Few words ever spoken by the LORD Jesus are more solemn or searching than this brief, three-word Warning: "Remember Lot's wife!"
How striking it is that, out of all the women of Scripture, our Lord Singled Out one for us to Remember...
Not Sarah for her faith, not Ruth for her devotion, not Hannah for her prayer, not Mary for her love--but Lot's wife, for her Destruction!
The Spirit of God has placed this Warning before us as a perpetual beacon, lest we too be Deceived by the Bewitching world and Perish.
Yet all of this availed her nothing.
She perished miserably because her heart was Never Truly Separated from the world.
Outwardly she fled Sodom, but Inwardly she lingered.
Her body was on the path to safety, but her affections were Chained to the city of destruction.
With one glance backward, she Revealed the state of her soul.
That look Cost her eternal glory, and she was turned into a pillar of salt--a monument of God's righteous Judgment against Hypocrisy and Divided hearts.
The tragedy of Lot's wife stands as a Warning to all who imagine that religious advantages, spiritual associations, or outward privileges can save.
Many think that because they were raised in a Christian home and attend church, that they are safe.
Lot's wife shows us that one may be surrounded by light and truth, and yet perish in eternal darkness.
She had seen angels, heard warnings, and been led by the hand of mercy--yet she never savingly believed.
The heart is what God is concerned with--and Her Heart Was Still In Sodom.
Her backward look was Not a small matter.
It was the Outward Expression of Inward Rebellion.
God had said, "Do not look back" (Genesis 19:17).
Gen 19:17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look Not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
In disobeying, she Revealed where her treasure lay.
She longed for the life she left behind-the comforts, the pleasures, the society of Sodom-and in doing so she despised the salvation of her soul.
Jesus declares, "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).
The Danger of Worldliness and Divided affection is real.
How many professors of religion today Claim to follow Jesus, yet their hearts Cling to the world!
They say they are bound for Heaven, but they look longingly at Sodom.
They want to go to Heaven when they die, but they also want the Soul-Ruining world.
The end of such Double-Mindedness is Eternal Destruction.
Scripture is full of Warnings against this very Danger.
John writes, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him"
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James tells us that "friendship with the world is hatred toward God".
Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the Friendship of the world is Enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the Enemy of God.
The Savior Himself declared, "Remember Lot's wife!"
She was Almost saved, yet Lost Forever!
There are many in churches today who will come just that far-they will hear sermons and sing hymns, and yet their Hearts Remain with the world.
Their Empty profession will not hold up in the Day of Judgment.
Beloved reader, let us Examine our hearts.
Are we Secretly Longing for the very things that God calls us to Forsake?
Are we following Christ with a whole heart, or are we still glancing Backward toward Sodom?
When Jesus calls us to take up our cross, we must not look back to our Sodom.
Salvation demands the Forsaking of sin, and the Forsaking of the world.
It demands a heart Fixed on Christ. "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the Will of God lives forever".
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that Doeth the Will of God abideth for ever.
The Warning of Lot's wife is not written to terrify the believer, but to Search the heart of the hypocrite and to Awaken the careless professor.
If you are resting in your church attendance, your upbringing, your knowledge-then remember Lot's wife.
If you are unwilling to forsake the world and to follow Christ-then remember Lot's wife.
If you are almost persuaded, almost a Christian, almost saved-remember Lot's wife.
If you are but almost saved--then you will be altogether damned! "Remember Lot's wife!"
Let us take Warning. Let us not dally with sin, linger in Compromise, or Toy with the world.
Let us run with Perseverance the race marked out for us, Fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 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 set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For the soul that Looks to Him in Faith shall never be cast away, but the soul that Loves the World will be Lost Forever.
~J. C. Ryle
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