Sodom and Gomorrah (The Second Half)

Good morning, Good News Church. Good to see you. We are picking up where we

left off in our series through the book of Genesis. So this is now how it started, part 19.

If you are new around here, especially like this is your first time,

I want to try to catch you up a little bit because this week really is the second

half of last week's sermon, okay?

In fact, the title of our sermon is Sodom and Gomorrah, the second half, okay?

Because we started Genesis 19 last week.

Genesis 19 is the chapter of the Bible about Sodom and Gomorrah.

We covered the first part of it, and so we are covering the second half of that chapter today.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to pick up in verse 12,

which is actually from the section we learned last time. So it's basically like this.

You know how sometimes when you watch a TV show, and it won't make sense if

you haven't seen previous episodes, and so they will start with a thing where

they say, last time on, and then they'll show you some like,

yeah, they'll show you some clips.

So that's what I want to do. There's two verses that we read last week,

at least two, that I want to reread just as like little clips from last time

so that you'll be like, oh, I see where we're going. And so the first one,

I think there's a lot in this one.

This is Genesis 19, verses 12 through 13.

Genesis 19:12–13

It says, the angel said to Lot, do you have anyone else here,

a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you?

Get them out of this place, for we are about to destroy this place,

because the outcry against its people is so great before the Lord that the Lord

has sent us to destroy it.

So I feel like this scene, if I was just going to show you a quick snip from

last week, I think this one, there's a lot.

There's a lot that gets packed into these two verses. You can see that this

story and what happened in the first half involves some angels.

There were two angels that the Lord sent to Sodom and Gomorrah,

this particular area, to check out, to confirm that it was wicked and worthy of judgment.

And then it sounds like, by the way they talk, they are part of implementing

that judgment onto the city. They are talking to a man named Lot.

So if this was like a clip before the episode, you'd see this guy and you'd

be like, oh, he must be one of the main characters.

And he kind of is, he's the main character of this small little section of Genesis.

He's actually not the main character.

So the book of Genesis, the first part of it is very much about like how humanity

began and how the earth began and civilization and all that.

And then the second part of Genesis has a lot to do with how Israel began and God's covenant people.

And so the main character that we've been talking about for the past many weeks now is Abraham.

But in the Abraham story, like there's this little tangent where we,

for at least two weeks now, one chapter, we've been focusing on his nephew, Lot.

And so that's who Lot is. Lot is Abraham's nephew, who's, we're going to get

back to his, the main character, Abraham's role in the story.

But right now, we're talking about Lot because Abraham, and this was,

I think, maybe two sermons ago, he had a conversation with the Lord,

and he was concerned about the Lord destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.

And we said, we speculated probably because his nephew Lot lived there.

That's why he was like, oh, I don't know if I want you to destroy those cities

because my relative is there. So Lot is there.

The angels go and find him and talk to him. They say, you got to get whoever

belongs you out of this place because we're about to destroy it.

And I want you to notice the reason.

It says, we're going to destroy it because the outcry against its people is

so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.

I wanted to explain a little bit about what this is because the outcry against

its people is so great. What does that mean that the outcry was so great?

The reason I wanted to bring it up is there last week after the sermon,

there were two different people that came up to me and asked me about that.

They said, what does that mean?

One of them even said, like, I was talking with this, you know,

with our community group, and we were having a hard time understanding it.

Like, so were there people in Sodom and Gomorrah who were, like,

crying out to the Lord, like, praying for the Lord to deliver them?

And if so, like, did the Lord answer their prayers by, like,

destroying them and all of the injustice around them?

Like, when they said, Lord, deliver me from this injustice, and they were crying

out to him, did he find these people who were praying righteously and asking

for deliverance and he destroyed them along with all the wicked people?

Well, no, we know that there were less than 10 righteous people in the whole

city from the story before that.

I don't think that this is talking about, I don't think the word outcry against

its people is referring to righteous people within those cities praying for deliverance.

I think outcry against its people is a metaphor here. It's just meaning that

God was very aware of the wickedness and the injustice that was going on here.

It doesn't mean that there had to be a person that was saying it.

I think it's very similar to earlier in the book of Genesis.

Remember the story where Cain kills Abel, right? Cain kills Abel, he murders him.

And then after he murders him, the Lord speaks to Cain and he says,

do you remember what he said to him?

He said, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

Well, that's not literal. The blood didn't, like the blood didn't cry out from the ground.

There was no, the outcry was just God's awareness that the injustice and the

wickedness happened. I think the same thing's happening here.

He is aware of it and now he's going to do something about it. So then he does.

So let's go ahead and go to verse 17. This will be like the second clip of last

time on Sodom and Gomorrah.

And this time we have the angels and it says in verse 17, as soon as the angels

got them outside, one of them said, run for your lives. Don't look back.

So the angels are the same two angels that have been in the story the whole

time. The got them, the them is Lot and his wife and his two daughters.

And outside, I think means outside of the city, right?

So they've now gotten outside of the city and he says, okay,

now run, run for your lives.

And I really want you to pay attention to the next three words, don't look back.

He says, don't look back and don't stop anywhere on the plain.

Run to the mountains or you'll be swept away.

The angels gave these people some instructions. Okay?

You need to run and run and keep running in that direction until you get way,

way, way far away. Do not look back.

I think it was probably something they would have understood.

Like, there is no going back.

You're leaving this behind. You're going to the new place, wherever it is God's

telling you, and all of that is behind you.

All of that's going to be gone. You're never going to see it again. Don't look back.

Go exactly to where God tells you to go.

So now let me keep reading. Oh, did I read it all the way? Yeah, I did.

So now let's skip to verse 23. and this is, I think, where I'll start.

Now I'll read from 23 to the end of the chapter.

The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar.

And then out of the sky, the Lord rained burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord.

He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities

and whatever grew on the ground.

Now that is where we stopped last week.

So now what I'm going to do is I'm going to pick up right where we left off

last week. I'm going to read the very next verse.

Okay. So everything was destroyed, everything on the ground.

Verse 26. This is now the new material.

But his wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

So we didn't read that last week. Now we're here. They're running away.

His wife looks back and it says she becomes a pillar of salt.

Now she looked back and what was the thing she was told to do?

Don't look back. She looks back and she becomes a pillar of salt.

I learned this story as a kid. And so there's what I imagined in my mind when

I learned it as a kid. And then as an adult, I reread it and I go,

I don't know if I was picturing the right thing as a kid.

And even as an adult, I don't know for sure. I don't know what this verse means.

Like, I don't know if this is a miracle of transformation that like she's running

and then she glances back and

then like a miraculous, like she's transformed into a pole made of salt.

Or if this is more like she's running, Maybe the judgment hasn't fallen yet.

We don't have the burning sulfur. So they're going from the city and then she

goes back and then she gets caught up in the destruction that was meant for

Sodom and Gomorrah, the burning sulfur and everything that's raining from the

sky and she becomes like petrified in some sense.

I don't know. I don't know what it means. Other than to say this,

the thing I think is very clear from this verse and everything that comes after it is, she died. Okay?

Lot's wife died. Like when it says she comes to pillar of salt,

like that's it. We never hear about her ever again. She's not a character in the story.

She never un-pillars. Like she becomes a pillar of salt and then she's never

mentioned again because she's now dead.

She disobeyed God and she died. All right, next verse.

Early in the morning, Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the

Lord. I think this is when he was having that conversation. I called it the end of the driveway.

And he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain.

And he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace.

So remember, last we looked at Abraham, he was saying to God,

like, if there's any righteous people, will you please not judge it?

Like Abraham didn't want Sodom and Gomorrah to be judged.

And so at this point, he looks and he sees it. He must, at this point,

he must be going like, oh, I guess there were less than 10 righteous persons, right?

Because God said he would spare it if there were even 10 righteous persons.

And so he's watching the smoke go up. At this point, I don't even know if he

knows that Lot has been rescued.

He just sees the destruction. But then the next verse says Lot was rescued, verse 29.

So it was when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham

and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.

So at some point, I'm guessing Abraham realizes that Lot survives.

And this verse almost makes it look like God rescued Lot for the sake of Abraham.

Okay, keep going. Verse 30, Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains

along with his two daughters because he was afraid to live in Zoar. Remember?

So it's him and his wife and his daughters, wife, pillar of salt.

Now it's him and his two daughters.

So they live in the caves because they were afraid to live in Zoar.

Instead, oh, sorry. Instead, he and his two daughters lived in a cave.

Then the firstborn, meaning the firstborn daughter of Lot, said to the younger,

our father is old and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land.

Come, let us get our father to drink wine so that he can sleep with him,

so that we can sleep with him and preserve our father's line.

So they got their father to drink wine that night and the firstborn came and slept with her father.

He did not know when she lay down or when she got up. I'm assuming that means

he was very, very drunk and didn't even realize what was going on.

Verse 34, the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, look,

I slept with my father last night.

Let's get him to drink wine again tonight so you can sleep with him and we can

preserve our father's line.

That night, they again got their father to drink wine and the younger went and

slept with him. She did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

This is probably a good moment to pause and say something.

It is important for you to know that not everything in the Bible comes with

an implied go and do likewise.

Did you know this? Yes, this is very important. This is telling us what happened.

This is not telling us what should have happened, okay? You will mess up your

life if you read the Bible and think to yourself, I will imitate all of these characters.

It is not your job to imitate all of them. Amen?

Okay, good. Let's keep going. Verse 36. So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.

The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He's the father of the Moabites today.

The younger also gave birth to a son and she named him Ben-Ami.

He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

And then that's where the chapter ends. So that's where we will stop for today.

So that's our passage.

So there are two ways that you could go with this.

Oh, maybe there's more than two. there are two things that I am attempted to

address when I look at this passage.

One would be Lot's wife and one would be Lot's daughters.

So I'm going to address both. And I'm going to start with the daughters because

I think I can address that one more quickly, even though that's the reverse order.

Lot's wife comes earlier in the story, the daughters are at the end,

but I'm gonna address the daughters first and then Lot's wife,

because I don't have a ton to say about the daughters.

So let me just quickly talk about them first and then we'll move on to Lot's wife.

When it comes to the daughters and what they did with their father at the end

of the story, this is, like I said, this is not what should have happened in

the sense that this is not what is morally right.

And I don't even know why it happened.

Like, it seems so crazy to me. It almost seems like they thought that they were

the last three people on the earth, that they were in this cave for so long,

they're like, well, it's just me and you and dad, okay?

There's two females and one male on the planet. I guess this is gonna be awkward,

but we're gonna have to do this in order for there to continue to be humans.

It seems like they think, and they say that, they say there is no man in the

land for us to sleep with. Like, there's no, just their dad,

no one else is in the whole land.

And yet, as I read the story, it seems to me there is no possible way they thought

they were the last people on earth because if you remember, they ran to the

city of Zoar first, then they were afraid to stay there. And so then they went to the mountains.

When they left Zoar to go hide in the cave, they had to have remembered there were people there.

So why they are saying it's just us and this is our job and this is what we

gotta do, I don't know. I don't understand it.

It says they were afraid to live in Zoar. So that's one reason.

They didn't come out of the cave because they were afraid to live there.

It does not say why they were afraid to live there.

It could be that they were thinking that the same thing that happened to Sodom

and Gomorrah was gonna happen to Zoar.

Like perhaps they went to that village and said, wow, these people are doing

the same kinds of wicked things that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are doing.

And so maybe it's just a matter of time before these people all get destroyed

too. Maybe we need to not live here either.

Maybe the people of Zoar didn't like them and they were scared of them, right?

I mean, I could imagine you show up and they're like, hey, some foreigners just

showed up our village. Who are you? Who's your God?

Oh, your God's the one that just destroyed everything? No, thank you.

Okay, you need to get out of here. We will, like, so I don't know.

I don't know what things happened, but at some point they said,

we can't live here anymore.

So they go up into this cave and they do this incestuous thing to preserve their family line.

And it created nations of people that became Israel's enemies later on in the story, right?

At least some of them were at times, Ammonites, Moabites. I definitely remember

the Ammonites being bad guys.

Anyway, so I think that the, I think it's the, I think Israelites who were reading

this story years and years and years ago, when they get to this part,

I think at the very least, they would have gone, oh, like that's where the bad guys came from.

Okay, the big thing that I want to point out for our purposes in this,

like for our contemporary application is verse 37.

Look at verse 37 one more time. The firstborn, the firstborn daughter,

gave birth to a son and named him Moab.

He is the father of the Moabites of today. So there's There was this whole nation

of people called Moabites that came from Moab.

Now you may go, why is that significant? That has nothing to do with our life. Hold on, wait a minute.

Do you remember last Christmas, okay, this past Christmas when we did a series

on the book of Ruth at Christmas time, do you remember that?

Oh, you're remembering this? Ruth was from where?

Moab, yes. Moab is where Naomi met Ruth, and then when there was the famine,

they went to Bethlehem, right?

And Ruth and Naomi went to Bethlehem, and so Naomi brought the Moabitess, a descendant of Moab.

Naomi brought Ruth to Bethlehem, where she then met Boaz, and the story unfolded, right?

And the surprise ending of the book of Ruth, if you remember,

is Ruth is the great grandmother of King David, right?

The whole story, you don't know that until like the last few verses. And it's like, what?

Wait. So this Moabitess moves into Bethlehem and becomes the great grandmother of King David.

Now, because it was a Christmas series, we didn't end there.

We said that there becomes a descendant from David later on who's very important. Who's that?

Jesus. So Jesus, when we were learning the Christmas story, we realize Jesus

came from a long line of people.

And the Matthew version of the Christmas story, the Christmas story found at

the beginning of the book of Matthew, talks about all of the descendants or

ancestors, depending on which

way you're measuring it, but all of the family line that led to Jesus.

And so we realize Jesus is the king over Israel, the one who is qualified to

be the Messiah and the savior of the world because he's related to David, right?

The reason the Christmas story happens in Bethlehem is because it's the city

of David and Jesus was born in the royal line of David.

And that's because he was the great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great, great grandson of David.

And that's because he was the great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great, great, great grandson of Ruth.

And what we find out is he was the great, great, great, great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

great, great, great grandson of Lot's daughter.

Like the, you got to get this, the circumstances that led to Jesus being born

in Bethlehem, in the city of David, so that he would be the one who dies on

the cross and rescues us from our sin.

That is traced back to David, which is traced back to Ruth, which is traced

back to this incident in this cave.

I guess what I'm saying here is God can bring good out of the worst circumstances.

All right, second point, Lot's wife. So in verse 17, the angel says, don't look back.

In verse 26, it says she did look back and she was judged. and it appears to

me that she desired what she had known rather than obeying what God had said.

In other words, I don't think she'd like tripped and just looked down for a

second and then suddenly whatever, magic or petrified or whatever.

I'm thinking she is, God tells her to do this and she's going,

I don't really want to go there. I want what's back there.

And so I think she desired what she had more than what God said.

She certainly desired looking back at what she had more than doing what God said.

Now, how can we apply this to our life in principle?

And I say in principle, because it seems to me probably no one in this room

is gonna find themselves in this exact situation. Is that fair enough?

Like if we, yeah, I hope not too. But if so, you'll know what to do,

because here's the thing.

If you are someone and you say to yourself, all right, what can I learn from the story of Lot's wife?

Well, I guess I can learn that if God ever is gonna destroy the city that I

live in and he gives me fair warning and he tells me to run and not look back,

I shouldn't do that because that was bad for Lot's wife.

And so if you're in that exact situation, good job, you now know what to do

and you have the story that tells you what to do.

But it seems unlikely that that precise scenario is going to dawn on you.

So I asked the question, how can we apply this to our life in principle?

Okay, in other words, let me ask the question this way. How can we make sure

that we don't turn back to the life that we once knew when God is calling us somewhere else?

Fair enough? How can we make sure we do not go back to what we knew when obeying

God would mean to go somewhere else?

So for that, I wanna show you two passages in the New Testament.

The first one is found in Luke chapter 17, and it is a teaching of Jesus.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

And it specifically brings up Lot's wife.

She's part of the story. So let me go ahead and read. This is what Jesus was

teaching in Luke chapter 17.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

He says, just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the son of man.

Okay, son of man is almost always a reference when he uses it about himself.

Okay, so there's this days of the son of man coming and you're gonna see as

he describes the days of the son of man, it seems to be some period of time

that's just before a period of time of judgment.

Okay, so he says, this is how it will be in the days of the son of man.

People went on eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage until the

day Noah boarded the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

What book of the Bible is that story from? Genesis. Yes, this past summer,

you learned about the Noah stories because we've been going through Genesis, right?

So it's interesting. Jesus is preaching here and he refers to Genesis. Why?

Because he believed in Genesis, right? So if you're someone going like,

hey, why do we need to know Genesis?

Well, Jesus knew Genesis. Jesus believed in Genesis and referred to it.

And in this particular case, he said there's gonna be this period of time where

everybody thinks everything's fine. And then one day it won't be fine, just like it was in Noah.

And then he says this. Here's the next one, verse 28. It will be the same as it was in the days of who?

Lot, what? Wait a minute. So he said, people went on eating,

drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. How did Lot get in the New

Testament? He's right here.

In the days of Lot, people went on eating, drinking, buying,

selling, planting, building, but on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur

rained from heaven and destroyed them all. That's the story we're on right now, right?

Okay, so Jesus is referring to our story and he says that's what it's gonna be like.

In the days of the Son of Man. So now we've got two different stories.

He talks, he says, remember in Noah, there were some people that escaped,

but there were bad people who were judged.

And then he fast forward a little bit further in Genesis and says,

remember in Lot, where there were a few people escaped, but a bunch of people

got judged. He said, that's gonna happen again.

There's a judgment right around the corner and everyone's gonna think everything's

fine and it's not just like it wasn't back then.

Now, the days of the Son of Man are not gonna be exactly the same as the days

of Noah or the days of Lot because even the days of Noah and the days of Lot

weren't like each other.

One time God judged with fire, one time God judged with water.

But he says, there's this judgment that's coming. So you gotta watch out because

it'll be like it was with Noah and it'll be like it was with Lot.

Verse 30, it will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

Okay, that's verse 30. Can we have verse 30?

We do have it. It's right at the top. Well done, my problem.

It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

So there's gonna be this time where everybody's thinking everything's fine. It's not gonna be fine.

Now, what is that? What is the day that the Son of Man is revealed,

especially considering what comes before it and after it.

People sometimes disagree on what this is referring to. What is the Son of Man?

I would say a lot of people would say the Son of Man, the day the Son of Man

is revealed would be referenced to the second coming of Jesus Christ because Jesus is the Son of Man.

So the day that Jesus, the Son of Man, is revealed must be the second coming.

Because of the verses that are before it and after it, they exclusively talk

about judgment, okay, that this is what's going to happen, everything's going

to be fine, and then it's not going to be fine because there's going to be a judgment.

There are some people who would say this is referring to the final judgment,

okay? That the revealing of the

Son of Man is a reference to the final judgment at the end of all time.

There are some people who say this is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem

in AD 70, and that he was warning them about a judgment that was actually not

that far away, that just like Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed,

so there's going to be this destruction in Jerusalem and you need to be prepared for it.

So different people disagree on what the judgment is. It seems like everybody

agrees, though. He is warning them about a judgment that is to come.

And he says, on that day, whatever day that is, a man on the housetop whose

belongings are in the house must not come down to get them.

Apparently, if you're on the housetop and the judgment's coming,

you just jump off and run and don't go and get anything.

Likewise, the man who is in the field must not turn back, right?

So that guy's not supposed to go get his stuff. If the judgment's coming, he's supposed to run.

I think these images are probably why some people think this is about the destruction of the temple in 8070.

Because if it were the final judgment, it's hard to imagine why running,

like being in the field and just running away and not going back home,

how that would cause you to evade the final judgment.

However, the days of the Son of Man, that sure sounds like the second coming

and final judgment stuff.

And so some people might say, this is sort of a metaphor for just like,

hey, you need to make sure that you are ready when the judgment comes and you're

not clinging to the stuff that you had in the past and your possessions and

finding your security in that, okay?

But either way, point is, Jesus is teaching about an upcoming judgment.

He says, everybody's gonna think it's fine, just like it was in Noah,

just like it was in the time of Lot.

And you need to be ready for this. And you need to make sure that you do not go back.

And then, then he says this. This is Luke 17, verse 32.

Luke 17:32

Remember Lot's wife.

Did you know that was in the New Testament? I did not. I did not know this.

I mean, I've read it before and yet it didn't like register.

I didn't realize that there's a verse in the New Testament where Jesus says, remember Lot's wife.

I didn't realize there's a verse in the New Testament where the whole verse is just three words.

Remember Lot's wife. Like some of you go like, oh, I'd like to memorize a Bible verse.

I've got such good news for you. Like you just did, okay?

Like I've heard a lot of people, they make a big deal about Jesus wept.

Like, oh, you gotta memorize Jesus wept. If you wanna memorize a Bible verse,

memorize Jesus wept. It's just two words, Jesus wept.

You gotta memorize Jesus wept. Okay, that's great. But this one's not that much longer.

Remember Lot's wife, that's almost as easy. You can memorize Jesus wept, that's one thing.

And then you can memorize, remember Lot's wife, okay? In fact,

some of you memorized two Bible verses today.

Isn't this fantastic? You should come back to church here every week.

Okay, so as Jesus is talking about judgment that is to come,

he says, remember Lot's wife.

Now, I'm thinking that's significant. You wanna know why this is significant?

Because there might be some of us in this room that we might go.

Do I really need to learn all these like Old Testament stories?

Goodness, Maya, all summer long, we've been learning this stuff in Genesis and some of it's weird.

You got people that are being destroyed and the wife is turning into a pillar

of salt and the daughter's in the cave with their dad and ooh,

and why do we have to learn all this? Do we really need to know about the Old Testament?

Do I really need to know about Lot's wife And my answer is, apparently yes,

because Jesus Christ literally said, remember Lot's wife.

So yeah, you need to know about her, because he said you got to remember her.

At the very least, he's talking to people who do know about her,

and he's saying to them, if you know about her, you got to remember her.

You got to remember the lesson that comes with Lot's wife.

Well, what is that? Like, why do I need to remember Lot's wife?

I suppose it's that when judgment is coming, right?

Like when judgment is on the way, we need to do two things.

We need to escape it.

Right? That's part of the Lot's wife story. When judgment is coming, we need to escape it.

And in the like broader context of scripture, the way we do that is trusting

in the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior.

So if there is a judgment to come, we need to escape it by trusting in Jesus as our Lord and savior.

And then while we're waiting, as the judgment is not here yet,

we need to make sure that we do not go back to the stuff that we once valued.

Why do you say that? Well, because look at the verses that are just before and

just after the words, remember Lot's wife, okay?

So he says, on that day, the man on the housetop whose belongings are in their

house must not come down to get them, right? Don't go after your belongings.

Don't worry about that stuff you had.

It's a new day, right? And the judgment is here.

Likewise, the man who was in the field must not turn back, right?

You need to not go back to the stuff you valued when we get to the judgment day, right?

Then he says, remember Lot's wife, as if that's related to all this,

which we can see that it would be, right?

And then right after he says Lot's wife, you're wondering like, what does that mean?

How do I live like I'm remembering Lot's wife? Look at the next sentence.

Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it.

And whoever loses his life will preserve it, which is something Jesus,

I think, had said similarly in other occasions.

The person that wants to like put their faith and trust in the things of this

world is gonna lose their life forever.

But the person who even loses their life for Jesus will have eternal life.

So don't find your security in the stuff of this world. And I'm guessing that's what Lot's wife did.

Like God said, safety is over there. And she went, I wanna go back there.

That's what I'm guessing she did. And so he says, remember Lot's wife.

Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it. And whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Trust God with your whole life above everything in this world,

including that which you've left behind when you gain a relationship with him.

I think that's the lesson of Lot's wife.

The other passage that I wanna show you is also in the New Testament.

This one is from Hebrews chapter three. So if you have your Bible,

you can turn there. Hebrews chapter three.

And the second scripture I wanna show you does not specifically mention Lot's

wife, but I think it's on the same topic.

Hebrews chapter three, starting in verse 12. Watch out, brothers,

so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.

All right, the writer of Hebrews says, you gotta watch out.

You wanna make sure you do not have an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.

I think this is on the same or a very, very similar topic, okay?

The imagery is a little different. I realize Lot's wife imagery is don't look

back, don't go back to what you had.

And in this one, it doesn't say don't go back. It says don't have a heart that departs from God.

But I think if God tells you to go this way, don't go back to what you knew

and don't have a heart that departs from God.

Like that's the same thing. Like those are two different images describing the

same thing, right? Once you start to follow God, do not go back.

Once you start, don't let, make sure your heart does not depart from the Lord.

Verse 13. So this is the very next verse. So how do we make sure that we don't

have hearts that depart from the living God? What do we do instead?

This is what it says. It says, but encourage each other daily while it is still

called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception.

If you want to make sure you don't have a heart that departs from God,

if you want to make sure that sin does not deceive you and harden you so that

you go back or you fall away or your heart goes away, whatever,

however you want, whatever imagery you want to use, then what are you supposed to do?

And what's interesting is it says, encourage each other.

Right? I want to make sure my heart does not depart from the Lord.

I want to make sure that I'm not hardened by sin's deception.

So according to this verse, what am I supposed to do?

Encourage each other. Apparently the not departing from God project is a group project, right?

The verse doesn't say, make sure that your heart doesn't depart from God. So here's what you do.

All by yourself, white knuckle, make sure that you don't depart from God.

No, he says you need to be encouraging people not to depart from God and they

need to be encouraging you not to depart from God.

So this idea that you hear a lot nowadays, this idea that like,

I can just follow God on my own and I don't need other people.

Like it's like me and God, I got this connection, like this individual me and

God thing going on and I don't need a church and I don't need to be encouraging

other people and I don't need other people really encouraging me.

Like I got this, I got this relationship with God that I maintain on my own.

Like that is a very American way of thinking. It is not very biblical.

They were told, be in this group and make sure all of you together don't depart.

So then here's the next verse, verse 14. And I say that, that's the human perspective.

I realize from the divine perspective, like God, we are kept in God by the power of God.

But I'm just saying from the human perspective, like there are means by which

that happens and we have a job to do.

Okay, so verse 14. for we have become companions of the Messiah.

Oh, this is interesting.

If we hold firmly until the end, the reality that we had at the start.

Okay, slightly different imagery, but it's a little different with Lot's wife.

It's like, keep going, don't look back.

This one is saying, hold firmly until the end, right? Don't let go early.

If we have become companions of the Messiah, if we hold firmly until the end,

the reality that we had at the start.

So how do you know if you're a companion of the Messiah, according to this verse?

Like you're going, am I a companion of the Messiah? Am I a friend of Christ?

How do you know if you share in what Christ is offering?

How do you know if you're on Jesus's team, according to the verse?

Here's how you know. If you hold firmly until the end, the reality that you had at the start.

Wait, wait, Mario. Mario, are you saying that if I profess,

that I belong to Jesus and I pray the prayer that they told me to pray and I

sign the commitment card that they told me to sign and I got baptized or I joined

the church or I did whatever it was that they said, this is what you gotta do to be a Christian, okay?

So I was like, yeah, yeah, sign me up for that. Are you saying that if I do

that and then I don't keep following him, rather I go back to my old life and

my heart departs from him, Are you saying I don't belong to him?

Yes, and more importantly than not, I'm not saying I say that.

I'm saying the passage says that.

We have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the

reality that we had at the start.

So here's the deal. Some of you in this room at some point decided that you

wanted to become a follower of Jesus Christ and you thought that it was gonna be awesome, okay?

And for some of you, it was awesome, at least for a while.

The first three weeks or the first six months or maybe it was the first two

years, you were like, this is fantastic.

I am so happy to be free from shame.

Like that was so shackling me down. Oh, I'm so thankful to be free of shame.

I'm so thankful for this like peace, this inconceivable, unexplainable peace

that I have now that I didn't have before.

There may be some of you that say, I'm so happy to be surrounded by other brothers

and sisters who are of the same heavenly father as me. Like, this is great.

But then after a while, eventually there came a day where you,

as great as it was, you went, hey, wait a minute.

In this particular situation that I'm in today, I now realize following Jesus

is making it, it's making my life harder.

Do you remember when that happened? Remember the first time you were like,

this is great. I follow Jesus.

Then one day you went, wait a minute. that following Jesus is what's getting

me persecuted in this situation.

Following Jesus is why they're bullying me. Following Jesus is why they're disrespecting me.

It's why she keeps attacking me. Do you remember that?

How many of you, this happened? Some of you, this is, you go, I was following Jesus.

This is great. And then one day I started getting into situations and they were

the same situations that I used to get in before I followed Jesus.

But now there's like rules that I'm supposed to follow. Like now that I follow

Jesus, like Jesus has particular ways that he wants me to behave.

And I feel like his ways eliminate some of my options that I used to have.

Do you remember this, right? That you would say, wow, I was not a follower of

Jesus. I was doing whatever I wanted, right? And I knew how to handle these

situations. Now I'm a follower of Jesus.

And I find myself in some of the same situations that I used to find myself in.

But back in the day when I found myself in that situation, the way I'd get out of it is I'd tell a lie.

And I have to get myself into this situation. And the way that I get out of it is I get a divorce.

And I find myself in this situation. And the way that I get out of it is I take

revenge on the person and then I cut them off.

And now I'm a believer in Jesus. And the same kinds of situations are happening to me.

But I'm supposed to tell the truth and keep my vows. and not hold on to bitterness.

And I just feel like I got a lot less options now. Following Jesus is,

it's making these situations harder than before.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Any of you ever got to the point where you

went, hey, following Jesus gives me responsibilities that I'm not sure I want

and don't remember signing up for?

And on that day, there will be a temptation to look back.

On that day, there will be a temptation to trust in what you used to trust in.

On that day, there will be a temptation to go back to your former life.

And so all I know to tell you is don't look back.

Don't turn back to the things that you've repented of. Don't disobey the Lord.

I mean, I already said, from a divine perspective, we are kept by God's power,

but from a human perspective, we have a job to do.

So when that day comes, don't look back. Don't find your security in the stuff of this world.

Don't depart from the living God.

Keep trusting in Jesus over everything else, including everything you left behind.

For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end,

the reality that we had at the start.

When I was about 14 or 15 years old, the house that I grew up in had a kitchen with a shelf.

It was kind of a weird shelf that had like a cutout where you could see into the next room over.

And on that shelf was a CD player. And in that CD player was a CD that I don't

know exactly where it came from. It was an album by Stephen Curtis Chapman.

It was the album that had just come out. Like, it was the newest one.

It was called Heaven in the Real World. And somehow it ended up in that CD player. I don't know how.

You remember the shelf? Yeah. So, was it you? Here's the thing.

So, I grew up with a single mom.

And she did not buy that album. And I did not buy that album.

So, I don't know how it got into our house. Maybe it was my sister-in-law. I don't know.

But somehow this album ended up in the CD player that I don't think either of

the two residents of the house bought it. and I press play and I listen to the album.

And I think I listened to it over and over again and I really liked the songs

and I thought it was really cool. And there's a song on that album that I remember 30 years later.

It was not a hit, so I'm not expecting many of you in this room to even know

what song I'm referring to, but I'm gonna read the lyrics to you,

okay? I'm not gonna sing it for you.

I'm just gonna read the lyrics. It'll be like a poem.

Maybe one day. And then I'll die.

Oh, okay. So like I said, it wasn't a hit song.

You may not have heard of it, but I remember the lyrics to the song 30 years

later just because music has that magical quality to it that you can remember

something you sang 30 years ago. So here are the lyrics.

The song's name is Burn the Ships.

In the spring of 1519, a Spanish fleet set sail.

Cortez told his sailors, this mission must not fail. On the eastern shore of

Mexico, they landed with great

dreams, but the hardships of the new world made them restless and weak.

Quietly, they whispered, let's sail back to the life we knew.

But the one who led them there was saying, burn the ships. We're here to stay.

There's no way we could go back now that we've come this far by faith.

Burn the ships. We've passed the point of no return.

Our life is here. So let the ships burn.

Now that's all historical stuff about the settling of Mexico.

I don't even know if it's all perfectly correct.

I actually Googled today and found out a lot of historians believe that Cortes

sank the ships rather than setting them on fire, but that doesn't matter.

The second verse is what I really want you to pay attention to.

Here's the second verse of the song.

In the spring of new beginnings, a searching heart set sail,

looking for a new life and a love that would not fail.

On the shores of grace and mercy, we landed with great joy.

But an enemy was waiting to steal, kill, and destroy.

Quietly, he whispers, go back to the life you knew.

But the one who led us here is saying, burn the ships.

We're here to stay. There's no way we could go back now that we've come this

far by faith. Burn the ships.

We have passed the point of no return. Our life is here. So let the ships burn.

Nobody said it would be easy, but the one who brought us here is never going to leave us alone.

So perhaps some of you needed to hear this today. Like you needed to hear this today.

Like this was the week that you were tempted to go back and then you showed

up at church and you're going like, what, this is the topic today?

Like, did the pastor have a listening device in my house and he was listening

and that's why he preached this?

The answer is no, I do not. I do not want to hear what is going on in your house.

But what I'm saying is it's very, very possible that for some of you,

God was gracious to you and this was the difficult week and you showed up here to hear this.

That is wonderful that you got reminded. Now do the right thing and burn the ships.

Now there are others of you, and this is sort of unfortunate,

there are others of you that will not need to apply this until later.

It'll be four weeks from now or it'll be four months from now or it'll be four

years from now and I may not be preaching on this on that day.

And so my hope is that you'll remember,

you know jesus said remember lot's wife we look

at lot's wife and look what he said and we look at what it says in hebrews and look what

it says about being companions of the messiah and so i guess i'm just saying

if this is something that will matter a year from now or two years from now

three four years from now i hope you will remember it then in fact i'm about

to pray i'm going to pray that you will remember this and when that day comes

don't look back let's pray.

Lord we thank you for the gospel we thank you that you would die on the cross

for our sins to wipe our sins away,

I pray that those of us that follow you, I pray that you would preserve us and

persevere us all the way to the end. And I believe that you do that.

I believe you hold onto your children and you preserve them.

And yet you don't do that apart from our actions or our life.

Like we have a responsibility to not depart from you.

And so for the people in this room who this is a very contemporary example,

like this particular week was a difficult one and they're so happy they just heard this today.

I just pray that you would be with them. You would use this as a tool in their

life and that they would not look back and they would not turn away and they would follow after you.

And then I especially pray for what I suspect is maybe the majority of us.

And that when the day comes that we need to know this, months from now or years

from now down the road, I just pray by the power of your spirit,

you would cause like our heart and our minds like to remember this and not look back then.

I pray that you would grant that to our memories.

We love you and we thank you for the gospel. We thank you that you can bring

good out of terrible circumstances.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let me end with these good words from God's word.

This is the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 15.

Now, brothers, I wanna clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you.

You received it and have taken your stand on it. You are also saved by it if

you hold to the message I proclaimed to you, unless you believe for no purpose,

for what I passed on to you as most important, what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. That is good news.

Thank you.