Remember, Lot's wife. The story
began with Abraham. Abraham. Abraham was God's man. Lot was his nephew. Do you remember
that? We looked at that story of Abraham,
Lot, and Lot, that Abraham took Lot in, and Abraham taught Lot,
Abraham cared for Lot, and Abraham instructed Lot. Abraham was a
godly man, a God-called man. blessed man, and all were blessed
with Abraham. And Lot was blessed by being
associated with Abraham. He was God's man, Abraham was.
And all were blessed with him. And Lot was greatly blessed.
He was greatly blessed, even materially. He was taught much
through Abraham. And then his possessions began
to be multiplied, and Lot began to be taken with those possessions. And then the strife broke out,
didn't it? The strife broke out. Abraham
came to Lot and said, let there be no strife between us. We'd
be brethren. But Lot left. And it says he
looked, pitched his tents towards Sodom. He looked and it was like
paradise. It was all that he wanted in
this world. Land of plenty. Land of opportunity. That's what he saw. He didn't
learn that from Abraham. God, through Abraham, taught
him that this world is vanity. Don't look at the things that
are seen in the temple. God taught Lot that, but he forgot.
And he looked at Sodom, and he went there. He left. He left God's people. He left
God's man to get rich. To find a wife, maybe. He's out
there in the wilderness, you know, traveling with his uncle
Abraham, There's no mention of Lot's wife killing Sodom. Was she a Sodomite? Maybe. That would explain why she didn't
want to leave. At any rate, she wasn't a believer. She was not
a believer. And it ended up causing Lot great
grief, didn't it? Great grief. Exactly what the
Lord warned. The Lord had mercy on Lot though.
If he hadn't, Lot would have perished. This could easily be
the story of, remember her husband. This could easily be the story
of Lot looking back. But it wasn't. It was Lot's wife.
And apparently he chose an unbelieving wife. Spurgeon went to great lengths
to show that she drew him into Sodom. She's the one that said,
this is where I want to live. Well, remember Lot's wife. She is the bride. She is the
wife of a believing man. She's the wife of a righteous
man. How blessed Mrs. Lot. She doesn't have a name.
And that's by design, isn't it? Because it could be anybody.
It could be anybody in here's name. Any woman in here. An old
man. That's the reason the Lord didn't
remember Lot's wife. She's the wife of a righteous
man, or her husband could be, of a righteous woman. She had
many privileges. Many privileges. Oh, what advantage
Paul wrote to the Jew and all these things.
Oh, much. Many ways. They had the oracles
of God. They had the blessings of God
and so forth. Lot's wife had Abraham as her
father-in-law, so to speak. Uncle-in-law. But he was like
a father to her. Abraham! Do you reckon Abraham
spoke to her about that covenant break? Oh, my. That was Abraham's life. Abraham walked with God. You're
going to be around Abraham, and you're going to hear about his
God. You're going to hear about the cousin of Grazer. You're
going to hear about Christ. She heard about God's call. He told her what God had done
for him, God's promises to him. She heard it. She heard Abraham
talk and lot. And maybe she believed it in
her head. But it wasn't in her heart. I told you last week, I believe
it was, that I wanted to deal with this. And I told you, remember
I said I'm so convicted by this, I'm going to have a hard time
dealing with it. Because this whole story of Lot
is us. We're all just as guilty as Lot,
aren't we? Lot lingered. We live in Sodom. She was a wife of a righteous
man, a just man, justified by faith. Despite his sinfulness,
despite his bad testimony, poor witness. He was a poor witness,
wasn't he? But he did do and say what he could. He finally
did talk to his sons-in-law. He did, better late than never,
and he did. you know, thought he ain't much
of a Christian. And he felt bad about that, didn't
he? He thought he blamed himself for her. I'm sure he did. And
his children. I know he did. Because I did.
But she couldn't blame him. I don't know. Locke prayed. I know he did. I know Locke called. Whoever calls on the name of
the Lord will be saved. And the Lord sent his angels
to Locke I know he was called. He was sitting in the gate. She
prayed. He prayed. Well, did she pray
with him? Yeah, they sat down at the table. She prayed too.
Lot read God's Word. If there was any. Maybe the book
of Job. Job lived during the time of
Abraham. The oldest book in the Bible.
Moses probably had a book of Job. Enoch. There was a book
of Enoch, remember? Scripture talks about it. We
don't have it. Maybe Abraham had it. Maybe Lot
had it. Every one of God's people has
something of God's Word to look to. And Lot read God's Word. Did she? Did he have devotions? He and his wife held some kind
of service. Lot preached. Did she attend
it? Sure. Sure she did. But the Word never entered her
heart. It never touched her heart. It
never broke her heart over sin. It never showed her need of Christ.
Her heart was in Sodom. Sodom was in her heart. She went through great trials
with her husband. Remember when Lot was delivered,
when they were taken captive? Lot and all that he had was taken
captive by Chedulei-Omar, remember? And those evil kings and Abraham.
Remember that picture of Abraham? Our Christ, our Captain, who
came and delivered Lot and all his possessions. And the women
too, it says. She was in that. She experienced that.
She went through a great tribulation and she was captured and delivered
from death by the Lord miraculously. How many people go through traumas
and troubles and get religion and come to church and make a
profession, but their heart's not changed?
They're just scared and get religion. How many people? She seemed like a believer. She
seemed like a believer. A lot left Sodom, and she did
too. She followed him. She saw the wickedness of the
sodomites and it disgusted her. And she thought, I don't want that. I don't want
my children to have that, my daughters. And so she left. She heard the warning of the
angel. She heard the warning of the angel. And she believed,
at least in her head. And the angel expressly said,
it's better to obey than sacrifice. And the angel expressly said,
the last thing he said was, Don't look back. The last thing he said. Don't
look back. So she left. She seemed to be
going the way of salvation. She seemed to be going. She seemed
to be in the way out. She seemed to have escaped the
corruption that was in the world through lust. Boy, does this convict you or
what? She seemed to be going the way
that was right. She seemed like she had escaped
Sodom. But Sodom was in her heart. Our Lord said, Love not the world,
nor the things of the world. If any man love the world, The
love of the Father is not in him. She began to fall behind. Look at it here. Go back to the
text in Genesis 19. It began gradually. Genesis 19. It began gradually. It says she was behind Lot. She
looked back from behind him. Verse 26, she was behind him. Before, when they first walked
out, she was enthusiastic. She was zealous. She was afraid. She was walking right beside
Lot, and they were talking about, oh, what great mercy the Lord
had upon them by laying hold of their hand and bringing them
out. Don't you know? She's scared. She's walking right
beside him. Her pace was quick. She was earnest. It seemed to be, but she began to fall back. God's Word is very piercing in. It's the discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. She began to pull back. She began
to draw back. Scripture says, if any man draw
back, My soul shall have no pleasure." Something was pulling her. Something
was drawing her away. Something had hold of her and pulling her away
and drawing her back from the path of life. What was it? Sodom. And Sodom was everything. Sodom
was her children. She lost her children. There
were some daughters there that did not come out. Sons-in-law. Did they have children? Grandchildren. She had a house. How long did
they live there? A long time. And they had a nice
home. They had many possessions. When
you have children, many children, grandchildren, you live somewhere
a long time, you accumulate a lot of stuff. That started the whole
problem with Lot, didn't it? All that stuff. And that stuff
was in her heart. Her children, her home, her possessions,
her friends. Did she have any friends inside
of her? Oh, my. She thought everybody here is
not bad people. There are some good friends here. No, they hated God. Or God would
have brought them out. And so she began to draw Pull
back. Pull back our minds thinking
about Sodom. And this thing of apostasy, of
leaving the gospel, begins gradually. It's a gradual thing. Pulling
back. A lagging back. A lagging behind. You know, it
begins. He told the Ephesian church over in Revelation that
you've lost your first love. He said, you need to do the first
work. See, the gospel is no longer sweet and precious to you. You
can do without it. If you can, you end up lost. Two things are missing. Worship,
fellowship with Christ and His people reveal one of two things. One of two things. It reveals,
number one, either a temporary bad worldly state. Scripture talks much about backsliding. Some men deny it. You know, I
heard a brother say this, and there's some merit to it. He
said, I don't talk much about it because some people get encouraged
by that. Some people will say, oh, I'm
just backslidden. A false professor will say that.
A false professional would say, oh, I'm just backslidden. I'll
go back sometime or another. No, a believer would never say
that. Those that are don't know it until they realize it. The Lord makes them. He said,
I'll heal their backslidden. Make them realize it. It reveals
a temporary bad state usually, almost always, because of this
world. This world, the things of this world, the people of
this world. And the Lord said, I'll heal that. I'll convict
them of it. I'll convince them of it. I'll draw them back. Those
that draw back, if there he is, he's going to, oh, he's going
to draw them back. Where? To the one thing. Show
them. You'll perish. If you stay away,
you'll perish. Like Lot's wife. It reveals one
of two things. A temporary, and we all get in
this state. We all get cold, lukewarm. I'll be told to lay at the sea
in church. You're lukewarm. It begins lukewarm,
then what do you get? Cold. And if it doesn't end,
you'll die. Or just reveal that you are dead.
So it reveals one of two things. A temporary bad state, which
we all get into. Or secondly, one of these two,
a bad heart. Don't love God at all. So this
is a dire warning that we need this desperately. I need to remember
Lot's wife. Lot's wife began to draw back. She apparently began to disbelieve
what she heard. She first believed what the angel
said, going to destroy this place. It was a beautiful day. And it
hadn't happened yet. And they're walking down that
road and the fire hadn't fallen yet. And she loved her children
and she loved the things and all of that. And it was in her
heart. And she began to think, maybe it's not true. There's
some good people in Sodom. Maybe it's not true. Maybe he
meant it's much, much later. These things were entering her
heart. We're in her heart. We're in
her mind at that time. She started thinking, maybe it's
not true. She said, I don't hear other
preachers in Sodom talking about this. You just heard these two men. There
were just two men saying that. Nobody else has been saying that.
Maybe it's not so. She didn't want to believe. And so she turned. God damn a person for a look.
The whole human race started out that way and died that way.
It says that Eve, when she saw that fruit that was good for
food, she looked. God said, don't touch that fruit. She looked at it. She began to
disbelieve God. And she looked back. She looked
back. The Lord told her not to. And
she did it anyway. That's out and out rebellion.
Oh, my. I'm guilty. You see why this is so important?
This Gospel. I am guilty. Just as guilty as
Lot's wife. But I hope, though, that it swirls
not in my heart. I feel like so often I do look
back. Obviously, her heart was back
there. Her life was there. Her affection was set on those
things and not on Christ and eternity. She didn't want to
leave. She didn't want to go into the mountains and dwell
with Abraham in the mountains. She wanted to stay in the city
where there was no gospel. And she looked back and it says
she became a pillar of salt. A pillar of salt. Dead. Dead. Nothing can live where
salt is. Brother Henry, I know you've
had salt blocks out there on your property. It kills everything
around it, doesn't it? It's just dead. Dead. Salt. Stone cold salt. Salt. It's bitter. It became
bitter. This happens to people that turn
back And she couldn't get through. She's dead. She's not going to
reach her now. Not going to reach her now. That's what Hebrews 6 says. That
it's impossible for those who are once enlightened and have
tasted the good word of God, if they should turn away to renew
them to repentance. It's impossible. You can't get
through to them now. They trodden underfoot, the Son
of God. They drove their children with Him. Oh, man, oh, man. A pillar of salt. A pillar. A
pillar to show everyone that walked by, this is what happened. If you look back. Oh, my Lord. Get Sodom out of my heart. and come get me out of Sodom.
Don't let me be like Lot's wife. Did you hear this? Well, make
me not just a hearer, but a doer. I believed all this when I was
young. I believed it in my head. I believed all this. I believed
it. That the fire was going to fall.
I said I did. But man, I hit Sodom as hard
as I could. Oh, but the Lord being merciful
to me. You know how you know if the
Lord is still merciful to you? If this gospel is still laying
hold of you and drawing you out. If this gospel ceases to grab
hold of you, you're going to be a pillar of salt. Lord, take
the Word. Brother Sammy prayed, take the
Word and use it. Not just words, but from our
heart. Lord, take the Word and grab
hold of my heart and grab hold of the heart of my child. Don't
leave them in Sodom. I know You're coming. I know
You are. I believe You. And so take the Word and grab
hold of me and my child and bring us out before it's everlastingly
too late. Remember Lot's wife. Questioner 2 has a question.