Lot's Loss Escalated, Part 2

If you've got your Bible, Genesis chapter 19, and we look once again at the life of Lot and the loss that he experienced. We've seen Lot's loss initiated when he would long and look towards Sodom. We saw Lot's loss perpetuated when he lived and led in Sodom. And then we've seen Lot's loss escalated by the fact that he loved and lingered in Sodom. And so as we look at this man's life, we see once again how he loses everything.

His testimony, his ministry, his credibility, his believability. Tonight we will see him lose the beginning of his family and his city. Genesis 19 verse number 23 reads this way. The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But his wife from behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt.

Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley. And he saw and beheld the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Thus it came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow. When he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. It's quite remarkable to understand that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah happened in just a brief moment of time.

It doesn't take a lot of verses to describe that. And yet there are 20 different references in the scripture that refer back to this one incident to explain to us the magnitude, not just of what took place here, but the effects of sin in people's lives. Yet we told you that the great tragedy is not the destruction of the cities, but that one man who was righteous was unable to affect anyone else with the truth of the Lord God of Israel. That is a sad tragedy of Sodom and Gomorrah. One of the ways that this story is illustrated is in Luke's gospel, or Matthew's gospel, excuse me, the 11th chapter.

In Matthew 11, the Lord says this in verse 21 or verse 20. Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago and sacked it off in ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you?

You will descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. When you think about Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, three cities that were able to observe firsthand the miracles of Christ. The citizens of those cities never once outwardly rebelled against the Christ. None of them ever wanted to throw him out of their synagogue like they did in Nazareth, the place he grew up.

None of the people of those cities ever truly were outspoken against the Messiah. And yet, in spite of all the miracles that were done, he pronounces a curse upon those three cities. Bethsaida is a town where Andrew, Philip, and Peter were from. We go to Bethsaida in Israel. You're able to walk on an original street there from 2,000 years ago. And you're able to go and see the ruins of Bethsaida. And yet, Jesus said very clearly, like he said to those of Capernaum, it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for you.

Now think about that. And God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He brought down fire and brimstone upon the city. But yet he says to those of Capernaum, which was the home base of Christ's ministry in and around the Galilee, he says, but for you, on the day of judgment, it will be far worse than for the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. What's worse? What's worse than committing homosexuality, being engrossed in all kinds of immorality? What's worse than that? Simple indifference to the identity of Christ.

Simple indifference to the identity of Christ, to the ministry of Christ. Oh, the citizens of Capernaum, they welcomed Jesus. They loved having Jesus around. It was good for the economy when Jesus was there. And although they never really outwardly revolted against him, they just were indifferent to his teaching, indifferent to him as an individual. And the worst place anybody could have lived during the days of Jesus was one of those three cities. Worst place. That's like we tell you that when you come to a place like Christ Community Church, it's the best place you could ever be.

But on the other hand, it's the worst place you could ever attend. Because if you come and hear what everybody else hears, and you become indifferent to the gospel, and don't embrace the gospel, it will be more tolerable for the most wicked, debased homosexual on the day of judgment than for you. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it? We look at the homosexual agenda, and we think of the perversion of that, and how wrong that is.

And yet, we don't seem to think that people who are indifferent to the gospel are worse off than they are. And they are. We forget that. And Christ brings everything back into perspective. To help you understand that when you just push Jesus aside, and don't respond to what he says, you don't have to outright reject him, or outright commit gross immorality in his presence for him to pronounce judgment upon you. No, just a simple indifference to the gospel. An unwillingness to embrace Christ as Messiah, King of Israel.

That's the worst place you can be, according to the words of Jesus. That's why in a corresponding verse in Luke's gospel, Christ says these words in verse 16, The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

Speaking of the 70, when they would go out and speak the gospel. If they don't listen to you, they haven't listened to me. If they reject you, they've rejected me. And the judgment upon them will be severe. And so the judgment happens on the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. And yet there's a phrase that's used in the New Testament that takes us back to Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus would use the phrase. In discussing this coming again, in Luke's gospel, the 17th chapter, talking to his disciples, he says these words.

And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man. Luke 17, 26. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, and they were being given a marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down and take them out, and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Jesus would take his disciples all the way back to Genesis 19 to demonstrate as the most supreme illustration in scripture of someone who was surrounded by a righteous person but never responded to the righteousness that he had. One who had every opportunity and yet neglected the opportunity and was swept away in judgment.

Remember Lot's wife. Because this was the loss that Lot experienced as his loss would escalate because he would lose his wife. The Bible never tells us that his wife was righteous. That's because she wasn't. She perished. She was condemned along with the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. She looked back. Why did she do that? Why is it she could not obey the command of God? Well, she couldn't obey the command of God because she wasn't able to obey the command of God because she didn't have a righteous standing with God.

But what happened is that Christ will use Lot's wife and we don't even know her name. She's mentioned three times in Genesis 19 referred to as Lot's wife. Jesus says, remember Lot's wife.

I'm sure Jesus knew her name. But we don't know what her name is. The Bible tells us that the righteous will be remembered forever. The unrighteous are never remembered. And so she becomes a supreme illustration of someone, as Christ says in verse 33, whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Remember Lot's wife. She wanted to keep her life. She lost it. But if you're willing to give your life away, you'll preserve your life. That's the illustration of Luke 9, 23 and 24, right? If any man come unto me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Because if you seek to save your life, you're going to lose it. But if you're willing to give your life away, you'll save it. So Jesus says, remember Lot's wife.

This is where Lot's loss escalates. Because not only has he lost his testimony, his integrity, his credibility, his believability, when his sons-in-law would laugh at him when he told them about impending judgment, when no one in the city of Sodom would respond to this man after 15 years of living in the city, nobody was righteous, no impact whatsoever. He now is going to lose his family. And it begins with his wife. Next week, we'll see how that loss is culminated in his daughters. And yet, this becomes a unique illustration for all of us as we begin to see the magnitude of Lot's loss.

There are four things I want you to see about Lot's wife that will help you understand why she perished, why she was condemned along with the world. She is an illustration that we've talked to you about, that if you become companioned with the world, okay, you will then become contaminated by the world. Once you become contaminated by the world, you then become conformed to that world. Having been conformed to that world, you then become controlled by that world. And if you're controlled by that world, be careful that you're not condemned along with that world.

And that's exactly what happened to Lot's wife. She was condemned along with the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Well, number one, simply because Lot's wife truly, truly desired the world.

She desired the world. She wanted what Sodom gave her. That's what she wanted. We don't know exactly when Lot was married. I'm sure he found his wife among the women of Sodom. He married her. So he probably married an unbeliever because nothing tells us that she was righteous. So he was unequally yoked with this woman, thinking that maybe after he married her, he could convince her of the Lord God of Israel. No, he certainly did not. And yet maybe he thought that way. It didn't happen for him, like it doesn't happen for most people who think that he can marry the unbeliever and somehow win them over to the saving grace of God.

But she desired the things of the world. That's what caused her to look back. She couldn't keep her eyes off of the world. There was that pull. There was that lure. There was that desire. There was that passion. There was that inner longing that kept her looking back. Notice what the text says in Genesis chapter 19.

But his wife from behind him. But his wife from behind him. So evidently Lot and his two daughters were in front of his wife. Why was she behind him? Let me give you three reasons.

One, she was behind him so no one could see her. They were told don't look back. So Lot's not going to look back. His daughters are not going to look back. If they do, the wife's behind them. They're going to keep looking forward. But Lot's wife is behind her husband, behind her daughters, because she could not be seen. She doesn't want to be seen doing her evil act. She wants to be private. She desires to conceal her sinful activity. And if no one can see her, number two, no one can scold her.

No, mother. No, sweetheart. No, you can't do that. Do not turn. No one can scold her. Those who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil do what they do in the dark because they can't be seen. And if they can't be seen, they can't be scolded for the things they're doing. If they can't be scolded for the things they're doing, they can't be stopped in the things they're doing. That's why she's behind him. She can't be seen, she can't be scolded, she can't be scolded, she can't be stopped.

Listen. If, and it's true, if, if you're in a place where you can't be seen, you are more likely to sin than a place where you can be seen. If you're an individual who travels for business and you're away a lot of times and cannot be seen by anybody from your church or anybody that knows you, the temptation to sin is far greater than if you're around people who do know you and can see you. If you're a teenager and you're able to go home and your parents aren't home and no one's there to see you, then the things that you do while your parents are not there or your siblings are not there because you cannot be seen, because you cannot be scolded, because you cannot be stopped, then you're more likely to sin than if you are seen and can be scolded and be stopped.

That's why she's behind. She truly desired the things of the world. And so she wanted to be in a place where she could do what she wanted to do. And that's how she wanted to live her life. She wanted to sin. You see, worldliness is not so much what I do. Worldliness is about what I want to do. You understand that, don't you? There are a lot of people who are more worldly because they can't do what they see others doing than those who are doing what it is they're doing. Because they want to be there.

This was Lot's wife. She wanted to be in Sodom. She wanted to be there. She didn't want to be with her husband. She didn't want to flee the mall. She didn't want to flee the place where she got her hair done. She didn't want to flee the place that gave her a pedicure and a manicure, whatever you get out there. I don't know what you get, but she didn't want to leave all that stuff behind. It was to her advantage to stay in Sodom, not to leave Sodom. Everything that she wanted in her heart was there.

So she desired truly the things of the world. Bishop J.C. Ryle in 1800 said these words, I believe there never was a time when warnings against worldliness were so much needed by the church of Christ as they are in our present day. And that was in the 1800s. What would J.C. Ryle say today about worldliness in the church and warning the church against dabbling in the things of the world? She truly desired the world. And that's why Jesus uses this illustration. That's why Jesus says back in Luke chapter 17, when the son of man comes, he's going to come.

This is not the rapture of the church. This is the second coming of Christ. This is him coming to rule and reign on the earth. When he comes, it's going to be like it was in the days of Noah and Noah was a preacher of righteousness. It's going to be like it was in the days of Lot. And Lot was a person who was righteous. Okay? Even though there's no evidence of that in Genesis 19, we know that because of second Peter.

And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be when the son of man comes. As it was in the days of Lot, so it will be when the son of man comes. And that is what? Nobody cares about impending judgment. Nobody believed what Noah said. And for 120 years, Noah preached, hey, judgment's coming. It's going to rain. Had never rained before. But Noah's trying to convince everybody it's going to rain. And they're laughing at him. And I'm sure that after 119 years, they probably stopped laughing and thought, wow, what a fool.

He's building a boat in the middle of the desert where there are no trees. And there is no water. The man's a fool. But he kept preaching. Judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. And nobody believed until water fell from the sky. And then when Noah entered the ark, God shut the door. And the reason God shut the door is because if Noah would have shut the door, he would have opened the door. But God shut it and said, no one else. They all will perish. As it was in the days of Lot. They were building.

They were planting. They were marrying. They were giving in marriage. They were doing everything they normally do. No one cared about impending judgment. No one cared about the justice of God. No one cared about the holiness of God. No one cared about the righteousness of God. That was irrelevant to them. All they cared about was what they normally did every single day. That's all that mattered. Until fire and brimstone rained down out of heaven and destroyed those cities. Remember Lot's wife. Jesus gives us warning.

On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down. On that day when the Son of Man comes and lightning will spread throughout the sky. And everyone will see him. Every eye will see him when he comes. On that day when the Son of Man comes. If you're on the house, do not go down into your house to collect your possessions. Don't do that. Because that tells you where your heart is. See. Remember Lot's wife? And likewise, the one who's in the field must not turn back.

Remember Lot's wife. Why? Because if you seek to keep your life, you're going to lose it. The one who goes down into the house to get his possessions. The one who's in the field and looks back is the one who wants to keep what he has in this life. And if you want to keep what you have in this life, you will perish along with those in this life. You must remember Lot's wife. And then he says this. I tell you, verse 34, on that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left.

In other words, there will be two in a bed. There will be a husband and a wife in a bed. One is righteous and the other is unrighteous. One is like Lot who is righteous and one is like his wife who is unrighteous. And then Jesus says this.

One will be taken and the other will be left. In other words, one is taken into judgment. That's the unrighteous person. And the other will be left, that's the righteous person. And they will enter into the millennial kingdom of God. And the one taken into judgment is the fulfillment of Matthew 25, where at the coming of Christ, at his second coming, there is that sheep-goat judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat.

That great judgment of the nations. And then Christ says these words. There will be two women grinding at the same place. There will be two women working in the same location. One will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other will be left. The one taken is taken into judgment. The one left is the one who enters the kingdom of the living God. Because when the Son of Man comes, he sets up his kingdom. And he rules and reigns for a thousand years in this earth or on this earth.

So Christ says, remember Lot's wife. For all practical purposes, the two women grinding both look righteous, but only one is. For all practical purposes, the man and the wife in the bed both look righteous, but only one is. And only in an omniscient God knows which one is. He's the only one who knows. And the person who gave their life to Christ. I'm sure that maybe even the citizens of Sodom thought that Lot's wife was a lot like he was. But she wasn't. She might have been on the outside. But on the inside, oh, she desired the things of the world.

That's what she wanted. That's why back in Genesis chapter 19, these words are spoken in verse number 17. Escape for your life. Do not look behind you. Do not stay anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains or you'll be swept away. Don't look back. What part of don't look back don't you understand? Don't look back. Get out of the valley. Separate yourself from everything that's there. You see the problem that we have today in our modern culture is that we just can't bring ourselves to separate from the things of the world.

The pull is so strong. And that's why Christ has come out from among them and be separate, be distinct, be unique. You are a distinctive person. You're not the walk as the Gentiles of this world walk. You're an alien and a stranger in a foreign land. You are a different person. Your life must demonstrate that you are uniquely separated and different than the people of the world. But Lot's wife, she desired the things of the world. And because she desired the world, point number two, she defied the word of the living God.

She defied the word of the living God. Don't look back. Escape for your life. Stay out of the valley or you'll be swept away. But she defied the word of God. She looked back. She looked back. She was turned into a pillar of salt. She was condemned along with the world. She defied what God said. She would not obey the truth that God had spoken to the angels. And this is quite remarkable. Because you think by now she would get that what has happened is a supernatural exit out of Sodom. But it made no effect on her.

She disobeyed a very simple plain command. Do not look back. Instead of detesting the world, she desired the world. Instead of delighting in the word, she defied the word. See, Christians delight in the word of God. The unbeliever defies the word of God. The unbeliever delights in the world. Desires the world. The believer detests the things of the world. And she would not obey what God said. You know, the Bible on many occasions makes it very clear that what God says you need to obey.

Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 13 reads as follows. The one who despises the word will be in debt to it. In other words, is held accountable to it. But the one who fears the command will be rewarded. One author said it this way. He that pours contempt upon a single word of God, however inconsiderable it may appear to him, shall be destroyed by the vengeance of God. For every jot and tittle of the law is enforced by the awful authority of the lawgiver. He that despises his authority, despises not man but God and shall have his place among those to whom it will be said, Behold, ye despisers and wonder and perish.

On the contrary, he who reverences the authority of the Lord and earnestly endeavors by the grace of God to govern his steps, not by the fashion of the world or with a view to serve himself, but according to the will of God, shall be rewarded with the gracious acceptance of God and shall experience all the favor which God through Christ secures those who fear his name. I wonder how many times we defy the word of God. God gives us just simple commands. We don't see ourselves as defying God's word, but yet the Bible makes it very clear.

It gives a command, go into all the world, make disciples. Do you do that? Do you make disciples? We talked about Sunday, the ministry of eternal reconciliation that God's entrusted to us. The command is giving, make disciples. It's not optional. It's what you're supposed to do. But when we don't do that, we defy the command of God. And say, I'm not going to obey that one. I'll obey another one. Talked about on Sunday, Luke 6, 38. Give, it should be given unto you. Give is a command. It's not an option.

We'll see on Sunday, Matthew chapter 6, Christ says, when you give. Why? Why does it say, when you give? How come he didn't say, if you give? Christ never says, if you give. He says, when you give. Why? Because giving is a command by God. But isn't it interesting that people come to church and think it's optional to give? Really? Well, I don't have to give. Somebody else take care of that. We give excuses as why we don't obey the commands of God. We give excuses why we can't forgive someone who has sinned against us.

When the Bible makes it very clear that we are to forgive those who have sinned against us. The Bible makes it very clear that husbands are to love their wives. It's a command. It's a command. Love your wife. As Christ loved the church. If you don't do that, you defy the command of God. And the only reason you can defy the command of God is because there's something else you desire more than God. Because if you desire God, you will obey God. If you don't desire God, you will disobey God. And the only reason you'll defy a command of God is because there's something else that's more desirable to you than God at that moment.

Whatever that may be. And so we look at Lot's wife and Christ says to his men, remember Lot's wife. And we would do well to do the same. To understand exactly what took place in her life. And ask ourselves the question, is there any time we defy the word of God? Let me do it this way with you.

God gives so many commands in scripture. One that's defied by the majority of us is this. Christ gives this command. Do not worry about anything. But we worry about everything. And we defy the command of God. Do not worry. A God who is omniscient and omnipresent. A God who knows everything about everything. We know nothing about most things. But he knows everything about anything and everyone. Says, don't worry. I got that. I know all about that. But we worry about it. The God who not only is omniscient and omnipotent.

Not only does he know about it, he has the power to handle it. Yet we sit and worry about it. When he says, don't do that. Don't do that. And we say, well, I need to do that. I need to worry. If you're not going to worry, Lord, I need to worry. Someone's got to worry about it. And so we just get into this mode where we just can say. You know, I can defy this command of God. And God's okay with that. Really? Where have we come to a place in our lives where we can say. It's okay with our God for us to say no to him.

To defy his commandments. We can go through a plethora of commands that God has given in his word. He gave a command to repent. Right? So you can be saved. And when you sin, you better confess your sins and repent of your sins. And yet so many times we just kind of push them aside. As if they don't make any difference whatsoever. But they do. He who despises the word will be in debt to it. Will be judged by it because you're accountable to it. Proverbs 13, 13. We need to understand that. God is not mocked.

Whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. And God says. If I tell you to do something. It's not optional. It's essential. This is what you must do. Because I have your best interest at stake. In Lot's situation. Their life was at stake. Don't look back. Just don't look back. How hard is that? But for someone who desires the world. That command means nothing to them. Because the pull of what the world offers is so great. So much greater than what God says.

You say, well, you know, it's okay. Because God. God is a forgiving God. He's loving. He's kind. He's merciful. He's full of grace and compassionate. He forgives. All that's true. But he's also a God of justice. Of righteousness and holiness. And demands that people follow and do what he says. Because if you don't, there's consequences. And there was consequences for Lot's wife. So here she was. She desired the world. She defied the word. And she disbelieved the warning. She disbelieved the warning.

She did not believe that God would do what he said he was going to do. I'm going to destroy the city. No, Lord. You're not going to do that. You're so loving and kind. A God of love doesn't destroy cities. A God of compassion forgives those who sin against him. He's long-suffering. He bears up with us amidst all of our sin. He's not going to rain down fire and brimstone on the city. She disbelieved the warning. Listen, if you defy the word of God. You won't believe anything that he says. And that's exactly where Lot's wife was.

She just disbelieved the warning. Well, if I had time, I could go through all the different warnings of scripture that are given to us that we just don't believe. Let me give you one.

I might give you two, but let me give you at least one. Okay? You know it well. The Ten Commandments, right? I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other God before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations to those who hate me.

But showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. God, in the command, gives a warning. In the command to worship him and to worship only him, to serve only him. If you don't do that, if you don't worship me my way, it will affect your children. In ways you can't even begin to imagine. The one command that God gives in scripture that if we do not obey, will have an immediate impact on my children and my children's children. Has to do with worship. That's why we've told you over the years, listen, you better go to the right church and you better worship the right way.

Because if you don't, going to the wrong church or going to the right church and worshiping the wrong way is the one thing that will have grave consequences on your children. You can go to the right church and not worship God in spirit and in truth. You can go to the right church and be an idol worshiper because there's something that you've placed above God in your life, in your heart, that receives your affection, that receives your attention, that receives your adoration. And that becomes your idol.

And you worship the right God in the wrong way. It will have grave consequences on your children and your children's children. You've got to be careful about that. That's so important. We had sent Kate off to college a couple years ago at Indiana State University. And the most important thing for us was not what classes he was going to take or even if he passed his classes. It's where he'd go to church. Having grown up in this church for 18 years and been a part of this ministry for 18 years, we were going to put him out there in another church.

So my wife did great research in churches in the area, found one that we thought was good. Doctrinally it was right on and we were able to hear the preacher because of what's on the internet today and hear what he said was good and we thought this was a good place. So when she went out with him, she took him to that church, a very friendly church, the pastor met him, he was well accepted there, he thought this was going to be a good place. After about four weeks, Kate says, it's not for me. I need something more than that.

I need something stronger than that. I need something deeper than that. So he called his brother in Kentucky and asked him for a recommendation. Drew recommended a church. And once he walked in and there were about 23 people in the church. He sat down and went right down front like he did when he came to church here and sat right down front, heard the preacher, said, this is my church. This is where I need to be. He knew on that day that was a church he needed to be in. So when Lori and I went out there last month and were able to go finally meet the people that had received him and had him over for lunch and for dinner and had been in the teaching ministry, able to see there and sit in that church.

Wow. Wise choice, son. Wise choice. Great choice. See, that's more important than, you know, getting good grades, getting a scholarship. Got to go to the right church. Because if you go out there and get involved in the wrong church, worship God the wrong way. The effects are grave. Grave. So God gives warnings all throughout the scriptures. Right? Talking about if you go on sinning willfully, Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26 and following. There no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. Because you have continued to live in sin.

And the consequences are grave. Hebrews 6 verses 4 to 6, another set of warnings. And that's why the writer of Hebrews gives those warning passages throughout as he writes that book of Hebrews, because he wants you to realize, look, you get close to coming to Christ. You don't go all the way. You don't give your life to Christ and you fall back. You're in danger of never being able to repent from your sin. Your heart will be hard and you'll never respond. Be careful. Christ gives the warnings and yet we don't believe them.

We don't believe them. We say, well, you know, if Jesus comes again and the rapture of the church takes place and my parents are gone, then I'll believe in Jesus. No, you won't. 2 Thessalonians tells you that God will send you a strong delusion. You'll believe the lie of the Antichrist. You won't get saved. So you got to be careful about that stuff. The warnings are all throughout the scriptures. She disbelieved the warnings that God had given that he would destroy the city. When judgment came, it was final.

There was no turning back. It was too late. Think about what she had. She was the wife of a righteous man. She ate with his man, live with his man, slept with his man. He was a righteous man. And yet she never, never embraced the righteousness of God. She was the object of great mercy. Because two angels from heaven came to warn her husband and to warn her family of impending judgment. She was warned repeatedly. The night before, the morning of, when they exited the city, there were three specific warnings that she was given.

You would think that she wouldn't disbelieve the warnings. She entertained angels in her home. She saw the angels perform a miracle when they caused the men of the city to become blind. So in spite of entertaining angels, maybe unawares, in spite of seeing the miracle of the angels turning the men of the city blind, in spite of the warnings that she received repeatedly, in spite of living with a righteous man, she still disbelieved. Still disbelieved. So here's a woman who desired the world, defied the word, disbelieved the warning, and fourthly, she died on the way.

She died. The Bible tells us, but his wife from behind him looked back, she became a pillar of salt. Just that quick. She died suddenly, shamefully, specifically, severely. She died suddenly, on the spot. As soon as she looked back, as soon as Lot, according to the context of Genesis 19, as soon as Lot and his daughters entered Zoar, because she could not be seen, because she could not be scolded, because she could not be stopped, she turned. And as soon as she turned, her judgment was final. It was sudden.

It was immediate. Her fate was sealed. Not only did her judgment come suddenly, it came shamefully because it was done. She died in the act of her sin. She died in the act of sinning, and while she died in the act of sinning, she is remembered forevermore because of her sin. She died shamefully. She died suddenly. She died specifically. That is, at the specific moment that the father, or her husband, and her two daughters entered the city, she turned and she died severely. She perished along with the citizens of Sodom.

How bad is that? So the question comes, why was she turned into a pillar of salt? Why not just burned up with the fire and the brimstone? Why the pillar of salt? My answer is simple. It's because Lot was not salt in Sodom. He should have been the salt of the earth. He should have been the light of the world. He wasn't. He had the opportunity to retard corruption. He didn't do it. And he had the opportunity, not just in the city, but with his family. And he didn't do it. Now did he try? We don't know.

We don't know. But by virtue of the testimony of Genesis 19, offering his daughters to the homosexual men, by his acceptance in the city, our conclusion is he didn't try hard enough. If he tried at all. And God would turn her into a pillar of salt to remind Lot that the opportunity to retard corruption in the city of Sodom was missed. He missed it. He had the opportunity. And he didn't do it. How sad is that? What must have been going through Lot's mind when the gates of Zoar were closed and his wife wasn't there?

What must have been going through his mind when finally after the fire of brimstone were over, he was able to go outside the city and not only see the destruction, but see his wife as a pillar of salt?

Reminding him that he had the opportunity. He had the responsibility. He did nothing. How sad is that? Talk about loss. His loss escalated. Simply because he didn't fulfill his responsibility as a father, a husband, but more importantly, as a righteous man who truly was a servant of the living God. We can't afford to make that mistake. Your wife can't have you men make that same mistake. Your children, especially next week as we will see, can't afford to have you make that mistake. Your workplace, your city, your town, your team can't afford to have you make that mistake.

God has entrusted you with the gospel of Christ. God has entrusted you with the ministry of reconciliation. God has given you his life to be salt, to be light in a world that needs to see the truth of God. Will you be that person that gives it to them? Or will you be like Lot and lose everything? Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight and the chance you've given to us to be in your word. Truly, Lord, your word is a blessing to all of us. It's a reminder on how to live and how not to live. Who to follow and who to flee. It's a reminder that in the grace that you have bestowed upon us, you've given us this moment tonight to hear your word and to know what to do. May we be faithful in following you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.