Grace Gems – They want to keep just as near to Sodom as possible!

Grace Gems

They want to keep just as near to Sodom as possible!

(J.R. Miller, “The Outcome of Lot’s Choice” 1908)  LISTEN to audio!  Download audio

(You will find it helpful to listen to the audio above, as you read the text below.)

“Run for your lives! Do not stop anywhere in the plain. Do not look back! Escape to the mountain, or you will die!” Genesis 19:17

This is still the gospel message. We are in danger of God’s judgment, and must escape from it–if we would live. We must not stay anywhere in all the plain of sin–for there is no safe spot, no shelter anywhere, no place where the fires of judgment will not fall.

Some people would like to compromise; they are willing to flee from some sins, but not from others. There are some professed Christians who like to stay on the borders of their old life. They are continually asking whether they can do this or that, go here or there–and still be Christians. They want to keep just as near to Sodom as possible–so as not to be burnt up in Sodom’s destruction! The answer to all such questions is, “Run for your lives! Do not stop anywhere in the plain. Do not look back! Escape to the mountain, or you will die!” Even the borders are unsafe! The only safe place is the mountain, the mountain where Christ’s Cross stands!

Lot’s wife ‘looked back’. There had been a specific command, “Do not look back!” Why Lot’s wife looked back is not explained. Was it curiosity to see the nature of the terrible destruction that she heard roaring behind her? Or was it her dismay as she thought of her beautiful home, with all its wealth of furnishing and decoration, and all her jewels and garments and other possessions–which were now being consumed in the great conflagration?

It would seem to be, that she was appalled at the thought of leaving and losing all her beloved possessions, and paused in her flight and looked back, with the hope that possibly she might yet run back and snatch some of the ornaments or gems–something, at least, from the awful destruction. “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt!”

“Remember Lot’s wife!” Luke 17:32. We should not miss the ‘lesson’ which our Lord Himself teaches us from the tragic fate of this woman: we cannot have both worlds! Lot’s wife could have escaped with her husband and her daughters, but she could escape only by resolutely and determinedly leaving everything she had in Sodom. Her love for her possessions, cost her her life!

Just so, there are thousands today, to whom God’s message comes: “Run for your lives! Do not stop anywhere in the plain. Do not look back! Escape to the mountain, or you will die!” They somewhat desire to follow Christ, but their love for the world is so intense that they cannot give it up–they cannot renounce it. They must decide, however, which they will renounce: Christ or the world. They cannot keep both!

In Lot’s wife, we have an example of one who was almost saved–and yet lost! She was lost because she loved the world.

“Remember Lot’s wife!”

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Abba, 

This story of Lot’s wife is incredibly sobering and shocking.  She looked back.  As I kid, I can remember asking, why would you punish her so severely for such a “small” disobedience.  As I have gotten older, of course, I realize it is about so much more than my little understanding grasped at the time.

It was about her heart, her passions.  We are not told explicitly why she looked back but the fact that she did and that she was instantly put to death for it, reveals that her heart was with Sodom and not with God.  And the sin of rejecting you is always met with death and destruction. 

What is terrifying, to me, is the frightening reality that many today are living just like her.  Many do not even claim your name or profess your presence in your life.  BUT MANY DO.  And yet they think they can live like Sodom and you will be ok with it.  

HOW GREAT IS YOUR GRACE THAT DOES NOT INSTANTLY ANNIHILATE THEM AND INSTEAD AFFORDS THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO REPENT!

I fear my own heart of flesh ever choosing the fleshly passions over You.  I fear and ache for those I witness doing that very thing on a daily basis.  I fear for those who are doing so but hiding it under a façade of spiritual maturity and holiness.  I fear for those in the world who are do so without a care of the coming judgement!  

Abba, please, please, please cleanse and purify all love of the world out of the hearts of us, Your Bride, Your Children.  Please convict and deliver the unrepentant world from their wickedness!  Send Your Spirit to convict, rebuke, correct, admonish, and save all who will hear and repent by the same power!

Let us run for the hills of safety, the refuge and fortress of your presence!  May we WARN and AMONISH others to run for the hills of safety through repentance and faith!  Make us bold to speak even when it may receive backlash and suffering!  The eternal souls of men and women created in Your image are worth the temporary suffering if it means that there is even a chance that their will hear and receive the truth!

Abba, wake us up from our slumber and apathy and let us embrace the mission of warning and saving all who will come from the same fate and wrath that befell Lot’s wife.  May we learn the lesson and may it propel our feet to action!

Thank you for Your grace of delayed judgment that affords us this opportunity.  May we not waste it!