The Sin of the Curious Look
By Pastor Matt Black
21 July 2007
Men’s Prayer Breakfast
Luke 17:32-33
Opening Hymn: 415 Seek Ye First
Introduction: Open your Bible to Luke 17:32-33. The title of this morning’s study is “The Sin of the Curious Look”.[1]
We read, “Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
This morning we are going to be talking about fascination and joy and what animates you. Where are your deepest longings satisfied? Where are your deepest hurts comforted?
We see this morning in our text a seemingly simple innocent curious look. At least that’s what it looked like from our human vantage point. What we see upon further investigation is that this look revealed a cold, dead, inoculated heart—a heart that was not really enamoured with the things of God and of eternity, but instead was fleshly and was fascinated with the little things of this world. God was small in Mrs. Lot’s eyes. She was essentially told to “flee from the wrath to come”—that the consequences of sin were the judgment of God, and she had to have what she craved.
The outline this morning is simple—
I. Mrs. Lot’s exposure
II. Mrs. Lot’s excitement
III. Mrs. Lot’s end
Lot's wife was a professor of religion: her husband is called a "righteous man" (2 Peter 2:8.) She left Sodom with him on the day that Sodom was destroyed; she looked back towards the city from behind her husband, against God's express command; she was immediately struck dead, and turned into a pillar of salt.
Now the context of Luke 17 is the Olivet Discourse. It is the Lord’s sermon on His own second coming and the end of the world. And let me say that the days of these prophecies are nearer today than they were when they were written.
And since we are in the very last of the last days, we must take more heed to the Lord’s message. We must “flee from the wrath to come” (Mark 3:7).
Think of the Lord who came because His father “so loved the world.” Christ wept over Jerusalem and prayed for the men that crucified Him. He is filled with love and mercy, but here in this text, we understand that there is only a window of time, and the day of God’s mercy will end.
When Christ came to this earth, God the Father had no mercy on His only Son. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God died a sinner’s death outside of Jerusalem. The holiest man who ever walked the earth was crucified for godless, lawless people who were controlled by their own lusts—and he died to set us free. Christ died without mercy. All the wrath of man was given to Him. His awesome majesty was spit upon. His royal head was mocked with a crown of thorns. His royal blood was treated worse than a murderer. They mocked Him and His royal blood was good only for the filthy ground beneath Him. And all the wrath of God was poured on Him.
God crushed our Lord without mercy. Now if Christ would take such a punishment for us, we must understand that the day of God’s mercy has an end.
I. Mrs. Lot’s exposure
Mrs. Lot was exposed to the highest forms of godliness and the highest forms of wickedness, just as we are today.
In the days of Abraham and Lot, true saving religion was scarce upon earth: there were no Bibles, no pastors, no churches, no tracts, no missionaries. The knowledge of God was confined to a few privileged families; the greater part of the inhabitants of the world were living in darkness, ignorance, superstition, and sin. Not one in a hundred perhaps had such good example, such spiritual society, such clear knowledge, such plain warnings as Lot's wife. Compared with millions of the rest of the people in her time, Lot's wife was a privleged woman.
She had a godly man for her husband—Lot’s righteous soul was vexed from day to day in Sodom: she had Abraham, the father of the faithful, for her uncle by marriage.
The faith, the knowledge, and the prayers of these two righteous men could have been no secret to her. It is impossible that she could have dwelt in tents with them for any length of time, without knowing whose they were and whom they served.
Their faith with them was not a mere outward show; it ruled their lives and was the foundation of all their actions.
When Melchizedek, king of Salem, came forth to meet Abraham with bread and wine, she was there. When the angels came to Sodom and warned her husband to flee, she saw them; when they took them by the hand and led them out of the city, she was one of those whom they helped to escape.
Yet what good effect had all these privileges on the heart of Lot's wife? None at all. Even in view of all her opportunities and means of grace-notwithstanding all her special warnings and messages from heaven, she lived and died graceless, godless, without repentance, and unbelieving. The eyes of her understanding were never opened; her conscience was never really aroused and quickened. Her will was never subdued by the grace of God.
She probably did as others did around her in Lot's house: she conformed to her husband's ways: she made no opposition to his faith in the Lord, but all the time her heart was not really fascinated with God.
What does this teach us? It teaches us that no amount of exposure to the spiritual will automatically save us unless we personally appropriate it.
You may have spiritual advantages of every description; you may live in the full sunshine of the richest opportunities and means of grace; you may enjoy the best of preaching and the choicest instruction; you may dwell in the midst of light, knowledge, holiness, and good company. All this may be, and yet a person may remain unconverted, and at last be lost for ever.
Look over at 1 Corinthians 10, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”
These all died in the wilderness without grace. They did not enter into the promised land. They suffered from over exposure and inoculation.
The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These kinds of people have nice sentiments for God, but there is no really understanding of His dreaded majesty.
It is true that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, but faith that is not appropriated is nothing. In other words, exposure does not save you. If it did then Demas would be saved right? Plenty of people who had lots of exposure are lost in hell.
Joab was David's captain; Gehazi was Elisha's servant; Demas was Paul's companion; Judas Iscariot was Christ's disciple; and Lot had a worldly, unbelieving wife. These all died in their sins. They went down to the pit in spite of knowledge, warnings, and opportunities; and they all teach us that it is not privileges alone that men need. They need the grace of the Holy Ghost.
It is dependence on Christ, not simple exposure, that saves us!
II. Mrs. Lot’s excitement. We read in Genesis 19:26 that Lot’s wife “looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”
"The friendship of the world is enmity with God." (James iv. 4.) "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John ii. 15.)
This curious look at the end of her life revealed who she was.
God extends her mercy. She is led out of Sodom by the hands of angels, and in the light of all this mercy and grace, she shuns it for a mess of pottage. The glories of heaven await her, and she must have one more taste of the carnal pleasures of hell. Her heart has not been changed. She still is fascinated by sin. Matthew 7:16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
A. That look was a little thing, but revealed the true character of Lot's wife. Little things will often show the state of a man's mind even better than great ones. The apple that Eve ate was a little thing, but it proved that she had fallen from innocence and become a sinner.
B. That look was a little thing, but it told of disobedience in Lot's wife. The command of the angel was strait and unmistakable: "Look not behind thee." (Gen. 14:17.) This command Lot's wife refused to obey. But the Holy Ghost says, that "to obey is better than sacrifice," and that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." (1 Sam. 15:22, 23.) When God speaks plainly by His Word, or by His messengers, man's duty is clear. The heart of a child of God wants to obey.
C. That look was a little thing, but it told of proud unbelief in Lot's wife. She seemed to doubt whether God was really going to destroy Sodom: she appeared not to believe there was any danger, or any need for such hasty flight. But without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb. xi. 6.)
D. That look was a little thing, but it told of secret love of the world in Lot's wife. Her heart was in Sodom, though her body was outside. She had left her affections behind when she fled from her home. Her eye turned to the place where her treasure was, as the compass-needle turns to the pole. And this was the crowning point of her sin. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God." (James iv. 4.) "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John ii. 15.)
Love Christ with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. Seek first the kingdom of God, and believe that then all other things shall be added to you. Take heed that you do not prove a copy of the character John Bunyan draws-Mr. Facing-both-ways. For your happiness' sake, for your usefulness' sake, for your safety's sake, for your soul's sake, beware of the sin of Lot's wife. Oh, it is a solemn saying of our Lord Jesus, "No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke ix. 62.)
III. Mrs. Lot’s end
It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment!
We read in Genesis 19:26 that Lot’s wife “looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” God did not wait until a natural death, but took her in her sins.
We ought to be warned—those who die in their sins have no hope!
Those exposed to much light are exposed to harsher judgment. God does not always, but he may punish those more sharply that are exposed to more light.
Pharaoh saw all the miracles which Moses worked.
Saul lived in the full light of Samuel's ministry-
Ahab was often warned by Elijah the prophet-
Absalom enjoyed the privilege of being one of David's children-
-Ananias and Sapphira joined the Church in the days when the apostles were working miracles
-Judas Iscariot was a chosen companion of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
As they lived, so they died: as they were, they hurried away to meet God. They went with all their sins upon them, unpardoned, unrenewed, and utterly unfit for heaven. And being dead they yet speak. They tell us, like Lot's wife, that it is a perilous thing to sin against light, that God hates sin, and that there is a hell.
A. Settle it firmly in your mind, that the same Bible which teaches that God in mercy and compassion sent Christ to die for sinners, does also teach that God hates sin, and must from His very nature punish all who cleave to sin, or refuse the salvation He has provided. The very same chapter which declares, "God so loved the world," declares also, that "the wrath of God abideth" on the unbeliever (John 3:16, 36).
B. Settle it firmly in your mind that God has given us proof upon proof in the Bible that He will punish the hardened and unbelieving, and that He can take vengeance on His enemies, as well as show mercy on the penitent. The Second coming that will redeem sinners will also punish sinners.
C. Settle it firmly in your mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of hell. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus contains things which should make men tremble. But it does not stand alone. No lips have used so many words to express the awfulness of hell.
The Lord described what is to come for those who do not believe as: hell fire, the damnation of hell, eternal damnation, the resurrection of damnation, everlasting fire, the place of torment, destruction, outer darkness, the worm that never dies, the fire that is not quenched, the place of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, everlasting punishment-these, these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself employs.
If we reject the Lord’s words on hell, than we might as well reject His words on heaven.
· Are you careless about the second coming of Christ? Many are! They live like the men of Sodom, and the men of Noah's day: they eat, and drink, and plant, and build, and marry, and are given in marriage, and behave as if Christ was never going to return. If you are such an one, I say to you this day, Take care: "Remember Lot's wife."
· Are you secretly cherishing some besetting sin? Alas, many are! Is there hidden worldliness, or covetousness, or lust? Are you trifling with little sins? You can hold essential doctrines of the Gospel.
· Are you trusting to your religious knowledge? Alas, many do! They are not ignorant, as other men: they know the difference between true doctrine and false. They can dispute, they can reason, they can argue, they can quote texts; but all this time they are not converted, and they are yet dead in trespasses and sins. If you are such an one, I say to you this day, Take care: "Remember Lot's wife."
· (h) Are you making some profession of religion, and yet clinging to the world? Alas, many do! They aim at being thought Christians. They like the credit of being serious, steady, proper, regular, church-going people; yet all the while their dress, their tastes, their companions, their entertainments tell plainly they are of the world. If you are such an one, I say to you this day, Take care: "Remember Lot's wife."
Conclusion: Where are your eyes? Where is your gaze? Are you hungry to know more about Christ? Are you thirsty to know Him? Can you say, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (Psalm 63:1)?
Closing Hymn: 639 Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
[1] Many ideas for this message comes from J.C. Ryle’s chapter on Lot’s wife in his book “Holiness”.