Remember Lot’s Wife Sermon – Remember Lot’s Wife

1. Sodom and Gomorrah were evil cities.

1) The men of the city were filled with lust and violence.

2) They were homosexuals.

3) So God decided to destroy them.

4) The story is found in Genesis 19.

2. God, however, protected Lot.

1) He sent two angels to the city.

2) These angels told Lot that the city was to be destroyed.

3) Lot had to gather up his family and leave the city immediately.

4) The next morning, Lot and his family tarried.

5) So the angels literally laid their hands on them and forcibly removed them from the city.

6) It appears that they had to leave everything behind.

7) The angels warned them not to look back or they would be consumed (Genesis 19:17).

8) Lot plead with them to let his family escape to Zoar instead of retreating into the mountains.

9) Thus they did.

3. The cities were destroyed.

1) God rained down fire and brimstone upon the cities.

2) As this was happening, Lot’s wife turned and looked back.

3) She was turned into a pillar of salt.

4. We learn the following.

1) God will punish the wicked (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

2) God isn’t willing for the wicked (or the righeous) to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

3) God will make every effort to safeguard the faithful (Romans 8:31 “If God be for us, who can be against us…?).

4) We must, however, obey God in order to receive His protection (Matthew 6:33).

1. It seems obvious that Lot’s wife had a conflict within her mind.

1) On the one hand, her husband and family were fleeing the city.

2) On the other hand, her house and belongings were being left behind.

3) She had heard the command of God as given through the angels.

4) They had manhandled her to get her out of the city after they lingered.

5) They had given her every opportunity to escape and live.

6) They were not going to interfere any more.

7) The choice was now hers to do with as she desired.

2. So she looked back.

1) Most commentators believe that this isn’t merely a glance.

2) Instead, they believe it was a longing and some believe she actually turned back to the city.

3) Was she looking back to her house?

4) Was she looking back to her own family?

5) Was she looking back to her sons-in-law?

6) Was she looking back to the culture?

3. We don’t know for what she looked back, but we know why.

1) She was attached to the physical things that were in Sodom.

2) She loved the things of the world more than the things of God.

3) She couldn’t serve both God and the things of this world.

4) So she made a choice.

5) She ended up losing everything.

4. We learn the following:

1) We need not be attached to the things of this life (Luke 12:15 “Beware of covetousness…”).

2) We cannot serve both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

3) We best serve our families by obeying God (1 John 5:2 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”).

4) If we cannot put God first in our lives, we will lose everything. Consider Matthew 16:24-26 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

1. Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt.

1) Her life was ended.

2) Her relationship with her family was ended.

3) Her relationship with God also ended.

4) Her one redeeming characteristic was that she became an example to us on how not to behave.

5) Jesus told us to remember her so that we don’t follow after her same example.

6) 1 Corinthians 10:6 “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”

2. She had plenty of opportunity to obey.

1) God is merciful and long suffering toward those who belong to Him.

2) But there is a point where God’s patience ends.

3) Lot’s wife had opportunity after opportunity to obey the Lord.

4) He finally simply allowed her the choice she had wanted to make all along.

5) 2 Peter 3:9 “God is not willing that any should perish…”

6) Ezekiel 18:26 “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.”

3. She was unprepared for the Lord’s Judgment

1) She was given time and opportunity to escape.

2) We, however, have no such luxury.

3) 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

4) We must be prepared every day for either our own death or the Lord’s return.

5) We know this, that the Lord make no apologies for those whose lives end unprepared for eternity.

6) To the man who only had one talent, Jesus said, “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).