Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No.09 - December 1974

 

Remember Lot's Wife

 

Sermon by Rev. P. G. Van Dam, M.Sc.,B.D. on Luke 17:32

Scripture reading: Genesis 18:16-33; 19:12-28 & Luke 17:28-37

Psalter Hymnal: 233:6,7,8; 275 (law); 193 (creed); 1; 394

 

We know how it all had begun.

Abraham and his nephew Lot had decided to part ways.  So, one day they stood at Bethel and Abraham offered Lot the first choice between the green, fertile plains of the Jordan river and the barren country around Mamre.

Lot chose the valley of the Jordan river, and we know how, eventually, he settled in Sodom, one of the cities of the plains.

While Lot was living there the Angel of the Lord visited Abraham to tell him that the Lord had decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah on account of their wickedness.

In Genesis ch.18 we read how Abraham had pleaded with the Angel to save the cities, and – in the end – Abraham had received the assurance that if only as few as ten righteous people would be found in Sodom God would spare the city.

However, it appeared that not even ten of Sodom's people were righteous, and in chapter 19 we read that the Lord was going to proceed with the destruction of the cities.

But before He did this He came to save Lot and his family.  "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city" (19:15).  "But", we read, "he (Lot) lingered.'  In spite of the warning Lot finds it difficult to leave.

*  *  *  *  *

No, Lot is not unknown to us.  We have not got much sympathy for him.  First of all, we feel he should have left the first choice to Abraham, rather than use it to his own advantage.

In the second place, Lot must have known about the wickedness of the cities in the plains of the Jordan river, and that with his choice he was in fact setting his foot in their direction.

Yes, we are like that; we have no difficulties telling where others have gone wrong, and what they should have done instead.

*  *  *  *  *

But, all the same, what would WE OURSELVES have done if WE had stood at Bethel, and had been offered the first choice?  And this is a very realistic question!  WHAT would WE have done?

Maybe, we should not condemn Lot too soon!

True, we are Christian people; we know what a Christian should do and should not do in this world.  We say that he should be different from the world; in his motivations, his decisions and attitude.

Well then, WE would not have made Lot's choice, would we?  In any case, WE would have stayed away from Sodom, would we not?

Now before we answer these questions let us be careful!

There are so many situations in our lives today which are, in fact, exactly the same as the one in which Lot found himself at Bethel where he had to make a choice.  The choice between the promised land of Canaan, which on first glance did not look so very promising at all, and the appealing plains of the Jordan river with Sodom and Gomorrah in them.

We, too, often have to make a choice between abiding by God's covenant promises which, on first glance, do not seem very attractive and meaningful at all in our world of today, and the plains of the Jordan which seem to promise so much in the way of satisfaction and gain.

And this is the temptation of today's world: that it offers so tremendously much, AND that it would declare us silly if we would not take advantage of it.  And there have always been the many in the church who HAVE given in - or ARE giving in to the manners and the thinking of the world.  And oftentimes THEY ARE NOT EVEN AWARE OF IT, or of the dangers of their attitude.

Now, in a sense, the choice of what seems good to us is not necessarily evil in itself.  But what DOES matter is the answer to the question: WHY did we make the choice we did?  For what reason?  With what intentions?

For if it is JUST the thought of gain or satisfaction, THEN indeed we ARE on a dangerous road.  IF that is the reason of our choice then, before we know it, we WILL have ended up in Sodom, the place condemned by God.  The place of the temptations of the world of which The Preacher (Ecclesiastes) says that they are like 'the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are fetters (hand-cuffs); he who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is TAKEN by her' (Eccl.7:26).

In the light of the prosperity and satisfaction which the world SEEMS to offer (whether it DOES or not is a different matter)... in the light of that offer the promises of God and His service indeed do not look attractive.

Nevertheless, the choice you make is in the very first place always a choice of our HEART!  WHAT do WE believe is our profit?

For it still is so very true what Jesus Himself said: "What profit does a man have if he shall gain the whole world but lose his soul...?" (Matt 16.26).

Of course we may be very sharp (and sometimes we are when it comes to the point of defending our own attitude), and say: 'But Lot did not lose his soul did he?" And that is true, he did not (we will consider that point in just a moment).

*  *  *  *  *

Meantime, let us return to Lot at Sodom.

And again, we are inclined to say: he should not have been there; Sodom is not the place for a believer, for a Christian to be!  That place of which we read that its sin was very grave (Gen.18.20).

As indeed there ARE many places where WE as committed Christians should not be.  And if we are there all the same, WHY are we there?  Are we there as WITNESSES to our Saviour and Lord OR to DENY Him there and put HIS Name to SHAME?  One of the two.

But, nevertheless, Lot had remained righteous.  We know this from 2Peter 2.7 where we read that God rescued RIGHTEOUS Lot.

So, we may reasonably assume that Lot had not gone to Sodom with the INTENTION to throw himself into the evil of that city.  That, it would seem, was not the purpose for which he had gone to live in that city.

Neither, of course, do we go into the world with the intention of giving ourselves to the world.  But, ALL THE SAME, all the possible consequences ARE THERE!

Some of these consequences we see in the life of Lot himself.

In 2Peter 2 we read that although Lot had remained righteous he had done damage to his soul!  In living in Sodom, and seeing all that went on.

And how real that risk is.  BEFORE WE REALIZE IT we too do damage to our souls, and damage to our faith.  Before we know it we make our faith meaningless; it will lose its meaning as the warning and guide for our spiritual and moral strength, and for our comfort.

An even more serious warning is in the fact that although Lot had remained righteous it was GOD HIMSELF Who had to get him out of Sodom.

His salvation from that place was none of his OWN merit or effort.  For, as we noted before, when the angels came to tell him to go he 'lingered' (it says).

When it came to the point he did not want to.  The angels had to SEIZE him and his wife and his two daughters, and bring them out.

Although he HAD remained righteous he WOULD have gone UNDER in the city but he was saved BY GRACE.

Now, what does this mean to us?

Well, it means this.  There might be some of us who reason: 'I could go to Sodom.  It is not all that bad to follow the ways of the world a little bit.  In our business and/or in our pleasure!
            WE know what we do;
            WE won't give up our faith!’

Of course, this sounds very good.  But it just is not the reality of the facts, all the same.

In fact, it is a lie to say that you know what you do, and where you stand!  Once you have had a taste of the world you won't give up on your own.  Your reasoning and vision have become BLURRED.

And God makes it very clear in His Word that few things infuriate Him more than the reasoning: I am saved, anyway.  He has shown His people time and again that that reasoning does not hold.  And we will not find it anywhere in Scripture that we may talk or think that way while in the meantime we want to go on living our own lives.

In Romans (ch.6) we read that that kind of reasoning is an utter contradiction.  "How can we who died to sin still live in it?"  No, says the same chapter, if you give yourselves to sin you still are a slave of sin and Satan (vs.16).

You may want to go into the world; no, not even with evil or sinful intentions.  And you may think that you will remain right.  But that is the case ONLY IF, AFTER ALL, JESUS HIMSELF comes to pull you out!  And you would do well NOT TO FORGET THAT!

*  *  *  *  *

But there is a more serious consequence yet.

It is true, Lot remained righteous.
He escaped, by the grace of the Lord Who pulled him out.
Lot escaped.

But remember Lot's wife'!  SHE DID NOT!

Lot was saved – that was the GRACE of God; his wife did not – that was Lot's RESPONSIBILITY!

Or to continue the parallel: you may escape, be it by the hand of the Lord, but remember your wife, your children, your neighbour.

You may believe that you are saved but what about THEM?  Remember the wife of Lot.  In this text we must underline the name of LOT!

For she was the wife of HIM who made the choice for the sake of the PROMISE of WELFARE and GAIN in the world.

*  *  *  *  *

No we don't feel very sorry for Lot's wife.  She simply got what she deserved.  She had been warned not to look back, had she not?

God had promised Lot, his wife and their two daughters a safe escape to Zoar.  And not until they would reach Zoar would God begin the destruction of Sodom.

But there was the warning to them not to look back; that is to say: to RADICALLY and COMPLETELY and ONCE FOR ALL BREAK AWAY from that place of wickedness.  No compromise of any kind or else you will share the fate of the world in its final destruction.  Of the world of gain and satisfaction; of the world of sin.

But Lot's wife, she could not.  She could not get away from the place where her husband had brought her; where, maybe, she had lived now for so many years.  "Look. . . !", and she became a pillar of salt.

Lot remained righteous,
Lot escaped, be it by a miracle.
But remember Lot's wife, SHE did not!

True, Lot had remained righteous and was saved,
  BUT SEE WHAT HIS RIGHTEOUS LIFE HAD MEANT TO HIS WIFE!

*  *  *  *  *

It is good to be church of the Lord Jesus Christ!

It is glorious – yes: glorious to be a Christian.  That is to say: to know that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.  To be able to believe and to confess that we have been saved by the hand of the Lord Himself.

Yes, and to let it be heard that there is salvation and hope IN JESUS CHRIST ONLY.

But what, PRECISELY NOW, does YOUR confession mean to your WIFE, your HUSBAND, your CHILDREN, the CHURCH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, your NEIGHBOUR, the WORLD?

There are so many things which — at first sight — do not seem to be wrong in themselves.  In a certain sense there was nothing wrong with Lot's choice of the Jordan plains.  Was he not allowed to make the best of his life and of his business?

Still, THE QUESTION REMAINS: what kind of a heart is there behind the choices and the decisions you make?  Which are the interests that make you make those decisions, and WHOSE interests are you thinking of FIRST?  Your own?

YOU YOURSELF may think that you know what you are doing, and know how far you can go (be it that most of the times you are wrong; and there is no reason to assume that Lot may not have had the same thoughts).

But what about your wife and your children?  You may think that you know where you stand but THAT DOES NOT HELP YOUR HOME, YOUR CHURCH AND YOUR WITNESS.

YOU may think you know but, all the same, after a while your children may not see the need of leaving Sodom anymore. . . .!

Just have a look at Lot again.  When, on the warning of the angels, he tells his family to leave Sodom he is, in a way, too late.  We read: "He seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.  It is just a joke, a laugh to them.  He just has no authority to speak anymore; he is too late.

And at the end of ch.19 (of the book of Genesis) we read of the disgusting behaviour of his own daughters.

To mention just one example: we may justify our shift-work on the Sunday, or let our recreation on the Sunday come before the service and worship of our God.  Well, whatever reasons YOU think YOU could give to justify YOUR attitude you HAVE lost your authority to teach your children the meaning of the fourth commandment and how GOD wants them AND YOURSELF to OBEY it!

Lot teaches us what the consequences are if in our decisions OUR OWN desires come first.

So often in our decisions we ask the question: "What is wrong with it?"  But that question is negative, because with it we have already decided on the answer anyway.

Still, FOR THE CHRISTIAN, it is the ATTITUDE which is BEHIND that question which is not right!

For HIM the PROPER question is not: "What is wrong with it?", but: "WHAT IS RIGHT WITH IT?"

In which way will my decision, my doing, will my words be to the GLORY OF THE NAME OF MY GOD AND SAVIOUR, to the wellbeing of the soul of my children and of my neighbour, to the honour of the name of the church?

Will my words and my actions indeed be a witness to my children and to the world, in such a way that they see JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF in ME?  That HE is Lord; the Lord of MY life also?

And then there is also that discouraging question: "How far could we go?  Well, be honest: go, in which direction?
            To your Lord in serving Him.  Or away from Him?
            There is no limit either way!

For in going along with the world you will always make the next step!  And in every step you HAVE gone too far already!  For IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD to pull you out and back, you YOURSELF WILL NOT come back from any steps you make!

*  *  *  *  *

Yes, by the grace of God YOU may be saved.

But where, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, is your FAMILY and are your CHILDREN living?  And where does your neighbour see you live.

For as far as your unbelieving neighbour is concerned he often has a far better and clearer idea of what you as a Christian should do or should not do than you have yourself!

REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!

There are so many little things in our lives which we must have in a hurry.  That is a sign of the times.
  To RUN and to HAVE.
  But are we also in a hurry to get to Zoar?

The angels said to Lot: "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city".

Take your two daughters.  Who were already married or about to be married.  We often say concerning our 14 or 15 year old children that "you can't tell them anymore what to do.
  ". . .Take your two daughters.”
  Not, ASK them: take them.
  "Escape for your life (AND THEIRS), look not behind you".
  Let your break be RADICAL, COMPLETE.

*  *  *  *  *

Of course, we may say: but this is Lot and they were the days in which Lot lived.  Things are so much different now.  Well, ARE THEY?

Listen to these words of Christ Himself:

"LIKEWISE, AS IT WAS in the days of Lot – they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built – but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all SO (= IN THE SAME MANNER, KJV) WILL IT BE ON THE DAY WHEN THE SON OF MAN IS REVEALED. . . REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE", (Luke 17.28-30,32).

Therefore, make haste, for the sake of your children, for the sake of your neighbour, get AWAY from Sodom.  Don't look back!  Get to Zoar, the place of Salvation, before that day of judgment comes.

"Seek the Lord WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND” (Isaiah 55.61).

"Behold, now is the acceptable time;
            behold, now is the day of salvation" (2Cor.6.2b).

You say: "But nowadays you can't be that strict anymore"?  Well, then REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!

For as it was in Lot's days so WILL it be when the Son of man shall come in His full glory!

Amen.