To Look Back Is Disobedience

From: May 1 – 7, 2012 TOPIC: “To Look Back Is Disobedience” Genesis 19: 26

Lot was accompanied by his wife and two daughters when they were pulled out from Sodom thru angels (Genesis 19:16). The angels had warned them not to look back when escaping from the city of sin. Genesis 19:17 "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!” But, in verse 26 we read that Lot's wife disobeyed the command and looked back to Sodom behind Lot’s back. If it was because of an irresistible curiosity or disturbance of her senses or if she was about to turn back to save something, Lot's wife stopped, and while she disobeyed the angel's final advice not to look back or stop in the prairie, the torrent of liquid lava evolved her so that she became to be a victim of her exclusive supreme indolence or her reckless audacity. Someone who is reckless is a person who is imprudent, fearless, and very bold; it is one who does things or thinks without any reason or basis. In Luke 17:32 Jesus tells us who follow Him to remember Lot's wife. In that moment, Jesus was speaking to His disciples of the bad days that were to come for His people at the end of times. He warns the people of God to leave everything behind and run to the mountains to escape from the persecution that will come. The problem is when it becomes difficult for us to leave everything and escape from this world of evil from which we were delivered. That is where the great problem is, to become attached to this world. One falls in the tramp of the desires and becomes a prisoner of the perverse flesh that drags and takes us away from the Lord’s ways. So, the Lord speaks of this comparing it with what happened to Lot's wife. That woman worried more about what she possessed in Sodom rather than to obey the angel’s command delivered by God. How many things impassion and cause us to disobey God's command! Luke 17: 26-29 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.” Let's not look back from where God brought us out because of His great mercies. Because of this, Lot's wife fell under God's judgment. Disobedience brings evil upon us; to obey is for our good. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were extremely sinful, they were cities to condemn; there were nothing to desire. But, men make a habit of living in sin even when they know how much it displeases God. In Deuteronomy 11: 26-28 we can see that God presented two alternatives of life to the people of Israel, the blessing if they obeyed His commandments or damnation if they disobeyed His commandments. It depends on how attentive we are when listening to the Lord's commandments. Before us is the blessing and the damnation. We choose; if we are wise we are attentive, we pay attention and we do, this is where our wellbeing comes from. By not hearing God’s commandments, which is what many do, they walk away from the way of life and go after what fills them and that is not God. Many do not want to serve Him and do not want to congregate in the House of God. For that reason they will receive damnation. In 1 Samuel 12: 14.15 we can see that the people of Israel longed for a king just like the other nations. God also warned them about the blessing of obedience and of the misfortune that would come because of the disobedience. God did not want them to have a king. The men in the world do not want to hear God’s voice. They prefer to listen to man before God. We know that no one wants to hear what others want to say to them. Rebellion becomes manifested when the ears are closed to God. That anger, hatred towards what should be loved, that evil produces rebellion. Rebellion is to resist, rise against the authority or the order established. The rebellious are disobedient. 1 Samuel 12: 15 "But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers.” Lot's wife did not listen to the voice of the angels. She was rebellious in spite of whatever desire or reason she had to look back to the place from which God was delivering her. That is why God went against her. God had given her a clear command: "...don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain..." Therefore, damnation came over her. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 "...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God AND DO NOT OBEY THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS;" These are those who listen to the gospel and reject it to not obey it. The gospel is not simply a declaration of facts to believe, but rather a person whom we must obey, Christ. We owe obedience to that person. He will come in a flame of fire to give his payment to those who resisted to acknowledge God or obey what Jesus taught. In Hebrews 2:1-3 we can clearly see what happens with those who do not listen and are disobedient; they will not be able to escape from the great punishment. How can we escape if we neglect a salvation so great? Have you thought that in your negligence you can lose your salvation? If those who broke the law in

ancient times were punished, what will be the fate of those who neglect the gospel now? The law told men what they should do for God; the gospel tells men what God has done for them. The acknowledgment of sin comes thru the law; the acknowledgement of salvation comes thru the gospel. To neglect a salvation so great is more serious than to transgress the law. The gospel with its commandments was brought directly from the Lord Jesus Himself. And it didn’t stop there; it was confirmed by the primitive Christians, by the apostles and by many others who heard and obeyed the Savior. Since then it has been preached and taught to all. The punishment will be greater because of the disobedience to what was commanded by Jesus. Those who seek to run and disobey will know what to expect, worse than what happened to Lot's wife. Let us treasure what we have, what we have received and be courageous to march ahead in obedience and without looking back. Amen.