#9 (The
“Remember” Series)
“REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE!”
TEXTS: Luke 17:32;
Gen. 19:1-38
INTRO: One of the
things that characterize human nature is the strange belief that we are exempt
as individuals from the laws of nature. This has been both a strong point and a
weak point for the human race. It
has been our strong point in that it has enabled us to do things no animal would
ever have thought to do, like take a large sheet and attach strings to it and
jump off a cliff thus defying the laws of gravity ... what animal would have
ever thought of this? It is our
weak point in that we believe we are the exception to all laws, spiritual,
moral, and physical. Most of us
don’t believe we are ever going to die; only other people do this! Americans in particular have this crazy
sense that we can make poor choices and still avoid all consequences; somehow
there will always be options to get out of bad things happening to us no matter
what choice we make! Even dreaded
diseases like A.I.D.S. haven’t persuaded people that certain sexual behaviors
leave them at great risk; they often think they will be the exception! Consequences for poor choices affect
others, not us … or so we are accustomed to thinking.
ILLUS: YEARS AGO
ABC EVENING NEWS REPORTED ON AN UNUSUAL WORK OF MODERN ART, IT WAS A CHAIR
AFFIXED TO A SHOTGUN. IT WAS TO BE
VIEWED BY SITTING IN THE CHAIR AND LOOKING DIRECTLY INTO THE GUN BARREL! THE CRAZY PART OF THIS WAS THAT THE GUN
WAS LOADED WITH ONE BULLET AND A TIMING DEVICE SET TO FIRE AT AN UNDETERMINED
MOMENT WITHIN THE NEXT 100 YEARS, NO ONE BUT THE ARTIST KNEW WHEN THE GUN WOULD
GO OFF! THE AMAZING THING ABOUT
THIS “PIECE OF ART” WAS THAT PEOPLE WAITED IN LINE FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO SIT IN
THE CHAIR AND LOOK INTO THE GUN BARREL, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT IT MIGHT GO OFF
IN THE MOMENT THEY WERE SITTING THERE! THEY LOVED THE CHALLENGE OF THINKING THAT
THEY HAD THE ODDS IN THEIR FAVOR AND THEY ASSUMED THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO LOOK
DEATH IN THE EYE AND WALK AWAY ... IT WOULD GO OFF ON SOMEONE ELSE, NOT ON THEM.
THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO SIT THERE FOR
ONE MINUTE EACH! IT WAS ONE OF THE
HOTTEST ATTRACTIONS AT THIS ART SHOW. – SOURCE UNKNOWN
What separates Christians who seem to
do well in life and those who seem to suffer constantly? While not all suffering comes from poor
choices many Christians suffer untold agony throughout their lives because they
make frequent poor choices! I have
known Christians who believe they are always the exception to many of God’s
commands and that if they violate God’s principles of righteousness that somehow
they can escape the consequences.
PROP.
SENT: The Bible teaches us that even
though we are believers the choices we make can greatly bless or greatly hurt
us! As believers we are not immune
from consequences if we make poor choices, we are responsible for much of the
quality of our life.
I. A “LOT” OF POOR CHOICES! Gen.
19:1-22
A. “
1.
a. He moved into
b. Homosexuality was pervasive
throughout the city, to the point where strangers in town were often raped by
gangs of homosexuals.
c. It was a wealthy city bent of
hedonism (the passion of pursuing pleasure).
d. While his uncle Abraham stayed far
away from the cities of the plain Lot had slowly moved closer and closer until
he found himself living in Sodom and holding a political office in
town.
2. Lot had always been attracted to
getting the best of this world’s stuff, this is why he parted from Abraham, he
wanted this world’s best!
a. Certainly
b. His poor choices were a gradual
process, he didn’t backslide overnight!
3. He may have even learned the art of
justifying his actions by spiritual reasoning!
a. Like: “
b. It was quite clear that
4. While we do need to go where
sinners are we need to be careful that we don’t live like sinners live! Jesus went where sinners lived, but He
was careful to be an example for them and called them to
repent!
5. Somehow
ILLUS: AN OLD
STORY ABOUT A DESERT NOMAD GOES LIKE THIS: HE AWAKENED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
ONE TIME WITH EXTREME HUNGER. HE
LIT A CANDLE AND BEGAN EATING DATES FROM A BOWL HE HAD BESIDE HIS BED. HE TOOK THE FIRST DATE AND TOOK A BITE;
IMMEDIATELY HE THREW IT DOWN AS HE NOTICED THAT IT HAD A WORM IN IT. HE TOOK A SECOND DATE, AGAIN AFTER ONE
BITE HE THREW IT AWAY, FOR IT TOO CONTAINED A WORM. HE THEN BEGAN TO WORRY THAT IF THIS
CONTINUED HE WOULDN’T HAVE A SINGLE DATE TO EAT AND HE WAS SO HUNGRY! FINALLY HE CAME UP WITH A PLAN TO SOLVE
THE PROBLEM, HE BLEW OUT THE CANDLE AND BEGAN EATING THE DATES IN THE DARK. HE FIGURED THIS WAY HE WOULDN’T NOTICE
THE WORM AND HE COULD SATISFY HIS HUNGER WITHOUT DISGUST! QUICKLY HE ATE ALL THE DATES. HOW TRAGIC IT IS WHEN CHRISTIANS ADOPT
THESE KINDS OF COMPROMISES WITH THE WORLD.
THEY JUST BLIND THEMSELVES TO WHAT THEY ARE REALLY DOING AND THEN IT
DOESN’T BOTHER THEM ANYMORE! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
6. Compromising with sin will never
let you be the winner, you will always lose! You can’t win if you compromise with the
Devil!
ILLUS: LIKE THE
OLD RUSSIAN PROVERB ABOUT A HUNTER THAT WAS ABOUT TO SHOOT THIS BIG BEAR, HE HAD
HIS GUN SIGHTED IN AND WAS ABOUT TO PULL THE TRIGGER WHEN THE BEAR SUDDENLY
SPOKE: “ISN’T IT BETTER IF WE SIT DOWN AND TALK RATHER THAN JUST SHOOT ME?” THE
HUNTER WAS STARTLED TO HEAR THIS BEAR TALKING IN A LOW SOFT VOICE. SO THEY SAT DOWN, THE BEAR STARTED FIRST,
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, LET US FIND SOME WAY TO COMPROMISE WHAT WE BOTH WANT,
MAYBE WE BOTH CAN GET WHAT WE WANT?” THE HUNTER THEN ASKED WHAT THE BEAR WANTED,
THE BEAR ANSWERED, “I WANT A FULL STOMACH, WHAT DO YOU WANT AS THE HUNTER?” THE
HUNTER REPLIED, “I WANT A FUR COAT.” SO THEY BEGAN TO NEGOTIATE A
COMPROMISE. SOON THE NEGOTIATIONS
WERE OVER AND HAD APPARENTLY BEEN SUCCESSFUL, EXCEPT THAT THE ONLY ONE TO WALK
AWAY WAS THE BEAR. THE BEAR HAD
EATEN THE HUNTER! THE BEAR NOW HAD
A FULL STOMACH, AND THE HUNTER WAS WEARING A FUR COAT SO TO SPEAK!!! THE BEAR GOT THE BETTER DEAL WHILE THE
HUNTER LOST HIS LIFE THOUGH IT COULD BE SAID THAT HE NOW HAD A FUR COAT OVER
HIM! COMPROMISE RARELY SATISFIES
BOTH PARTIES EQUALLY! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
B. “Lot” of
Complaining!
19:14-22
1. Lot knew how evil his environment
was, he wouldn’t let the angels spend the night in the square because he knew
the men of Sodom would attempt to rape them!
a. Yet, Lot served as a judge in
town! How come these men who wanted
to rape the angels were free and not in prison if
b. Those who served at the gates were
judges; the Bible says this is what
2. Lot complains to the men of Sodom
attempting to break down his door to rape his guests, his solution to the
problem reflects the level of influence of sin on his own morality; his solution
was to offer his daughters to the gang outside so that they would rape his own
daughters rather than his guests!
a. Some
father!!!
b. Some example of
faith!!!
c. His future sons-in-laws laughed him
in the face when
3. Lot complains about having to leave
a great city like Sodom, won’t God please let him live in another city of his
choice – one like Zoar, one of the 5 cities of the plain that included Sodom and
Gomorrah ... and very much like them!
a.
b. The message of compromise still
hadn’t hit home with
c. Perhaps
d. He had to have known too that Zoar
was much like
4. We discover later however that Lot
doesn’t stay here, he runs from here too, probably out of fear and rejection!
Perhaps the inhabitants blamed
II. A LONGING FOR PERSONAL COMFORT!
Gen. 19:23-38; Luke
17:32
A. Loving
Comfort! 19:23-26
1. Now the painful truth of how much
influence the choices Lot made and how it had impacted his family finally comes
out!
a. God’s judgment fell just as the
Lord said it would, this alone should be a warning to all those that somehow
believe that God really won’t come again to judge the world like Revelation says
– He will!
b.
2. God’s instructions were clear, flee
the city and don’t look back!
a. This is the message of
salvation, leave behind your life of sin and don’t turn back to
it!
b. Lot’s wife reveals the amount of
influence the opulent lifestyle had made on her soul, she can’t stand the
thought of leaving behind all those worldly benefits, the pull of the world has
a greater hold on her than the thought of escaping from God’s judgment, and the
sad lesson here is that this will be true unfortunately on too many people in
the end of time!
c. What
3. The love of the world had replaced
her love for the Word of God and she had stayed under the influence of
materialism too long to get away!
a. She has got to be the most tragic
picture of someone who came so close to escaping God’s judgment but instead
missed her escape by a last minute poor choice.
b. She was led out by God’s angels and
was on her way to safety but turned back at the last minute – and was thus
lost!
ILLUS: LIKE THE
B. Lot’s
Casualties 19:27-38
1. Lot had lost nearly everything; his
luxurious home, his wife, his future son’s-in-laws, his joy, his testimony, his
fellowship with his godly uncle Abraham, and finally his
job.
2. Now he also loses his daughters’
respect, the many sexual perversions of
a. These two children of incest
fathered two groups of people: the Moabites and the Ammonites – both of which
were bitter enemies of God’s people for generations!
b. It obviously was easier getting
3.
a. He sought out the “good life” and
ended up with an “empty life!”
b. Even his escape here must be seen
as God’s love for Abraham, it was because God “REMEMBERED
ABRAHAM that he brought out
c. Thank God for an intercessor or
4. It was Lot’s own passions that had
enslaved him and kept him from being what he might have been for God, he
constantly chose the wrong things and he had a miserable existence even though
he was ultimately saved from God’s judgment!
a. How many “Christians” does this
describe today? They want to go to
heaven so they get saved, then they ignore as many spiritual things as they
possibly can so they can enjoy the world and thus have the best of both
worlds!
b. They feed their passions until they
are so miserable that they cry out to God, and as soon as a crisis passes back
to the world they go, but they still want you to know that they still love the
Lord!
ILLUS: IT IS LIKE
THE LIFE OF RAYNALD III, A 14TH CENTURY DUKE THAT RULED WHAT TODAY IS BELGIUM.
RAYNALD WAS GROSSLY OVERWEIGHT, IN
FACT THE PEOPLE OFTEN CALLED HIM BY A LATIN NAME, “CRASSUS”, WHICH IS LATIN FOR
“FAT.” AFTER A VIOLENT ARGUMENT
WITH HIS YOUNGER BROTHER EDWARD, EDWARD LED A REVOLT AGAINST HIS RULE AND HAD
HIS OVERWEIGHT BROTHER CAPTURED, BUT NOT KILLED. HE TOOK HIS OVERWEIGHT BROTHER AND HAD A
LARGE ROOM BUILT AROUND HIM IN THE CASTLE WITH NORMAL SIZE WINDOWS AND NEAR
NORMAL SIZE DOOR. THERE WERE NO
PRISON BARS OR GUARDS PLACED AROUND HIM. HIS BROTHER EDWARD THEN TOLD HIM HE COULD
ONCE AGAIN RULE WHEN HE COULD WALK OUT OF THAT ROOM ON HIS OWN. RAYNALD WAS TOO LARGE TO GO THROUGH THE
WINDOWS OR THE DOOR, WHAT KEPT HIM PRISONER WAS HIS OWN PASSION FOR FOOD, WHICH
HIS BROTHER EDWARD SENT DOWN TO HIM EACH DAY IN GREAT QUANTITIES. RAYNALD ACTUALLY GREW LARGER EACH DAY,
AND LIVED IN THIS ROOM FOR 10 YEARS BEFORE HE WAS RELEASED FROM HIS OWN PRISON
OF OVEREATING. AFTER 10 YEARS HIS
BROTHER EDWARD DIED IN BATTLE AND HE WAS RELEASED FROM THE ROOM BY TEARING PART
OF A WALL DOWN BUT HE DIDN’T LIVE LONG TO RULE AGAIN, HIS HEALTH WAS SO RUINED
BY HIS APPETITES THAT HE DIED EASILY WITHIN ONE YEAR OF HIS RELEASE! HE COULD HAVE GONE FREE AT ANYTIME DURING
THOSE 10 YEARS, BUT DIDN’T BECAUSE HE FED HIS APPETITE MORE THAN HIS DESIRE TO
BE FREE! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
5. Lot was now experiencing the result
of many years of poor choices, consequences for our choices are
real!!
6. Christian joy is not just a matter
of an emotional state, it is the result of making wise choices all the
time!!!
a. Choosing God’s ways over the ways
of this world.
b. How tragic to know the way to
blessing and yet ignore it and choose the ways of
curses!
c.
7. How much better to OBEY than to
SACRIFICE!
C. Loud
Call! Luke
17:32
1. Jesus uses Lot’s wife to remind
those in the first century and us of the consequences of poor choices, Jesus
stated,
“REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE!”
a. Don’t forget the price tag to
turning back!
b. Don’t think it can’t happen to you
and that you will somehow be an exception to God’s
rules!
c.
2. Jesus uses this story as a wake up
call to those of the last days, the days of Christ’s coming again! (The context of the passage where Jesus asks
us to remember
3. This means that in the last days of
time the circumstances will be similar to Lot’s day, the temptation will be
strong to live for the world and only lightly for the Lord!
4. Life is full of choices, even
Christians can make poor ones, and then they too will experience the
consequences of those poor choices!
5. There is no good way to escape
God’s judgments except through obedience to His ways, all other ways lead to
loss!
ILLUS: IN JAN.
1985 A LARGE SUITCASE THAT WAS UNMARKED AND UNCLAIMED WAS DISCOVERED AT THE
CUSTOMS OFFICE IN LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. WHEN U.S. CUSTOMS OPENED THE SUITCASE
THEY FOUND THE CURLED UP BODY OF AN UNIDENTIFIED YOUNG LADY INSIDE. SHE HAD BEEN DEAD FOR A FEW DAYS ALREADY.
IT WAS LEARNED THAT SHE HAD
ATTEMPTED TO FLEE IRAN TO THE U.S. AND SO TOOK MATTERS IN HER OWN HANDS. WHILE HER PLAN SEEMED SIMPLE ENOUGH, SHE
DIDN’T KNOW EVIDENTLY ABOUT THE LACK OF OXYGEN AND THE EXTREME COLD, WHICH MUST
HAVE KILLED HER. EVEN IF SHE HAD
SURVIVED THE TRIP, SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN SENT BACK FOR BEING AN ILLEGAL ALIEN AND
SO SHE STILL WOULD HAVE FAILED! YOU
CANNOT ENTER WITH SHORTCUTS AND METHODS OF YOUR OWN DESIRE, TRYING TO COME
THROUGH IMPROPER CHANNELS WOULD HAVE ONLY LEFT HER MORE MISERABLE, ESPECIALLY
AFTER SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN SENT BACK TO THE IRANIAN OFFICIALS SHE HAD TRIED TO
ESCAPE. SOME PEOPLE THINK THEY WILL
ENTER HEAVEN ON THEIR OWN TERMS, THEIR OWN WAY, THEY AVOID OR IGNORE GOD’S WAYS,
BUT THESE ILLEGAL MEANS WILL ONLY PROVE FOOLISH ... AND IN SOME CASES
FATAL! – SOURCE UNKNOWN
6. Do you hear this wake up call by
Jesus? Are you going your own way
while trying to confess being a Christian so you make heaven while your heart is
more committed to the world than the WORD!?
7. Have you found being a Christian a
drag and a miserable experience?
How much are you living for Him and how much are you living for
you?
8. Do you think you can keep ignoring
the things of God and not have it affect you? ... YOU’RE WRONG! – “REMEMBER
9. Why not start making wiser choices,
ones that lead to righteousness and life!!!
CONCLUSION:
Is it possible to be a
believer and miss much of God’s best?
YES! Lot’s poor choices brought much heartache and loss to his own life
and his family. Lot thought he had
gained much by his foolish choices but in the end LOT HAD LESS! His wife turned back to the world and
she thus became a part of it permanently!
The results were tragic!