Remember Lot's Wife

by

J. C. Ryle
(1816-1900)

There are few warnings in Scripture more solemn than this. The Lord Jesus
Christ says to us, "Remember Lot's wife."

Lot's wife was a professor of religion: her husband was a "righteous man" (II
Peter 2:8). She left Sodom with him on the day when Sodom was destroyed; she
looked back towards the city from behind her husband, against God's express
command; she was struck dead at once, and turned into a pillar of salt. And the
Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a beacon to His church: He says, "Remember
Lot's wife."

It is a solemn warning, when we think of the person Jesus names. He does not
bid us remember Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, or Sarah, or Hannah, or Ruth. No:
He singles out one whose soul was lost for ever. He cries to us, "Remember
Lot's wife."

It is a solemn warning, when we consider the subject Jesus is upon. He is
speaking of His own second coming to judge the world: He is describing the awful
state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The last days are on His mind,
when He says, "Remember Lot's wife."

It is a solemn warning, when we think of the Person who gives it. The Lord
Jesus is full of love, mercy, and compassion: He is One who will not break the
bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax He could weep over unbelieving
Jerusalem, and pray for the men that crucified Him; yet even He thinks it good
to give this solemn warning and remind us of lost souls. Even He says,
"Remember Lot's wife."

It is a solemn warning, when we think of the persons to whom it was first
given. The Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples: He was not addressing the
Scribes and Pharisees who hated him, but Peter, James, and John, and many others
who loved Him: yet even to them He thinks good to address a caution. Even to
them He says, "Remember Lot's wife."

It is a solemn warning, when we consider the manner in which it was given. He
does not merely say, "Beware of following-take heed of imitating-do not be like
Lot's wife." He uses a different word: He says, "Remember" He speaks as
if we were all in danger of forgetting the subject; He stirs up our lazy
memories; He bids us keep the case before our minds. He cries, "Remember
Lot's wife."

I will speak of the religious privileges which Lot's wife enjoyed.

In the days of Abraham and Lot, true saving religion was scarce upon earth;
there were no Bibles, no ministers, no churches, no tracts, no missionaries. The
knowledge of God was confined to a few favoured families; the greater part of
the inhabitants of the world were living in darkness, ignorance, superstition,
and sin. Not one in a hundred perhaps had such good example, such spiritual
society, such clear knowledge, such plain warnings as Lot's wife. Compared with
millions of her fellow-creatures in her time, Lot's wife was a favoured woman.

She had a godly man for her husband: she had Abraham, the father of the
faithful for her uncle by marriage. The faith, the knowledge, and the prayers of
these two righteous men could have been no secret to her. It is impossible that
she could have dwelt in tents with them for any length of time, without knowing
whose they were and whom they served. Religion with them was no formal business;
it was the ruling principle of their lives and the mainspring of their actions.
All this Lot's wife must have seen and known. This was no small privilege.

When Abraham first received the promises, it is probable Lot's wife was
there. when he built his tent between Hai and Bethel, it is probable she was
there...when the angels came to Sodom and warned her husband to flee, she saw
them; when they took them by the hand and led them out of the city, she was one
of those whom they helped to escape. Once more, I say, these were no small
privileges.

Yet what good effect had all these privileges on the heart of Lot's wife?
None at all. Notwithstanding all her opportunities and means of
grace-not-withstanding all her special warnings and messages from heaven-she
lived and died graceless, godless, impenitent, and unbelieving. The eyes of her
understanding were never opened; her conscience was never really aroused and
quickened; her will was never really brought into a state of obedience to God;
her affections were never really set on things above. The form of religion which
she had was kept up for fashion's sake and not from feeling: it was a cloak worn
for the sake of pleasing her company, but not from any sense of its value. She
did as others around her in Lot's house: she conformed to her husband's ways:
she made no opposition to his religion: she allowed herself to be passively
towed along in his wake: but all this time her heart was wrong in the sight of
God. The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. In this state
she lived, and in this state she died.

In all this there is much to be learned: I see a lesson here which is of the
greatest importance in the present day. You live in times when there are many
persons just like Lot's wife: Come and hear the lesson which her case is meant
to teach.

Learn, then, that the mere possession of religious privileges will save no
one's soul. You may have spiritual advantages of every description; you may
live in the full sunshine of the richest opportunities and means of grace; you
may enjoy the best of preaching and the choicest instruction; you may dwell in
the midst of light, knowledge, holiness, and good company. All this may be, and
yet you yourself may remain unconverted, and at last be lost for ever.

I dare say this doctrine sounds hard to some readers. I know that many fancy
they want nothing but religious privileges in order to become decided
Christians. They are not what they ought to be at present, they allow; but their
position is so hard, they plead, and their difficulties are so many. Give them a
godly husband, or a godly wife-give them godly companions, or a godly
master-give them the preaching of the gospel-give them privileges, and then they
would walk with God.

It is all a mistake. It is an entire delusion. It requires something more
than privileges to save souls. Joab was David's captain; Gehazi was Elisha's
servant; Demas was Paul's companion; Judas Iscariot was Christ's disciple; and
Lot had a worldly, unbelieving wife. These all died in their sins. They went
down to the pit in spite of knowledge, warnings, and opportunities; and they all
teach us that it is not privileges alone that men need. They need the grace
of the Holy Ghost.

Let us value our religious privileges, but let us not rest entirely upon
them. Let us desire to have the benefit of them in all our movements in life,
but let us not put them in the place of Christ. Let us use them thankfully, if
God gives them to us, but let us take care they produce some fruit in our heart
and life. If they do not do good, they often do positive harm; they sear the
conscience, they increase responsibility, they aggravate condemnation. The same
fire which melts the wax hardens the clay; the same sun which makes the living
tree grow, dries up the dead tree, and prepares it for burning. Nothing so
hardens the heart of man as a barren familiarity with sacred things. Once more I
say, it is not privileges alone which make people Christians, but the grace
of the Holy Ghost Without that no man will ever be saved.

I ask those who attend a sound ministry in the present day to mark well what
I am saying. You go to Mr. A's, or Mr. B's church: you think him an excellent
preacher; you delight in his sermons; you cannot hear anyone else with the same
comfort; you have learned many things since you attended his ministry; you
consider it a privilege to be one of his hearers! All this is very good. It is a
privilege. I should be thankful if ministers like yours were multiplied a
thousandfold. But, after all, what have you got in your heart? Have you yet
received the Holy Ghost? if not, you are no better than Lot's wife.

I ask the children of religious parents to mark well what I am saying. It is
the highest privilege to be the child of a godly father and mother, and to be
brought up in the midst of many prayers. It is a blessed thing indeed to be
taught the gospel from our earliest in-fancy, and to hear of sin, and Jesus, and
the Holy Spirit, and holiness, and heaven, from the first moment we can remember
anything. But, O, take heed that you do not remain barren and unfruitful in the
sunshine of all these privileges: beware lest your hearts remain hard,
impenitent, and worldly, not-withstanding the many advantages you enjoy. You
cannot enter the kingdom of God on the credit of your parents' religion. You
must eat the bread of life for yourself, and have the witness of the Spirit in
your own heart. You must have repentance of your own, faith of your own, and
sanctification of your own. If not' you are no better than Lot's wife.

I pray God that all professing Christians in these days may lay these things
to heart. May we never forget that privileges alone cannot save us. Light and
knowledge, and faithful preaching, and abundant means of grace, and the company
of holy people are all great blessings and advantages. Happy are they that have
them! But after all, there is one thing without which privileges are useless:
that one thing is the grace of the Holy Ghost. Lot's wife had many
privileges; but Lot's wife had not grace.


Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "J. C. Ryle Collection" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board Box 119
Columbus, New
Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986