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After readin! all that Jesus said about those who are saved, we see one !rand absolute truth standin! out clearly. There will be no divided heart in heaven. There will be no half surrender on the part of the redeemed. Those who enter 4od's &in!dom will be there because they wanted eternal life more than anythin! else in the whole world. The Lord Jesus used Lot's wife as an e ample of those in the last days who will not be sin!le.minded for the truth' who will love material thin!s more than the thin!s of 4od. 9hrist said, "#o li&ewise, whosoever he be of you that forsað not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Lu&e *6%//. ;o you remember the story in the (ible about the businessman who went searchin! for the most priceless !em in the world1 At last he located it and learned that it was for sale. (ut the price was outra!eous< "n order to buy that pearl he would have to sell his home, his business, and use every penny of his lifelon! savin!s. (ut mar& this% The man's desire for that pearl was so deep and compellin! that he did not ar!ue about the cost. $e did not consider waitin! until he could better afford the purchase. =or did he attempt to bar!ain for a lower price. "mmediately and ea!erly he hurried away, sold everythin! he had, and brou!ht the money bac& to buy the !em from the owners. The pearl, of course, represents eternal life, and those who desire it must be prepared to invest everythin! they have in order to obtain it.
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$is plans to !uard the spiritual interests of his children failed to materiali8e. All his rationali8ation about counteractin! the wic&edness with stricter prayer schedules and family.altar reli!ion 3ust didn't seem to wor& out as planned. $e !radually compromised with the environment and watched his children slowly assimilate the ways of their heathen nei!hbors. "'m sure Lot did not feel at ease when he first settled amon! the evil citi8ens of that abominable place. )very day he heard news of the mushroomin! crime rate. $e must have been repulsed and even horrified by the vile 3o&es and obscene lan!ua!e. Then he had to watch with alarm the !rowin! fascination of his family for the perverted lifestyle of their friends and associates. 2inally, his dau!hters fell in love with worldly men and married them. :utside of the home, united with the enemies of 4od, they lost all faith in the ancestral reli!ion of their childhood and youth. They be!an to loo& upon Lot as narrow and bi!oted and soon e pressed their e treme loathin! of his half.hearted appeals to establish true worship in their homes. =evertheless, we still tend to sympathi8e with Lot in his frustrated attempts to hold the reins on his unre!enerate wife and children. $e had much a!ainst him, but most of it had been created by his own wea&ness and indecision. :ne compromise led to another, until finally he must have become totally demorali8ed over the rebellion of his worldly family.
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0e still find many people e actly li&e Mrs. Lot. They also believe the truth, &now what they ou!ht to do, and want to be saved. They lin!er, too, 3ust as she did. Li&e Lot's wife, many of them wait until the pull of the world overpowers the will to act, and they are not able to let !o of "thin!s." 0hy will people lin!er over the call of 4od1 $ave you ever done it1 Millions have lin!ered until the best years of their life are !one. They lin!er until their children !row up and are lost in the world. They lin!er until the world holds them with bands of steel and the voice of 4od dimly fades away. (ut at last Mrs. Lot be!an to move. The record describes how an!els had to ta&e hold of their hands to hurry them out of the doomed city. The an!els cried, ")scape for thy life' loo& not behind thee." 4enesis *A%*+. (ut Lot's wife did not reach the safety of the mountains. 0hy1 The (ible tells us that she "loo&ed bac&," and immediately she was turned into a pillar of salt. 0hy did 4od deal with her so severely1 0as it not the smallest offense of all 3ust to move the head sli!htly1 The 0ord of 4od has a name for that type of action% sin. #he disobeyed the commandment of the Lord, and her 3ud!ment underlines the ur!ency of obedience. 4od means what $e says. There is no e cuse for sin, and 4od cannot overloo& it.
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into the &in!dom because they had prophesied, cast out demons, and done many wonderful wor&s "in thy name." Cet Jesus will say to them, "" never &new you% depart from me." Matthew +%,/. $ow can people become so blind and deceived that they feel securely saved while willfully brea&in! 4od's commandments1 "n their vain worship, they bowed re!ularly in prayer, san! son!s of praise, and probably never missed a church service. They professed !reat love for 4od and !ave movin! testimonies of the same. "s the same problem with us today1 ;o reli!ious people still disobey 4od's law while professin! to love $im1 :n any !iven #abbath, loo& around you to see what is !oin! on. 7eople will be i!norin! the very heart commandment which 4od wrote on the tables of stone% "The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy 4od% in it thou shalt not do any wor&." ) odus ,D%*D. 0ho are these people who i!nore 4od's #abbath commandment1 As you see them hurryin! about their re!ular wor& pro!ram, pursuin! their own pleasure on the seventh day, there seems to be no remorse for violatin! the clear command of 4od. Cet tomorrow many of them will be in church, prayin!, sin!in!, and tal&in! about how much they love Jesus. 0here did they !et their definition of love1 0as it from the bumper stic&ers on the interstate@"#mile if you love Jesus," "0ave if you love Jesus," "$on& if you love Jesus"1 That is not what Jesus said, is it1 $e declared, ""f ye love me, &eep my commandments." John *6%*E.
To Obey is Better
0hy do people feel secure in brea&in! one of the Ten 9ommandments1 2or the same reason #aul felt secure in brin!in! bac& the forbidden sheep and o en. 4od had told him not to brin! bac& a thin! after he defeated the Amale&ites. (ut #aul was !oin! to use those animals to sacrifice in his worship of 4od. =otice the incredible illo!ic of his actions. $e disobeyed in ta&in! the animals and then tried to 3ustify the disobedience by usin! the stolen animals in worshipin! 4od. "n the same way, modern church members disobey 4od by ta&in! the #abbath for their own use. Then they do li&e #aul and try to 3ustify their disobedience by worshipin! 4od in the name of what they have stolen. 4od declared throu!h the prophet #amuel, "To obey is better than sacrifice." "t is also better than all the vain worship of a thousand reli!ious services performed in con3unction with the willful violation of $is specific command. :bedience is better than anythin! else in revealin! our love. Jesus said so. ""f ye love me, &eep my commandments." ;isobedience is worse than anythin! because it is an act of disloyalty in its very nature. :bservin! a counterfeit day derived from the pa!an worship of the sun is no more acceptable to 4od than #aul's pri8e.winnin! sheep and cattle. $e is not honored by disobedience, and $e is especially offended by the brea&in! of $is commandments in the name of worship. $ave you noticed that in the stories of =adab, Abihu, and B88ah the seemin!ly sli!ht offense had to do with thin!s 4od had set apart for sacred use1 The fire was holy and the ar& of the covenant was holy. (oth were to be reserved and preserved for one sacred purpose only. 9ommon hands were not to be laid on the ar& and common fire was not to replace the holy fire. 0hen those "set apart" thin!s were treated 3ust li&e other thin!s, the 3ud!ments of 4od fell.
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Are there sanctified thin!s today which 4od has set apart for a holy use1 "ndeed there are. The #abbath has been described by 4od as "my holy day." "saiah E-%*/,*6. That one.seventh of time has been si!nally blessed and commanded by 4od for rest and worship. The tithe is somethin! else which has been separated by the 0ord of 4od for a special, sacred purpose. To appropriate that one.tenth for ourselves is actually to steal from the very coffers of 4od. The #criptures describe it thus% "0ill a man rob 4od1 Cet ye have robbed me. (ut ye say, 0herein have we robbed thee1 "n tithes and offerin!s." Malachi /%-. #ome people are horrified to read about the 3ud!ments which fell upon B88ah when he touched the ar& of 4od and upon Lot's wife when she simply turned her head. Are tiny infractions so serious that sudden death can ensue1 ;oes this indicate that the 5uantity of sin is not so si!nificant as the 5uality of it1 "f )ve's simple act of bitin! the fruit could precipitate si millenniums of planetary sufferin! and death, surely we dare not measure disobedience in terms of si8e or appearance. =o wonder, then, that Lot's wife suffered the same terrible conse5uences as all others who trifled with the word of a holy 4od. The offense of loo&in! bac& indicated a divided will. "t also revealed the fact that her heart was still bound up with the affairs of a corrupt, condemned social order. Two voices were competin! for her alle!iance% one, the voice of the hi!hlands@the voice of 4od callin! her to liberty, purity, and salvation' the other, the voice of the lowlands@the voice of popularity and pleasure, the voice of #odom. #lowly the voice from beneath !ained the mastery of a badly bent conscience, and Mrs. Lot stands before us as a tra!ic e ample of a divided heart. Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife," and $e said it to those who would live throu!h the final traumatic moments of earth's history. $e is sayin! it to us ri!ht now@"Remember Lot's wife." 0e need that messa!e. Millions are 3ust as double@minded as Mrs. Lot. They find no time to pray with their family. Li&e Mrs. Lot, many read ma!a8ines more than the (ible, and thus they have only a superficial form of reli!ion. Li&e Mrs. Lot, they lin!er around the ed!es of sin@ma&e no stron! decision to !o all the way in obedience to 4od.
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0hat did $e mean by "even thus"1 #imilar moral and social problems1 =o doubt about that. ;id $e also foresee a startlin! final appeal to lin!erin! Lots and Mrs. Lots whose wills have almost been paraly8ed by indecision1 "ndeed, the lan!ua!e of the Master seems to indicate that the whole sordid picture of a dyin! world was before $im. As in the days of #odom, men would have 3ust one last opportunity to say Ces or =o' then it would be over. #ome, li&e Lot's wife, will be so wedded to the world that they cannot let !o in time. They will have to perish with the thin!s which they loved more than they loved 4od. :thers, li&e Lot, will arouse 3ust in time to choose 5uic&ly and decisively. 0ithout a bac&ward !lance, they will move out in complete obedience to the will of 4od. This is the choice everyone faces. The same issues which precipitated the dramatic showdown in #odom are leavenin! the 9hristian churches at almost every level. Materialism and lu&ewarmness have placed a mold upon the lifestyle of millions who profess to be followers of truth today. 0hile the winds of destruction are slowly slippin! throu!h the fin!ers of the four apocalyptic an!els who have been holdin! them bac&, the professed people of 4od rela mar&ets and a compromised faith. 4od loo&s upon the nauseous blend of flesh and spirit as intolerable. As the True 0itness of the Laodicean church, $e calls upon this last@day reli!ious remnant to repent. Just as those heavenly messen!ers laid down the ultimatum so lon! a!o, we are also bein! called to leave it all or perish. There is no more time to be divided. 4et off the fence, 4od says, and be either hot or cold. 9ome all the way out and live, or stay lu&ewarm and perish. There is no place for half.surrender in the church of the translation< The story of Lot and his family proves that 4od will not lon! tolerate a double lifestyle on the part of $is professed people. Those who are tryin! to live in two worlds must ma&e a decision. 4od's 0ord declares that the friendship of the world is enmity with 4od. "0hosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of 4od." James 6%6. Another (ible writer, who was the closest of 9hrist's disciples, declared, ""f any man love the world, the love of the 2ather is not in him." F* John ,%*EG. in a carnally secure dreamworld. Li&e Lot's family, they have become comfortable in the society of money
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*-%,*. "n all these instances, 4od was spea&in! to those who laid claim to bein! $is favored, chosen ones. Cet their practice was not the same as their profession. There was a min!lin!, in their e perience, of the holy and unholy. They were sayin! one thin! and doin! somethin! else. The result was a wea&, wishy.washy witness which made no positive impact on others. 4od found such conduct repulsive. That is why $e demanded that choices be made' but ta&e note that only two alternatives were ever available. "t was either 4od or (aal, obedience or disobedience. :ne of the stran!est obsessions of modern churchianity is to blithely blend the concepts of salvation and sin. The (ible ma&es it very clear that willful trans!ression is the antithesis of spiritual security. 4od's call is to "come out of her and be ye separate." ;eliberate disobedience cannot coe ist with a clear 9hristian conscience. The 0ord of 4od has much to say about sin, but never a !ood word. =o one has ever read the sli!htest inspired intimation that sin should be reduced or diminished. 0henever it is mentioned, sin is declared to be non.ne!otiable. "t is to be abandoned, re3ected, and utterly repudiated. Jesus did not say to the adulterous woman, "4o and taper off on this sin." $e said, "4o and sin no more." John did not write% "My little children, these thin!s write " unto you that ye sin less and less." $e plainly declared, "" write unto you that ye sin not." The story of Lot's wife is a dramatic illustration that the presence of one small act of willful disobedience can lead to eternal loss. Any effort to reconcile 4od's love, character, or ri!hteousness with a tolerance for sin must end with miserable failure. $ow is it with you today1 "n this final fra!ment of probationary time, have you renounced every competitor of 9hrist for first place in your heart1 Just as the an!els pleaded with Lot and his family to ma&e a total surrender, the $oly #pirit ur!es upon us the same &ind of commitment today. The call is for separation and ur!ent action. Multitudes lin!er in the twili!ht 8one of indecision while the fires of destruction are poised for the annihilation of this world. 0orldlin!s and professed 9hristians ali&e are hearin! the plea of 4od to turn loose. The door of probation is open for 3ust a few moments more. To every soul there comes a !olden last moment of decision before the door shuts. 0ill all be able to reco!ni8e that moment1 Tra!ically, no. #ome, with senses dulled by worldly compromise, will not even discern the final departure of 4od's messen!er of salvation. The sins of #odom are 3ust as hypnoti8in! and appealin! today as they were lon! a!o. The same perverse practices have become more commonplace and popular than they ever were in the doomed city of the plains. Lot had no time to ta&e anythin! with him. =either do we. There must be a willin!ness to deny self and cut away from the abominations of the flesh in every form. :ur only hope is to move 5uic&ly in separatin! from the evil attachments of a corrupt society. A lovin! #aviour stands behind the invitation, "9ome out from amon! them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord." The secret of bein! able to resist and re3ect the appeal of a perverse, rene!ade society is to loo& at the cross of Jesus 9hrist. 0e mi!ht abhor the evil and desire deliverance, but there is only one source of stren!th to brea& the pattern of sin. 9hrist's substitutionary death at 9alvary satisfied the penalty which trans!ression had placed a!ainst every livin! soul in
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the world. The bro&en law demanded death, and when Jesus suffered that penalty for every man on the cross, a !lorious transaction was made. Le!ally, every lost soul was freed from the penalty of disobedience. A!ain, in a le!al sense, the whole world was redeemed throu!h the atonement of the cross. The corporate !uilt of Adam's descendants was canceled by the corporate 3ustification accorded throu!h the death of Jesus. 0e can truthfully assure every sinner ri!ht now that his sentence of death has already been le!ally satisfied and e ecuted upon his substitute, Jesus. 0hat a fantastic truth< This means that 4od actually too& the initiative in savin! man. $e almost made it difficult to be lost by declarin! an emancipation from the slavery of sin for every person who would receive it. (ut please ta&e note that somethin! was done even for those who would not receive it. A corporate 3ustification actually was made effective for the entire world, both !ood and evil. Throu!h that universal 3ustification the curse of universal condemnation was erased, and Adam's children could be born without bearin! the !uilt of their father's sin. FRomans E%*-G (ut the most !lorious conse5uence of the atonement is seen in the e perience of the ones who claim personal 3ustification throu!h faith in $is blood. 7aul described it thus% "(ein! 3ustified freely by his !race throu!h the redemption that is in 9hrist Jesus% 0hom 4od hath set forth to be a propitiation throu!h faith in his blood, to declare his ri!hteousness for the remission of sins that are past, throu!h the forbearance of 4od' To declare, " say, at this time his ri!hteousness% that he mi!ht be 3ust, and the 3ustifier of him which believeth in Jesus" FRomans /%,6.,JG $ere is clearly revealed a picture of individual acceptance of all those who claim Jesus as for!iver and 3ustifier. 0hat is accomplished for the ones who enter this intimate relationship of 3ustification by faith1 Are they merely delivered from the !uilt of sin, or do they also receive deliverance from the sin itself1 7aul answered that 5uestion. "(ut 4od forbid that " should !lory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 9hrist, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and " unto the world." 4alatians J%*6. "n this verse we find that victory over the world system of evil is definitely tied to the atonement of the cross. =o one has been delivered from sins of the flesh without receivin! that deliverance as a !ift throu!h the merits of 9hrist's sufferin! and death. 0e are made dead to the world's appeal by loo&in! into the face of our #ubstitute and #aviour. $is a!ape love, revealed at the cross, melts the stubborn will and weans the heart away from every attraction the world can devise. That is how Jesus is "made unto us wisdom, and ri!hteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." * 9orinthians *%/D. "t is all in the cross. Loo& at it daily and remember Lot's wife, that you may be saved from her terrible fate.
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