The scripture reading this morning is Genesis chapter 19, beginning in verse 15. We're going to hear from J.C. Ryle in a moment here on seeming a simple little plain verse, verse 32, remember Lot's wife. And so here's a bit of the background here, Genesis 19, and we'll begin in verse 15. As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him. They brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away. And Lot said to them, oh no, my lords, behold, your servant has found favor in your sight and you've shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it's a little one. Let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And my life will be saved. He said to him, behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you've spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt and Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the valley. And he looked, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities. in which Lot had lived. And that is the word of the Lord. Well, let's bow and ask the Lord's blessing on the ministry of his word. Father, we come now to this great, important scripture. Short and brief and yet spoken by the Lord Jesus himself and and of vital importance. We pray that your spirit would actively drive the truth home that we are about to hear, that we would heed this warning that the Lord Jesus gives. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen. Remember Lot's Wife, this sermon by J.C. Ryle, A Woman to be Remembered, is recorded. You can find it online, but you can also find it in his book entitled Holiness, and numbers of you have that. This is a very powerful and important sermon. We've read it before, I think a couple of years ago. And it's one that I ought to read every year, at least once a year. So here we are, Remember Lot's Wife. There are few warnings in scripture more solemn than that which heads this page. The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife was a professor of religion. Her husband was a righteous man, 2 Peter 2. She left Sodom with him on the day when Sodom was destroyed. She looked back toward the city from behind her husband against God's express command, and she was struck dead at once, turned into a pillar of salt. And the Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a beacon to his church. He says, remember Lot's wife. It is a solemn warning when we think of the person that Jesus names, He doesn't bid us remember Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Sarah or Hannah or Ruth, no. He singles out one who was lost forever. He cries to us, remember Lot's wife. It's a solemn warning when we consider the subject Jesus is upon. He's speaking of his own second coming to judge the world. He's describing the dreadful state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The last days are on his mind when he says, remember Lot's wife. It's a solemn warning when we think of the person who gives it. The Lord Jesus is full of love, mercy, and compassion. He is one who will not break the bruised weed nor quench the smoking flax. He could weep over unbelieving Jerusalem and pray for the men who crucified him. Yet even he thinks it good to remind us of lost souls. Even he says, remember Lot's wife. It's a solemn warning when we think of the people to whom it was first given. The Lord Jesus was speaking to his disciples. He was not addressing the scribes and Pharisees who hated him, but Peter and James and John and many others who loved him. Yet even to them, he thinks it good to address us a caution. Even to them, he says, remember Lot's wife. It's a solemn warning. when we consider the manner in which it was given. He does not merely say, beware of following, take heed of imitating, don't be like Lot's wife. He uses a different word. He says, remember. He speaks as if we were all in danger of forgetting the subject. He stirs up our lazy memories. He bids us keep the case before our minds. He cries, remember Lot's wife. I propose to examine the lessons which Lot's wife is meant to teach us. I'm sure that her history is full of useful instruction to the church. The last days are upon us, the second coming of the Lord Jesus draws near, and the danger of worldliness is yearly increasing in the church. Let us be provided with safeguards and antidotes against the disease that surround us. And not least, let us become familiar with the story of Lot's wife. Let's consider now the religious privileges Lot's wife enjoyed, the particular sin she committed, and the judgment which God inflicted upon her. But first, then, the religious privileges which Lot's wife enjoyed. In the days of Abraham and Lot, true saving religion was scarce upon the earth. There were no Bibles, no ministers, no churches, no tracts, and no missionaries. The knowledge of God was confined to a few favored families. the greater part of the inhabitants of the world were living in darkness, ignorance, superstition and sin. Not one in a hundred, perhaps, had such good example, such spiritual society, such clear knowledge, such plain warnings as Lot's wife. Compared with millions of her fellow creatures in her time, Lot's wife was a favored woman. She had a godly man for her husband, She had Abraham, the father of the faithful, for her uncle by marriage. The faith, the knowledge, and the prayers of these two righteous men could have been no secret to her. It's impossible that she could have dwelt in tents with them for any length of time without knowing whose they were and whom they served. Religion with them was no formal business. It was the ruling principle of their lives and the mainspring of all their actions. All of this Lot's wife must have seen and known, and this was no small privilege. When Abram first received the promises, it's probable that Lot's wife was there. When he built his altar by his tent between Ai and Bethel, It's probable she was there. When her husband was taken captive by General Lamar and delivered by God's intervention, she was there. And when Melchizedek, king of Salem, came forth to meet Abraham with bread and wine, she was there. When the angels came to Sodom and warned her husband to flee, she saw them. when they took them by the hand and led them out of the city. She was one of those whom they helped to escape. Once more I say, these were no small privileges. And yet, what good effect had all these privileges on the heart of Lot's wife? None at all. Notwithstanding all her opportunities and means of grace, notwithstanding all her special warnings and messages from heaven, she lived and died graceless, godless, impenitent, and unbelieving. The eyes of her understanding were never opened, her conscience was never really aroused and quickened, her will was never really brought into a state of obedience to God, and her affections were never really set upon the things above. The form of religion which she had kept, that she had kept up for fashion's sake, and not from feeling. It was a cloak worn for the sake of pleasing her company, but not from any sense of its value. She did as others did around her in Lot's house. She conformed to her husband's ways. She made no opposition to his religion. She allowed herself to be passively towed along in his wake. But all this time, her heart was wrong in the sight of God. The world was in her heart. and her heart was in the world. In this state she lived, and in this state she died. In all this there's much to be learned. I see a lesson here which is of the deepest importance in the present day. You live in times when there are many people just like Lot's wife. So come and hear the lesson which her case is meant to teach. Learn then that the mere possession of religious privileges will save no one's soul. You may have spiritual advantages of every description. You may live in the full sunshine of the richest opportunities and means of grace. You may enjoy the best of preaching and the choicest instruction. You may dwell in the midst of light, knowledge, holiness, and good company. All this may be, And yet you yourself may remain unconverted and at last be lost forever. I dare say this doctrine sounds hard to some readers. I know that many imagine they need nothing but religious privileges in order to become decided Christians. They're not what they ought to be at present, they admit, but their position is so hard. They plead and their difficulties are so many. Give them a godly husband or a godly wife. Give them godly companions or a godly master. Give them the preaching of the gospel. Give them privileges. Then they would walk with God. It's all a mistake. It's a delusion. It requires something more than privileges to save souls. Joab was David's captain. Gehazi was Elisha's servant. Demas was Paul's companion. Junius Iscariot was Christ's disciple. And Lot had a worldly, unbelieving wife. These all died in their sins. They went down to the pit in spite of knowledge, warnings, and opportunities. And they all teach us that it is not privileges alone that men need. They need the grace of the Holy Spirit, and that's just his way of saying they must be born again. You must be born again. Let us value religious privileges, but let's not rest entirely upon them. Let us desire to have the benefit of them in all our movements in life, but let us not put them in the place of Christ. Let us use them, thankfully. God grants them to us, but let us take care that they produce some fruit in our heart and life. If they do not do good, they often do positive harm. What he means there is being a member of a church and hearing the preaching of the gospel and so forth is a good privilege. But if it doesn't ever take root, we never believe and are saved, Actually, what it does is reap up judgment as a person is hardening their heart. If these privileges do not do good, they often do positive harm. They sear the conscience. They increase responsibility and they aggravate condemnation. The same fire which melts the wax hardens the clay. The same sun which makes the living tree grow dries up the dead tree. and prepares it for burning. Nothing so hardens the heart of man as a barren familiarity with sacred things. Once more I say, it is not privileges alone which make people Christians, but the grace of the Holy Spirit. Without that, no man will ever be saved. I ask members of evangelical congregations, that would be Bible-believing congregations, in the present day to mark well what I'm saying. You go to Mr. A's or Mr. B's church. You think him an excellent preacher. You delight in his sermons. You cannot hear anyone else with the same comfort. You've learned many things since you attended his ministry. You consider it a great privilege to be one of his hearers. All this is very good. It is a privilege. I would be thankful if ministers like yours were multiplied a thousand fold. But, after all, what have you got in your heart? Have you yet received the Holy Spirit? And again, he means, have you been born again? If not, you're no better than Lot's wife. I ask the servants of Christian families to mark well what I'm saying. It's a great privilege to live in a house where the fear of God reigns. It's a privilege to hear family prayers morning and evening, to hear the word of God regularly expounded, to have a quiet Sunday, and to be able to always go to church. These are the things that you ought to seek after when you try to get a situation, a job. These are the things which make a really good place. High wages and light work will never make up for a constant round of worldliness and sin. But take heed that you do not rest content with these things. Don't suppose because you have all these spiritual advantages that you will, of course, go to heaven. You must have grace in your heart as well as attend family prayers. If not, You're at present no better than Lot's wife. And I ask the children of Christian parents to mark well what I'm saying. It is the highest privilege to be the child of a godly father and mother and to be brought up in the midst of many prayers. It's a blessed thing indeed to be taught the gospel from our earliest infancy and to hear of sin and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and holiness and heaven from the first moment we can remember anything. But oh, take heed that you do not remain barren and unfruitful in the sunshine of all these privileges. Beware, lest your heart remains hard, impenitent, and unworldly, notwithstanding the many advantages you enjoy. You cannot enter the kingdom of God on the credit of your parents' religion. You must eat the bread of life for yourself. and have the witness of the Spirit in your own heart. You must have repentance of your own, faith of your own, and sanctification of your own. If not, you're no better than Lot's wife. I pray, God, that all professing Christians in these days may lay these things to heart. May we never forget that privileges alone cannot save us. Light and knowledge and faithful preaching and abundant means of grace and the company of holy people are all great blessings and advantages. Happy are those who have them. But, after all, there's only one thing without which privileges are useless. That one thing is the grace of the Holy Spirit. Lot's wife had many privileges, but Lot's wife had no grace. She didn't know the Lord. Secondly, consider the sin which Lot's wife committed. The history of the sin which Lot's wife committed is given by the Holy Spirit in few and simple words. She looked back from behind her husband and she became a pillar of salt. We're told no more than this. There's a naked solemnity about this history. The sum and substance of her transgression lies in these three words, she looked back. Now, does that sin seem small in the eyes of any listener of this message? Does the fault of Lot's wife appear a trifling one to be visited with such punishment? This is the feeling, I dare say, that rises in some hearts. Give me your attention while I reason with you on the subject. There was far more in that look than strikes you at first sight. It implied far more than it expressed. Listen and you shall hear. First, that look was a little thing. but it revealed the true character of Lot's wife. Little things will often show the state of a man's mind even better than great ones. And little symptoms are often the signs of deadly and incurable diseases. The apple that Eve ate was a little thing, but it proved that she'd fallen from innocence and become a sinner. A crack in an arch seems a little thing, but it proves that the foundation's giving way and the whole fabric is unsafe. A little cough in the morning seems an unimportant ailment, but it's often an evidence of failing in the Constitution and leads on to decline, consumption, and death. A straw may show which way the wind blows, One look may show the rotten condition of a sinner's heart. That look was a little thing, but it told of disobedience in Lot's wife. The command of the angel was clear and unmistakable. Look not behind you. This command Lot's wife refused to obey. But the Holy Spirit says that to obey is better than sacrifice and that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. When God speaks plainly by his word or by his messengers, man's duty is clear. And that look was a little thing but it told of proud unbelief in Lot's wife. She seemed to doubt whether God was really going to destroy Sodom. She appeared not to believe that there was any danger or any need for such a hasty flight. But without faith, it's impossible to please God. The moment a man begins to think he knows better than God and that God does not mean anything when he threatens, his soul is in great danger. When we cannot see the reason of God's dealings, our duty is to hold our peace and believe. That look was a little thing, but it told of a secret love of the world in Lot's wife. Her heart was in Sodom, though her body was outside. She had left her affections behind when she fled from her home. Her eye turned to the place where her treasure was, as the compass needle turns to the pole. This was the crowning point of her sin. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This aspect of our subject deserves special attention. Let us focus our minds and hearts upon it. I believe it to be the part to which the Lord Jesus particularly intends to direct us. I believe he would have us observe that Lot's wife was lost by looking back to the world. Her profession of faith, right, was at one time fair and specious. Specious means Apparently plausible, apparently true, but really it's false. But she never really gave up the world. She seemed at one time in the road to safety, but even then, the lowest and deepest thoughts of her heart were for the world. The immense danger of worldliness is the grand lesson which the Lord Jesus means us to learn. Oh, that we may all have an eye to see and a heart to understand. I believe there never was a time when warnings against worldliness were so much needed by the Church of Christ as they are at the present day. And what about our day, right? Every age is said to have its own peculiar epidemic disease. The epidemic disease to which the souls of Christians are liable just now is love of that world. It is a pestilence that walks in darkness and a sickness that destroys at noonday. It has cast down many wounded. Yes, many strong men have been wounded by it. I would sincerely raise a warning voice and try to arouse the slumbering consciences of all who make a profession of religion. of Christianity. I would sincerely cry aloud, remember the sin of Lot's wife. She was no murderess, no adulteress, no thief. She was a professor of religion and she looked back. There are thousands of baptized people in our churches who are armored against immorality and infidelity, yet they fall victim to the love of the world. There are thousands who run well for a season and seem to bid fair to reach heaven, but by and by give up the race and turn their backs on Christ altogether. And what has stopped them? Have they found the Bible not to be true? Have they found the Lord Jesus to fail to keep his word? No, not at all. But they've caught the epidemic disease. They are infected with the love of this world. I appeal to every true-hearted evangelical minister who reads this message. I ask him to look around his congregation. I appeal to every old established Christian. I ask him to look around the circle of his acquaintances. I'm sure that I'm speaking the truth. I'm sure that it's high time to remember the sin of Lot's wife. How many children of religious families begin well and end ill. In the days of their childhood, they seem full of religion. They can repeat texts and hymns in abundance. They have spiritual feelings and convictions of sin. They profess to love the Lord Jesus and desires after heaven. They take pleasure in going to church and hearing sermons. They say things which are treasured up by their fond parents as indications of grace. They do things which make relations say, what manner of child will this be? But alas, how often their goodness vanishes like the morning cloud and like the dew that passes away. The boy becomes a young man and cares for nothing but amusement, sports, reveling in excess. The girl becomes a young woman and cares for nothing but dress, mirthful company, novel reading and excitement. Where's the spirituality which once appeared to promise so fair? It's all gone. It's buried. It is overflowed by the love of the world. They walk in the steps of Lot's wife. They look back. How many married people do well in religion to all appearance until their children begin to grow up? Then they fall away. In the early years of their married life, they seem to follow Christ diligently and to witness a good confession. They regularly attend the preaching of the gospel. They are fruitful in good works. They're never seen in vain and dissipate in society. Their faith and practice are both sound and walk hand in hand. But alas, how often a spiritual blight comes over the household when a young family begins to grow up. Sons and daughters have to be brought forward in life. Eleven of worldliness begins to appear in their habits, dress, entertainments, and employments of time. They are no longer strict about the company they keep. and the places they visit. Where's the decided line of separation which they once observed? Where is the unswerving abstinence from worldly amusements which once marked their course? It's all forgotten. It's all laid aside like an old almanac. A change has come over them. The spirit of the world has taken possession of their hearts. They walk in the steps of Lot's wife. They look back. How many young women seem to love decided religion until they're 20 or 21 and then lose all? Up to this time of their life, their conduct in religious manners is all that they could be desired. They keep up habits of private prayer. They read their Bibles diligently. They visit the poor when they have opportunity. They teach in Sunday schools when there's an opening. They minister to the temporal and spiritual needs of the poor. They like religious friends. They love to talk on religious subjects. They write letters full of religious expressions and religious experience. But alas, how often they prove unstable as water and are ruined by the love of the world. Little by little, They fall away and lose their first love. Little by little, the things seen push out of their minds the things unseen, and like the plague of locusts, eat up every green thing in their souls. Step by step, they go back from the decided position they once took up. They cease to be jealous about sound doctrine. They pretend to find out that it is uncharitable to think one person has more religion than another. They discover it is exclusive to attempt any separation from the customs of society. By and by, they give their affection to some man who makes no pretense to decided religion. At last, they end by giving up the last remnant of their own Christianity, and becoming thorough children of the world. They walk in the steps of Lot's wife. They look back. How many members in our churches were at one time zealous and earnest professors and have now become torpid, formal, and cold? Time was when none seemed so much alive in religion as they were. None were so diligent in their attendance on the means of grace. None were so anxious to promote the cause of the gospel. None so ready for every good work. None were so thankful for spiritual instruction. None were apparently so desirous to grow in grace. But now, alas, everything seems altered. The love of other things has taken possession of their hearts and choked the good seed of the word. the money of the world, the rewards of the world, the literature of the world, the honors of the world have now the first place in their affections. Talk to them and you'll find no response about spiritual things. Mark their daily conduct and you will see no zeal about the kingdom of God, a religion they have indeed, but it is living religion no more. The spring of their former Christianity is dried up and gone. The fire of the spiritual machine is quenched and cold. Earth has put out the flame which once burned so brightly. They have walked in the steps of Lot's wife. They have looked back. How many clergymen work hard in their profession for a few years and then become lazy and indolent from the love of this present world? At the outset of their ministry, they seem willing to spend and be spent for Christ. They are instant in season and out of season. Their preaching is lively and their churches are filled. Their congregations are well looked after. Cottage lectures, I think that's home Bible studies, prayer meetings, house to house visitation are their weekly delight. But alas, how often after beginning in the spirit, they end in the flesh and like Samson, are shorn of their strength in the lap of Delilah, the world. They are advanced in some situation. They marry a worldly wife. They're puffed up with pride and neglect study and prayer. A nipping frost cuts off the spiritual blossoms which once bade so fair. Their preaching loses its unction and power. Their weekday work becomes less and less. The society they mix in becomes less select. The tone of their conversation becomes more earthly. They cease to disregard the opinion of man. They imbibe a morbid fear of extreme views and are filled with a cautious dread of giving offense. And at last, the man who at one time seemed likely to be a real successor of the apostles and a good soldier of Christ, settles down on his leaves as a clerical gardener, farmer, or diner out by whom nobody is offended and nobody is saved. His church becomes half empty. His influence dwindles away. The world has bound him hand and foot. He's walked the steps of Lot's wife. He's looked back. Now, I would add an addendum in our day when less and less people than in his day customary to go to church. I would say that in our day, a compromised pastor like that, his church doesn't become half empty, it gets fuller, right? Because he gives no offense then to anyone. It's sad to write of these things, but it's far more sad to see them. It's sad to observe how professing Christians can blind their consciences by specious arguments on this subject, and can defend positive worldliness by talking of the duties of their station, the courtesies of life, and the necessity of having a cheerful religion. It's sad to see how many a gallant ship launches forth on the voyage of life with every prospect of success, and springing this leak of worldliness goes down with all her freight in full view of the harbor of safety. It's the saddest of all to observe how many flatter themselves that it is all right with their souls when it's all wrong by reason of this love of the world. Gray hairs are here and there upon them and they know it not. They began with Jacob and David and Peter and they're likely to end with Esau and Saul and Judas Iscariot. They began with Ruth and Hannah and Mary. They're likely to end with Lot's wife. Beware of a half-hearted religion. Beware of following Christ from any secondary motive to please relations and friends. to keep in with the custom of the place or family in which you reside, to appear respectable and have the reputation of being religious. Follow Christ for his own sake if you follow him at all. Be thorough, be real, be honest, be sound, be wholehearted. If you have any religion at all, let your religion be real. See that you do not sin the sin of Lot's wife. Beware of ever supposing that you may go too far in religion and of secretly trying to keep in with the world. I want no reader of this message to become a hermit, a monk, or a nun. I wish everyone to do his real duty in that state of life to which he's called. But I do urge on every professing Christian who wishes to be happy the immense importance of making no compromise between God and the world. Don't try to drive a hard bargain as if you wanted to give Christ as little of your heart as possible and to keep as much of the things of this life. Beware lest you overreach yourself and end by losing all. Love Christ with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. Seek first the kingdom of God. and believe that then all other things shall be added to you. Take heed that you do not prove to be a copy of the character John Bunyan draws." This is in Pilgrim's Progress. Mr. Facing Both Ways. And I inserted the description here from Bunyan's. Here it is. Shortly after they departed from the fair, Vanity Fair, they caught up to a man walking ahead of them whose name was By Enns. They asked him, sir, what country are you from? How far are you traveling in this direction? I'm from the town of Fair Speech, the man said. I'm going to the Celestial City. But he didn't mention his name. From Fair Speech, Christian said, is there any good that lives there? When he speaks graciously, this is Proverbs 26, when he speaks graciously, do not believe him. for there are seven abominations in his heart. Yes, Bayan said, I certainly hope so. Then, sir, what name may I call you? Bayan said, I'm a stranger to you and you to me. If you're going my way, I shall be glad to have your company. If not, I must be content. I heard of this town of fair speech, and from what I remember, they say it's a wealthy place. Yes, I can assure you that it is. And I have very many rich relatives and friends there. Well, may I, this is Christian speaking, may I be so bold as to ask who they are? To be honest, almost the whole town by and shrugged. In particular, my lord turnabout, my lord time server, my lord fair speech from whose ancestors the town first took its name, Also there is Mr. Smooth Man, and then here he is, Mr. Facing Both Ways, and Mr. Anything. The parson of our parish, Mr. Two Tongues, was my mother's own brother. And to tell you the truth, I've become a gentleman of good quality, though my father's grandfather was nothing but an oarsman for hire. He would look one way and row another. I gain most of my estate from the same occupation." So there it is. For your happiness sake, for your usefulness sake, for your safety sake and your soul sake, beware of the sin of Lot's wife. It is a solemn saying of our Lord Jesus, no man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. And now the judgment which God inflicted upon her. The scripture describes the end of Lot's wife in few and simple words. It's written that she looked back and became a pillar of salt. A miracle of God, a miracle was wrought to execute God's judgment on that guilty woman. The same almighty hand which first gave her life took that life away. In the twinkling of an eye, from living flesh and blood, she was turned into a pillar of salt. That was a fearful end for a soul to come to. To die at any time is a solemn thing. To die amid kind friends and relations, to die calmly and quietly in one's bed, to die with the prayers of godly men still sounding in your ears, and to die with a good hope through grace in the full assurance of salvation, leaning on the Lord Jesus, buoyed up by gospel promises. To die even so, I say, is still a serious business. But to die suddenly and in a moment in the very act of sin, to die in full health and strength, to die by the direct interposition of an angry God, this is fearful indeed. Yet this was the end of Lot's wife. I cannot blame the prayer book, that's of the Church of England, litany as some do for retaining this petition. From sudden death, good Lord, deliver us. That was a hopeless end for a soul to come to. There are cases where one hopes, as it were, against hope, about the souls of those we see go down to the grave. We try to persuade ourselves that our poor departed brother or sister may have repented unto salvation at the last moment, laid hold on the hem of Christ's garment at the 11th hour, We call to mind God's mercies. We remember the Spirit's power. We think on the case of the penitent thief on the cross. We whisper to ourselves that saving work may have gone on, even on that dying bed, which the dying person had not strength to tell. But there is an end of all such hopes when a person is suddenly cut down in the very act of sin. Charity itself can say nothing when the soul has been summoned away in the very midst of wickedness without even a moment's time or thought for prayer. And such was the end of Lot's wife. It was a hopeless end. She went to hell. But it's good for us all to mark these things. It's good to be reminded that God can punish sharply those who sin willfully. and that great privileges misused bring down great wrath on the soul. Pharaoh, for example, saw all the miracles which Moses worked. Korah, in Korah's rebellion, Dathan and Abram, had heard God speaking from Mount Sinai. Hophni and Phinehas were sons of God's high priest. Saul lived in the full light of Samuel's ministry. Ahab was often warned by Elijah the prophet. Absalom enjoyed the privilege of being one of David's children. Belshazzar had Daniel the prophet nearby his door. Ananias and Sapphira joined the church in the days when the apostles were working miracles. Judas Iscariot was a chosen companion of our Lord Jesus Christ. But they all sinned. with a high hand against light and knowledge, and they were all suddenly destroyed without remedy. They had no time or space for repentance. As they lived, so they died. As they were, they hurried away to meet God. They went with all their sins upon them, unpardoned, unrenewed, and utterly unfit for heaven. And being dead, they yet speak, they tell us like Lot's wife, that it is a perilous thing to sin against light, that God hates sin, and that there is a hell. Now this is a great section of the sermon here where he elaborates on hell. I feel constrained to speak freely to my readers on the subject of hell. Allow me to use the opportunity which the end of Lot's wife affords. I believe that the time has come when it is a positive duty to speak plainly about the reality and eternity of hell. A flood of false doctrine has lately broken in upon us. Men are beginning to tell us that God is too loving and merciful to punish souls forever, and that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly some may be, will sooner or later be saved. We're invited to leave the old paths of apostolic Christianity. We're told that the views of our fathers about hell and the devil and punishment are obsolete and old-fashioned. We're to embrace what is called a kinder theology and treat hell as a pagan fable or a bugbear to frighten children and fools. Against such false teaching, I desire for one to protest. painful, sorrowful, distressing as the controversy may be, we must not blink at it or refuse to look the subject in the face. I, for one, am resolved to maintain the old position and to assert the reality and eternity of hell. Believe me, this is no mere speculative question. It's not to be classed with lesser disputes about liturgies and church government. It's not to be ranked with mysterious problems like the meaning of Ezekiel's temple or the symbols of Revelation. It is a question with lies at the very foundation of the whole Gospel. The moral attributes of God, His justice, His holiness, His purity are all involved in the doctrine of hell. The necessity of personal faith in Christ, the sanctification of the Spirit are all at stake. you permit the old doctrine about hell to be overthrown and the whole system of Christianity is unsettled, unscrewed, unpinned, and thrown into disorder. Believe me, the question is not one in which we are obliged to fall back on the theories and inventions of man. The scriptures spoken plainly, fully, on the subject of hell. I hold it to be impossible to deal honestly with the Bible and to avoid the conclusions to which it will lead us on this point. If words mean anything, there is such a place as hell. If texts, scriptures, are to be interpreted fairly, there are those who will be cast into hell. If language has any sense belonging to it, hell is forever. I believe that the man who finds arguments for evading the evidence of the Bible on this question has arrived at a state of mind in which reasoning is useless. For my own part, it seems just as easy to argue that we do not exist as to argue that the Bible does not teach the reality and eternity of hell. Settle it firmly in your mind that the same Bible that teaches that God, in mercy and compassion, sent Christ to die for sinners, does also teach that God hates sin and must, from His very nature, punish all who cleave to sin or refuse the salvation He has provided. The very same chapter which declares God so loved the world, declares also The wrath of God abides on the unbeliever. The very same gospel that's launched into the earth with blessed tidings, he that believes and is baptized shall be saved, proclaims in the same breath, he who believes not shall be damned. Settle it firmly in your mind that God has given us proof upon proof in the Bible that he will punish the hardened and unbelieving and that he will take vengeance on his enemies as well as show mercy on the penitent. For example, the drowning of the old world of Noah in the flood, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, the overthrow of Pharaoh and all his hosts in the Red Sea, the judgments upon Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the utter destruction of the seven nations of Canaan, all teach the same truth. They are all given us as beacons and signs and warnings that we may not provoke God. They are all meant to lift up the corner of the curtain which hangs over things to come, and to remind us that there is such a thing as the wrath of God. They all tell us plainly that the wicked shall be turned into hell. Settle it firmly in your mind that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of hell. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus contains things which should make men tremble. But it doesn't stand alone. No lips have used so many words to express the awfulness of hell as the lips of him who spoke, as never man spoke, and who said, The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father who sent me. Hell, hellfire, the damnation of hell. eternal damnation, the resurrection of damnation, everlasting fire, the place of torment, destruction, outer darkness, the worm that never dies, the fire that is not quenched, the place of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, everlasting punishment. These, these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ himself employs. away with the miserable nonsense which people talk in this day, who tell us that the ministers of the gospel should never speak of hell. They only show their own ignorance or their own dishonesty when they talk in such a manner. No man can honestly read the four gospels and fail to see that he who would follow the example of Christ must speak of hell. Settle it lastly in your mind that the comforting ideas which the scripture gives us of heaven are at an end if we once deny the reality or eternity of hell? Is there no future separate abode for those who die wicked and ungodly? Are all men after death to be mingled together in one confused multitude? Why then, heaven will be no heaven at all. It's utterly impossible for two to dwell happily together, except they be agreed. Is there to be a time when the term hell and punishment will be over? Are the wicked, after ages of misery, to be admitted into heaven? Why then the need of the sanctification of the Spirit is cast aside and despised? I read that men can be sanctified and made fit for heaven on earth. I read nothing of any sanctification in hell. Away with such baseless and unscriptural theories. The eternity of hell is as clearly affirmed in the Bible as the eternity of heaven. Once you allow that hell is not eternal, You may as well say that God and heaven are not eternal. The same Greek word that's used in the expression everlasting punishment is the word that's used by the Lord Jesus in the expression life eternal and by Paul in the expression everlasting God. I know that all this sounds dreadful in many ears. I don't wonder. But the only question we have to settle is this. Is hell scriptural? Is it true? I maintain firmly that it is so, and I maintain that professing Christians ought to be often reminded that they may be lost and go to hell." He said, professing Christian, right? I know that it's easy to deny all plain teaching about hell and to make it odious by invidious names. narrow-minded views, you know, if you believe in hell, you're narrow-minded, and old-fashioned notions, fire and brimstone theology and the like. I've often been told that broad views are needed in the present day. I wish to be as broad as the Bible, Neither less no more. I say that he is narrow-minded theologian who pairs down such parts of the Bible as the natural heart dislikes and rejects any portion of the counsel of God." So what he's saying there is that the liberal theologian that pairs down mentions of hell and so forth is actually the narrow-minded person. God knows that I never speak of hell without pain and sorrow. I would gladly offer the salvation of the gospel to the chief of sinners. I would willingly say to the vilest and most profligate of mankind on his deathbed, repent and believe on Jesus and you shall be saved. But God forbid that I should ever keep back from mortal man that scripture reveals a hell as well as heaven. and that the gospel teaches that men may be lost as well as saved. The watchman who keeps silence when he sees a fire is guilty of gross neglect. The doctor who tells us we're getting well when we're dying is a false friend. The minister who keeps back hell from his people is an unfaithful and cruel man. Where is the charity, the love of keeping back any portion of God's truth? He is the kindest friend who tells me the whole extent of my danger. What's the use of hiding eternal punishment from the unrepentant and the ungodly? Surely it's helping the devil if we don't tell them plainly that the soul that sins shall surely die. Who knows but the wretched carelessness of many baptized people arises from this, that they'd never been told plainly of hell. Who can tell but thousands might be converted if ministers would urge them more faithfully to flee from the wrath to come. Truly, I fear, we are, many of us, guilty in this matter. There is a morbid tenderness among us, which is not the tenderness of Christ, We've spoken of mercy, but not of judgment. We've preached many sermons about heaven, but few about hell. We've been carried away by the wretched fear of being thought low, vulgar, and fanatical. We've forgotten that He who judges us is the Lord, and the man who teaches the same doctrine that Christ taught cannot be wrong. If you would ever be a healthy scriptural Christian, I entreat you to give hell a place in your theology. Establish it in your mind as a fixed principle that God is a God of justice as well as of mercy. And that the same everlasting counsels which laid the foundation of the bliss of heaven have also laid the foundation of the misery of hell. Keep in full view of your mind that all who die unpardoned and unrenewed are utterly unfit for the presence of God and must be lost forever. They are not capable of enjoying heaven. They could not be happy there. They must go to their own place, and that place is hell. Oh, this is a great thing in these days of unbelief to believe the whole Bible. If you would ever be a healthy and scriptural Christian, I entreat you to be aware of any ministry which does not plainly teach the reality and eternity of hell. Such a ministry may be soothing and pleasant, but it's far more likely to lull you to sleep than to lead you to Christ or build you up in the faith. It's impossible to leave out any portion of God's truth without spoiling the whole. That preaching is sadly defective, which dwells exclusively on the mercies of God and the joys of heaven, and never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and the miseries of hell. It may be popular, but it's not scriptural. It may amuse and gratify, but it will not save. Give me the preaching which keeps back nothing that God has revealed. You may call it stern and harsh. You may tell us that to frighten people is not the way to do them good. But you're forgetting that the grand object of the gospel is to persuade men to flee from the wrath to come. And that it is vain to expect men to flee unless they're afraid. Well would it be for many professing Christians if they were more afraid about their souls than they are now. If you desire to be a healthy Christian, consider often what your own end will be. Will it be happiness or will it be misery? Will it be the death of the righteous or will it be a death without hope like that of Lot's wife? You cannot live always. There must be an end one day. The last sermon will one day be heard. The last prayer will one day be prayed. The last chapter in the Bible will one day be read. Meaning, wishing, hoping, intending, resolving, doubting, hesitating, all will at length be over. You will have to leave this world to stand before a holy God. Oh, that you would be wise. that you would consider your latter end. You can't trifle forever. A time will come when you must be serious. You cannot put off your soul's concerns forever. A day will come when you must have a reckoning with God. You cannot always be singing and dancing and eating and drinking and dressing and reading and laughing and jesting and scheming and planning and money-making. The summer insects cannot always sport in the sunshine. The cold, chilly evening will come at last and stop their sport forever. So will it be with you. You may put off religion now and refuse the counsel of God's ministers, but the cool of the day is drawing on when God will come down to speak with you, and what will your end be? Will it be a hopeless one like that of Lot's wife? I beseech you by the mercies of God to look this question fairly in the face. I entreat you not to stifle conscience by vague hopes of God's mercy while your heart cleaves to the world. I implore you not to drown convictions by childish imaginations about God's love while your daily ways and habits show plainly that the love of the Father is not in you. There is mercy in God like a river. but it's for the penitent believer in Christ. There is a love in God towards sinners, which is unspeakable and unsearchable, but it's for those who hear Christ's voice and follow him. Seek to have a saving interest in that love. Break off every known sin. Come out boldly from the world. Cry mightily to God in prayer. Cast yourself wholly and unreservedly on the Lord Jesus for time and eternity. Lay aside every weight. Cling to nothing, however dear, which interferes with your soul's salvation. Give up everything, however precious, which comes between you and heaven. This old shipwrecked world is fast sinking beneath your feet. The one thing needful is to have a place in the lifeboat and get to shore. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Whatever happens to your house and property, see that you make sure of heaven. Oh, better a million times be laughed at and thought extreme in this world than go down to hell from the midst of the congregation and end like Lot's wife. Let me address the reader particularly here so I may impress a few salient questions upon your conscience. You've seen the history of Lot's wife, her privileges, her sin, and her end. You've been told of the uselessness of privileges without the gift of the Holy Spirit, of the danger of worldliness, and of the reality of hell. Allow me to wind up all by a few direct appeals to your own heart. In a day of so much light and knowledge and profession, I desire to set up a beacon to preserve souls from shipwreck. I would sincerely moor a buoy in the channel of all spiritual voyagers and paint upon it, remember Lot's wife. Are you careless about the second coming of Christ? Alas, many are. They live like the men of Sodom and the men of Noah's day. They eat and drink and plant and build and marry and behave as if Christ was never going to return. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take care. Remember Lot's wife. Are you lukewarm and cold in your Christianity? Alas, many are. They try to serve two masters. They labor to keep friends both with God and mammon. They strive to be neither one thing nor the other, not quite a thoroughgoing Christian, but not quite men of the world. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take care. Remember Lot's wife. Are you halting between two opinions and disposed to go back to the world? Alas, many are. They are afraid of the cross. They secretly dislike the trouble and reproach of decided religion. They're weary of the wilderness and the manna and would gladly return to Egypt if they could. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Are you secretly cherishing some besetting sin? Alas, many are. They go far in a profession of religion. They do many things that are right and are very like the people of God, but there is always some darling evil habit. which they cannot tear from their heart. Hidden or hidden worldliness or covetousness or lust sticks to them like their skin. They're willing to see all their idols broken but this one. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Are you trifling with little sins? Alas, many are. They hold the great essential doctrines of the gospel. They keep clear of all gross profligacy or open breach of God's law. But they're painfully careless about little inconsistencies and painfully ready to make excuses for them. It's only a little temper or a little levity or a little thoughtlessness or a little forgetfulness, they tell us. God doesn't take account of such little matters. None of us are perfect. God will never require it. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Or are you resting on religious privileges? Alas, many do. They enjoy the opportunity of hearing the gospel regularly preached and of attending many ordinances and means of grace, and they settle down on their leaves. They seem to be rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, while they have neither faith nor grace nor spiritual mindedness nor fitness for heaven. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Are you trusting in your religious knowledge? Alas, many do. They're not ignorant as other men. They know the difference between true doctrine and false. They can dispute. They can reason. They can argue. They can quote texts. But all this time, they're not converted, and they are yet dead in trespasses and sins. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Are you making some profession of religion and yet clinging to the world? Alas, many do. They aim at being thought Christians. They like the credit of being serious, steady, proper, regular church-going people. Yet all the while their dress, their taste, their companions, their entertainments tell plainly they are of the world. If you are such a one, I say to you, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Are you trusting that you will have a deathbed repentance? Alas, many do so. They know they are not what they ought to be. They're not yet born again and fit to die, but they flatter themselves that when their last illness comes, they shall have time to repent and lay hold on Christ and go out of the world pardoned and sanctified, fit for heaven. But they forget that people often die very suddenly, and that as they live, they generally die. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed Remember Lot's wife. And finally, do you belong to an evangelical congregation? Many do, but alas, go no further. They hear the truth Sunday after Sunday, and yet remain as hard as the nether millstone. Sermon after sermon, sounds in their ears. Month after month, they're invited to repent, to believe, to come to Christ and be saved. Year after year passes away. They are not changed. They keep their seat under the teaching of a favorite minister, and they also keep their favorite sins. If you are such a one, I say to you this day, take heed. Remember Lot's wife. Father, we thank you for these words. Thank you for the Lord Jesus speaking them to us to remember Lot's wife. And we pray, Father, that every one of us would seriously take these things soberly and heed them and believe them. And particularly, Father, anyone today is still dead in their sins, that these little few words, remember Lot's wife, would be taken by you, by your spirit, driven deeply into their minds and hearts. that they would call out to you to be saved. And we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.