Remember Lot s Wife. Luke 17: AM

Transcription

1 Remember Lot s Wife Luke 17: AM

2 Aldous Huxley Aldous Huxley was a British humanist, satirist, and pacifist and self-proclaimed intellectual who lived in the early part of the 20 th century. Today, he is best remembered for his science fiction novel Brave New World, a condemnation of Industrial America (set in the year 632 A.F. After Ford ), and for his extensive use and promotion of the drug L.S.D.

3 Aldous Huxley In 1911, at age 14 Huxley suffered an illness (keratitis punctata) which "left him practically blind for two to three years". Blindness was also (IN MY OPINION) a moral condition that prevailed throughout his life.

4 Aldous Huxley "If we could sniff or swallow something that that would, for five or six hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exaltation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, worldtransfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up next morning with a

5 Aldous Huxley clear head and an undamaged constitutionthen, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and earth would become paradise." (ALDOUS HUXLEY). What fun [life] would be if one didn't have to think about happiness! (World Controller Mustapha Mondhis)

6 RE. The Future What if I told you that both your present life and your future life COULD BE absolutely secure? What if I COULD promise you a LIFE (not a pill) but a LIFE, that abolishes our solitude as individuals, atones us with God and our fellows and makes life in all its aspects not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and indeed, Heavenly! Would you be interested?

7 RE. The Future What if I COULD promise you a home in a True Paradise, a for real place where all your problems are solved and where we not only think about happiness, but happiness itself is assured for all eternity. You in? Amazingly, very many are not.

8 Genesis 19:1ff Two angels visit the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot is sitting in the gateway of the city. He sees the men and greets them. He even invites them into his home, for their comfort and safety.

9 The Angels Say: (v.12-13) (v.12) "Do you have anyone else here--sons-inlaw, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? [because if you do you need to get them out of here now], (v. 13) because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it."

10 The Story Continues: (v.14-15) (v. 14) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-inlaw, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, "Hurry, we need to get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!" [But his sons-in-law thought it was a joke.] (v.15) With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot once again, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."

11 The Story Continues: (v.16-17) (v.16) When he hesitated, the two men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and basically dragged them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. (v. 17) As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Run for your lives! Don t look back, and don t stop anywhere in the plain! Run to the mountains or you will be swept away!"

12 The Story Continues: (v.18-20) (v. 18) But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, please! (v. 19) {I recognize} your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I ll die. (v. 20) " Oh, Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn t it? Then my life will be spared."

13 The Story Continues: (v.21-23) (v. 21) Then one of the angels said to him, "Very well, we will grant this request; we will not overthrow the town you speak of. (v. 22) But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (Moses adding: That is why the town was called Zoar ( little ). (v. 23) By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.

14 The Climax of the Story: (v.24) (v. 24) Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the Lord out of the heavens. {Something like what will happen in the day of judgment } (2 Pet. 3:10) - But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

15 The Climax of the Story: (v.25) (v. 25) Thus [God] overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities- -and also the vegetation in the land. Understand that with the exception of little Zoar, where Lot s family was, the entire region was destroyed. And it sounds like the deed is done but it is not.

16 The Climax Verse: (v.26) (v. 26) - But Lot s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt Which brings us to today s scripture reading- Lk. 17:32: "Remember Lot s Wife!"

17 RE. Lot s Wife What did Jesus mean when he said- "Remember Lot s Wife!" In brief, he is saying at least three things: Remember what she HAD. Remember what she LOST. Remember WHY?

18 Wicked Sodom When the angels arrived in Sodom, wicked men from the city surrounded Lot s house and tried to get him to send them out so they could have sexual relations with them and God struck these wicked men with blindness in Gen. 19:11 for their sin.

19 RE. Homosexuality Romans 1:21-32 describes it as: Perverse Degrading Indecent, Unnatural Depraved Error. Also see: 1 Cor. 6: Tim. 1:8-11

20 What She HAD She belonged to an excellent family. (Huxley s) She was the niece to the great Patriarch Abraham. She apparently shared the faith of this family. But something happened when she moved to Sodom Instead of just living in Sodom somehow she had gotten to the point spiritually where now Sodom was living in her!

21 BAD MOVE! Lot tried to raise his family inside Sin City... and over time his family became Sodomites, in name, if not in actions.

22 BAD COMPANY! Prov. 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. 1 Cor. 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals.

23 BAD COMPANY! 2 Cor. 6:14-15 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

24 To Be Clear She didn t fail because of ignorance. When the angels came and told the family about the coming calamity She didn t laugh at them, (like Sarah did) or make fun of them. She even responded to the message kind of! (Anyway, she did exactly what her husband did she hesitated! And that s amazing to me).

25 Can I Be Honest? Some here this morning have lingered until some of the best years of your life has slipped away! Some have lingered until some of your children have grown up in a Christ-less home and are now living a Christ-less adult life without Jesus! Some have lingered until the world s grip is so strong: that even when you do try to move towards Him it is next to impossible!

26 The Message is the Same Today Unless you are fully surrendered to God, a divided heart will be your downfall! And because of it Mrs. Lot LOST everything she had. I guess in the end, living in Sodom really didn t look all that bad to her.

27 She really couldn t go back to that old life even if she had wanted to. In Baptism we die to our old life One simply 1 [Cannot] continue in sin that grace may abound 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

28 She really couldn t go back to that old life even if she had wanted to. 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

29 Looking Back From Behind The Hebrew word "achar" means away from, and it suggests some distance behind

30 Looking Back From Behind Apparently, Mrs. Lot not only Left her heart in San Francisco, I mean Sodom, but she also physically lingered behind her fleeing family.

31 Drugs Alcohol Pornography The Love of money (Even) Recreation Many Vices And what about Indifference? Lukewarmness and complacency, have a death grip on so many people today.

32 COOL is Not Cool: Rev 3: ) 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16) 'So because you COOL, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Jesus

33 Remember Lot s Wife.

34 Remember Lot s Wife. Remember what she HAD,

35 Remember Lot s Wife. Remember what she HAD, Remember what she LOST,

36 Remember Lot s Wife. Remember what she HAD, Remember what she LOST, Remember WHY!

37 A Fitting Epitaph That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that History has to teach. Amen.