Would you turn to Luke chapter
17, verse 28. Luke 17, verse 28. Likewise, also, as it was in
the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, They
sold, they planted, they built it. 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. 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's in the field, let
him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. That's what I've entitled this
message. Remember Lot's wife. The Lord gives us this solemn
warning to me and to you. remember Lot's wife. We don't know her name, but we
do know that she was married to a true believer, Lot. He's described in the scripture
as just Lot. And we read of his righteous
soul and that righteous man. That's how the scripture describes
this man, Lot. That's the description only of
a believer. This woman had special privileges
being in the home of Lot, and she was actually in the family
of Abraham. Can you imagine that? Abraham. She was raised up under the influence
of Abraham himself. What a woman of great privilege. You're familiar with the struggles
of Lot. He was a very weak man. Instead of deferring to Abraham,
he chose the well-watered plain. He pitched his tent toward Sodom,
and eventually he moved into Sodom, and I believe his wife
probably had something to do with that. And he lost any power
of his testimony. Turn with me to Genesis 19. You'll remember the men of Sodom
wanting to come after the angels that were at Lot's door. Verse
6, And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door
after them. And he said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
Behold, now I have two daughters, which have not known man. Let
me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as
is good in your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing,
for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they
said, Stand back. And they said again, This one
fellow, this nothing, came to sojourn, and he'll need to be
a judge. Now he'll deal worse with thee
than with them. Now they looked at Lot, and they
said, Who are you? to tell us what we ought to be
doing. Look in verse 14. And Lot went out and spake unto
his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Get
out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he
seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. He didn't have
any power in what he said. If he said it, it made it seem
like it didn't even count. Lot was a very weak man. Now, at any rate, the Lord had
determined to destroy this city. I'm sure you remember the story,
but first turn back to Genesis chapter 13. I'm going to read
several scriptures out of chapter 18 and 19. Now, this is when verse 12, Abram
dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities
of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men
of Sodom were wicked. and sinners before the Lord exceedingly."
Look over in Genesis 18, verse 17. You remember this story, "'And
the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do,
seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For
I know That he'll command his children and his household after
him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice
and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which
he hath spoken of him. Before I go on reading, that's
talking about spiritual blessings. That's not talking about his
physical descendants, because they were a bunch of rebels.
That's talking about his spiritual descendants. Every single one
of them will keep the way of the Lord. That's a promise. That's
what he's talking about. Let's go on reading. 20. And
the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,
and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now
and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry
of it, which is coming to me. And if not, I will know. 21 And
the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom.
But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 22 And Abraham drew
near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the
wicked? 23 Perventure there be fifty righteous within the city."
That was a big city. He said, What if there are fifty
believers there? That's a lot of believers. He said, will you
spare it for the sake of 50 believers? 50 righteous? Verse 25, that be far from thee
to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked,
and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far
from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And
the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city,
then I'll spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham
answered and said, Behold, now I've taken upon me to speak unto
the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Peradventure, there should
be five of the, lack five of the fifty righteous. Look, I've
destroyed all the city for the lack of five. And he said, If
I find forty-five, I'll not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet
again and said, Peradventure, there should be forty found there.
And he said, I'll not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto
him, O let not the Lord be angry, and I'll speak. Peradventure,
there should be thirty found there. And he said, I'll not
do it if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold, now I have
taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure, there shall
be twenty found there. And he said, I am not destroyed
for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry.
And I'll speak yet, but this once. Peradventure, ten shall
be found there. And he said, I am not destroyed
for ten's sake. And the Lord went his way as soon as he left
communion with Abraham. And Abraham returned unto his
place. And there came two angels to
Sodom, that even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot,
seeing them, rose up to meet them. And he bowed himself with
his face toward the ground, and he said, Behold now, my lords,
turn in, I pray you, into your servants' house, and tarry all
night, and wash your feet, and you shall rise up early, and
go on your ways. And they said, Nay, but we'll
abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly,
and they turned in unto him. entered into his house, and he
made them a feast, and did make unleavened bread, and they did
eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the
men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all
the people from every quarter, and they called unto Lot and
said unto him, Where are the men which came to thee this night?
Bring them out unto us, that we may know them." And Lot went
out the door unto them, and shut the door after him. And he said,
I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold, now I have
two daughters, which have not known men. Let me, I pray you,
bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as good as in your
eyes. Only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they
under the shadow of my roof. I know everybody's wondering
how that's right. I don't know. But that's what took place. Let's
go on reading. And they said, stand back. And
they said, this one fellow came to sojourn, and he will need
to be a judge. Now we'll deal worse with these than with them.
And they pressed upon the man, even Lot, and came to break down
the door. But the men put forth their hand and pulled Lot into
the house to them and shut the door. And they smote the men
that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small
and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides, son-in-laws
thy sons, thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city,
bring them out of this place. 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, and Lot married his daughters and said, Up, get
you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city. But
he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. They didn't
take him seriously. And 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, while
he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand
of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord
being merciful unto him." Now, that's mercy. That's mercy. And they brought him forth and
set him without the city. And it came to pass when they
brought him forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life.
Now look at the command. Look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be
consumed. Look not behind thee. Now which of you, or which of
us, I know this used to always bother me. When I think of Lot's
wife looking behind, and I thought if I was running and I knew the
place was being destroyed, I couldn't resist turning around and looking.
I'd want to see it. And I always kind of felt sorry
for Lot's wife, thinking, is that kind of severe? I mean,
I would have been very tempted to look back. But understand
what this word, look, means. The word is also translated to
have respect, to regard. to regard with favor,
care, or pleasure. Don't regard this place. Don't
favor this place. Now, what was Sodom? It was a
very wicked place. There were not ten believers
in that entire city. And it was dominated by the sin
of homosexuality. You could see that taking place
with these men wanting to break down the door. to get at those
angels. Now, homosexuals are called in
the scripture, sodomites. And homosexuality represents
man's religion. It can't produce life. It goes to the act, but it cannot
produce life. No one can be saved through this. Now, homosexuality, the sin itself,
of course it's a horrible, evil sin. But it is representative
of something, man's religion. And as far as that goes, before
you get too hard on the homosexuals, our Lord said to Capernaum, Sodom
and Gomorrah is going to have it better than you. These people
were these homosexuals. They're going to have a better
on Judgment Day than you because you're the ones who've seen me
and heard me and rejected me. Sodom was a very wicked place,
and Sodom and Gomorrah, there's typical significance. They represent
the world, the world of unbelievers, whether dark, evil, perversion,
or whether man's religion. It's still of the world. It's
that world that John warned 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. For all that's of the world,
The lust of the flesh, the cravings and desires of sinful, fallen
human nature, the lust of the eyes, as caring about what men
think rather than what God thinks, being concerned about what men
see rather than what God sees, the pride of life, salvation
by works, self-righteousness and so on, the pride of life.
It's not of the Father, but of the world. Love, not the world. Now, when he said, don't look
back, what he's saying is the same thing as love, not the world. This same world of which Christ
refused to pray for. I want you to think of how intense
that is. Christ himself said, I pray not for the world. He refused to pray for him. He
said, I'm not of the world. So they run out of the city towards
the little town of Zoar, and Lot's wife was with him. She
escaped out of the city, but begin reading verse 23. The sun
was risen up upon the earth when Lot entered into Zohar. She got
out of the city. 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 cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a
pillar of salt. And our Lord says, remember Lot's
wife. Now the only way that you and
I can truly, genuinely not look back to this world and not love
this world is if there's something we love better. Or if there is
someone we love better. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
6. You know, when we hear love not
the world, I guarantee you, there's something in us that, you know,
because we're thinking about certain things in the world that
we do love, and it scares us to death. And James says, if
any man will be the friend of the world, he's the enemy of
God. What is this thing? How does someone go about not
loving the world? Well, look here in Galatians
chapter 6. Paul says in verse 14, that God
forbid that I should glory, that I should rejoice in, that I should
have confidence in. God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world
is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ has such glory in it that in light of the cross,
and what's meant by the cross? That's how God saved sinners.
I was saved by what our Lord did on the cross. And I see all
the glory of God in that. I see God's purposes come to
pass through the cross. Him ordained to save in the lame
sling from the foundation of the world, and all that comes
to pass. I see God's justice, how all sin is punished. I see
God's sovereignty, how His will is done. I see God's mercy and
grace in providing His son for sinners. Oh, I see such glory,
such glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in light
of the cross, I see this world as a crucified thing. The pleasure of knowing Christ
is better than the pleasures of this world. It really is. You take the lust of the flesh,
knowing Christ is better. The lust of the eyes. And every
one of us have been dominated by that. Caring about what people
think rather than what God thinks. Look at what men think. When
you see the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on the
cross, you could care less what men think, could you? I mean,
you really don't care. You only care what God thinks.
In light of the cross of Christ, the pride of life, self-righteousness
seems like an obnoxious thing. You see, it's only as I see the
cross. By whom? He didn't say by which,
by whom? You can't separate the cross
of Christ and the person of Christ. By whom the world is crucified
unto me. and I unto the world." Now, when
she looked back, she was saying, I love the world better than
I love Him. Luke 9, 61, I feel like I've
understood this really for the first time. I've always wondered
about this verse of scripture. And another also said, Lord,
I will follow thee. Anything that begins with I will
is going to end up bad. You can just count on that. Lord,
I will follow thee. But let me first go bid them
farewell which were at home, at my house. Let me do this first. And look how our Lord replied.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Now what
is this all about? Putting your hand to the plow
and looking back, and that renders you unfit for the kingdom of
God. You know, there is no clearer
or simple or better illustration of what faith is than plowing
a furrow. How's that? There's only one
way to plow a straight furrow. You know what that is? is to
fix an object, your eyes on that object, and just look at that
object and go toward it. You don't take your eyes off
that object. The only way you're going to get a straight furrow
is by keeping your eyes on that object. Now, if you're plowing
and you look to the side to see how somebody else is doing, what's
going to happen? You're going to veer off. You look at somebody
else, it's just going to mess you up. You're not going to...
Don't look at anybody else. Well, so-and-so, they discouraged
me. They ought to be... Forget them.
What's that got to do with you? Absolutely nothing. When you're
plowing, don't look at your feet. You don't look at your walk.
I guarantee you, if you're looking at your walk, and you can find
some goodness in your walk, you've missed it all together. Well,
my walk's real good, but if you look at your walk while you're
plowing, I guarantee you, you'll go all over the place. You can't
do a straight furrow like that. And if you look behind you, what's
going to happen? You're looking behind to see
how straight it is. You're going to go. You're going to go to the side.
Don't look back to your experience. Don't look back to something
in the past. The only thing that faith is, is looking straight
to Christ. The only way you can follow him
is by looking at him, looking to him. And this is what the
life of faith is. It's not looking at your walk.
It's not looking at somebody else's walk. It's not looking
back to some past experience. It's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what does it mean to look
to Christ since I've never seen him physically? How am I to look
to him? I can answer that. In looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ, that means I look to him as my salvation. I can't
see him physically, but I believe my salvation, all my salvation,
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I look to Him only. I look to His life as my life before God. His personal life. is my life before God. His obedience, I'm looking to
His obedience as my obedience. I look to His death as my complete
sin payment. I look to His resurrection as
my justification before God. I look to Him at the right hand
of God. I can't see Him physically, but I'm relying on Him as my
salvation. I'm not looking anywhere else.
I'm not looking at my walk. I'm not looking at your walk.
I'm not looking at my experience. I'm looking to Him only. That's what faith in Christ is.
It's looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. You're familiar
with this passage of Scripture. Now, he had named all these people
in Hebrews chapter 11 who, by faith, had done so many things. He says, Wherefore, seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and thee seeing which doth so
easily beset us. You know what that is? It's unbelief. That's the sin that doth so easily
overturn us. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Now, that's
how I'm to run this race. looking unto Jesus, just the
way that man found a pearl. He looks at that one looking
unto Jesus. How do I look to him? Looking
unto Jesus as the author of my faith. I don't try to work up
faith. I know it comes from Him. And
I look to Him to perfect it or finish it. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. That means I'm looking
to Him for everything. I'm looking to Him for my faith.
I'm looking to Him to keep my faith going. I don't come to
Him with faith. I come to Him for faith. Faith
comes by looking. You don't bring your faith to
Him. You look to Him and you believe. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy, the joy
that was set before Him, had caused him to not look back,
the joy of doing his father's will, the joy of obeying his
father, the joy of saving me. Joy, for the joy that was said
before him, he never looked back. He endured the cross. The scripture
says he set his face as a flint. He endured the cross, despising
the shame and all the shame he experienced. You think of the
most humiliated you've ever been when you've been exposed or caught
in something and nothing can be done about it. There you are.
You've been exposed and you feel so terrible. He felt that much
more acutely than you and I've ever felt. When my sin became
his, he had all the shame and the humiliation of it. Yet he
despised it. Counted it as nothing. And sat
down. Having finished his work, sat
down at the right hand of the Father, he sits as my righteousness. He sits as my wisdom. He sits
as my sanctification. And he sits as my redemption. And there's nothing for me to
look back to. Here's my experience, him. That's my experience. Now, I want us to turn to one
of my favorite passages of Scripture, Philippians 3. This is where Paul spoke of forgetting
those things that are behind. Now I'm not going to look back
at those things, I'm going to forget them. And reaching forth into those things
we performed. But let's read the verses that come up to that.
He says, Finally, my brethren, in verse 1, Rejoice in the Lord. And to write the same things
to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, it's not irksome, but
for you, it's safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. He's talking about preachers,
religious people. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit. I know this. The only way I can
worship God is in the Spirit. I can't worship Him without the
Spirit of God. The only way I can prove the worship is by God,
the Holy Spirit, causing me to worship. That's why I don't say
Come worship with us. Well, come hear the gospel. Come
hear the truth. But I can't do, you know, it
takes the spirit of God to worship. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice, glory in Christ Jesus. That's
the same word used, glory in the cross. We have confidence
only in Christ Jesus. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. Verse four, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, If any other man thinketh that
he hath the way of him I trust in the flesh, I've got more than
him. Paul didn't like confidence, did he? Circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin as a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law. I was a Pharisee concerning
zeal. I was so zealous about what I
believed that I felt it my moral obligation to persecute anybody
who didn't believe the way I did. That's why I persecuted the church
and thought I was serving God in doing so. touching the righteousness
which is in the law. I was blameless. Now, I can't
get hold of that. But he said I can look at the
Ten Commandments outwardly and say I've kept them. That's a
pretty impressive rationale, isn't it? But, verse 7, what
things were gained to me, I considered them beneficial to me, those
I counted loss actually harmful and destructive. All this stuff
that I thought was in the plus column, I found out that it was
in the minus column, and it was actually destructive and hurting
me. He says in verse 8, yea, doubtless.
I count all things but loss, but garbage, but refuse. For
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And if you're a believer, you
feel that way too, don't you? Every believer, I know it. Every
believer will say, I count all things close. For the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, I love this, my Lord. He's my Lord. For whom? I've suffered the loss of all
things, and do count all that stuff that I lost, but what?
Dumb." He wasn't sorry and over it, was he? He wasn't talking
about all the things that he gave up for Christ. Oh, I gave
up dumb. Well, you know, that's not much to lose, is it? That I may win Christ. Here's
what I want. That I may win Christ and be
found in Him. When God comes looking for me,
this is the only place I want to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just like when God passed through
to smite the firstborn, where's the one place you'd want to be
found? In the house with the blood over the door. I bet you
wouldn't stick your hand out the window, would you? You'd
want to be in that house and nowhere else. Oh, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. which is of the law. I don't
want to have anything to do with my righteousness, because I know
what it is. It's filthy rags. I don't want to bring that before
God. I really believe that. But that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I may know Him. That I may have a relationship
with Him. That doesn't mean no stuff about
Him. That means I want to know Him
so that He knows me. I know His name, and He knows
my name. Where I wouldn't be just name-dropping
if I mentioned Him. He'd say, He's one of mine. I
want to have a relationship with Him. I want to know the living
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to know Him. Paul, don't
you already know Him? Yes, I do. But I sure want to
know Him better. And I feel like my knowledge
of Him is about like a dog's knowledge of its master. And
I want to know Him more. Oh, that I might know him, and
that I might know the power, verse 10, of his resurrection. That means a couple of things.
First, in knowing the power of his resurrection, I want to know
the justifying power of his resurrection. I want to enter into this thing
of justification. I don't want it to be just a
document. I want to know that I stand just before God. Not
guilty. He was delivered to our fences
and raised again for our what? Justification. And I want to
know something of the life-giving power of this resurrection. Here's
what I mean by that. Paul said, But God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Do you know what that means?
When Christ was quickened and when Christ was given life, so
was every one of his people. When did you live? when Christ
was quickened. That's what I believe. You see,
his life literally is my life. I want to know the power of his
resurrection. And look what he says next. I want to know the
fellowship of his sufferings. What's that mean? I don't want to suffer the same
things he did. I mean, if the Lord caused me... If we're called to suffer physically,
so be it, if that's what the Lord would have. But that's not
really what he's talking about. What he's saying is, I want to know I had to share
in what he did. I want to know what he did. He
did for me. I want to know I had fellowship
in that. I want to know that I was in him, that when he suffered,
I suffered. That when he was raised, I was
raised. I want to know my fellowship
with him, my having a part in what he did. And then he says
in verse ten being made conformable unto his death. Now, what's that
mean? Christ became obedient unto death. For him to be obedient to God,
he had to die. And I say this with fear and
with trembling, but I know this is so. I ought
to choose death over disobedience in any way. That's a solemn thing
to think about, isn't it? Paul said, I want to be made
conformable to him in his death, if by any means I might attain
to the resurrection of the dead. That's what I want. Now, turn
back to Luke 17, where we began. Now, this thing of Lot's wife,
she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. I don't want us thinking, oh,
I'm afraid of looking back and turning into a pillar of salt,
or being left to myself, or being brought under the judgment of
God. I want us to see such glory in the Lord Jesus Christ that
it's not a temptation to look back. Remember, our Lord said, remember
Lot's wife, verse 33. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever
shall seek to save his life shall lose it. And that means two things. If
you attempt to save your life by your works, you're going to
lose it. You can just write that down. And if you attempt to save your
life by avoiding confessing Christ and the trouble that comes with
it, you'll lose it. Whoever saves his life will lose
it. But if you lose your life, trusting
Christ to save you and confessing Him, you'll preserve it. Now, Lot's wife is an example
of love for this world. Lot's Savior. If by the grace of God, I see
Lot's Savior, I'm going to be like Lot. Just righteous, righteous
soul. Looking to Christ, my righteousness.
May God give us such a view of Lot's Savior. And what a Savior
Lot had, because there wasn't anything to do Lot, was there?
I mean, if you read his example, what is there that's commendable
about him? I don't see anything. I mean,
the guy, he was a mess, wasn't he? But what a Savior he had that
made him righteous and just. You look to Lot's Savior. May I look to Lot's Savior, and
we won't be looking back. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's blessed
name that you will, by your Spirit, enable us to look only to thy
blessed Son and to not look back. Bless this word for Christ's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.