Untitled Sermon (37)

GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY (2)

DON’T LINGER AND DON’T LOOK BACK

THE SELF - DESTRUCTIVE ACT OF LOOKING BACK: THE REAL REASON WHY GOD’S FUTURE FOR YOU HAS NOT MANIFESTED

Sarai got in her own way by trying to manipulate circumstances

Lot gets in his own way by lingering and his wife by looking back

BOTH ARE ACTS OF SPIRITUAL - SABBOTAGE

WHAT WE HAVE IN THIS CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING GOING WRONG AND SINNERS OPERATING IN A CHAOTIC AND NORMAL FASHION

o ABRHAM TRIED TO INTERCEDE FOR SODOM BUT TOO WICKED

§ It’s bad when God just gets up and walks away (18:33)

§ When a nation

· Tolerates, legislates and affirms sexual perversion

· Rejects and ostracize the poor

o That nation is in trouble

§ But why is Sodom/Gomoraah in trouble?

· Not the absence of people who claim..

· The absence of people who live out their claims

GOD WANTS TO SHOW YOU HIS POWER AND HIS MIGHT; GOD WANTS TO USE YOU AND BLESS YOU; HE WANTS TO SHOW YOU EVIDENCES OF HIS LOVE AND DELIGHT FOR YOU-BUT WE KEEP

GETTING IN HIS WAY BY LINGERING. DON’T LINGER IN SODOM

LINGER

To take longer to do something than was planned or scheduled

1. He took his time

I. DON’T BECOME TOLERANT OF SIN OF SODOM

A. Lot Saw No Distinction Between Them

And Himself

and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.

But: Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

2. He Had Never Challenged Them About Their Sin

But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.

3. His Family Thought He Was Joking About Leaving

So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

4. He Is Still There In the Morning

As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

BUT BEFORE WE GET TOO INDIGNANT WITH LOT WE NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT WE LINGER TOO!

o WE…(TAKE OUR TIME GETTING OUT OF SIN; WE ACT LIKE THERE IS NO REAL HURRY OR DANGER ON THE HORIZON)

o WE LINGER BECAUSE

IT’S HARD TO LEAVE MESS WHEN ITS DOMINATED YOU FOR SO LONG

§ THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU DON’T WANT TO LEAVE; IT JUST MEANS THAT THIS IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE

BUT THERE’S LOVE FOR THE LINGERING

But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

WHY DID GOD HAVE MERCY ON LOT / US WHEN WE LINGER- because he is more aware of what is actually about to happen to you in your lingering

HE WILL SNATCH YOU UP OUT OF THERE FOR YOUR OWN GOOD; BY MERCY HE WILL GET YOU OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY!

o HE GIVES US MERCY IN THE MIDST OF OUR MESS AND SNATCHES US OUT OF IT EVEN WHEN WE LINGER:

§ I want to fight but its hard - SNATCH!!!!!!

§ I want to win, but its difficult - SNATCH!!!!!!

§ I want to leave, but it ain’t easy - SNATCH!!!!!!

§ I want to go, but the flesh is weak - SNATCH!!!!!!

BUT…. WATCH THIS: God will not keep you from looking back after he shows you mercy

II. DON’T LOVE THE SIN YOU ONCE TOLERATED

GET THIS: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE LINGERING OR LOOKING BACK? YOUR ACTIONS AFTER YOU HAVE BEEN SHOWN MERCY

- LOT TURNED AWAY FROM SODOM AND TURNED HIS BACK ON SODOM AND MOVED FORWARD

- HIS WIFE LEFT SODOM AND DID NOT TURN HER HEART FROM SODOM AND THEREFORE SHE LOOKED BACK

· HIS WIFE DID NOT LINGER BUT LOOKED BACK AFTER MERCY

IF WE CAME UP OUT OF THE MESS AFTER GOD SHOWED US MERCY – WE LINGERED;

IF WE ARE STILL IN IT AND WENT BACK TO IT AFTER MERCY – WE LOOKED BACK

HERE IS AN IMPORTANT KEY: The Lord will not keep you from looking back because looking back is a desire to be back!!!

- HIS WIFE LEFT SODOM AND DID NOT TURN HER HEART FROM SODOM AND THEREFORE SHE LOOKED BACK

HIS WIFE’S SITUATION WAS HER PASSIONS – HER HEART – WHAT/WHO SHE REALLY LOVED

WHEN OUR LONGING TO BE SATISFIED IN SIN IS GREATER AND MORE COMPELLING THAN YOUR LONGING TO BE SAFE IN JESUS WE ARE IN TROUBLE

WHEN OUR LONGING TO BE SATISFIED IN SIN IS GREATER AND MORE COMPELLING THAN YOUR LONGING TO BE SAFE IN JESUS WE ARE IN TROUBLE

(ESV)

32 Remember Lot’s wife.

Luke 17:32 ESV

Remember Lot’s wife.

BUT WHAT ARE WE TO REMEMBER ABOUT LOTS WIFE? WHAT WAS ACTUALLY DRIVING AND RULING HER WHEN SHE LOOKED BACK:

(ESV)

33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

Luke 17:33 ESV

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

· GOD’S MERCY GOT ALL OF THEM OUT OF SODOM, BUT HE COULD NOT GET SODOM OUT OF LOT’S WIFE

LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR TO YOU ABOUT WHAT TRUE AND GENUINE AND AUTHENTIC FAITH IS

True faith is not so much what you know or who you know. True Faith is rooted in who you love or what you love.

What we see in Lot and his wife is the fine lie between true faith and also faith.

Lingering is divided affectionate -the internal battle that makes leaving where we have been difficult but we are nonetheless leaving it.

Looking back is affection in the direction of what used to be.

Let me make this clear to you: our struggle with faith has little to do with what we know but has more to do with who we love.

I need you to get this. I need you to understand that Christianity, at its heart - is the heart.

· We get in our way when we let our love run wild.

· When we don’t police our affections.

· When we don’t battle.

This is why even though we think right we can still do wrong because our lives flow with our affection.

SO HERE IS THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER:

· WHAT ARE YOU LOVING RIGHT NOW? THIS WORLD OR THE KINGDOM OF GOD

· WHO ARE YOU LOVING RIGHT NOW? THE LORD OR THIS WORLD/YOURSELF/OTHERS

THOSE WHO ARE THE FAITHFUL ARE NOT THOSE WHO ARE THE PERFECT ONES; THEY ARE THOSE WHO FIGHT TO ORDER THEIR HEART, AFFECTION, THEIR LOVE AROUND THE GLORY AND HONOR OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

THIS IS WHY AFTER PETER’S LINGERING – HIS DENIAL OF JESUS, JESUS ASKED HIM THREE TIMES

· NOT DO YOU KNOW ME?

· BUT DO YOU LOVE ME

LOVE IS EVERYTHING TO REAL AND GENUINE FAITH.

STEPPING OUT IN FAITH IS STEEPPING OUT WITH A HEART THAT IS DIRECTED TOWARDS THE LORD

IF YOU HAVE BEEN BATTING WITH SODOM IN YOUR LIFE THE LORD IS HERE THIS MORNING

· IF YOU ARE LINGERING GOD IS SNATHCING YOU TODAY

· IF YOU LEAVE WITHOUT BEING SNATCHED

HOW WILL YOU RESPOND TODAY?

· WILL YOU COME REJOICING IN GREAT TESTIMONY TO THE LORD AND TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD BECAUSE THIS MORNING GOD HAS SNATCHED YOU BACK

· WILL YOU COME THIS MORNING IN SAVING FAITH, KNOWING THAT TODAY, THE LORD HAS SHOWN YOU MERCY AND HAS MOVED YOU HEART TO FEEL YOUR NEED OF HIS GRACE

· WILL YOU COME TODAY AND JOIN THIS CHURCH – A GROUP OF LINGERERS SAVED BY THE SNATCHING MERCY OF THE LORD