You Need To Quit Looking Back!

In order to help you understand where the Holy Spirit was leading me with this particular passage, let’s examine five reasons why we need to remember Lot’s Wife and why we need to Quit Looking Back.

But before I do that, Is it alright that I give you a little historical backdrop on this, this morning?

Amen

I. THE HISTORICAL BACKDROP

A. I want to encourage you to read Genesis 18 & Genesis 19 in its entirety in your own personal time.

B. In Genesis 18: The Lord spoke to Abraham and told him that Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plains would be destroyed because of their extreme wickedness (iniquity, sin, malice).

C. Abraham began to intercede on behalf of the cities by, asking the Lord, “Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” He then said suppose there were 50 righteous…. And the Lord being merciful agreed that if there were 50 he would spare the cities. But Abraham began to think about that thing, knowing just how wicked the cities were, as he had first hand knowledge about it because he had family that lived there and he began to intercede even more by saying, “but what if there were 45…”. He kept questioning the Lord and interceding until it came to the point he had to be realistic about what he was doing and saying and he said to the Lord, Please do not be angry with me and I will speak one more time…suppose there were ten”. And again the Lord being merciful said for the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. Considering the passage of scripture we opened up with today it is no mystery that obviously there were not even ten righteous.

D. As I began to study this particular passage, it caused me to reflect on the times when I was in some hopeless situations. Every time I looked around, I was being pressed on every side. On dead end jobs, in dead end relationships and in some dead end situations. Some of you are sitting in here today, in some situations just like I was and someone was interceding on your behalf. They were interceding because they knew you were not ready to come off of that job or end that relationship or get out of those dead end situations. If it had not been for the righteousness of their life and the favor with God that they had, God would have shut it down much sooner. Somebody needs to say what a Merciful God. Because when you really look it at the complete picture you will find that God would have shut down that mess and you would have went down with it. But some of you have the audacity to reminisce and look back and day dream about the good old days forgetting all the jacked up stuff you were delivered from.

E. Lot and his family were told to leave and not look back.

F. Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

II. LESSONS LEARNED FROM LOT’S WIFE

A. She Perished Although The Wife Of A Righteous Man.

1. (II Peter 2:7-8) Lot was a righteous man. [7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard]

2. (Romans 4:3) Her uncle Abraham was a righteous man. [3What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."[a]]

3. What this should tell us is that it does not matter how saved and sanctified your daddy, momma, grandparents, aunties or uncles are…The righteousness of our relatives won’t save us. When we stand before God on judgment day, we won’t be asked, "Were your relatives faithful?" It don’t matter what their walk looks like when it comes to your judgment, God has no grandchildren, he only has children. So you are either going to make the choice to serve him for eternity or choose to spend your life burning for an eternity in hell. I don’t know about some of you but if this air went out in here this morning I won’t be able to stand it up in here up in here so I know I am not trying to pay the devil a visit, somebody needs to say that’s not for me.

B. She Perished Although She, Herself Was Righteous.

1. She was spared from the initial destruction because of her righteousness and God’s mercy.

2. But her righteousness did not permit sin. Let me interject right here and define righteousness, righteousness is holy and upright living …some body say obedience. So basically it does not matter how much you pray, go to church and serve in your ministry, when God is speaking into your life and commanding you to do something it has to be done. God eventually gets tired of hearing excuses. We come up with all kinds of stuff, the Lord knows my heart, I am really trying to change or that’s just who I am. God is saying yes I know your heart but do you know mines and yes I know you are trying to changing but it’s not sufficient and yes that’s who you are but I have been trying to call you higher and all these excuses are causing you to not hear me voice clearly. Once escaping the defilements (that’s that unclean or impure stuff) of the world, we must continue to live a sanctified life.