Nothing Back There

Gensesis 19:1-26

Some History of Text/Sodom and Gomorrah:

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/who-was-lot-s-wife-why-was-she-turned-into-a-pillar-of-salt.html

1. An Appearance and A Promise – Genesis 17:1-5b

Application: I am changing you….your name, your place and your future!

A Covenant is forged & Secured!

Transition: Jumping ahead some….

• Abram Receives three strangers – Genesis 18:1-15
  
  
• Abram understood/recognized their significance.
• Next year…Sarah will have a baby! Sarah wasn’t sure she laughed).
  
  

Lord says to Abram, ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord?’

Application: Is there anything that God can’t do for you and I tody? Anything he can’t turn around, heal, and use for our future?

• The Problem with ‘Sin City’ Sodom – Chapters 18 & 19

The Lord has seen the wickedness of a people!
His plan is to destroy the city!

Question: Lord asks the Strangers, ‘Should I let Abraham in on plan?’

The answer is, ‘Of course…’

• This would spare Abraham and his family
• Keep the covenant promise of Abraham’s lineage

• Abraham Intercedes for ‘Sin City’ –  Genesis 18:16f
  
  
• Lord if I/You can find 10 righteous…will you spare?

• Sin City Destroyed – Genesis 19:1-26 (Text)

Transition: Enter Lot, Abraham’s nephew.

• Casualities Noted –  Genesis 19:26

Lot’s Wife Looked Back!

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Role/Place/Properties of Salt

1. Salt as a Reality/Necessity
   
   
2. Salt is a fundamental necessity of life, and has been used since ancient times in many cultures as a seasoning, a preservative, a disinfectant, a component of ceremonial offerings, and as a unit of exchange.

• Salt as part of Religious Activity
  
  
• Leviticus (2:13) and Ezekiel (43:24) make it evident that salt was an important part of ancient Hebrew religious sacrifice. “And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” (Leviticus 2:13) Also, salt was always cast on the burnt offering (Ezekiel 43:24), and was part of the incense offered in the Temple (Exodus 30:35). Moreover, even newborn babies were rubbed with salt, as we read in Ezekiel: “As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.” (Ezekiel 16:4)

• Salt as Relational
  
  
• But salt was also widely and variably used symbolically in ancient Israel. The books of Numbers and 2 Chronicles present salt as the symbol that confirms friendship between parties. Eating salt together, in fact, was (and still is) a sign of friendship in some regions in the Mediterranean.

Application: Like us having ‘coffee with someone’ today.

Question: What does friendship with the world / looking back reflect?

Question: What might we learn/believe about what Lot’s wife did?

At minimal….Lot’s wife had:

1. A Curiosity / An Affinity / Connection / Deire to-with Sin.

Some commentators believe she was looking back to see if her daughters were following behind or if her father’s house was surviving the wrath.

• The story warns believers of the consequences of looking back on their previous life of sin before salvation. Such pondering will usually return us to past sins.
• There is no room or time to worry about the things we leave behind in our journey forward with Christ.
• In order to grow spiritually, we must place our trust in God, not dwell in our past.

Application:What good does looking back at our past do to help us? None!

A glimps / reminder of negative / past history only brings pain, depression, doubt, anger and discouragement.

Truth Bomb! Judgement engulfed Lot’s wife because her affections were with Sodom, now with God!

Transition: The second thing we can definitely see that resulted in Lot’s wife is that it impeded (in this case permanently) her future progress.

Transition:

• Impeeds Progress

Jeremiah 29:11 is good here!

• We must follow God knowing his will is perfect and He will be present with the believer each step of our life’s journey.

We can’t dwell on the negative past!

Conclusion: With any curiosity / affinity with sin comes the consequence of sin! Don’t look back!