Well, my text this morning is
in Luke's Gospel and chapter 17 and the 32nd verse. And it's a very short text, only
three words. Remember Lot's wife. That's it. Remember Lot's wife. And that was spoken by our Lord
Jesus Christ in the middle of a passage that was very, very
clear about the way things are, about the fact of judgment, about
the fact of the end of times, that this this world although
it's been going on for two thousand years since he said these things
it has a limited span and it will come to an end for every
one of us individually it comes to an end at the end of our lives
but the whole thing will be drawn to an end that's the clear message
of the scriptures and he's talking about preparation for that day
and he's giving warnings the scripture has warnings you see
don't be under any delusion the gospel of God's grace is a gospel
of great security for those who are in Christ Jesus there is
no fear there is no fear of being lost he said nobody can pluck
them out of my father's hand all that the father gives to
me will come to me and not nobody can pluck them out of my father's
hand but also the scriptures got lots of warnings in lest
as we walk this life in this flesh we become complacent we
become presumptuous we assume that we're in a right place and
we assume that we're on the right sort of level and we assume that
we have the truth and therefore we're fine it's full of warnings
and here's a warning that I want us to consider this morning remember
Lot's wife you see I believe that we live in a day which is
very confusing if you read the article the article in the bulletin
is basically a summary of what I'm preaching this morning so
you can take it away with you but we live in a day when there
has been tremendously clear preaching around us. There is. And its
reach in the last 10 years is much greater than its reach has
been probably in any age before. You've heard Don Faulkner say
this about Free Grace Radio. Those messages of sovereign grace,
of particular redemption, of those messages of the gospel,
which is that sinners who stand under the judgment of a holy
God who must be God, who must judge sin, who cannot ignore
it, He cannot turn aside from it. He would cease to be the
unchangeable God if He turned aside from it. He must judge
and He must punish sin. And so He will. But in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in a substitute, by His sovereign grace, by His
marvelous work, as the scripture calls it, a marvelous work, by
His marvelous work, He has made that way. And in Christ, all
who were in Him from before the foundation of the world are made
perfectly holy because He was holy. And the Father said of
Him, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And in
Him, in Christ, every one of their sins was loaded onto Him
and the penalty, the just penalty of divine justice was paid in
Him on their behalf that they do not need to bear that penalty
themselves. And so where the fire has burned,
in a forest fire, The safest place is where the fire has burned
and gone out because the fire cannot fall there. It cannot
do any more damage there. It's fallen already and it fell
on our Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's true. But how do
you know that you're one of those? You believe Him. You believe
Him. He gives you faith. You believe
Him. You follow Him. He said to Matthew at the tax
collector place, follow me. And what did Matthew do? He got
up and he followed Him. He followed Him. He says that
to us. Follow me. and so it is that gospel is being
preached so clearly in so many places relatively few but with
such tremendous reach through the means that I've already suggested
but at the same time we see a most alarming walking out on the truth
of the gospel we do we see a most alarming walking out on the men
that we've known who have preached the gospel so clearly to our
ears are doing things which are completely contrary to the principles
of grace and of the gospel and of the purposes of God. All over the world, we saw a
message, Marguerite and Daniel and us last Sunday from Don Faulkner
and he said the same thing. He said he knows of a number
of places where there was a powerful, powerful, effective ministry
and now There's complete departure from that. There's complete compromise. And so it is. The methods of
the world, the gimmicks of the world, being introduced into
places where, as some of you know very close to us, you would
have never believed it possible. The gimmicks of the world. And
it's absolutely dreadful. And so it is. You know, these
people trying to seek numbers at any price. Trying to thwart
God's methods and bring in numbers at any price. But, you know,
Let's be careful. There's a danger of judging.
There's a danger of us judging. Now, note there's a difference
between using discernment. Yes, we're to use discernment.
Yes, we're to be wise. Yes, we're to watch. Yes, we're
to be careful. But let's not think that we stand
in a place... Let's not think that we stand
in a place of superiority and look down judgmentally. 1 Corinthians
10 verse 12 says this, let him that thinks that he stands take
heed lest he fall the very best of witnesses Paul talks of Demas
and in some places Demas was such a great encouragement to
him and then in his last epistle 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10
Paul says this Demas, even Demas has forsaken me having loved
this present world Demas has forsaken me And Paul feared,
Paul himself, you see, you know, you might think, and I wonder
who this message is directed at this morning. Shall I tell
you number one who it's directed at? Me. That's who it's directed
at. That's what's been troubling
my soul. Directed at me. Stop thinking that you're in
a superior place where you can judge others but take heed lest
you fall. And let's, as Paul says, he said
in 1 Corinthians 9.27 that having preached to others I might be
cast away. Even having preached to others,
I might be cast away. And so we have this warning.
Remember Lot's wife. You see, true faith is very rare. It's a rare thing in this world
today. And the Bible is clear that all
who are in Him are eternally secure. Yet let's not presume
and let's not be complacent. Now in this passage in Luke's
Gospel, chapter 17, verses 22 to the end of the chapter Jesus
is speaking to the disciples the Pharisees have asked him
you know they're always out to trick him verses 20 and 21 when's
the kingdom of God going to come and he answered and said the
kingdom of God comes not with observation you can't look and
say you can't get a tape measure out and go and measure it you
can't you can't get out your digital camera and take a picture
of it when it comes the kingdom of God comes not with observation
he says Neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold
the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is in
the hearts of his people. And then he turns away from the
Pharisees and talks to his disciples from verse 22 onwards. And there
he tells them about the end of times. He tells them what will
happen. And he points to two examples. He points to the examples of
the day of Noah and the day of Sodom and Gomorrah. He speaks
of a day of wrath. He speaks of a fearful, terrible
day of sorrow, as we've been singing about in some of the
hymns. He speaks of a day which the Scriptures call a day of
bitter regret. You know, I mean, you've observed
as we read in the Scriptures, especially in the King James
Version, the sort of thing that unbelievers pour scorn on, the
idea of fire and brimstone raining down from heaven and Actually
true, you know, in Sodom, in that plain, it was a plain of,
I can't remember the name of it, but it was sort of an asphalt,
sulfurous lakes of it. And it is widely believed that
what that judgment was, was an explosion of that stuff that
just, as the city of Pompeii was destroyed by the volcano,
those cities of the plain were destroyed by that geological
eruption of that fire and brimstone. The brimstone is the sulfurous,
molten sulfurous rock. that came out, it speaks of a
terrible day of judgment, it speaks of bitter regret, it speaks,
the Scriptures use terms like wailing and gnashing of teeth,
Jesus used those terms, the start of eternal torment for sin, the
start of eternal torment for unbelief, because this world
is a world of unbelief, the start of eternal torment for rebellion
against a gracious God, a God who is good, a God who is creator,
a God who is above all things, and rebellion against that and
there's judgment to come and because we're so prone to unbelief
in our flesh ourselves Jesus reminds us of two examples that
of Noah and that of Sodom you see, 2nd Peter chapter 3 verses
3 and 4 Peter talks about this the world around us pours scorn
on the idea of a final judgment doesn't it? you see things are
just going to carry on exactly as they are you read 2nd Peter
chapter 3 verses 3 and 4 He wrote that nearly 2,000 years ago.
It's the very thing that people say. All things are just going
to carry on as they've always done. Nothing's going to happen.
We don't need to be bothered. God isn't going to judge anything.
Nothing's going to change. And there's one example in particular
that I want us to focus on for a little while this morning.
And that's in verse 32. Remember Lot's wife. Remember
Lot's wife because These examples are there to show us that though
men and women scoff at the idea of judgment, judgment is true. It's a reality. What we're told
to do is to remember. To remember Lot's wife. To call
her case to mind. You and me. Let's remember Lot's
wife. Call her case to mind when thinking
of our state, the situation we're in. Think of our just condemnation. outside of Christ. Think of the
preciousness of saving faith and new birth, to have found
eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a precious thing
that is. When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith in
the earth? The implication being it will be a rare thing, but
if you've got it, what a precious thing it is. The precious thing
of having saving faith, of trusting in Christ, the power of the gospel
of His grace. It's the power of God unto salvation.
to everyone that believes. That's this thing that we're
dealing with. There are tremendous privileges of being in the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a salvation! How shall we
escape, says the writer to the Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 2,
how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Let's beware
of being complacent and presumptuous and let's remember Lot's wife. The account about Lot's wife
is found in Genesis 19. the verses we read, verses 12
to 26, the flight from Sodom. You know that God saw the wickedness
of Sodom and Gomorrah and came down to judge it. And you remember
the account of Abraham praying. Will you judge it if there are
50 righteous there? No, I will not. I will not destroy
it if there are 50. What about if there are only
40? No, I won't destroy it if there are only 40. That's when
three men come to Abraham. at his tent, he's out of the
plains, he's some distance away, and three men come, and one is
the Son of God, the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, and the two
others are these two men that we read about in the account
in Genesis, who went down into Sodom to exact the justice and
the judgment of God. And Abraham argues with him,
he pleads with God, what about if there are only 30? Yes, you're
right to go and destroy Sodom, but what if there are 30 righteous
there, no I won't destroy it and so he goes on down because
Abraham's thinking of his brother, his nephew, his near relative
Lot, he's thinking of him and it is clear that God is not going
to destroy it whilst Lot is left in that place and so it is, it's
a picture of final judgment, God will take his people out
of that place and they will not come under that judgment And
these two men come down, these two angels, these two angelic
beings in the form of men come down to Lot in Sodom. And you read the account and
you read the terrible things that the men of the city of Sodom
wanted to do to them, those who were guests in Lot's house. And
they came down and the thing that they had to do was to get
Lot and his family out of that place before the judgment fell. And we're told to remember Lot's
wife. So what should we remember? I've
got three things here. Just briefly this morning, three
things. What should we remember about
Lot's wife? Remember Lot's wife. The first
thing is this, that judgment and wrath, although it's an incredibly
unpopular subject, judgment and wrath is real. It's in the scriptures. It's true. Absolutely true. You see, it is said, and I'm
sure quite rightly, that Jesus in his ministry on earth spoke
more about hell and judgment and torment than he did about
heaven and bliss and eternal life because God is holy God
is holy that's God's supreme characteristic God is holy holy
yes he's love but above all he is holy he's holy and we're sinful
by nature the sins that we commit are the fruit of the nature that
is ours that we're born with And God must exact a penalty
for that. Or else He would cease to be
the unchangeable God. He cannot overlook sin, He tells
us. And we must all, 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 verse 10, we must all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ. That's all of us. We must all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And for the sins that
are ours, there is a dreadful penalty. But this is the blessedness
of the Gospel. The blessedness of the Gospel
is this. that that penalty has not been swept under the carpet
but that in the Lord Jesus Christ he has borne that penalty for
his people on their behalf in their place he stood before that
judgment seat for us and if when we if we're in him stand before
that judgment seat it will not be to receive condemnation for
he has already borne that condemnation in his own body on the tree when
he poured out that precious precious blood You see, I don't understand
the language of Scripture. I don't understand how it translates
into an eternal reality, but I do know this, it speaks of
eternal torment. It speaks of bitter, bitter regret. An unending, an unending bitter
regret about the things in this life. And Jesus is clear. He
says again and again, flee from the wrath to come. There is wrath
of judgment to come. and he says flee from it Luke
chapter 3 and verse 7 the Pharisees come to him and he says oh you
band of vipers who told you to flee from the wrath to come but
he tells us to flee from the wrath to come and he tells us
this remember Noah's flood remember Sodom what was it about Noah's
flood God looked down from heaven and saw that every intent of
the heart of man was evil altogether there were a lot of people in
the world every intent of the heart of man was evil altogether
they had all rebelled against God they were all continuing
in their rebellion against God and God had said that that could
not continue and he was going to come down and destroy man
from off the face of the earth the whole of mankind just as
it appears in our day had voted against God as it were they all
voted they all rejected the preaching of the gospel of sovereign grace
for there it was Noah preached it a preacher of righteousness
he preached a way of salvation there was the graphic symbol
of the ark which was the only way of salvation he preached
that and they all voted with their feet and stayed away all
of them the whole world voted against God apart from eight
who went into that ark and the Lord shut them in and saved them
but all the rest they all perished and it stands it stands as a
clear warning to us not to be complacent. For there is judgment. He did judge the world in the
day of Noah. A universal flood then. But the
other example of Sodom was that there the wickedness was so great. It's gone into our language and
of course it's incredibly politically incorrect to say anything about
it in these days. But it's absolutely true. The
practices there were an absolute abomination. They were dreadful
things and the Lord condemns those things and He came down
to judge them and to take those who were His out of that place
before the judgment fell. Remember Sodom. Remember that
God judges sin. God is holy. God's justice must
stand. God is the great unchangeable
I Am. He cannot change. He is holy
and where there is sin, His justice must punish sin. And so it stands
as an example, but you know every day, every day we read of natural
disasters all around us and people being swept away. We read about
technological disasters. A plane takes off from Brazil
on the way to Paris and it just disappears. We know not why.
Nobody has a clue. All those people, 200 and odd
people, at one minute there and the next minute they're in the
depths of the Atlantic Ocean. These things happen. there's
always war somewhere when wars finish there's always another
one to take its place somewhere in the world that's what Jesus
said there will always be wars and rumors of wars there's always
disease everywhere that comes and takes people away we live
in such a fragile state and how close to eternity we are will
you flee from the judgment to come as Lot and his daughters
did or this is the warning will we look back Will we look back,
as Lot's wife did, and be destroyed under the same condemnation as
all the rest? You see? She was so close, yet
she perished with the rest. Wrath and judgment are realities. Secondly, secondly, family ties
do not save. I want you to really think about
this. Family ties do not save in matters
of eternity." She, Lot's wife, who we are to remember, was married
to Lot. And do you know how the Scriptures
describe Lot? You could find all sorts of descriptions of
Lot. If you read the account of Lot's life, you would say,
and I know many a Christian so-called preacher does, they pour scorn
on Lot for being a very foolish man, and no doubt he was. There
were all sorts of things that were wrong in his life. He did
all sorts of things. He even fathered children with
the daughters that he left Sodom with. Some days, we don't know
how long, but you read on in that same chapter 19. You can't
find very many good things to say about Lot. In many ways,
he was a foolish man because when Abraham offered him where
he wanted to go so that their herdsmen wouldn't quarrel, it
was Lot that chose the cities of the plain. It was Lot that
chose the world and the trade and the immorality of the plain,
whereas Abraham stayed and God blessed him. It was Lot that
did all of those silly things. It was Lot that got himself into
all sorts of difficulties and Abraham had to get an army together
and go and rescue Lot. But do you know how the Scriptures
describe Lot? In 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7, just Lot, just
as in justified. as in righteous. Other versions
call him Righteous Lot. This man that we would call stupid,
foolish, the Scriptures call him righteous, just Lot. Why
was he righteous? Because he was justified in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was one of God's people and
God, despite the foolishness of his flesh, would bring him
out of this place. Lot's wife was married to that
man. Did that make her automatically
automatically one of God's people? No, it didn't. Think about her
relationship with Abraham. You know, Abraham is regarded
as the father of the faithful, isn't he? All those children
of Abraham who have the same sort of faith as Abraham. Lot's
wife had Abraham by marriage as an uncle. You know, the true
faith, the truth of the Gospel of Grace was a very rare thing.
The world as a whole was idolatrous. and God spoke to Abraham and
called him out of Ur of the Chaldees and his nephew Lot came with
him and they spoke of the gracious dealings of God with them despite
their sinful nature the gracious dealings of God with them and
Lot's wife must have heard that gracious conversation of true
salvation which so few other people heard and in our day in
our day you children you think of this You are hearing the words
of sovereign grace from the Scriptures and how few of those around you
ever hear that. They never hear it. They just
don't hear those words being spoken. They just don't hear
eternity being discussed. They just do not hear the justice
of God and the salvation of God being discussed. All the rest
of the world is gone, says Jude, verse 11, in the way of Cain. The religion of Cain. And what's
the religion of Cain? It's man-made. It's works-based. It's I can come to God in my
own strength with the things that I've done and he's got to
accept me because I'm a pretty good guy. And how did Abel, his
brother, come? His brother came this way. His
brother came saying, I can't bring anything. Nothing in my
hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling.
Abel came with blood and blood alone. The blood of a substitute.
Picturing the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the substitute
for sinners. Abel said, I can't come any other
way. And Cain, Cain, worldly religion, hated his brother and
despised his brother and murdered his brother because Abel's testimony
poured scorn, poured contempt on Cain's works, his own works,
his own effort. Yes, they'd all gone in the way
of Cain. But Lot's wife had heard that
gracious salvation being spoken of. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
in it, said Jesus. Lot's wife must have heard Abraham
and Lot rejoicing in the prospect of the day of the one who would
come as the Son of God to save his people from their sins. Abraham
saw my day and rejoiced in it. She heard all those things. She
was so close, yet so far away. You see, her heart although she
escaped Sodom her heart was really in Sodom and she perished under
God's wrath you see family ties do not save that which is born
of the flesh remains flesh until it perishes as John chapter 3
says Jesus talking to Nicodemus it's only by the new birth that
we can see the kingdom of God this woman though she was so
close her heart was still in Sodom with all her possessions
and with all her neighbors and though she came out of the city
though she was dragged out of the city she perished under the
same wrath of God as all those others did so let us remember
Lot's wife let us remember and then thirdly though she escaped
from Sodom as I've just said she perished with Sodom you know
some of us can point to tremendous spiritual privileges We've tasted
eternal things. Tasted eternal things. We've
given a convincing testimony of faith inside. I'm speaking
to myself just as much as you. We're able to look back and see
the providential hand of God upon us, bringing us to where
we are. The fact that He, it looks to
us as if He's ordered all our steps to bring us to where we
are. And so it was with Lot's wife. She could look back as
they were escaping and see that two angels had come and providentially,
we read in Genesis, in chapter 19 and verse 16, they physically
dragged her out of that city. They took them by the hands and
dragged them out of that city. She'd even given those angels
hospitality. She'd made them food. She'd made
them beds in which to sleep. She'd given them hospitality.
She'd heard their conversation with Lot. All of those things
she had done. She'd been dragged out of that
city. They physically dragged her out of there. And they warned
her in the next verse, verse 17, whatever you do, do not look
back. Do not look back. Seems a bit
harsh, doesn't it? Just in a look. Oh, I tell you
so much is settled by a look. If you read Isaiah 45 and verse
22, God says this, Christ says this,
look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved for I am
God and there is no other look there is life in a look at the
crucified one look unto me just as he said to the Israelites
who were bitten by the snakes make a brazen serpent make the
likeness of that which is death hang it up put it up on a pole
just as Christ was As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whosoever looks to
Him must be saved. And there was a look, and those
who looked lived. Why was it? Why was it so easy?
Oh, you know, it's like I say, you're going down with swine
flu and all you need to do is to look at that curtain up there
and you'll be well. Well, that's easy enough, isn't it? It doesn't
mean that. You see, there's far more in a look. The look is the
state of the heart. The look reveals the state of
the heart. and she was told not to look
back to Sodom don't look back to Sodom don't look back to that
world which is under condemnation in Pilgrim's Progress it's called
the City of Destruction don't look back you see in a look there
is life in a look at the crucified one and there is death in a look
back to Sodom the City of Destruction it's a revelation of the state
of the heart and what an eternal difference is in that look Lot's
wife's heart was in Sodom with all her possessions and with
her neighbors and whilst the noise of the destruction you
read the account again whilst the noise of the destruction
was in her ears and the ears of Lot and the two daughters
that escaped with him she looked back and in that moment that
revealing of the state of her heart in that moment she was
turned to a pillar of salt what does that mean? it means that
she was she was caught up in the same physical geological
judgment that the rest of the plane of Sodom suffered. In the end, she was lost. In
the end, although she was so close, she was lost. Though she
had such strong family ties in the gospel, she was lost. Though
she had escaped from Sodom, she perished with Sodom. She was
so close, and yet she was still lost. And so she stands as a
warning to us to remember Lot's wife. Remember it. You see, seeming
to escape, in the end she was lost. Now I ask us, as I finish,
what about you? What about me? What are our hearts
set upon? I mentioned Pilgrim's Progress.
In Pilgrim's Progress, Pilgrim is under a weight and burden
of sin and consciousness of the day of wrath which is to come.
And he's fleeing from the wrath to come. And his family can't
understand him and those around him can't understand him and
they think he needs some psychological counselling. But he's under a
burden of sin and it's a heavy, heavy weight on his back for
God has given him that consciousness of sin. That knowledge of sin. And he knows that where he is
living is the city of destruction. And he must escape it. Because
he knows that there is a celestial city where there is eternal bliss. And he must be there. And he
must find it. But how is he going to get there?
For he can't get rid of this burden. And so he sets off. He
sets off on his journey and he finds Evangelist. And Evangelist
points him to the gate. And so he goes on until he comes
to the cross. And at the cross he sees the
burden born for him. And that burden falls off his
back and falls away down into the sepulcher. And his step is
so much lighter. But his journey is not over yet.
For he has a long way to go. And he goes through all sorts
of dangers. He passes lions, all in picture language. But
do you know what it's picturing? It's picturing the walk that
you and I, if we're believers, have through this life to eternity.
It's a walk of dangers. Of things that would take our
faith away from us. Of things that would knock us
off course. Of things that would keep us from prayer. Of things
that would stop us from reading the Scriptures. Of those pleasant,
pleasant pastures. Those pleasant pastures. The
enchanted ground, as it's called. It is so soporific, and it's
spiritually so easy to go to sleep, and it's the story of
that. It's the account of that. But
he keeps going, and God brings him to the celestial city. He
perseveres to the end. He walks down that narrow way,
that narrow way, neither to the left nor to the right. And so
what are the lessons for us? Let's not, whilst we see things
happening that we absolutely despise in spiritual terms such
dreadful things being done to the truth and cause and purposes
of God let's not presume let's not judge others let's use our
discernment but let's use all the means of grace not to go
in the way of Lot's wife and when we think that we stand to
take heed lest we fall let's use all the means of grace what
do I mean by that? I mean prayer I mean Bible reading
or how important it is. It's food. You wouldn't dream
of going through a week without eating a meal. You need it for
your body. So you need this word. This is
the bread of life. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Let us
use this privilege of worship, of meeting together, where God
has promised to meet with his people, of fellowship one with
another, for the one supports the other and the one picks the
other one up in Pilgrim's Progress he meets faithful and they journey
on together and they encourage one another on the way let's
make use of the means of grace in preaching the preached word
we have so many means not just coming here and sitting listening
to me but we have the DVDs that we make such use of because God
has so blessed us in these days with this ability to have these
gracious messages of truth from his word and though that the
flame of the love of Christ might be kindled in our hearts and
warm us and strengthen us and let's aim to know Christ and
as Paul said in Philippians 3, be found in Him oh that's where
I want to be at the end to be found in Him not having mine
own righteousness but that which is through Him and Him alone
let's remember Lot's wife