Remember Lot's wife.
Luke 17:32
"But the text says, “Remember Lot’s wife,” and therefore I must let the husband go, and call your attention to her who, in this case, is “his worse half.”
When the time for separation arrived Lot’s wife could not tear herself away from the world. She had always been in it, and had loved it, and delighted in it; and, though associated with a gracious man, when the time came for decision she betrayed her true character.
Flight without so much as looking back was demanded of her, but this was too much; she looked back, and so proved that she had sufficient presumption in her heart to defy God’s command, and risk her all, to give a lingering love glance at the condemned and guilty world.
By that glance she perished. That is the subject of our discourse. --The love of the world is death.
--Those who cling to sin must perish, no matter who they are.
I. “Remember Lot’s wife”: and our first call shall be — REMEMBER THAT SHE WAS LOT’S WIFE.
She was united to him in the closest possible bonds, and yet she perished. She had lived in tents with holy Abraham, and seemed to be a partaker in all the privileges of the separated people, and yet she perished.
II. And now, secondly, “Remember Lot’s wife,” and remember that SHE WENT SOME WAY TOWARDS BEING SAVED.
Mrs. Lot so far believed the message that came to her about the destruction of the city that she was aroused.
Remember, then, that she did go part of the way towards safety, and yet she perished: and so many may go part of the way towards Christ, and they may go a little way out of the world, but if their hearts still linger with the ungodly they will perish.There is one very solemn thought, and that is, that the angels’ hand had pressed her wrist.
An angel’s hand had pressed her wrist to draw her out to safety, and she had gone a little way under that sacred constraint; and yet she perished.
Some of you may have had spiritual touches upon the conscience and heart, which you will never be able to quite forget, and the responsibility of this will cling to you, though you have drawn back from godliness and your heart cries after vanity, and lusts after its idols.
III. This brings me to a third point of remembrance, which is this: remember that though she went some way towards escape SHE ACTUALLY PERISHED THROUGH SIN.
The first sin that she committed was that she lingered behind.
Having gotten so far as lingering and doubting, her next movement was a direct act of rebellion, — she turned her head: she was told not to look, but she dared to look.
IV. Here comes our remembrance of Lot’s wife in the fourth and most solemn place, and that is — remember that HER DOOM WAS TERRIBLE. “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Remember that she perished with the same doom as what happened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that doom befell her at the gates of Zoar. Oh, if I must be damned, let it be with the mass of the ungodly, having always been one of them; but to get up to the very gates of heaven, and to perish there, will be a most awful thing!"
Charles Spurgeon
Luke 17:32
"But the text says, “Remember Lot’s wife,” and therefore I must let the husband go, and call your attention to her who, in this case, is “his worse half.”
When the time for separation arrived Lot’s wife could not tear herself away from the world. She had always been in it, and had loved it, and delighted in it; and, though associated with a gracious man, when the time came for decision she betrayed her true character.
Flight without so much as looking back was demanded of her, but this was too much; she looked back, and so proved that she had sufficient presumption in her heart to defy God’s command, and risk her all, to give a lingering love glance at the condemned and guilty world.
By that glance she perished. That is the subject of our discourse. --The love of the world is death.
--Those who cling to sin must perish, no matter who they are.
I. “Remember Lot’s wife”: and our first call shall be — REMEMBER THAT SHE WAS LOT’S WIFE.
She was united to him in the closest possible bonds, and yet she perished. She had lived in tents with holy Abraham, and seemed to be a partaker in all the privileges of the separated people, and yet she perished.
II. And now, secondly, “Remember Lot’s wife,” and remember that SHE WENT SOME WAY TOWARDS BEING SAVED.
Mrs. Lot so far believed the message that came to her about the destruction of the city that she was aroused.
Remember, then, that she did go part of the way towards safety, and yet she perished: and so many may go part of the way towards Christ, and they may go a little way out of the world, but if their hearts still linger with the ungodly they will perish.There is one very solemn thought, and that is, that the angels’ hand had pressed her wrist.
An angel’s hand had pressed her wrist to draw her out to safety, and she had gone a little way under that sacred constraint; and yet she perished.
Some of you may have had spiritual touches upon the conscience and heart, which you will never be able to quite forget, and the responsibility of this will cling to you, though you have drawn back from godliness and your heart cries after vanity, and lusts after its idols.
III. This brings me to a third point of remembrance, which is this: remember that though she went some way towards escape SHE ACTUALLY PERISHED THROUGH SIN.
The first sin that she committed was that she lingered behind.
Having gotten so far as lingering and doubting, her next movement was a direct act of rebellion, — she turned her head: she was told not to look, but she dared to look.
IV. Here comes our remembrance of Lot’s wife in the fourth and most solemn place, and that is — remember that HER DOOM WAS TERRIBLE. “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Remember that she perished with the same doom as what happened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that doom befell her at the gates of Zoar. Oh, if I must be damned, let it be with the mass of the ungodly, having always been one of them; but to get up to the very gates of heaven, and to perish there, will be a most awful thing!"
Charles Spurgeon
