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Birmingham Roebuck SDA Church

Norman McNulty

Remember Lot’s Wife

Our Father in heaven, we know that we are living in times that are certainly not ordinary, and yet so many of us are sleeping.

I pray, Lord, that we would wake up to the times that we are living in, that we would heed the message that you've given us in Scripture, and I pray that you would speak through me this morning, that you would give me a message that would be from on high, that it would be what you would have that would be said to this congregation this morning.

So I thank you for this sacred opportunity to share the word from the pulpit.

And I just pray that you will speak through me in a special way.

And may you receive all the glory I pray in Jesus' name.

I truly do believe that we are not living in ordinary times.

I truly believe that we are living at a time where now more than ever we need to have a living connection with Jesus.

Now is not the time to be giving God half-hearted service.

Now is not the time to be thinking that Jesus is not going to come for another thousand years.

Now is not the time to be living the way Lot and his wife were living in Sodom.

Now is the time for God's people to be mindful of the fact that Jesus is coming soon.

And now is the time for God's people to say in their hearts, we need to rise up by the grace of God and finish the work that God has given us to do.

And the message for this morning is based on the words of Jesus as he describes the condition of his people just before he comes back.

And in 1 verse, in 3 words, which is the title for our message this morning, Jesus gives warning to all who would be living just before he comes back.

And I want to read the verses that precede this to set the stage for why Jesus says, remember Lot's wife.

Now obviously if Jesus is saying remember Lot's wife, we know the story of Lot's wife, how she turned back and looked towards Sodom and she became a pillar of Saul.

And that story is so important that Jesus wants us to remember it as we think about his near coming.

And when I read in my Bible here, Luke 17, 26 to 32, this whole section are letters in red, which means Jesus is saying these words himself as he describes what it will be like before he comes back.

And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.

They did eat, they drank, they married wives.

They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into The ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

In that day he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away.

And he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

Now Jesus describes a period of Earth's history in 2 different times to describe what it will be like before he comes back.

He says, as it was in the days of Noah and as it was in the days of Lot.

Now, when we think about the days of Noah and we think about the days of Lot, It's interesting what Jesus says about those days, and we're going to look at that a little bit later, but it's also interesting to go back and see what Scripture says about the days of Noah and about the days of Lot.

And we read, and the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh, yet his days shall be in 120 years.

And this is the prediction that God gives to Noah that there will be 120 years before the flood.

And then it describes the giants in the land in verse 4.

And in verse 5 it says, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

That the thoughts of men are only evil continually?

I want to challenge you personally, and this is something that I challenge myself with.

You know, you are not who you portray yourself to be.

What you're thinking when nobody can tell, yet God can discern the thoughts and intents of your heart.

But you can come to church and you can put on a good front and you can make it appear as if you have it all together, that you're a good Seventh-day Adventist, that you love the Lord, and yet behind that thick skull of yours, you're having thoughts that are only evil continually.

And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.

Are your thoughts and affections with God?

Are you communing with Him throughout the day?

Are you following the promptings of the Spirit?

Or are your thoughts on the junk and the filth of the world around us, because as it was in the days of Noah, the thoughts of men were only evil continually.

And verse 6 says, And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Verse 7 says, And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air.

For it repented me that I have made them.

But then we see Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord, and God called upon Noah to give a message to the world at that time that God would destroy the world by a flood.

And all of the experts of that day says this preacher has a credibility problem.

This preacher is predicting that which will come in the future, which has never been before.

There has never been trouble in this world.

There has never been precipitation or water that has come down from the sky.

Water has always stayed within the rivers and the streams and the lakes and the sea.

And Noah preaches this message for 120 years.

And after 20 years, and after 40 years, and after 60 years, the world around him had to start saying, this man has a credibility problem.

Have you ever heard someone say, oh, those Adventists, they've been preaching that Jesus has been coming soon for how long now?

How long are they going to keep deluding themselves with this message?

So shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.

The message of the end of the world, as Noah gave it back then, as we give the message now, is that a scary concept to you?

Or does it bring hope and courage to your heart?

Because if it's a scary message to you, that would suggest that you are like the people of the days of Noah, who before the flood mocked the message of the end of the world, because in their heart of hearts, they really enjoyed where they were right then.

They had riches and pleasure and all the things that the heart could desire.

And the thought of all of that coming to an end was, at the very least, a major inconvenience.

They weren't looking for the end of the world, they were looking to live on and to enjoy the pleasures of this life and it degenerated to the point where the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually.

If our thoughts in our heart are evil continually as it was in the days of Noah.

The thought of the coming of Jesus will not bring peace to your soul.

Because as I said before, we can put on a good front when we come to church, but we know in our heart of hearts if we've surrendered our life to the Lord Jesus.

And if we've surrendered our life to the Lord Jesus, the thought of our Savior, of our Redeemer, of our best friend coming to take us off this sin-filled planet should bring hope and joy and rejoicing to our hearts.

But if we've learned to assimilate to the pleasures of this world and the thoughts of our hearts are on the corruption around us and of the things around us and of the pleasures of this life, then the thought of the coming of Jesus will not bring peace or hope.

So Jesus says, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.

And as we've seen here, in the days of Noah, the thoughts of men were only evil continually.

But Jesus doesn't stop with as it was in the days of Noah.

He then moves on to as it was in the days of Lot.

3 heavenly messengers come to Abraham and they visit him and in this visit they tell him that Sarah will have a son and Sarah laughs in her heart and then the heavenly messengers tell Sarah you laughed and then they realize that God is in their presence and then 2 of the messengers go on and then God himself, the pre-incarnate Christ, speaks with Abraham and tells Abraham I am going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness.

Now that immediately provokes a response from Abraham because he has loved ones in the city that he cares about.

He's interceding on behalf of sinful humanity.

And he's saying, God, you are a merciful God.

If there are 50 righteous people in this city, will you save the city?

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Remember Lot’s Wife

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