Lessons from Sodom and Gomorrah (Part 3)

Genesis 19:23-26
Pastor Conrad Mbewe
SBFYC 2007 Session 6 - Thursday PM

We are coming to the end of our series of lessons from Sodom and Gomorrah. We have looked at the power of passion and its destructive effect on us in a slow and growing way. We lose the ability to say no to certain vices and our lives and others are destroyed. We saw the damning consequences of unbelief, the inability to respond to sin around us and the inability to flee according to the warning from God. Tonight we look at the pulling example in Lot's wife.

For young people in America I can think of no greater warning than this, the pull of the world. The call to salvation and the call to Christian service can all fall on deaf ears because of the pull of the world on your life. Why is the power of the world so effective, so lethal? It is because worldliness is will to go with you into your profession of faith. A lot of people are in the church, even comfortable there, while there lives are being eaten away by worldly attachments.

Does this not describe Lot's wife? She had a godly heritage. She was married to a godly man in the midst of paganism and idolatry. He assured that there was godly worship in the home and she was a part of that, right in the middle of the moral mess in Sodom. She was an assistant to the head of the home, Lot.

She was also . When the fire was raining down upon that city, she left for Zoar with Lot. But she left only in body. Her heart was still in Sodom. That is where the trouble was. Lot's wife stayed attached to Sodom. Therefore she comes as a warning to us. Her warning is that we must not take our salvation for granted but must from time to time do some serious soul searching. Ask yourself the question, "What really matters to my heart?" Do not take your salvation for granted just because you have made a profession of faith.

How easy it is to take on for yourself the religion of your parents and think that you must be a Christian because that is all you know.

Worldliness makes you give everything to God but your heart.

If you are asked the question, "Do you really love God?" your answer is, "Of course I do,as long as He does not ask for my life." In other words, you are willing to do whatever it is as long as you are not snatched away from those things that are dear to you.

Isn't that what was wrong with Lot's wife? She loved the world. Even thought the angel's message was clear, she was only willing to obey so much. She was not willing to take the command seriously. "Of course I will flee or else I will burn. The command to flee is serious and I will obey it, but the looking is not as serious."

That describes many today. All they want to do is miss out on hell. So they obey the command to flee in hopes of a little corner of heaven. They don't want to be some super Christian, just to miss hell.

Again, Lot's wife was willing to flee, but she wanted to carry Sodom with her, and she turned to salt. Luke 17:28-33 warns against this type of thinking. The problem with Lot's wife was that she had attachments in Sodom. That look back was her desire to take those things with here. She could not do without her worldly attachments.

What about you? What are those things in your life that cause you to tell God that you are willing to do anything for Him but don't touch this. Who are you to go to God as if approaching Him at a negotiating table. May I say to you that that is not Christianity. That is a back door to hell. It might not seem that way because it is the popular Christianity today. "Remember Lot's wife." Ask yourself, "Have I trusted the Lord with my all and all or only this part of my life, compartmentalizing Him?" "Don't touch my dress. Don't touch my music. I am willing to serve You as long as You let go of this."

Again, that is not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity demands everything, and everything means everything. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength." In other words, with everything. What makes you think that the Lord is willing to be your Savior without your whole heart? "No man can serve two masters." You can only love Him and Him alone or you don't love Him and everything else.

James 4:4- gives a warning against worldliness. He calls it spiritual adultery! Friendship with the world is enmity against God! You cannot love both - your heart is too small. He must have all of our hearts or He will have nothing.

John in 1 John 2:15 speaks of this as well. You either love the world, or you love God. It cannot be both.

Have you given the Lord all of your heart? Can you look at your clothing, your music, your posters, etc. and say, "If the Lord Jesus was to walk into this room, I would be glad for Him to see this because it points to the love I have for Him?" Or could it be that if you knew that He was going to visit your home tomorrow you would dash out and make changes because you know He is coming and would not approve.

Can Jesus demand too much? Have you thought about His love? Have you thought about His side of the commitment? How He left the throne room of heaven and thousands of angels proclaiming His glory to come to this earth, designated a criminal from birth, handing Himself over to be bruised and scourged and finally crucified on a Cross and enduring God's fury and wrath - because He loved you. Can you honestly say that He is demanding too much from you? That my God should take my place and die my death and shed His blood for my sin. How can you not love Him? How can you even think about loving yourself with such a profound display of love for you? He demands your all.

When you truly become a Christian, the things of this world become strangely dim because you have gazed upon His love. You despise all of your vices because you have seen His love for you.

"Love so amazing, love so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."