Genesis Session 27

Tonight we cover a lot of Scripture and I want to highlight one very important point.

That point is this: DON’T LOOK BACK.

We are going to talk about the danger of looking back when God is delivering you.

I am not talking about looking back in memory of the moment God delivered you, I am talking about looking back in the moment of deliverance at whatever it is He is delivering you from.

Our study brings us back to the three men that had come to visit Abraham.

One of these men was the Lord, the other two were angels who had come to do His work. They had delivered a word to Abraham and Sarah, and now it was time to deal with unchecked wickedness in the land.

Sodom and Gomorrah had become places of terrible wickedness.

God had come to see if the level of wickedness was as bad as the “outcry” said it was.

Genesis 18:20–22 NIV

20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

Now… here is a question I have for you. Why do you think God handled this situation in this way? Did God really have to come to the earth and send angels into the city to find out if the cities were bad? Isn’t He all-knowing?

INTERESTING THOUGHT: God does not choose to destroy the cities from afar. He has heard the outcries and because He is omniscient meaning all-knowing, He knows the legitimacy of those outcries.

God, through His angels, ENTERS INTO the situation. God comes in in a personal way.

Think about it… have you ever been involved in a situation where decisions were being made by people who had never set foot in the situation?

Working for Target, they had district teams that set policy for how the stores operated. Many of these higher level manager had never stepped foot on a sales floor… but they had their college degrees.

They would strategize and make policy from afar… and these policies often did not work. Why? Because they had NO personal connection with how things worked at the store level.

God… is not that kind of person. God is personal. God is present. God does not make decisions from afar, although He has every ability to do so… but instead He enters the situation for Himself.

Want proof? When Jesus came to this earth, God became one of us. He waked with us, ministered to us, felt our pain and sorrow, and gave His life for us.

God the Son entered into our broken reality. He never sinned, but He took on our sin and nailed it to the cross.

I love the fact that our God is not a distant or disconnected God… rather, He is with us. He enters in. He does not reign from afar… He reigns in our hearts!

Even in this moment as He is responding to the outcry heard from two wicked cities, God is not distant.

Abraham then enters into a sort of negotiation talk with the Lord regarding the people of the city. And in the end, God makes clear that He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.

Genesis 18:32–33 NIV

32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” 33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

But then we see the visit to the city. Then we see the wickedness exposed for what it is. Sodom and Gomorrah were both full of sin and immorality. And the time had come for the sin to be dealt with.

Wickedness Revealed.

Imagine, guys, traveling into a new town only to have the inhabitants of that town gather around where you are staying and demanding that they… the men of the town… well, look at the story in Genesis 19:4-5

Genesis 19:4–5 NIV

4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

Uh… that is NOT how I would want to be greeted in a new town! But it goes to show the level of wickedness and immorality the city was experiencing.

To appease the crowd, Lot does something, rather shocking.

Genesis 19:6–8 NIV

6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Church… wickedness is NEVER an answer for wickedness! Lot attempts to appease the crowd by offering his daughters to them to be used however they chose to use them! Yikes!

This city had reached a new level of sinfulness. Lot tried to broker a deal to hold off the crowd at the expense of his own daughters… he didn’t know what else to do.

That is a new level of desperation. And the crazy thing was… this “deal” only made the crowd more angry! So the angels made a move.

Genesis 19:10–13 NIV

10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. 12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

The wickedness was in fact as bad as the outcry said it was. So Lot went to work to get his family away from the city. And when the time came… the angels led them out.

Genesis 19:16–17 NIV

16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Whew! It looks like they were safe! It looks like they had gotten out just in time! Yet… someone was holding on. Someone was struggling and would ignore the angel’s given instruction… specifically the instruction to not look back.

Delivered… or Distracted?

This point might sound a bit different but stay with me. Lot and his family had just been delivered from a terrible situation… but not everyone was okay with this deliverance.

Look at what happens. Genesis 19:23-26

Genesis 19:23–26 NIV

23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Now… how is it that a simple glance back could result in Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt? The problem is found in WHY she was looking back.

The original Hebrew word used here indicates desire and steady action meaning she WANTED what she left behind… the city, the house, the comforts, etc. Lot’s wife was holding on to what God was trying to deliver her from.

Even though she was physically moving in the right direction, her heart was still in Sodom. And because that was the case, she would receive the same wrath the rest of the city received.

God’s deliverance… was only a distraction from what she really wanted. And we need to be careful that the same does not happen to us.

It is hard for us to imagine why anyone would want to stay in that wicked city… yet we struggle in our own messes at times. And when God wants to deliver us, it is viewed or recieved more as a distraction from what we really want.

Think this is too much or out of line? Look at Jesus’ own words regarding the end times.

Luke 17:30–35 NIV

30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

What an incredible thought… that in the moment Jesus raptures His church that some might desire to hold on to “treasures” of this world!!!

Lot’s wife was holding on… and because she held on, she faced the destruction of the city.

When God sets us free from sin, we are not to look back and wish for the good ole’ days ever again. One, those days were far from good and two, those days were leading us to Hell.

When God delivers us from bondage, we are not to look back and wish for the chains to be reapplied or for the shackles to return. WHO WOULD WISH FOR THAT!?!

Yet we look back when we wish or dream or hold on. Jesus says to let it go. There is nothing of this world that is worth holding onto.

For Lot’s wife, it was instant destruction

For distracted “believers” it is eternity in hell.

The Cross Before Me...

I want to close with this thought tonight… I do not want to look back to the life I lived BEFORE the cross. I want to live in the aftermath of the application of Jesus’ blood.

I live… with the cross before me and the world behind me. I live with Jesus in focus and sin as far behind me as possible.

I do not desire the days or the ways that had me bound. I do not desire the thoughts and emotions that had me imprisoned. JESUS HAS SET ME FREE!

His deliverance is not a distraction to a life I want, His deliverance is a departure from a path that was destroying me!

Our decision to follow Jesus is not just a one time event… it’s a daily choice to not look back, and to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Christ is enough… He is MORE THAN enough. He is the greatest treasure we could possibly hope for.

Church, we know there is terrible wickedness all around us. We know there is an acceptance of sin as a way of life within our culture. We know… that with such sin will come a terrible consequence.

God, once again, made a personal visit to this world through His Son, Jesus. This time, He came not to destroy, but to deliver. he came that we might be led away from the destruction that is to come.

God desires for ALL to find forgiveness today.

God desires to truly deliver you from your previous spiritual circumstance.

DO NOT LOOK BACK. Do not hold on. Do not let your desires be found in the “treasures” of this world. be set free today and find refuge in His love, grace, and forgiveness!