This morning Cindy Shoemaker,
her daughter Crystal, and Laura all asked that I baptize them
when I return home. Baptism is the means by which
God has ordained that we publicly confess our faith in Christ.
It is a declaration that we died with Christ and have arisen with
him. And it is an avowed allegiance
to Him now to walk with Him in the newness of life. Like Jephthah,
it is the lifting of our hands to God. We cannot go back. It is a declaration that I belong
to the Son of God. You see, faith in Christ is the
surrender of my life to Him. the glad, willing surrender of
my life to Him because I believe Him. I want that to settle in. It
is the glad, willing, continual surrender of my life, not part
of it, my life. to Him because I trust Him. And if you trust Him, you surrender
to Him. You can save your life if you
want to and go to hell. Or you can lose your life to
Him and live forever. Turn with me, if you will, to
Luke 17 and let me show you. My text, the title of my message,
my subject, was found in Luke 17 and verse 32. Now few words
are so solemn as these three words that fell from the lips
of our incarnate God. Remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife stands before us in
this passage of scripture as a solemn warning, an alarming
beacon to warn all who profess faith in Christ and yet love
the world. Her husband Lot, as we saw this
morning, was a righteous man. When God sent the angels to destroy
the city and he brought Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah, she fled
from the doomed cities with her husband. But we're told she looked
back from behind her husband in disobedience to God and she
perished, was made into a pillar of salt, a standing emblem, a
visible display of God's furious wrath. against all unbelief. When she looked back, she was
struck dead at once. And the Lord Jesus holds her
up before us and says, remember Lot's wife. Now, I say this is
a solemn warning when we think of the person who tells us, he
tells us to remember. He doesn't say, remember Abraham,
Isaac, or Jacob. Remember Sarah, Hannah, or Ruth. He singles out one specific woman
who was lost forever under the wrath of God, who today suffers
the fury of God's wrath in hell, and says, remember Lot's wife. This is a very solemn warning
when we consider the context in which it is given. Our Lord
is talking to us about God's distinguishing grace in the gift
of faith. He has just told us that in the
day when the Son of Man is revealed, we must not return to our stuff. In the very next verse he says,
whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it. And whosoever
shall lose his life shall preserve it. In a word, our Lord is calling
us to utter consecration, utter surrender, the utter devotion
of our lives to Him as our Lord and our Savior. In this context,
he says, remember Lot's wife. Lot lost his life and saved it. His wife saved her life and lost
it. Remember Lot's wife. This solemn
morning stands very solemn when we realize that the person who
gives it is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, the friend of sinners, full of mercy and grace and love,
ever compassionate and tender, he who delighteth in mercy. He
is the one of whom Isaiah wrote that will not break the bruised
reed and will not quench the smoking flax. He says, remember
Lot's wife. This warning is solemn, very
solemn, when we understand to whom it is given. Our Lord is
not talking to the Pharisees. Luke tells us specifically he's
talking now to his disciples, to Peter, James, and John, to
you and me. He's talking to his disciples
and to all those who were with his disciples, who professed
to be his disciples, who professed to love and trust and follow
him. It is to those who profess faith
in his name that the Son of God says, remember Lot's wife. Now, this solemn warning stands
most solemn when we consider the words that our Lord uses
to give it. Simple. Simple words. He doesn't say beware of Lot's
wife. He doesn't warn us not to follow
the example of Lot's wife. He doesn't tell us not to live
like Lot's wife. He simply says remember Lot's
wife. Why does he use that word? But I'm certain that it's not
because anyone's in danger of forgetting her. Even pagan philosophers
are familiar with the fact that Lot's wife was made into a pillar
of salt. Many who deny the fact of it
are aware that it is so stated in the scriptures. What's he
talking about then when he says, remember Lot's wife? He's not
telling us that we must not forget her existence and her destruction
and the fact that God destroyed her. What we're in danger of
forgetting is the lesson to be learned by her. He tells us to
keep Lot's wife ever before our minds, to remember Lot's wife. Our Lord Jesus would have us
to remember that though Lot's wife thought she was safe, she
was not saved. She was comfortable and secure
standing beside her husband, but not knowing her husband's
God. She was comfortable and secure being out of Sodom, but
she was not yet in the place of refuge in Zor. Multitudes
there are among God's professed people who are exactly like Lot's
wife. This woman was a woman whose
heart was still in the city. Her affections were still in
Sodom. She had escaped from Sodom, but
she never came to a place of refuge in Zohar. And many like
her profess faith in Christ and outwardly appear to follow Christ,
but their faces and their hearts are not fixed on Him. Their hearts
are divided. They are not among those whom
our Lord described as the pure in heart, the undivided in heart
who shall see God. But rather they seek to serve
God with a divided heart. They seek to serve Christ with
divided allegiance. They seek to follow Him with
divided affection. Our Lord says, remember Lot's
wife. Now, let me show you four things
I'm confident He would have us to remember. Remember this first. She was Lot's wife. And learn
this lesson. Salvation is not a family inheritance. Turn to John chapter 1. Now there's
much speculation about who this woman was, where she was born,
what her background was, when she became Lot's wife, and so
on. But the fact is, we know nothing else about who this woman
was, not a solitary thing. Some say she was a sodomite,
some say she was an Egyptian, but we're not told who she was
in any detail at all. All we're told about her person
is this, she was Lot's wife. And I'm confident that there
is a reason why we're told nothing else about her. It is the Lord's
intention for us ever to remember that grace is not a family possession. And it's a lesson that needs
to be sounded and sounded and sounded again and sounded from
the rooftops. Salvation does not come to anyone
simply because we're related to men and women who possess
God's grace and God's salvation. John 1 verse 12. As many as received
him. Received him. I'm going to keep
using this illustration. I don't know of a better way
to state it. There are two words translated received in the New
Testament. One is received like this glass received water. My
wife, I presume, filled the glass up with water. The glass didn't
do anything. It didn't do anything. And when
God sends His grace to sinners in salvation, His Holy Spirit
comes to us without us doing a thing. He pours in His grace. But once He's poured in His grace,
there is a response that comes. And the response is faith. That's
the word that's used here. Now watch this. I'm fixing to
receive some water. It was an active, deliberate
choice to receive the water. The word here means as many as
reach out and take Him. Oh God help you! Reach out and
take Him. As many as received Him. To them gave He power, the right,
the authority to become the sons of God. I have right now to stand
before you and stand before God as one who is the Son of God.
Because I believe Christ. He's given me the right, read
on now, even to them that believe on His name, which were born. How did this happen? How is it
you came to receive Him? How is it that you came to call
on His name? How is it you came to believe
on His name? Which were born, not of blood,
That is not by earthly pedigree. Folks have the notion somehow
that if they raise their children right, they'll certainly be the
children of God. Folks have the notion somehow
that because they are parents who believe God, their children
have one step up toward God. There are folks who even believe
that because mom and daddy are believers, the sons and daughters
will be believers and are accepted of God. No greater blasphemy
has ever been perpetrated in the name of Christ. People bring
their babies before a preacher like he's some kind of a magician
priest and he sloshes a little water on their face because they
think that sloshing a little water on that baby's face makes
him a child of God and seals to him the covenant of grace
and the child is raised two-fold more the child of hell than he
otherwise would have been because he's raised to think he knows
God when he doesn't know God. No, sir. Salvation does not run
in bloodlines. Read on. Nor of the will of the
flesh. Well, I want my boy to be saved. I want my daughter to be saved.
Who doesn't? Who doesn't? Just because you
will it, Merle, doesn't make it happen. Doesn't make it happen. Our sons
and daughters have no claim on God. And we have no claim on
God for them. None whatever. These children
sitting here, just like yours and mine, deserve the wrath of
God. If their relationship to us does
not give them any greater access to God than anyone else has.
Our only hope for them is the same hope we have for ourselves,
and that is that God Almighty may step into their lives and
stop them from going to hell. Otherwise, to hell they will
go. Not by our will, nor by the will
of man. They're not even born again by
their own will. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth. Thank God it's not. If God leaves
you to yourself, you're going to hell. If God Almighty doesn't
stop you, you will go to hell. If God Almighty doesn't step
in your way and arrest you by omnipotent, violent grace as
He did Jacob in the wilderness, you will go to hell. There's
no question. Salvation is not by the blood
of man, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man,
but of God. Oh God. Stretch forth your mighty
arm. and give life to dead sinners. That's the only hope any sinner
has. This woman, Lot's wife, was married
to a righteous man. She was united to him in the
closest possible bonds, yet she perished. She had dwelt in the
tents with holy Abraham and seemed to share all the privileges of
Abraham's family, yet she perished. She was dear to one who had been
dear to the father of the faithful, yet she perished. Though this
fact is plainly revealed in scripture, constantly repeated in scripture,
it is commonly and deliberately ignored and must be sounded out.
Grace does not run in bloodlines. Now let me be so clear you can't
possibly misunderstand me. You may be the wife of the faithful,
godly servant of God, and yet be the daughter of Belial. You
may be the husband of one of the king's daughters, and yet
yourself be a castaway. You may be the child of a faithful
prophet, and yet the child of wrath before the prophet's God.
You may be the father of the most gracious family that ever
lived and yet still be an alien to the commonwealth of Israel.
No earthly relationship can put you in good relationship with
God. If you're destitute of grace
and faith and life in Christ, you have no hope. No one is born
into the kingdom of God by natural processes of any kind. You're not born into the kingdom
of God because you're born to a certain man and woman. And
you're not born into the kingdom of God by anything that can be
accomplished through the flesh. It is written in the scripture.
To enter into the kingdom of God you must be born again. Born from above the second time
by the supernatural sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit. You must be born again or you
cannot enter this kingdom. Except a man be born again, he
cannot, he cannot, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh and will perish as flesh. We must be born again. Only the
new birth wrought in our hearts by the omnipotent power and grace,
the operations of God the Holy Spirit will bring us into the
bond of the covenant. You won't go to heaven on your
husband's coattails, and you won't go to heaven on your wife's
apron strings, and you won't go to heaven because your mom
and daddy believe God. You must trust Christ yourself. You must personally be bathed
in his precious blood. You must personally be robed
in his righteousness. You must personally believe on
the Son of God. Now look at the second thing.
Remember, the privilege is what Lot's wife enjoyed. In the days
of Abraham and Lot, saving faith was a rare, rare thing. Now,
it is rare in our day, and I realize people sometimes think we're
bigoted and harsh and divisive and all those things folks say
because we tell the truth. Folks, in our day there are few
who believe God. I know the whole world's full
of religion. Danville, Kentucky's religious as all get out. Most
folks here have been saved three or four times at least. And nobody's
saved. Nobody. Nobody. We live in a
religious apostate generation. But here are a few who believe
God. A few. But I'm going to tell you something.
In the days of Abraham and Lot, you could walk around the world
and not find another believer. Believers were few, few indeed. There were few who knew God,
few who trusted Christ, few who were born of God, few to whom
the honor of the Lord was revealed in omnipotent saving mercy, few
who like Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, few who
like Enoch walked with God, few who like Abraham believed God
because they were called of God. The knowledge of God was confined
to just a few favored people. Most of the world lived in darkness,
ignorance, superstition, and idolatry. They were just as religious
as your mama and daddy and just as religious as your neighbors,
but they didn't know God. Very few people had a good example. Such spiritual company, such
clear instruction as this woman had was a rare thing. And yet,
she perished. Not only was Lot's wife married
to a righteous man, she had Abraham, the father of them that believe,
the father of the faithful. That is, that one who sat before
us in Holy Scripture as the preeminent example of faith. Abraham believed
God. What a remarkable thing. Abraham
believed God, and he was her uncle by marriage. What a privilege. The faith, the knowledge, and
the prayers of Abraham and Lot, these two righteous men, were
things with which he was familiar. These were men who knew God,
worshipped God, believed God, and walked with God. These were
men whom she observed as righteous, godly men. She saw her husband
lot and understood something going on inside him as day by
day he vexed his righteous soul with the ungodly deeds of the
Sodomites. Religion in Abraham's house and
religion in Lot's house were not matters of formality and
ceremony. Lot worshipped God. Abraham worshipped
God. Faith in Christ was the ruling
principle of their lives, the mainspring of their actions.
All this Lot's wife observed. She knew it. What a privilege.
What a privilege. Yet she perished. When Abraham
first received the promise of God, back in Genesis 12, Lot's
wife was there. She heard what God promised.
God was going to send the Redeemer through a man born of Abraham
and Sarah. She was there. Yet she perished. When Abraham pitched his tent
between Ai and Bethel, Lot's wife was there with him. Yet
she perished. When the angels of God came to
Sodom and warned her husband to flee from the city, she saw
them. She fed them at her table. She
heard their words. And she made the beds in which
they slept. Yet she perished. When the angels
took them by the hand and led them out of the city, she was
one of those who was helped to escape from destruction. What
an astounding thing. Try to get the picture. Try to
get the picture. Here she stands with an angel
holding her hand. And she perished. Now you think you've had some
experiences? She perished. Notwithstanding all her opportunities,
notwithstanding all her privileges, notwithstanding everything she
saw and heard, Lot's wife lived and died a graceless, godless,
Christless, unbelieving soul. She lived and died without Christ,
an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger from the
covenant of promise, having no hope without God in the world. The eyes of her understanding
were never enlightened. Her heart was never broken. Her
will was never made to bow. She had a form of godliness,
but no more. She had the lamp of profession,
but no oil of life and grace in the lamp. She conformed to
her husband's way, but she never knew the way. She didn't oppose
her husband's religion. If we could put it in modern
context, he decides he's going to go to church down here at
Grace Baptist Church and hear that fellow everybody last sat in
town, those old folks that are oddities, nobody to figure out
what's going on down there. Well, honey, if that's where
you want to go, we'll go down there. It'll be all right. She didn't
oppose it. She just had no interest in it.
She just didn't care. The world was in her heart, and
her heart was in the world. And in this state she lived and
in this state she died. In all this there's much to be
learned. Hear the lesson and hear it well. God seal it to
our hearts. Privileges, no matter how great,
without grace will only be a millstone about your neck. to drag you
down forever in the torment of God's wrath in hell. Privileged despised, grace despised,
opportunity despised will aggravate your eternal damnation. and yours
shall be the greater condemnation. Our Lord said the inhabitants
of Sodom and Gomorrah will rise up against you in the day of
judgment. You who hear my voice live in
the full sunshine of the richest opportunities. Most of you here
sit under the sound of the gospel regularly. You enjoy the privilege
of hearing the gospel week after week, three times a week. You
live in households where God is worshiped, where Christ is
honored. You know truth from error. You
wouldn't be caught in an Arminian free will place for anything.
And yet you refuse to believe God. If you go on in your willful
rejection, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God in
Christ, Seeking righteousness by something you do, and that's
what it is, not to believe God. Because you really think you're
good enough to meet God. That's what it is. Oh, preacher,
that offends me. I intend to offend you. I intend
to. I intend to offend everything
that keeps you from God. I intend to. you don't believe
in because you think you're good because you think you're righteous
because you think you can do something by which you can make
yourself acceptable to God either by a work or a feeling or experience
and you therefore refuse to submit to the righteousness of God in
Christ Jesus if you do everything you've heard if God Almighty
doesn't stop you will haunt your soul forever in the darkness
of hell. This is what I want you to understand.
It takes something more than providential privileges to save
your soul. It takes something more than
godly company to produce godliness. Joab was David's captain, but
he was a lost man. Gehazi was Elisha's servant,
but he was a lost man. Demas was Paul's preaching buddy,
but he was a lost man. Judas Iscariot was our Lord's
disciple, but he was a lost man. And Lot had a worldly, unbelieving
wife. They all died in rebellion and
unbelief. They all went to hell in spite
of everything they saw and heard while they lived in this world. They all tell us that it takes
more than the means of grace to save. Salvation doesn't come
by attending means. It doesn't come apart from them,
but that's not how you get it. Salvation comes by the mighty
operation of grace by God the Holy Spirit. No other way. I
preach Christ to you. I try to preach so plain and
so clear that you can't possibly mistake my words without deliberately
stopping your ears. But I can't reveal Christ to
you. Only God the Holy Spirit can. I preach the righteousness
of Christ to you. But I can't give you that righteousness. Only God the Holy Spirit can
robe your soul in the righteousness of Christ. I preach His precious
blood. Oh, the precious blood by which
sin is put away. But I cannot sprinkle your conscience
with that blood and purge your conscience from dead works. I
call you to faith in Christ. I call on you in the name of
God. I beseech you as in God's stead,
be you reconciled to God, but I can't create faith in you.
Highly value the privileges God's given you. Highly value them. Thank God for them, but don't
trust them. If they do you no good, I promise
you they will do you everlasting harm. J.C. Ryle was exactly right when
he made this observation. Nothing so hardens the heart
of man as a barren familiarity with sacred things. The same sun that melts the wax
hardens the clay. The same sun that causes the
living tree to grow dries up the dead tree and prepares it
for the burning. Nothing so hardens the heart
of man as a barren familiarity with the things of God. Hear
the gospel. Come listen as the gospel is
preached. Read this book. Find out what
God says in this book. But don't be content merely to
hear with your ear. Don't be content merely to park
yourself on one of these pews three times a week. Don't be
content to go to hell with life standing in front of you. Lot's wife did. Remember this
too. Lot's wife escaped from Sodom
only to perish with Sodom. She is like those who are described
in 2 Peter having escaped the corruptions that are in the world.
She is like those who profess in faith in Christ are sanctified
in their outward behavior but don't know anything at all about
him in sanctifying grace. She believed that the city was
going to be destroyed. I can almost picture her on the
morning when the angels arose and said, Haste thee, linger
not, get out of the city, escape for your life. Lot's wife got
up early with her husband, and she prepared to leave the city.
And she fled rapidly with him through the streets of Sodom.
And she got out of the gates of the city, and she's out in
the plain, and then something happened. She began to do what
she should have done to start with. She began to count the
cost. And she got to thinking about
her stuff in the house. Now let's see if that's the context
in which our Lord gives this. Turn to Luke 17. Luke 17. And as it was, verse 26, in the
days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of
Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were
given in marriage until 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, But 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." This is the day when the Son
of Man is revealed. Oh my soul, what grace God has
given. He has revealed Christ in me. All right, this is the way it
will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. The gospel comes to you. The
gospel is preached to you. Christ is revealed among men
by the gospel. In that day, folks will live
for themselves. Just buy and build and buy and
build and buy and build and buy and build. 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. She looked back. She went part of the way towards
Zohar, yet she perished. She was actually out of Sodom,
yet she perished. She was almost in Zohar, the
city of refuge, yet she perished. More than 100, 150 years ago,
a Welsh ship called the Royal Charter did something no other
ship had ever done, it sailed safely around the world, navigating
the treacherous waters through the various parts of the world.
When the ship briefly docked at Queenstown, one of the sailors
telegraphed his wife and told her that he would be home in
just a few hours. You can imagine the delight. She hadn't seen
or heard from her husband in months and months and months.
She got all gussied up and spruced up the house and just the time
came for him to arrive and she went and sat down in the parlor
just waiting for him to walk through the door. And instead
a messenger knocked on the door. And he told her that as the ship
approached its home port, it was crashed, smashed to pieces,
at Melfra Bay on the coast of Wales, and her husband drowned. As soon as her pastor in the
small town heard what had happened, he rushed over to this woman
to try to minister some comfort to her. And this is what he said,
never can I forget the grief, so stricken and tearless, with
which you wrung my hand. As that lady held her pastor's
hands, these are the words with which she expressed her grief.
So near home, yet lost. So near home, yet lost. So near home, yet lost. That's the way it was with Lot's
wife. Shall that be the case with you?
It'll do you no good to live where you are in the suburbs
of the city of refuge. You must enter the city, Christ
Jesus the Lord. It will do you no good to sit
and admire the door, the door of life, and defend the door. You must enter in by the door. You must believe on the Son of
God. And remember this, Lot's wife
perished under the wrath of God. She looked, Moses tells us in
Genesis 19.6, she looked from behind her husband and she became
a pillar of salt. Well, that seems like an awful
little thing, doesn't it? What did she do? She's fleeing out
of the city and she got her face set towards Zora and she begins
to back off. And when she thought nobody was
watching. when she thought nobody really
knew what was going on inside her. When she thought, the lot's
not looking now, the angels aren't looking now, nobody paying attention
to me now, she looked back. But little things are often a
whole lot bigger than they look. There's life in a look to Christ. He says, look unto me, and be
ye saved all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and beside me there
is none else. Here's death in a look. She looked
back. What did that signify? She loved the world. She wasn't about to give it up.
Oh, she gave it up outwardly. She sure did. But she wasn't
about to give it up. Her heart was still there. Our
Lord tells us, love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. You can't serve God and Mammon. If you put your
hand to the plow and look back, you're not fit for the kingdom
of God. He has no pleasure in them that draw back. We are not
of them that draw back unto perdition, but them that believe unto the
saving of the soul. Remember Lot's wife and don't
look back. That one glance betrayed the
love of her heart. She loved the world and its stuff. And she could not pull herself
out of it. And she could not pull it out
of her heart. Remember Lot's wife. And remember that she perished
for one reason. For one reason. She did not believe God. That's it. We read nothing about this woman
that was vile. We read nothing about this woman
of any kind of ungodly behavior. She was a woman against whom
nothing is spoken in this book except she did not believe God. That's all. She perished suddenly. just like the Sodomites. Because you see, she was just
like them, and you too, who believe not God. Remember Lot's wife,
and remember, she's in hell today. Remember Lot's wife, and escape
for your life. Flee, flee, flee away to Christ. Oh, may God graciously force
you right now to flee to Christ. Come to Him. Come to Him. Preacher, how can I come to Him? Right where you sit. Right where
you sit. Don't raise your hand. I'm not
playing games with your soul. Don't wait for somebody to give
you an invitation to come to some altar. I am not playing
games with your soul. Don't wait for somebody to give
you a decision card to sign. I'm not playing games with your
soul. Come to Christ right where you
are right now. You see, faith in Christ is a
heart work. It is a heart work. It's something
that God does in you. Believe on the Son of God. He
says, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light. But preacher, a dead man can't
possibly rise from the dead. No, he can't. unless God Almighty
says in his soul, awake. Lazarus can't come out of that
tomb. No, he can't. Not if it depends on Lazarus
or you or me. But when the Son of God says,
Lazarus, come forth, stand back and watch Lazarus come out of
the tomb. Oh, Son of God, speak. Speak
and cause the dead to hear your voice. He says, him that cometh
to me, him that cometh to me, him that
cometh to me. What did he say? I will in no
wise cast out. Come unto me all you that labor
and are heavy laden. And I'll give you rest. Oh, come then to Christ and live
forever. Let's turn our hymn books to
number 442. We'll stand together and sing
this great, great hymn. And may God graciously give you
grace now to do exactly what we sing. Jesus, I come.