Turn once again in your Bible as we pray now to the New Testament to the gospel according to Luke the 17th chapter and our text can be found there in verse 32 Luke 17 is a chapter in which Christ speaks at length about His coming again. First about the destruction of Jerusalem, but then He speaks also about His coming with the clouds. And it will be like the days of Noah, He says. And it will be like Sodom, what happened in the days of Sodom. And allow me to read verses 29 through 32, though our text is verse 32. So Luke 17, starting at verse 29. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he which shall be upon the housetop And his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember, Lot's wife. I want to say also, before we begin, that there are three sermons on this text. Luke 17, verse 32, which I've used in preparation for this message. It's important to stand on the shoulders of giants, and J.C. Ryle has a beautiful sermon on this verse. Charles Spurgeon does as well, and Jonathan Edwards. So if you want to make further study of this, I refer you to those men. Those sermons are freely available on the web. If you just type in Lot's wife and Edwards and Ryle and Spurgeon, they'll come up and you can read more and you'll see what I've drawn from those messages. Well, congregation, remember Lot's wife. This word is a warning word and it comes to us with a very serious tone. And by way of introduction, let's just think of a few reasons why it deserves our most serious attention. The first of them being, think of who is speaking these words. This is the Savior himself. And he utters this warning as he speaks about the end of time. And as you all know, the Lord Jesus was not unnecessarily harsh. He was not one to break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. And yet he spoke honestly of hell and of the judgment and of coming eternity. And likewise here, he speaks these words very solemnly, very seriously, but very wisely and very earnestly. as he warns us to remember Lot's wife. Here's an example he's saying of someone whose end was not good. Lot's wife. And because of who speaks these words, shouldn't we pay special attention? But secondly, it's worth our serious consideration because not only the ones speaking it, but the ones to whom Jesus is speaking. Jesus here was not speaking to wicked worldlings who had forsaken Him and turned their back on Him. No. And He wasn't speaking here to careless sinners. He wasn't speaking to hardened Pharisees. He was speaking here to His disciples. Those who were following him. Those who were intent to listen to him. And it was to them that he said, be careful. Remember, Lod's wife. That then is a second reason why we should pay close attention to this warning. Thirdly, this warning is worth our special attention because of whom Jesus is speaking about, Lot's wife. Remember, Lot's wife. Remember. Jesus here isn't pointing to some of the Most famous characters of the Old Testament like Abraham, or Sarah, Moses, or Ruth, David, or Hezekiah, no. There's one, Lot's wife. A woman that we know relatively little about, and yet, what we know about her is important for all of us to take heed to. Because in her is wrapped up the reality of a lost eternity. And Jesus says here, remember Lot's wife. It's as if he's wanting here to get into our minds and into our memories and to shake them up as it were and say, don't forget this. Remember this. If you're going to forget all sorts of things, don't let this be one of them. Remember Lot's wife. It's as if the Lord Jesus knows how quickly we forget, how quickly we brush things aside. We may be impressed for a time, but then... Time has a way of pushing warnings away. And Christ knows this. He knows the hardness of the human heart, the deceitfulness of sin, and He knows that we need reminders, frequent reminders. And so the Lord stirs up our memories here. Consider Lot's wife. He says, Remember Lot's wife, lest he would say it of you, of any of us. The same thing, remember her or remember him. And so as we consider this message tonight, may the Lord impress upon us this truth. Stir up our minds that we would truly, in a spiritual way, remember Lot's wife. Our theme with God's help this evening is simply the look back. the look back, for that is what Lot's wife symbolizes. We'll have three points and I'll simply cover them as we go along. The look back. The first thing I want us to see about Lot's wife is we need to remember the many privileges she enjoyed. The Lord says here, remember Lot's wife and remember first of all then the privileges she enjoyed in her life. She was really, when you consider it, immensely privileged compared to countless others around her. She had most likely left Ur of the Chaldees with Lot, with Abram and Sarai, to travel to Canaan as God had commanded. She had been there in the company of godly Abraham and godly Sarah and her husband Lot. She had seen Abraham build altars and call upon the name of the Lord. She had heard the promises that God had given to Abraham of a seed that would be born unto him in a miraculous way through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. She was highly favored, don't you think, beyond so many in her day who never heard Never saw any of such things. She lived among godly people. She walked among godly people. Praying people. People who walked with God. Who knew what it was to take hold of God in prayer. She saw it. She lived among them. People who believed the promises. People who were looking for a city which had foundations. Whose builder and maker was God. Not only did Lot's wife have godly people to surround her, she had herself also been a witness of God's amazing power, delivering her and her husband. There's an incident, you can read of it in Genesis 14, when Lot was captured by four heathen kings. All of Sodom was taken captive. And Abraham, when he heard of this, had come after Lot. Think of that. with 318 men were told and had rescued the whole city and rescued lot what a joyous occasion that must have been to have your chains break off and Abraham and his slaves free you from the hand of these foreign kings don't you think she would have thanked the Lord for that amazing deliverance God's hand had clearly been shown in that event And yet congregation, these privileges, which Lot's wife enjoyed, did not profit her. And the reason they didn't profit her was because they weren't mixed with faith. She never turned to God in truth. She never repented truly of her sins, forsaking her sins and cleaving to God. Lot's wife, as we will see, never set her affection on things above. where Christ is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Instead, she set her affections on things below. Yeah, Lot's wife had a form of godliness, the Bible says. But she lacked the power thereof. Despite all the warnings of God in her life, all the promises of God that came in her life, She was one of whom the scriptures attest that she died without faith. She died without grace, without God in this world. She died an unbeliever. She died as one of whom Christ had to say, remember her, don't be like her. She became a monument, a pillar of salt, a warning, to heed, a beacon. Don't be like her. This is a warning tonight, congregation, for those of you who are trusting in your privileges, your religious privileges. Some of you have had godly parents. Some of you have a godly spouse. Godly children, even. Godly brothers. Godly sisters. You're a member of this church. You're a part of this church. Or another church, perhaps. and yet to be close to someone who knows God doesn't mean that you know God. And it means nothing about the state of your heart. Jesus says in this very chapter, Luke 17, I tell you in that night there shall be two in one bed. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left. And this is exactly what happened with Lot and with his wife. part of the best church in the nation. You may be under the best preaching and still go lost. You may have the gospel brought to your ears countless times and still be like Lot's wife, unconverted, lost forever. You see, young people and children, religious privileges are a blessing. But they are a call to seek our all outside of ourselves with Christ. And no one should rest on a single one of these privileges, as if they will save you, to be baptized, to have godly parents. If anything, these things should drive us to Christ. To have godly parents, godly siblings, should make you seek after Christ. Lord, give me what they have and what I lack. Earnest preaching should send you to the Savior. Lord, thou dost see fit to give me this. Oh, please give me a new heart. Give me a new spirit. Wash my sins. Make me right and true. My friends, religious privileges will not save you. In fact, they may very well harden you. It happens so quickly. It happens so often. It makes people riper for judgment. The Lord Jesus says it will be more tolerable in the day of days for Sodom and for Gomorrah. Think of that. Those wicked cities. than for Capernaum and other cities which had the ministry of the Lord Jesus. And he would say the same thing about us. In churches like us today, it'll be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you to have lived under such preaching. Remember Lot's wife. Well, she had the privilege of a godly surrounding. She had the privilege of remarkable deliverances. But she had a third privilege, and that was that she had had a visit from angels in her home in Sodom. Amazing, isn't it? Angels had come, knocked on their door, come inside their house, sat them down, and warned them. eyeball to eyeball of the coming destruction. And not only that, but they were offered a way of escape. They were told to haste for their lives. What an earnest meeting this must have been. This no doubt impressed Lot's wife, don't you think? Angels appeared to me. They came into my house. Some of you may think, boy, if I had a visit of angels, they came down. They sat me down. They told me the judgment is coming. Repent and believe. Haste for your life. I would have done it. Well, that's what you say, but that's what she said. That's what she had. And in the end, she was lost. Even this earnest warning did not save Lot's wife in the end. And my friend, if that is you, really haven't you had earnest warnings? Haven't you had preachers of the gospel who looked you in your eyes and said, listen, you're not right with God. You need to flee right now before it is too late. They were messengers sent from the throne room of God. You might just as well have said that you have had angels in your homes. You have had angels on your pulpits who have warned you of the disaster that will soon come, the judgment that will break through. But have you heeded it? That was another privilege that Lot's wife had. There's a fourth and final privilege that Lot's wife had, and that was that these very angels had taken her by the hand. Sensing, no doubt, their reluctance to leave the city of Sodom, the angels ended up grasping the hands of Lot and his wife, literally pulling them. out of this city just before the fire and brimstone was to come down. Don't you think in a certain way that if nothing else would have saved her, don't you think this could have? To all appearances, in fact, it looked like Lot's wife was heading to safety. In fact, if I may just now just say to you, some of you are worse off than Lot's wife because you're still in the city of destruction. Some of you have never made any effort to flee from this city of destruction. You're still enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, perhaps thinking there's plenty of time to get things in shape. You can wait. Maybe later you'll be earnest, you'll seek God, and you're worse off in a sense. than Lot's wife here. My friend, if that's you, hasten for your life's sake. Don't tarry. There's no safety at all. If anything, this passage should tell you that you're in a worse state than Lot's wife and she by the way, is still not safe, even with these angels' hands gripped on hers, bringing her out of this city. You see, congregation, it's not enough to leave sin if sin doesn't leave us. It's not enough to leave the world if the world will not leave us. And if one thing is clear, it's not enough to be on the way of salvation if you're not in the place of safety. As we wish to see in our second point, remember Lot's wife, let's secondly here remember her problem. We've seen her privileges, now secondly her problem. Genesis 19, from which we read, records the decisive action that marked Lot's wife's death and doom. This is what we read. She looked back from behind her husband and she became a pillar of salt. It's really very simple. Lot's wife's problem was she looked. back. Now some of you are saying, now that seems such an insignificant, such a small thing on her part, hardly worth any attention, just a look. A congregation, small things often reveal big things. A small crack in a bridge over a river or over a lake can be devastating. Small things, a small tumor, can be evidence of a huge problem. And so too, spiritually, small things, little things, reveal our true character, don't they? And little sins will condemn us just as much as big ones will. Isn't it true that Eve took only a little bite, you might say, out of the fruit Aaron's sons offered only a little strange fire. And Ananias and Sapphira, they told only a little lie, you might say. But these so-called little sins, Friends, were sins against a great God and sins for which they paid dearly. And this sin of Lot's wife was really, in essence, disobedience because the angels had said, look not behind you. Whatever you do, don't cast a glance back. Look straight ahead of you. Keep your eye focused ahead of you. Don't look back. So Lot's wife's problem was her disobedience and was unbelief. She didn't really believe what the angels were telling her. She didn't think it would matter that much. She turned and looked. We don't know how it went. Maybe the first steps, the first half mile, the first mile out of Sodom She was under conviction. She was determined to head out of the city to avoid destruction. Or maybe as the shock wore off, maybe as her mind went back to her friends. Or to her past. The privileges she had enjoyed there. The prestige that maybe she had enjoyed. Her husband had been an elder in the gate there. And no doubt she too had been looked upon as a prestigious woman. And she thought back to those things. Whatever it was, these things flooded her mind. And in the end, she just couldn't believe it. And she turned back to look in defiance of what the angels had said. But besides unbelief and disobedience, congregation, do you know what the heart of the problem was for Lot's wife? The heart of the problem for Lot's wife was worldly mindedness. As she was being dragged from Sodom, her heart was so attached to Sodom. that she could not obey the command these angels gave her. She couldn't take seriously the Lord's command. And that's why maybe she thought the Lord must not have meant that for me, at least not now. Why not a little glance? Why not a little look back? And this is how it goes when our hearts are welded to this world. It's no wonder that the Apostle John says, The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Lot's wife, do you hear that? He that doeth the will of God. Even if you don't understand it, He, she, abides forever. But the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, it will bring you down. In another sense, you could say the problem of Lot's wife was that she didn't go all the way. She went only halfway. She left the pollution of sin, at least the place of sin, but not the power of sin. She started well, but she didn't finish well. if only she had listened to the words of Hebrews obviously in the New Testament but the truth of it Hebrews 4 verse 1 let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should come short of it and Lot's wife came short of it like Gehazi Elisha's servant he was so close He witnessed Naaman's miraculous healing. And yet in the end, his heart was welded to the riches of Naaman. The money of Naaman. And he couldn't give it up. And he became leprous with it. Or Judas. Judas, who was in the presence of the Lord Himself. Who saw many mighty miracles done. And perhaps did some of his own. Yet in the end, for the love of money, betrayed Christ for 30 shekels of silver. Or what about Demas? A companion of Paul, who labored with Paul in the ministry. Demas, of whom Paul had good things to say at one point, but later on he had to write these fearful words, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, What was that? One day Demas says to Paul, Paul, Paul, I have to go back. Why Demas, why? I love the world. How Paul's heart must have broke. Demas, Demas, Demas looked back. And deem us from all that we know is lost. Remember, deem us. Remember Lot's wife. Congregation, how is it with you and with me? God's people here know of that pull inside to look back at your former life. Sometimes you catch yourself doing that. You wonder what your life would have been like if you had continued down the path you were on. But thanks be to God, the Lord breaks that. In your life, again and again, you fall on your knees and you say, Lord, keep me, gracious Savior. Hold thou me up. Lord, don't let me go my own way. Keep me from looking like Lot's wife. I'm afraid that there are those here who are mesmerized by the world or intrigued by the world. Your hearts and your minds, they gravitate towards this world. Well, but maybe not right away. Maybe after you hear a convicting sermon, maybe there's been a time in your life when you sought God earnestly. You had godly parents, you had godly siblings, someone around you was converted, and you saw the difference that God had made in their life, and you too wanted that, and so you sought God, you read your Bible, you prayed to God. One of your friends was changed, and you started to seek God, you wanted the same thing, but... And after a while, some days, some weeks, some months maybe, some years maybe, The pull became too strong. The pull of your old life. Your heart was welded to the world. You look back. Many do that. They start the Christian path, but they look back. We can start so easily. We start to daydream about the past. Many people, we read about it, they wonder about their old friends and they look them up on Facebook. They dream about what it would be to be with them and meet them again. And pretty soon, like Lot's wife, they've looked back and they're all together in the world. My friend, remember Lot's wife. There's a lesson here too for husbands and for fathers. It's interesting, we don't know this woman's name. She's called here Lot's wife. And she has Lot as a husband. Now we know from 2 Peter that Lot, underneath everything, he was a just man, he was a righteous man. He vexed his righteous soul, we're told, with the wickedness, the ungodliness, the lasciviousness in Sodom. But in his home and family, from every appearance that we can see, he was a weak leader. He was passive. And though he himself was saved by fire, his wife was not. And in the text we read here that she turned back from behind him. Isn't this a warning to each and every one of us in our families, especially as husbands and fathers, to give all diligence, to make sure as much as in us lies, that our families are in order, our wives, Our children are looking the right way by God's grace. And for that we need a steadfastness. We can't ourselves be looking back. We need to be stronger than ourselves and stronger than our family in this matter. And Lot was not such a person. He had moved first close to Sodom, on the outskirts of Sodom. He'd come close to the wickedness of Sodom. And then we find him having moved into the realm of Sodom, into the very city of Sodom, and even climbed up the ladder in Sodom. Maybe he thought to do good in Sodom, whatever it was. In the end, Sodom almost swallowed up all his family, almost himself as well. He had lingered in Sodom, and his sons-in-law, to them he seemed like a man who mocked, because he had never really warned them. There was such a discrepancy between how he had lived and how he had let things go on in their lives. How he had slipped himself. So when he became earnest with them, they mocked, they scorned him. And he himself lingered in Sodom. Spurgeon writes this, conformity to the world is sure to end badly sooner and later. To the man himself it is injurious and to his family ruinous. Remember Lot's wife. What must this have been for Lot to enter into Zohar? His wife is not with him. She's gone. She's lost. Lost forever. Remember, Lot's wife. Congregation, the Lord Jesus says, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. There's only one way to look, and that's onward, forward, upward. And especially, congregation, let us beware of wavering. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. And that's what Lot's wife was. She was double-minded. She was on her way. But her heart pulled her back. Her heart was still in Sodom. And James says, He that wavereth is like the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. And let no man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. Hebrews also warns in like manner, it says, now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Well, congregation, never draw back. Never look back. Remember Lot's wife. Remember her privileges. Remember her problem. Remember thirdly here, her perdition. Because the scriptures are very clear what happened to Lot's wife. The sentence is very brief. She looked back and became a pillar of salt. She looked back and became a pillar of salt. There's three things we want to see here. First of all, what a dreadful end. I tried to picture her this past week. Here she is running, running, running. And there, her head moves back, and she catches a glimpse of the fire and brimstone coming down. And there in that instant, she herself becomes a pillar of salt. And her form is a statue for generations of what it means to go halfway and to look back. What a statue that must have been. Something like this. Someone in the race and yet looking back, a contradiction of how it should be. And there she stood, we don't know how long, but there her form stood as a monument to anyone who would see it. This is what happens to the soul that turns back. What a dreadful end. Death is always serious. But to die in the midst of your sins is a most solemn thing. And to die when you're on your way to safety That's the most sobering thought there could be. Having left Sodom on her way to safety, she turns back and meets a dreadful end. And secondly, what a hopeless end. In that instant, in that very instant that she became that pillar of salt, there was nothing more that she could do. There was no more any room for repentance. So often we sin, and the Lord graciously comes with His prophet Nathan, or with His warnings, or with His convictions in our conscience, or through His Word, and we repent and we forsake our sins, and we receive pardon for our sin. But my friend, how do you know that the next time you sin won't be the very moment that God will say, this night your soul is required of you? Is there anything more dreadful, more hopeless than dying in your sins? Irreversible doom is what met this Lot's wife. What was a dreadful end, it was a hopeless end. But it was, congregation, it truly was an unnecessary end from one vantage point. I want to bring that up before you tonight. It was an unnecessary end. In this sense, it is unnecessary to die with the warnings and threats of perdition ringing in your ears. It's unnecessary to die when you have, as you have tonight, the message of salvation preached unto you. It's unnecessary to die like Lot's wife when you have the Savior saying to you, remember Lot's wife, It's unnecessary to die like Lot's wife when you have the heat of the fire and the smell of sulfur behind you here. As long as you press on, you look onward, you look ahead and not look back. It's unnecessary to die while the Lord proffers peace and pardon. Because congregation, as we close the sermon tonight, I want you not just to remember Lot's wife, but remember the one who is telling you to remember Lot's wife. Remember the prophet you could say here, Jesus Christ. The one who warns you not to be like her. And he warns you why. Why does he warn? He warns from out of a true heart. who knows that all who go on like Lot's wife will perish. And he says, as it were, in these words, Sinner, why will you die? Why will you meet your end like this? I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but herein have I pleasure that the wicked turn from his wicked way and live. He says in one passage, he says, I am come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly. I came not, he says, to condemn the world. but that the world by me might be saved. The word of the gospel that reaches our ears tonight is this congregation, the acceptable time. I've heard thee, and in this day of salvation, I have helped you. This is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. I want to speak as we close tonight, especially to those who have been awakened to their danger and to their misery, perhaps in the recent past or more distant past or maybe even just now. My friend, I'm glad you're awakened. But don't rest in the feelings of being awakened. Felix was awakened. He trembled when he thought of eternity. He trembled when he thought of meeting his maker. But the trembling wore off. And in the end, he managed his life. And like Lot's wife, he looked back, and he went back, and he perished. And you, my friend, if you are awakened or have been awakened, it's not enough Lot's wife was awakened when those hands of those angels grabbed her and tore her out of the city. Don't you think her heart beat fast? Don't you think she was impressed by the weight of the moment? Don't you think she felt some sense of danger? Don't you think that she thought, and now I must, I will leave my sin? And perhaps you have been like that as well. under the preaching of God's Word. My friend, if that's you, I want to tell you that that's not enough. There is a force inside of you that will go back as soon as you let it. The pull of the world is too strong for you. My friend, what you need is the Lord. You need the only one that can keep you from going back. And until and unless you have Him, you will look back, and it won't be real, it won't be final, and you won't be saved. I feel that I'm speaking to someone or someones tonight who have started on the path of salvation, but you're thinking of looking back. The road is hard, you're getting tired, and your past doesn't seem all so bad. In fact, now that you think about it, Your heart actually beats faster. You think you might go back. My friend, I can understand you and I have the same heart, but beware, a heart that hankers after the world is not out of danger yet. Beware lest you provoke the Lord to anger. Beware lest he swear in his wrath you shall not enter into my rest. You need grace, my friend. Grace never to look back. You need grace to press on and to run forward until you're safe in the city of refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Lot's wife constantly, day in, day out, until you reach that desired haven. Tell yourself. Etch it upon your mind, upon your conscience. Remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife and what you will do if That is what you do. You'll say something else. You'll say, Lord, remember me. Remember me with that grace that thou dost show to thy saints. Lord, remember me when thou art in thy kingdom. Lord, remember me. Congregation, this is a solemn message that reaches us tonight because the Bible is not just some nice book that tells us nice things about a loving God who saves people from their misery. They can live as they please. The Bible tells us and warns us that there will be many, like Lot's wife, who started well, but never outran hell. They were lost forever. Heaven, friends, is a real place. Make no doubt about it, but so is hell. And don't trifle with this truth tonight. Don't set it aside. One of these ministers I quoted at the beginning, he says, this old shipwrecked world is fast sinking beneath your feet. And the one thing needful is to have a place in the lifeboat and to get safe to shore. Remember Lot's wife. As we close congregation, remember especially the one speaking these words. Remember him. And he's telling us this for a reason. He's telling us this because as he read the scriptures, which he no doubt did, and he came to Lot's wife, the horror of a lost, Christless eternity would have reached him and moved him. In part because He Himself, in the fullness of time, would have the fire and the brimstone of God's wrath come upon Him. In order that sinners like you and like me, whose heart is so welded to this world, might have that separation from the world. Might have that grace which He has purchased and obtained. in order that he might draw us to himself and draw us after himself. And he says to us tonight, follow me, run the race with patience. Looking back? No. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. and is now at the right hand of the Majesty and I, the Lord Jesus Christ never looked back. Though tempted by Satan to do so, He persevered, and because of that, He can be that city of refuge for the vilest sinner who is here tonight. Look to Jesus. Look to Him alone. What can the world do for you? Nothing, but damn you. What can Jesus do for you? He can save you. He can save you from your sins. He can save you unto God. He can save you with an everlasting salvation. And when safe in the arms of Jesus, then sin, then fire, then condemnation can never reach you anymore. Congregation, should this not be our prayer, Turn my eyes upon Jesus. May I look full in His wonderful face. For then the things of earth, the things of this world, the things of Sodom will grow strangely dim in the light of His glorious grace. Amen.