A Pillar of Warning and Truth

During his time on earth, Jesus Christ was often asked about the coming of the kingdom of God and what it will be like. Of course, the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about the coming of the kingdom of God. The people then, in ever since, want to know when it will come and the signs of its coming. It was in response to some of these questions that Jesus made a brief and clear warning or admonition. He said, Remember Lot's wife. Let's turn there and look at that. Luke 17, verses 26 through 33. And let's read how this admonition came to be. Luke 17, verses 26 through 33. Of course, Jesus Christ answered this question, various times, coming to the Son of Man. In this case, he's speaking to the disciples and to them in verse 26 of Luke 17. He states, As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. In many ways, life was just going on as normal, and people are getting married before the days of Noah. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot. They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Again, normalcy was interrupted by disaster, unexpected disaster. Even so it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, verse 31, he who is on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Christ's admonition to remember Lot's wife has direct implications, as we can read here, for those living during the time of Christ's return. But those three words also bear a most sober warning that we need to hear and to understand today, on this very day. In my message this afternoon, we will focus on Jesus' admonition and on the account of Lot's wife. Among a number of things we'll consider are two questions. One question is, what does Christ mean by his warning, remember Lot's wife? And two, the second question, why should we care about Lot's wife? Why should we care about Lot's wife? I've entitled the sermon today, A Pillar of Warning and Truth. A Pillar of Warning and Truth. So if we're going to learn a lot about Lot's wife and wife, let's turn back to Genesis 19 and read the account there. Let's remind ourselves what was going on, what happened. Genesis 19, and I'm going to go through this rather quickly, Genesis 9, 1-3, to establish a foundation for our study. Genesis 19, verse 1-3, I'm going to begin with the account where the angels who had already met with Abraham, two of those angels, the two angels, have now come to Sodom in verse 19. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Lot's sitting in the gate, by the way, I'm not going to try to interrupt too much as I read, but it's a good indication that he was probably among the judges or elders of the city of Sodom. They often sat in the gate to oversee things to make judgments on behalf of the people.

Boy, I got a frog that does not want to leap out.

So Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed. Excuse me. I'm looking at that mountain. I feel better. Okay, sorry about that. I really am. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. And he said, Here now, my lords, please turn into your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he, Lot insisted strongly. So they turned into him and entered his house. And then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and the eight. And so Lot, we see, greets the visitors. He's very much mindful of hospitality to strangers. And he also took care to insist that the two men or narrangels take shelter in his house that night. We can surmise that Lot knew the streets were too dangerous, the streets were too dangerous, as we're about to see. Of course, news of the two strangers spread quickly throughout the town, verse 4 through 5. Now before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally. It's interesting here, we're told that all the men who saw them surrounded Lot's house.

Continuing on, verse 6. So Lot went out to them through the doorway, and he shut the door behind him and said, Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly. See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish. Only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.

He's trying to keep them safe. And they said, the men in the street said, Stand back. And then they said, This one, he's referring to Lot, this one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them. And so they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to breaking down the door. Lot rather bravely stepped out. He's trying to protect his guest. And he begged the men of Sodom not to behave wickedly, even offered them as two daughters.

Perhaps that was his attempt to stir up their sense of guilt or compassion, to make them go away. But of course, these men had neither guilt nor compassion. And it seems that Lot may indeed have been a judge, and we looked at their words. But if he were a judge, we certainly can see the men did not respect him or his office.

In verse 10, the two men reached out their hands. These are the two men in the house, the angels. They reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. And then the men said to Lot, Have you anyone else here, son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place.

For we will destroy this place because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. It seems rather quickly the angels got to communicate the angels that, indeed, the fate of solemn was dire. It would be destroyed. Lot, upon obeying their instructions, verse 14, Salat went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, Get up! Get out of this place! For the Lord will destroy this city!

But to his sons-in-law, he seemed to be joking. They thought he was hilarious. Ridiculous. They were quite confident of Sodom's safety. Verse 15, When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him.

And they brought him out and set him outside the city. And so it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, Escape for your life. The angel told him, Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. It's interesting Lot seems a little less eager to flee the city. Lights up, suns up, he's a little more slow, and even begs for favor, which God does grant. In verse 18, Lot said, Please know, my lords, indeed now your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy, which you have shown me by saving my life.

But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me, and I die. See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there, is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. And he said to him, the angel said to him, See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zor.

The sun had risen, verse 23, upon the earth when Lot entered Zor. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Because she looked back, Lot's wife perished in the conflagration that consumed Sodom, Gomorrah, and the entire plain. Her sudden end is rather sudden, it seems to me, reading this, and all of a sudden, just like that, she's dead. It's almost shocking in the larger context of what happens in this account. And she became a pillar of salt, a stubby protrusion of that now salty plain of destruction. And yet, for us, according to Christ's word, she is much more than that. For those who believe and obey God, she is a pillar of warning and of truth.

What did Lot's wife do that was so sinful that God allowed her to be killed along with all the other inhabitants of the cities and the plain? Was it a mere glance at Sodom that caused God's disdain? What's so significant about her action that Jesus Christ warns his followers to remember her? Let's consider some clues as we attempt to answer the questions. Let's consider some clues regarding the actions of Lot's wife. Why would Lot's wife ignore the warning? I wonder. The angels instructed her not to look back or to stay in the plain. Why did she disobey such clear directions? What was she thinking? Of course, none of us can answer for sure what she is thinking. Not right now. Maybe someday in her resurrection we can talk to her if she remembers. But we can't know for sure the answers to those questions. But we can surmise some reasons based on research about people in general. There is research about people who have been ordered to evacuate endangered areas and who have refused to do so. The question of why some people refuse to save themselves from catastrophe? That's a question that has plagued government officials, disaster relief experts, firemen, psychologists, and many others for decades, for years. In recent years, research has pinpointed several reasons why and some of which lend insight to our human way of thinking and that gives us clues as to what may have been going on in the mind of Lot's wife. This research comes from individuals who stayed put during hurricanes, during fires, rather than fleeing to safety as warned. Why do people, like Lot's wife did, why do people defy clear warnings to flee to safety? Various reasons. Here's the first reason. People don't want to leave their possessions. They don't want to leave their possessions. People love their stuff, we would say. They love their stuff. And so some will stay out of fear of losing everything they have. Others won't leave in fear of their home being damaged or looted. And still others remain because they can't stand to leave their pets behind. That is a fact. They even had to make a law so that people are allowed to bring their pets with them when they they flee to shelters and such. In the article, Why Do People Ignore Hurricane Evacuation Orders? Dr. Josh KlaPow, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he explains that for a lot of people, home is a part of their identity. It goes beyond what the financial value is. And so for people, leaving their home is like leaving a family member. It's like leaving a piece of themselves behind. KlaPow adds that for some, a home may be all that they have, both financially and emotionally. Rather interesting. Lot's wife may have thought of her house in possessions in a similar way. All they had, all that she and her family had, all they had built was now being left behind. More than that, she was leaving family behind. Daughters and sons-in-laws, she was leaving behind the life they had made. They left plans unfulfilled.

But Scripture tells us our view must be different. Let's read Matthew 19, verse 29. It is very important for us to remember. It is difficult to place family below God in importance, yet that is what Christ Himself said we must do. Matthew 19, 29. Christ said, "...in everyone who has left houses or brothers and sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life." So, yes, some of us have left families. Our children, our parents, perhaps other relatives, don't believe what we do. And so, in a sense, we've had to separate ourselves, leave them. But yet we do that because we love God and we want to obey Him. Let's also look at Romans 11.33 regarding our possessions and the things we have. Romans 11.33. Instead of clinging to the material riches of the world, Scripture admonishes us to cling to the treasures, cling to the treasure of the riches of God's life-saving truth. That is true riches. Romans 11.33 reads, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.

If we know these things of God, then we are rich. It's not how many toys we have at home. It's how much we know of God that makes us rich. There is another reason why people don't like to flee. People also ignore warnings and refuse to flee because they don't like disruption in their lives. People don't like disruption in their lives.

Interestingly, this point applies not only in cases of evacuation due to hurricanes and flood, but also to fires. In an article entitled, The Reasons People Ignore Fire Alarms, have you ever done that? Yes, I have. The reasons people ignore fire alarms. The number one reason people ignore fire alarms is because people don't like to stop what they're doing. Maybe that sounds familiar to some of us. We don't like to stop what we're doing. But the article continues and lets us know that complacency, ignoring the danger of signs, can be deadly. The article continues in 1979, in this example. In 1979, a horrific fire broke out on the second floor of England's Manchester branch of Woolworths. Some of you are actually old enough to remember what a Woolworths was. It was before you younger people in the audience, Woolworths is where we went before Walmart existed. We used to call it the dime store.

The fire broke out in this Woolworth. It's been like a four or five story Walmart. Let's put it that way. Customers were eating there. They had little restaurants. Customers eating in the restaurant at Woolworths didn't take notice of the alarm when it sounded. Evacuation expert, Professor Ed Gala, said people who had purchased and paid for their meal, even though they could see the smoke, they could smell the smoke, they could hear the alarms going off, they felt they had sufficient time to complete their meals before evacuating. Ten people lost their lives that fateful day. They were wrong. They didn't want to be disrupted. It's my lunch hour.

Looking back at Sodom, I wonder. Lot's wife may have seen the many years of comfortable habits of her undisrupted life. Perhaps she saw the routines, the customs, and ways of everyday life in the city. She saw old friends and neighbors in your mind's eye. A community she knew very well. She knew all the markets. She knew the vendors. She would have known every street and every house. She probably knew the names of the cats and dogs, too.

It wasn't perfect. Sodom wasn't perfect, but it was home, and it's what she knew. She didn't really want to leave. And certainly, we too don't like disruption in our lives. I don't. I'm a creature of habit. We don't want to be pestered out of our routines, but we should not become too settled in our lifestyles, should we? No matter where we live, we should be careful of becoming too set in our ways. We are to be pilgrims in this world. We are to be travelers, per se. Staying unattached, in a sense, is what we must be doing as we live in this world. Let's look at Hebrews 11, verse 13. Hebrews 11, verse 13. Let's note this in reference. Hebrews 11, verse 13 is referring to the faithful, to the faithful who have preceded us in this physical life. Hebrews 11, verse 13 reads, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, the same promises we await, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them. They knew they were there, and they embraced the promises, and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. We need to have the same mentality. This is only a temporary stay. A few musicians out there, it's a temporary gig. Did I say that right? Okay, yeah. This is only temporary. This is not what life's all about. Get used to disruption. A third reason. Another reason people refuse to flee is because they don't accept the reality of their situation. People refuse to flee, they find, because they don't accept the reality of their situation. In the article entitled, Why Do Some Stay Despite Evacuation Orders, you can tell there's a lot of information out there. It's a big concern out there. Why do some stay despite evacuation orders? Dr. John Stutsman, director of outpatient treatment and psychiatry at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital, someone knows these things, he states that people allow themselves to believe that they can handle the storm. They can handle the disaster, whatever it might be. And he says that means there's a certain amount of denial involved. People deny the truth. No matter how severe the storm, people are sure that they will survive. They will make it. Patrick Tyner at Southwestern Medical Center down the road in Dallas, he adds that people develop a false sense of safety and end up risking their lives to be in their beloved safe place. Safe place being, well, sadly in many parts of Texas, a safe place being a trailer home, perhaps, during times of tornado. For some children, a safe place can be under a bed during a fire. Firemen are trained to look there first. They're denying the reality.

Many will stay on even when they should flee because it gives them a sense of control. If they can control their home, their place, then they can control their lives. It's a delusion.

Others develop a false sense of confidence because they remember weathering a previous storm and feel confident in their ability to survive the next one. But the outcome is that people place themselves in terrible danger and some die, and they do this because they refuse to consider the reality of their plight. They do not recognize how dire the situation is. Perhaps that was true for Lot's wife. Lot's wife perhaps remembered how she had survived other perilous times that had happened to her. For example, that time, 10, 13 or so years before, when the four kings defeated Sodom in a war, the time they took Lot captive and many others from Sodom. But it was okay because Abraham arrived with 318 of his men, and they defeated the enemy kings and rescued Lot and returned everybody safely, all the captives back safe to Sodom. Perhaps she remembered that, and although this situation was different than before, perhaps she thought that they've survived bad times before. They can survive this too. So she looked back to Sodom.

We should live with trust in God. We should live with trust in God. Look back in Psalm 18, 12, a man that is our teacher when it comes to trust. Trust in God as King David. Psalm 18, too. Psalm 18 verse 2. We must learn to do our part as much as we can. That means sometimes preparing for storms, both physical and spiritual. We can do our part, yes, but then the remainder we need to leave in God's hands. Psalm 18, too, King David wrote, the Lord is my rock. He is my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my shield in the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. God alone gives us salvation, hope for eternal life, of course. So these are reasons why people refuse to flee when they're told, get out.

So again, I wonder, what did Lot's wife see as she looked back to Sodom? Maybe we can put some of this together. She saw home. She saw her normal life where people ate, drank, they were married, they had families. There people bought and sold, they planted, built for the future. Many years ago, when I was teaching, I came across a poem called Lot's Wife, believe it or not. It's a poem called Lot's Wife, and it's written by Christine Batie, B-A-T-E-Y, and she is a contemporary American poet. In Batie's poem, she puts us in a place where we watch Lot's wife as she prepares to flee this town, her hometown of Sodom, that she has come to love. And I cannot read to you the entire poem. I encourage you to read it. But I do want to read to you an excerpt from her poem because it captures what I believe is a very common perspective of everyday life, and it also captures just how difficult it can be to let go of her everyday lives, to let go of what we're familiar with. The excerpt starting line 16 goes like this. Speaking of Lot's wife, in the morning, when he, Lot, tells her of the judgment, she puts down the lamp she is cleaning and carefully begins to pack. In between bundling up the children and deciding what will go, she runs for a moment to say goodbye to the herd, to say goodbye to the herd, gently patting each soft head with tears in her eyes for the animals that will not understand. And she smiles blindly to the woman who held her hand at child bed. It is not easy for eyes that have always turned to heaven not to look back, the poem reads. I thought that's interesting line. It is not easy for eyes that have always turned to heaven not to look back. Beatty's entire poem again can be found online, but this excerpt expresses the powerful and emotional attachment we can have for the physical things of this life. This poem also gives us more insight as to what may have motivated Lot's wife to look back. She looked back to home, to what she knew. Now, God is the one that gives us physical blessings. God is the one that gave Lot's wife these physical blessings. God would have us enjoy the blessings of this life. Do never doubt that. Do never doubt that. But as we enjoy the things of this physical life, God would have us focus beyond the here and now to something that goes on into eternity. Enjoy the things of this life as God would guide us and direct us, but we need to be looking beyond the physical here and now. We should remember that God doesn't view life the same way as people do. He does not look at life the way you and I do until we learn to look at life his way. In fact, let's look at Isaiah 55, 8 through 9. This is something very important that we all remember, and especially as young people, that we understand and recognize this because the world we live in, we love our friends, the people we spend time with, but not all of them understand what we do. It's important then to remember these words of Isaiah the prophet. God inspired the prophet Isaiah to write these, Isaiah 55, verse 8 through 9. God speaking says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. We have a lot of work to do to catch up and to see things the way God sees things, but he's there to help us all along the way, and he provides us the Scripture and instruction and the Spirit to help us see life with his eyes.

So we thought about, considered some clues, some ideas, what may have been going on in the mind of Lot's wife? What was she thinking of? But now let's take the other side. What did God see when he looked down upon Sodom? What did God see when he looked at Sodom?

When God looked down upon Sodom and when he sent his angels to investigate the city directly, in person, we might say, he saw things that Lot's wife failed to see. What human beings might come to see as normal and to accept as normal, you know, it's just normal, it's okay, it's the way we do things, it's everyday life, what we saw as normal, God may see differently, God may see it as sin. God sees sin more often than not. Let's go back way to the back of the Bible. Jude, well, we can call it Jude 1, verse 5 through 7. I can't get confused in chapters, there's only one chapter. Jude 1, verse 5 through 7.

Jude talks about life as he understood it as God had led him to see. And to describe what life is like in humanity and the ways of the world, he referenced it by comparing it with Sodom. Jude 1, verse 5 through 7. He's writing to fellow believers, he states, But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Verse 7. As Sodom and Gomorrah, in the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

God did not view the morality of Sodom and Gomorrah as normal, as, well, that's just what people do nowadays. He saw it as something abhorrent and very unnatural, something quite contrary to how he created men and women to be. Such behavior is sin, and like all sin, there's something we can and must repent of. Let's also turn to Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16. Here we see God's words spoken through the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel 16, verse 49 through 50.

If we read our Bibles carefully and doing what we're doing now, we'll come to see that, although Sodom is infamous for their sexual immorality, that was not Sodom's only problem by far, although that's what they're most known for. Ezekiel is inspired here to compare the sins of Sodom with those of Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel. In verse 49 of Ezekiel 16, he is inspired to write, Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom. She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away as I saw fit. And so God destroyed Sodom not only because of its widespread sexual immorality, but also because of its pride and its greed.

Sodom, we should remember, rested in a well-watered and fertile plain originally. After all, that's what drew Lot to choose to take his herds and his herdsmen that way towards the Jordan River and the valley there. In the city, the city would have done much trade with its neighbors and outlying cities. And scholars are also quite confident now that Sodom would have been rich by selling salt from the salt sea or the Dead Sea. Salt was a very lucrative trade thousands of years ago. And so, by any standard of ancient times, Sodom must have been a very wealthy city indeed. And its people would have had a level of luxury, unlike many of its neighbors. Yet it seems that Sodom's wealth gave rise to arrogance. We're told here in Ezekiel, it gave rise to arrogance, gluttony. They became complacent. They were very heartless and unloving and uncaring. And even as we saw in Genesis 19, the men of that city had no sense of shame in demanding that Lot hand over to them the two men whom he sheltered in his home, two strangers, two travelers. They wanted them so that they might assault them sexually. And they were haughty. They condemned Lot for acting as a judge. You see, Lot, they thought, was judging them for their behavior. And when we consider Ezekiel's description of the people of Sodom, we find in it echoes of something Paul will describe later. As we read in 2 Timothy 3, we don't need to turn there because I think the words are familiar to us. I know I've been quoting them often. Paul describes what life will be like in the last days, the days we live in. The people then in the last days, among other things, will be lovers of themselves. Among other things will be lovers of themselves, without self-control, brutal, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Let's also turn to 2 Peter 2. In 2 Peter 2, verses 6 through 10, we're going to break into the thought here. Peter is speaking about God's action against the unrighteous, of which Sodom and Gomorrah seem to exemplify. In 2 Peter 2, breaking into thought here in verse 6, in turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, God condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly. God wanted people to pay attention so that they wouldn't do as Sodom. And He delivered righteous lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. For that righteous man, for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. I think we know how He felt. I think we should know how He felt. Verse 9, then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation.

He knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness. And who despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed, and they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. And so again, my point is to make clear to us that Sodom stands out for its sin and its lawlessness in very many ways, in different levels. Primarily, Sodom stood out, along with Gomorrah, for being totally ungodly, for being absolutely wicked and depraved in its treatment of others and especially of the righteous.

Now, with this better understanding of how God saw Sodom, I think we are better equipped now to answer that question. What did Lot's wife do that was so terribly sinful?

What did she do that was so terribly sinful that it warranted her destruction?

Well, let's consider what happened again. It was because of God's grace and mercy that God's two angels led Lot's wife out of that sinful city that was doomed to complete annihilation. She and her husband, along with their two daughters, held hands with the angels as they were led out of the city. Imagine holding hands with angels leading into safety. And then God granted her and her family more favor by allowing them to flee to the safety of nearby Zor, that small city. It was a tiny city, but it was a city. So much better, I imagine, than the rigors of living in a mountain cave, as originally they had been told to do. God granted to her and her family life and safety away from Sodom.

But despite God's mercy and compassion, Lot's wife looked back toward Sodom. Now, I could be wrong. I could be wrong. But I don't think God allowed her to become a pillar of salt only because of a quick and simple glance back at Sodom.

I think there is more to her look back toward Sodom than just a glance.

More likely, I suspect that God knew what was in her heart. God knows our motivations. He knows what's in our hearts. God knew what was in her heart and what fueled that look she gave in looking back to Sodom. He knew what had caused her to disobey his very clear instruction. The brimstone and fire, let's remember, the brimstone and fire did not fall from the sky until Lot reached the safety of Zor.

Well, then why wasn't she Lot's wife with Lot and her daughters? Where was she?

Scripture only tells us that she looked back and perished. But I suspect that she also lingered on the plane. She dragged her feet. She dallied along the way. She was reticent to leave what she truly loved. She didn't want to leave what she truly loved. In other words, Lot's wife regretted leaving Sodom. She regretted leaving Sodom. Her looking back expressed her yearning to return to that city. She desired the way of Sodom rather than the way of obedience to God, the way of righteousness. And so she was consumed by God's fiery destruction along with the thousands of others in the cities and in the plains there along the Dead Sea. So why should we remember Lot's wife? Why should we remember Lot's wife? Well, because Jesus Christ warns us not to follow the same course that she took. Jesus Christ does not want us to do what she did. God has extended to us his grace and mercy. He is leading us, calling us now. He has given us his Holy Spirit. He wants us to come out of the world into the society that is becoming more and more like ancient Sodom. And I suspect it has long surpassed that ancient lawlessness and evil that we've been reading about. It's critical, brethren, it's critical that we not fool ourselves with the delusion of fault safety into believing that we're spiritually okay, that we're spiritually safe, that we could never turn away from our calling. I say that with confidence because what I read Christ saying and what we're going to look at here in a bit is very clear that it could happen. That's why Jesus Christ is warning us, remember Lot's wife. Let's remember some other scriptures and their dire warnings and let's take them to heart. Let's never forget the words of 1 John 2. 1 John 2 verses 15 through 17. 1 John 2 verses 15 through 17. The apostle John writes, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride, that pride of life. That is not of the father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it too. But he who does the will of God, he abides forever.

We must surrender ourselves to God's will. We must love God above all else, of anything else in our lives. We love God by keeping his Ten Commandments. You want to know how to love God? Keep his Ten Commandments. We also love God by loving our neighbor. That's in the commandments too. And not just those people that like us, that are nice to us, but even those that are mean and wicked with us. We maintain and develop our love for God through prayer and study of his word. We absolutely must be repenting daily of sin. And absolutely every day seek God's forgiveness and reconciliation with our neighbor, with our brother and sister in Christ. We need to be doing that. God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ's sacrifice will guard us from turning back to the world. But we have to be active at it. Let's also remember the warning in Hebrews. They're in the neighborhood here. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38 to 39. Hebrews 10 verse 38 to 39. Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Here the writer of Hebrews is quoting from Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 3 and 4. Continuing on, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition. Perdition, Apoliah, can also mean utter destruction, but we are not of those who draw back to utter destruction. We are not going that way, but we are of those who believe to the saving of the soul. We're looking forward and moving forward, following our Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, God is most merciful, but God hates sin. God has called us to salvation, eternal life in the kingdom. He wants us there as kings and priests among the firstfruits. And it's God's will that we attain salvation, and we will, if we remain diligent to repent of sin and to seek always God's forgiveness. That's on us.

Let's also look at Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 through 6. Let's take these words to heart as well, brother. Hebrews 6 verses 4 through 6. For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened, having tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. If they fall away, they turn back. If they fall away to renew them again to repentance, it's impossible, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame. If we look back and yearn for the ways of sin and to go back and start living according to our carnal desires, if we willfully reject God's law and love, including the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on our behalf, then we will perish. Yet our destruction would be worse than that of Lot's wife. After committing ourselves to God and receiving His Holy Spirit to reject God at that point to say, God, I hate you, I want nothing more to do with you, that would mean our death in the lake of fire, along with all the other incorrigibly wicked. But Lot's wife, she's going to live again. And one day, she will have the opportunity to understand what we do now and to receive salvation. But if we reject God, we will cease to exist. We need to remember Lot's wife. We don't want to go back.

So what must we be doing then to ensure that we don't do that? What can we do to ensure we don't turn back? Let's return you to Romans 13, verses 11-14. Our part, as I've already been hinting at, is to continue to follow God and faithfully continue to surrender our own will to His. Let's read Paul's admonition here in Romans 13, verses 11-14. Romans 13, verses 11-14. And do this, Paul says, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. And that is true. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry, drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

God, you see, will help us fight temptation and sin when we seek His help, His help through His Holy Spirit. Let's also read Romans 12, verses 1-2. Paul again says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. It's logical to be doing these things. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Instead of only doing what we want to do, instead of giving in to that childish human nature of ours and conforming to the ways of the world around us, we need to obey God and to serve Him and others instead. In that regard, Paul's words here really seem to echo those of Christ who, after he told his disciples to remember Lot's wife, he also told them this. We read it before, Luke 17, 33. He also said, whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Turn back with me to Luke 9, because what Christ is saying here in Luke 17, 33, he said, he's repeating what he said earlier in Luke 9, verses 23 through 25. Only there in Luke 9 he seems to say it, or at least it's translated here in Luke a little more clearly to me, in Luke 9, verses 23 through 25. Let's read the meaning a little more clearly, and it echoes what we're reading by Paul. Luke 9, 23, verse 25. Then he said to them all, Jesus said to them all, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, see? For my sake, Jesus said, will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and is himself destroyed or lost? We gain nothing by remaining a part of this world, but we gain eternal life when we give up our lives in obedient service to God.

Let's be turning back as I draw to a conclusion here in Revelation. Back to Revelation 18, please.

And today, then, today we have considered Christ's admonition is warning to remember Lot's wife. And I think we've been doing that. I think we've tried hard to help us get more out of those three words, remember Lot's wife. And so it's my hope that whenever we think about Lot's wife, whenever we think about how she became a pillar of salt, it's my hope that we'll also consider her to be a pillar of warning and of truth. She's a pillar of warning and of truth.

Here, as we conclude, let's read Revelation 18.4.

Let's read this final warning. It will be said in the future and is said now. It's like a trumpet call in our ears. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues. Come out of her, my people.

Brethren, God has called us out of the world, and may we never go back. And may we always remember Lot's wife.