[0:00] Seeking the Lord's blessing, let us now turn to the portion of scripture that we read together in the Gospel according to Luke chapter 17 and we'll read verse 32.
[0:15] Remember Lord's wife. The Lord Jesus Christ paused in the midst of this discourse on his second return and he said, remember Lord's wife.
[0:33] I want us to do that this evening. I am sure that those who have been under the Gospel for years would at some time have heard a sermon on our text.
[0:45] I know that I have preached on this text before and you may ask, well, why return to it? The Word of God is new every day and we shall never be able to fathom completely the Word of God.
[1:04] But besides that, I think that when God says to me and to you to remember, he means for us to return to it again and again.
[1:16] There are many well-known texts in the Bible where the Lord asks us to remember and we brought one or two up with the children this morning.
[1:26] There's Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1 where we read, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. And of course, we hold the Lord's supper as a feast of remembrance as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to do in remembrance of his death.
[1:49] And that is to be continuous until he returns. So when the Lord asks us to remember something, I think he means for us to continuously return to it.
[2:06] Now let me give you a bit of the context that we find this verse in. In verse 28 to 30, we find there a description of the days preceding the second coming of our Lord.
[2:25] The Saviour himself said that it was similar to the days in which Lot lived. He talks both about Noah and Lot in this passage and both Noah and Lot lived in days of religious compromise, days of moral declension, not unlike our own day today.
[2:48] And during the days of Noah, the population grew significantly. We know that from Genesis chapter 6 verse 1 where it says, And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth.
[3:08] And we know that from that self-same chapter and verse 5 that lawlessness increased and that the earth was covered in violence.
[3:18] According to verses that we find in Genesis chapter 6 verse 11, the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence.
[3:35] And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold I will destroy them with the earth.
[3:56] And in Lot's day the unnatural lusts of Sodom and Gomorrah were so abhorrent to God that he had to completely destroy those cities from off the face of the world.
[4:08] We can see right away the similarities between that age and our own age today. The interesting thing about what the Lord Jesus Christ says is that they were unprepared simply because they were preoccupied with the normal everyday activities of life.
[4:34] In other words, they were getting on with life. Their way of life may not be your way of life, but nevertheless they were eating and drinking and giving and taking in marriage.
[4:50] And they were so engrossed and so preoccupied with normal human existence that they had no concern at all with God or with any of the warnings from God's prophets.
[5:09] They just ignored the warnings that they were given from God's prophets. And the same is true in every generation down to our own generation, that we can be so preoccupied with the activities of our life that we have no concern at all about God or about our relationship with God or about our eternal destiny and that we despise the warnings that are given to us through the preaching of the gospel.
[5:53] And so it was in the days of Noah, so it was in the days of Lot, so it is in our own day. Now when we come to Lot after Noah, civilisation had advanced somewhat so that by Lot's time, the description of Noah's days was not sufficient, just that people ate and drank and gave and were taken in marriage, as we read here in verse 28.
[6:24] Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built it.
[6:39] Noah's age was eating and drinking and marrying, normal pleasures, if you like. But by the time we get to Lot's age, well, humanity wants to push the boundaries a little bit more.
[6:52] For no man is seeking not just to exist without God, but he's making an effort to bring in a golden age of peace and prosperity without God, leaving God completely out.
[7:15] The sin that the Lord Jesus levels at the feet of that generation are not simply their immorality, although that was abhorrent and an abomination in the sight of God, but the fact that they were wanting to get on with their lives excluding him.
[7:36] That they wanted to get on with their lives without any thought of God. They wanted to get on with their relationship with God.
[7:53] And that is why God's judgment came upon them suddenly. In verse 29 and 30, we see that the very same day that Lot went out of Sodom, the day that God delivered him from the city, that it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all, even thus shall it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
[8:27] They weren't expecting it. They were eating and drinking and giving in marriage. They were planting. They were reaping. They were expanding and building.
[8:38] Yet it was all at that very moment that judgment came. So shall be at the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus is simply saying to you, see people who are engrossed and concentrating on their own pleasure, their self-gratification and their business, they will be destroyed if they have excluded God from their lives.
[9:09] No doubt these people were getting on with their lives. They were successful. They were trying to make the best of life. And there's nothing wrong with that, to try and do your best with life.
[9:23] But they were doing it and excluding God from it all, excluding God out of their thoughts. They were doing it without God, without any thought about God.
[9:41] Verse 31 says it clearly, Can you believe this?
[10:08] Do you believe that? That when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back again in judgment, people won't be falling to their knees and saying, Lord, have mercy on me.
[10:23] In fact, what they will be doing is they'll be running back to their homes and trying to get their possessions. Because there are some people in this world that are so preoccupied with the physical realm to the total exclusion of that which is spiritual.
[10:45] There's no point of running after your money or your possession when judgment comes. Remember, he says, Lot's wife.
[10:55] So many people live and enjoy life to the exclusion of God.
[11:08] And suddenly they are plugged out of life. They cannot take anything with them. They are naked as they came into the world, so they leave the world.
[11:25] In a spiritual sense, they are naked before God. Remember Lot's wife.
[11:37] Now we can remember many things about her tonight. Lot's wife. We could remember her look of disobedience when she realised that she had incurred the judgmental wrath of God by her sin.
[11:55] We could look at her look of fearful doom as she turned, as the Bible says, into a pillar of salt. But what I want you to remember tonight about Lot's wife are three things.
[12:11] First of all, remember her privileges. Remember Lot's wife. Remember her privileges.
[12:22] Then secondly, I want you to remember her sin. And thirdly, I want you to remember her punishment.
[12:33] First of all then, let us remember her privileges. If you read the book of Genesis, you will know that Lot was a righteous man.
[12:49] Lot came from a godly family, and so this wife of his marriage was into a godly family. And her husband was the nephew of Abraham.
[13:05] Peter tells us that Lot was a righteous man. This may be hard to understand at times, but Peter says that the sins that were in the city of Sodom vexed Lot's righteous soul every day.
[13:22] But tonight I'm not preaching about Lot. Even though he may have taken steps in backsliding and he had to be restored.
[13:33] Nevertheless, Lot is not our focus point this evening. Our focus point is his wife. I want to talk to you about his wife, and one who was not so vexed about the sins of Sodom.
[13:53] One who loved those sins, and it all she could to stay in the environment of those sins. Sin got to such a stage in Sodom and Gomorrah that God was going to put Lot and his wife in a position where they would have to flee for their lives or else that they would perish.
[14:16] So God told them to flee, to run away from the city. And as they were running from Sodom, not to look back.
[14:27] For if they looked back, that God would judge them. The remarkable thing is that when the flaming sulphur of the wrath of God Almighty falling behind her back upon the city that she had lived in, Lot's wife couldn't resist just one more lingering love glance at her condemned home.
[15:01] And do you know what that proves? It proved that she loved the world more than she loved God. That she loved the city with all its sin more than she loved God.
[15:18] Whatever her privilege have been, and whatever your privileges have been, God's word says, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
[15:36] Now imagine this, because here's another of her privileges. Not only was she married into this family, a godly family, that knew the way of salvation, but she was in the closest bonds of marriage with this righteous man, Lot.
[16:02] She was married to this man of God, and yet she perished. Although she was given this marvelous privilege of being married into a godly family, of being married to a godly man, being married to a righteous man, yet she perished.
[16:29] You see, we mustn't put our hope in the fact that we are married to a righteous person. Salvation is always personal.
[16:45] It doesn't run in the blood, it doesn't run in a family, it doesn't even run in the bonds of marriage. A husband and a wife must come to know God personally for themselves.
[17:02] They must have a personal relationship with God. Being born into a godly family, having godly grandparents and godly parents does not save anyone.
[17:17] You can't have godly parents, have had godly grandparents, have a godly wife, a godly husband, and yet you may perish unless you are personally brought into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through faith.
[17:41] Set not your hope upon the godliness of your parents or the godliness of your family. Godly, you must come to have a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
[18:03] She was married to this man of God, yet she perished. The word of God stands through which says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
[18:24] Can you just imagine the ways in which this woman had spent her time with her husband? Can you just imagine the adventures that this woman had with her husband?
[18:37] She had gone through conquests with God's people. She had been in their struggles, in their sorrows, in their pains. She had heard firsthand about the gracious covenant that God had made with his uncle Abraham.
[18:53] She knew that God was willing to accept men and women through the sacrifice of blood. No doubt on occasion she joined in their songs. She even engaged in their prayers with a crowd of God's people, of God's congregation.
[19:11] She had this wonderful privilege of being associated with God's covenant people through her husband, Lot. And yet she perished.
[19:28] Remember Lot's wife. do not think that if because you attend church and that is good, that that will save you on its own.
[19:48] Remember that we always bring this before you that to attend church is a means to an end. To attend church is not salvation in itself.
[20:00] salvation is only in Christ. But the Bible makes it clear that through the preaching of the gospel that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
[20:18] And that's why we encourage people to come to church, to hear the word of God because it is a God ordained means of bringing salvation to us, to sinners.
[20:34] God's appointed means of bringing salvation to a people. And that's why we encourage people to come to church because it is a means to God's goal of salvation.
[20:52] salvation. My friend, this is an astounding thing that even though she experienced all these privileges with God's people, she still perished.
[21:06] But that should be no surprise because remember what Jesus says, when I come again it will be exactly the same, he says. There are people who will have prayed prayers, there are people who will call themselves Christians, he will go so far as to say there are people who will have healed to seek, cast out demons, done miraculous works in my name, but I will say to them, I never knew you.
[21:35] Remember that long list that we have in the gospel that brings before us the final day when people will stand before God and they will say, haven't we not done this in thy name, have we not done that in thy name, this and that and the other thing, and Jesus will say to them, I never knew you.
[21:59] I never knew you. Because they did not come to have any personal relationship with him by faith.
[22:13] They never put their trust or committed themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, is the Lord Jesus going to say to you, I never knew you.
[22:30] You never, in spite of all the privileges I gave to you, I gave you the gospel, I gave you my word, I gave you the means of grace, the means of the preaching of the word, I even encouraged you to come under the word.
[22:52] I even gave you the opportunity of coming under the word. Lord, and yet, despite all these privileges that I gave to you, you never came into a personal relationship with me by faith.
[23:12] I never knew you. Let me tell you a couple of more privileges that this woman had. do you know who took the message to flee from the wrath to come to this woman and her husband?
[23:32] Angels. Two angels came to her, and she incidentally, she entertained them, and they brought to her a message of deliverance.
[23:45] And she listened to that message of deliverance. And here's another astounding fact, she actually took the first steps. What do I mean by that?
[23:57] Well, when she heard the judgment warning from the angels, she was aroused in her heart to realise that she was in danger. And she arose early in the morning with her husband, and she began to travel out of the city.
[24:15] Everything looked so promising. Here is a woman who realised that she was in danger. This is a woman who got up early in the morning with her husband and began to walk out of the city of destruction.
[24:37] I can see her in my mind's eye. She's running down the high street of Sodom, towards the gate of the city. I can see her with every breath, with every effort of energy running towards the gate and getting beyond the gate, getting beyond the boundary of the city.
[24:57] There she is, she's running and she reaches the open plain, running alongside her husband, following her example. And you might say, well then, what happened?
[25:11] Why is she in such trouble? that Jesus says, she was turned into a pillar of salt. Well, for some reason, her pace lessened.
[25:29] She slowed down. What was it? What was it? What was in her thought? What was in her mind?
[25:40] she was running out of the city and all of her sudden, her pace slowed down. What was it? What had happened?
[25:53] She almost stopped to a dead standstill because she remembered what she had left behind. Oh, she left behind her home, probably left behind her livestock, left behind her neighbors, left behind her friends.
[26:15] But that's not what I'm thinking about because the greatest thing that she left behind was not her neighbors, it was not her friends, it was not her home, it was not her livestock.
[26:30] What she left behind was her heart. Her heart was still in Sodom. And dear friends, we see that repeated at times, don't we?
[26:46] We see people who get aroused because when they are, when the destiny of a Christless life is brought before them, they get aroused and it is as if they're willing to run at a great pace out of the city of destruction.
[27:11] But then, all of a sudden, things change, they're not running so fast. They lose their appetite to run because their heart is still in the city of destruction.
[27:29] Because their heart is ill, not right with God. She was out of Sodom, but Sodom was not out of her heart.
[27:43] the Bible says that she began to linger. There was another occasion when both Lot and her lingered, when the angels first came and announced the message of judgment.
[27:59] The Bible says that Lot lingered and the angels had to physically take the wrists of that man and woman and pull them out of their house and out of the city. You would think that one lingering moment that would happen enough for her.
[28:16] She would have fled especially when she heard the cries of those who had been judged. Yet my friend, she lingered once again.
[28:30] Lot didn't linger, he kept running, he kept going, but she lingered and she stopped. Her heart was still in Sodom.
[28:43] Her heart was in the world and she turned and as she turned the fire of God's brimstone rained upon her and she was turned into a pillar of salt.
[28:55] Well, dear friend, I ask you tonight, are you lingering? Have you lingered before? How many people have been touched by God?
[29:08] Not just angels, but by God himself, and yet they have lingered. You've been touched in your conscience, you've been touched in your heart, and yet so many touched can still linger and can be lost.
[29:33] It was ever a lesson that we can learn in remembering Lot's wife should dis that to be almost saved is to be not saved at all.
[29:47] A person can be almost saved and yet be not saved at all. Here is Lot's wife.
[29:58] She's running out of the city. You'd say she's going to be saved. She looks like somebody who is going to be saved. She's running along with her husband.
[30:10] But Lot kept running. But she lingered. She turned round. She looked once more because her heart was still in the world.
[30:21] Her heart was still in Sodom. And the Lord judged her. The one that looked like she was going to be saved was not saved at all.
[30:35] You see salvation is a matter of the heart. One can from the outward can look like the genuine article.
[30:48] One can look like being a Christian. One can look like one who has put his hope in Christ outwardly. But how's the heart?
[30:59] The heart was still in the world. She lingered. She lost her appetite. She lingered and God judged her.
[31:12] And what a fearful judgment it was. All these privileges that she had yet she was lost and her husband was saved.
[31:27] And Jesus says when I come again in judgment one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two in the field one will be taken and the other left. For those who are lost there is not that hope.
[31:42] There is a separation and separation for eternity. That's why you need to remember Lot's wife. Remember her privileges and if those privileges are yours tonight you need to flee and be saved immediately.
[31:58] don't just remember her privileges remember her sin and her sin was that she lingered when the angel first spoke to her and now she is lingering again.
[32:14] She was fleeing running from a burning city and we are crying to you tonight to flee from the city of destruction. your soul is at stake.
[32:28] There's no room tonight for you my friend to be lingering. Her second sin was not only her lingering her slackness but the fact that she doubted God.
[32:47] God had wanted first hand from these angels that judgment was coming. She had seen the sodomites blinded at her own door. She knew what God could do but the fact of the matter is I believe that she started to doubt God's warning.
[33:06] And that may be your sin tonight. Yes you may be lingering but maybe tonight you are doubting God's warning.
[33:18] God tells you that if you do not believe in Christ that you are lost. God tells you and he's giving you this warning in his grace and in his mercy and in his love he's warning you and he's telling you that unless you put your trust in Jesus Christ that you're lost you go to hell you're lost forever you're in torment forever he says because hell will never bring satisfaction to the justice of God only one gave satisfaction to the justice of God and that was the son Jesus Christ and he says to you tonight believe in my son commit yourself to my son trust in my son and tonight you are doubting God's warning you're probably saying to yourself it can't be that bad it can't be that bad will
[34:27] God send anyone to hell surely God will save everyone is he not a compassionate God is he not a God of love surely a God of love and a compassionate God won't send me to hell I'm a good person I do my best but remember God is a just God and where there is sin it must be punished even when that sin is imputed to his own son he must punish it remember the hand of God the invisible hand at the cross of Golgotha was the hand of the father punishing the son because of the sins that were imputed to him the sins that were reckoned to him the sins that was put to his account not his own but mine and yours if we trust in
[35:29] Jesus Christ she doubted God you almost think it's not possible how could she doubt after everything that she saw how could she doubt she heard the cry of the sodomites as they had been destroyed she saw the fire that had descended upon Sodom how could she doubt well if she didn't doubt why did she turn was it not in her heart or in her mind this doubt surely God won't destroy me maybe she woke up that morning and it was a beautiful day and she thought surely this is not the day of God's judgment and people are thinking in our world today when you talk to them about their soul surely
[36:31] God won't judge the world surely he will not keep me out of heaven I'm not that bad surely God won't send people to hell what kind of a God would do such a thing I say to you tonight let God be true and every man a liar God's word is clear and sadly she found it out to be clear for she turned the look of her eyes was not only pointing in the direction that her heart was pointing was pointing because she had left her heart in that city the treasures of hers were in Sodom in the burning city and the Lord says wherever your treasure is there your heart will be also so what the saviour is saying tonight to all our hearts is this it doesn't matter what you say it doesn't even matter what you do how is your heart is your heart right with
[37:46] God and here shall lesson if there was everyone you can't have the saviour and have your sin at the same time you can't have Christ and sin at the same time you can't have the two you can't have your habits and the saviour here's proof if ever there was one greater than any verse in the bible that I could show you about repentance why we need to turn from our sins and turn to Christ it is the cross the cross is so central it is central to the gospel it is central to our life if we need repentance well the greatest proof we have of that is the cross because the cross shows us what sin is and what sin deserves as well as showing us the only way of escape from what sin deserves remember her privileges remember her sin and finally remember her punishment it was the same as those in
[39:07] Sodom but here's a tragedy she perished at the gates of Saur it tells us in Genesis that was her city of refuge that was the place where she would be saved whilst the others were in the city of destruction when they were judged she was outside that gate and she was just about to enter into the gate of her city of deliverance I say to you it's one thing to die with the ungodly after living an ungodly life but imagine what it is to have the privileges the great privileges and yet to die without Christ it was one thing to die with the city of Sodom but it's another thing to die after the privileges that she was given from
[40:09] Amber Lock's wife Peter says for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them if you know the way of the gospel my friend and you have had privileges just like Lord's wife I'm telling you tonight on the authority of God's word that your judgment will be far greater her punishment was instant it was sudden what if the breath were taken from your body tonight where would your eternal destiny be while Jesus is coming and he comes suddenly and where will your eternal destiny be imagine if for you whatever you're dabbling in whatever you've done imagine that if suddenly
[41:19] God's punishment should come to you in the very moment of your transgression where will you be well it can happen remember Lord's wife remember her privileges remember her sin and remember her punishment a woman that had such great privileges a woman that saw much a woman that heard much a woman that was warned a woman that began but she never persevered oh that's the thing is it not my friend it's not to begin the thing is to persevere it is only those who persevere to the end that will be saved it's to persevere to the end remember
[42:22] Lord's wife let us pray