Memorial Day ​Thankful and Thoughtful

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Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day we have set aside to remember those military men and women who gave their lives in defense of our nation. It is from a thankful and a thoughtful heart that I say: “We will never forget!”

 

Our thanks go out to all the families who gave their best and bravest on the battlefields for America duringthe last 247 years. Because of their sacrifices we continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. I salute my fallen comrades and pray, God bless America.

 

We remember things because either we are unable to,or else we don’t want to, repeat them.

 

So we take pictures, make memories, write notes not wanting to forget.

 

It has been said that “Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

 

Remembering those who succeeded and those who failed are both necessary adventures so that we might remain both thankful and thoughtful.

 

Jesus encouraged us to remember Him and the way He gave His life to save us from our sins. For that we are eternally thankful. Also Jesus asked us to remember someone else.

 

As we find Luke 17 in our Bibles, allow me to set the stage for what Jesus is going to say and who it is He encourages us to remember.

 

On one of the last days of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, He was in the city of Jerusalem being questioned by the Pharisees. They were trying their best to trick Him into saying something they could misinterpret so they could misquote Him and have him arrested and condemned. 

 

In Luke 17 the question they asked Jesus was concerning when the Kingdom of God was going to come. This line of questioning was pursued by the Pharisees hoping Jesus would say something they could use to accuse Him of claiming to be the Messiah. 

 

Instead of giving them a specific time, Jesus encouraged the Pharisees to Be ready all the time. He said the Kingdom of God would not come with visible observation but rather, the Kingdom of God is within you and the Son will come like lightening … when you least expect it. He continued:

 

Luke 17

28  “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;

29  “but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

30  “Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

31  “In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.

 

32  “Remember Lot’s wife.”

 

“Remember Lot’s wife.” Jesus used Lot’s wife as an example of someone we do not want to be. Perhaps you recall the Old Testament account of Lot and his family being delivered from Sodom before God destroyed it for it’s unbridled sin and depravity. If not, you can read about it in Genesis 19. For the sake of time this morning, allow me to fill in a few blanks so that we can also remember Lot’s wife and hopefully not end up like her.

• The account of Genesis 19 takes place about 2000 years before Christ.

• Lot was the nephew of Abraham.

• God blessed the households of Abraham and Lot so much that they needed to separate to they could both find grass for their animals.

• Abraham let Lot choose and Lot chose the fertile plains of Sodom and Gomorrah for the beauty and abundance it offered in those days.

• The citizens of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked and ungodly. 

• They allowed and engaged in perverse sexual sin and lawlessly enjoyed intimidating neighbors and visitors by mob rule.

• God had already sent one warning to Lot and the city leaders by allowing them to be taken captive by 4 kings from the north. Abraham delivered them and rescued all their belongings, but nothing changed. Lot and the city simply went back to their old ways.

• Eventually God sent two angels to tell Abraham that He was going to visit the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and if it was as bad as He had heard, those cities would be destroyed.

• Abraham bargained with God for the lives of the righteous people in the city. God agreed. If the angels found 10 righteous people in the city, they would spare it.

• So the angels went to Sodom and there they met Lotwho invited them and finally convinced them to stay the night at his house. He did not feel it was safe for them to remain out of doors in the city.

• That evening, just before bedtime, the men of the city, young and old from every quarter of the city, gathered outside the front door of Lot’s home. They demanded that Lot send the two men out of his house so the mob could have sex with them.

• Lot refused and offered them his two virgin daughters, who may have already been engaged, instead. 

• The men of the city felt judged by Lot … wow … talk about history repeating itself. “Don’t judge me!” is a mantra in every sinful society.

• The two angels rescued Lot from the mob and miraculously struck the mob with physical blindness … they were already spiritually blind … but so were Lot and the members of his family.

 

Listen to what Peter had to say about living in a city like Sodom.

 

2 Peter 2

7 ¶  God delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked

8  (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)  — 

 

• Lot was vexed … tormented … confused of mind … daily soul torment; he was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.

• The angels instructed Lot to get himself and his family out of Sodom before they destroyed the city.

• Lot’s sons-in-law would not believe him. Everything looked normal to them. Just like it always had been. They figured Lot to be a lunatic religious fanatic with a guilty conscience.

 

Genesis 19:16 And while he lingered …

 

The problem with you lingering when it comes to obeying God is that everyone with you has to linger. 

 

Genesis 19: 16  And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

 

I have said so much about Lot and the angels and the men of Sodom, but Jesus said: “Remember Lot’s wife.”Let us move on to our subject.

 

It’s not difficult to see that Jesus is using Sodom as an example of the world and its sinful affect on the souls of mankind. Everything is going along like normal.

 

Jesus uses Lot as a man who is saved from the judgment that will come on all the world.

 

Jesus shows us the sons-in-law to represent those who hear the desperate, pleading words of a loving witness, but reject them and refuse to believe.

 

Jesus intends us to see the two daughters of Lot as those who believe the witness and follow with the heart of a child.

 

The angels are just angels. Perhaps the same angels that will one day gather the saved from the judgment which shall come upon all the earth. 

 

Lastly, we see Lot’s wife. The one Jesus wants us to remember. The picture Jesus paints of Lot’s wife is very clear.

• She is in covenant with a man who is in covenant with God. But she has no personal relationshipwith God herself.

o Having a covenant with someone who has a covenant with God does not guarantee you have a covenant with God.

o You must be born again.

• She was touched by the angel, and he got her out of Sodom, but she never got Sodom out of herself.

o You can have an experience with God and feel the touch and the help of His hand and never turn your life over to His Lordship.

 

Allow me to close with three major things I found in Lot’s wife. I want to remember not to allow these three things in my personal life. 

 

1. She lingered in the world.

a. I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world’s delights …

b. Hasten to do the will of God.

c. Though no go with me, still I will follow …

2. She lagged behind in her journey with God.

a. Even after being touched by an angel she missed her opportunity and forsook her destiny.

b. She started dragging her feet and walking slowly.

c. It’s like being dragged to your rescue and recovery.

3. She looked back and was left in the desert.

a. Everything looked ok …

b. Everybody was doing alright …

c. Are you sure these things are wrong …

d. She was stuck in her old day like the children of Israel in the wilderness. They wished they could go back to Egypt. But they all died in the desert.

 

Simply put: Lot’s wife was a child of this world, and not a child of God. 

 

Don’t linger

Don’t lag behind

Don’t take your eye off the prize

 

Be thankful and be thoughtful. Happy Memorial Day! And while you’re remembering, remember Lot’s wife.