That’s what lawlessness is! Acting without any sense of consequences. Loss of the fear of God - and it says that he “lingered”. You can imagine - his heart is being torn apart. God has warned him, this is all about to end; but the people that he loved won't listen to him - and they're going to have consequences!
He's torn apart inside, torn apart. It says that he “lingered”; and it says that the angels urged him to hurry! Hurry, hurry, hurry, take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. That word “lingered” means ‘to hesitate’ - be reluctant. He's unwilling to make change’ to let it all go. His life is invested in this - he's got finances, investments, everything is here. He's getting a warning, about salvation. The warning is to be saved and he's… ooh, oh ah… it's a lot to leave!
His heart was tied to the city, to the culture, and so, in the end, the angels grabbed his hand, and they pulled him out of the city. They pulled him out, because Abraham had interceded for his family. That's why he got saved. The Lord was merciful to him. They brought him and set him outside the city.
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!"
You know the story... As they escaped, Lot's wife looked back. It's more likely that she turned back, to get some of the things in the city, and she was destroyed with the city.
You look at that, and say: oh, this is an Old Testament story, but here's the thing… Jesus referred to it! He referred to it; and gave these three warnings… Three warnings, three! Not one… there's three!
1) Luke 17:32 – “Remember Lot's wife”. Don’t let your heart be so tied up in the culture in the world that you're not sensitive to the spirit of God, and to His warnings.
2) Luke 21:34 – “He says take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with the same things that were going on in the days of Lot and Noah”.
You need to guard your heart. Watch out that your heart doesn't become burdened with all the weights and cares of life, because it will come like a snare on the earth. Don't have your life so tied up with what's going on around you, that you lack an eternal perspective.
3) The need for sensitivity and prayer.
Luke 21:36 - “Watch and pray, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things…”
So, what do you see, when you see all those things? I've done three sessions… What do you see?
You will either see: “doom and gloom”; or you will see: “our greatest hour is ahead”!
If there's unbelief in your heart, and your life is entangled, then all of this will be upheaving, and upsetting, and you will see the worst; but if you know the word of God, and the promises of God…
He said: look up! Look up in the sky! Look up to God - lift your eyes off what is natural - get your eyes on the kingdom of God!
What do you see? You can see through the eyes of unbelief, and fear; or you can see through the eyes of faith and hope.
If you see through the eyes of faith and hope, you will see our greatest hour is ahead!
If you see through the eyes of unbelief and fear, it's all doom and gloom… Ooh, it's getting bad, getting worse… It's how you see it, and there's examples of that….
In Numbers 13, when the 12 spies went in the land. 2 came back, and they brought fruit and figs and grapes - it was a tremendous harvest! 10 of them said: wonderful, but we saw giants, and in our own eyes, we were like grasshoppers! It's too big! It's too hard! See - you either see ‘giants’, or ‘bread’. They said: “the Lord is with us, don't be afraid - these giants are bread!” God used them to grow us stronger.
Two come back and said: the giants are bread for us! God is for us!
The others said: the giants are big, and we're little, and can't do it!
What did the people say? Well, when they heard the report of the 10 spies, they were full of unbelief, full of doom and gloom - and they put 'like', and 'repost', until everyone got that message. Then they sat down, and they began to weep, and cry, and bewail how bad it all was!