2023-08-30- Look Not Behind Thee

This passage from Genesis 19 tells the story of Lot and his family escaping from the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot's wife, however, looks back and turns into a pillar of salt. The speaker emphasizes the dangers of looking back to sin and warns against going back to a life of wickedness. They also mention the influence of Sodom and Gomorrah on Lot's family, highlighting the destructive impact of sin. The passage concludes with a call to separate from the world and not to be conformed to its ways. We're going to begin at verse 17, Genesis 19 and verse 17. If you have it, can you say amen? And it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, O not so, my lord. Behold, now thou servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me, and saved my life. And I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold, now this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. O let me escape thither. Is it not a little one? And my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing. Also that I will not overthrow this city for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zorah. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zorah. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. Notice the 17th verse. It said, Escape for thy life, look not behind thee. Then you go down to the 26th verse and it said, But his wife looked back from behind him. You may be seated in the house of God tonight. I felt God direct me to this passage of Scripture. I really did not know exactly why, but I felt the Holy Ghost laid on me so impressively, so hard on my spirit. And I began to think about Sodom and Gomorrah, that wicked city that it was. It was so wicked that it turned God's eye in such a magnificent way that he looked upon that city and said, It's got to be burnt. It's got to be destroyed. For God is a God of judgment, but he is a God of mercy. We know that God appeared unto Abraham, and Abraham asked him, he said, Can you not find someone? And God asked him, Find. Find me someone who are righteous. And he told him about Lot and his family. And God, in his mercy, in his love, he went down there and sent the angels and got Lot out. He got him out of that city of sin. And I want to tell you tonight, the cities of sin that were in your life, God burnt them. He got rid of them for you. He burnt them to the ground. He destroyed your Sodom. He destroyed your Gomorrah. And in his mercy, he got you out. But now Lot's wife, who obviously was compelled and had an attachment with this city, she had to look back. She had to look back at Sodom. She looked back at Gomorrah. She said, I can't leave that city. It's my home. It's my place. It's where I've dwelt when Lot was taken up on the mountain with Abraham. Abraham asked, You pick. Pick a plane to choose. And Lot's eyes were turned. He turned towards Sodom and Gomorrah. He said, I'll take that. I'll take that plane. It was such importance that Jesus mentioned in Luke chapter 17, the 32nd verse. He said, Remember Lot's wife. He said, Don't forget this. Remember it. Remember what she did. How she looked back to all the sin, all the filth, all the wickedness from Sodom and Gomorrah. God himself put attention upon that wicked city. He saw how evil and corrupt it was. And God himself to this day, he puts emphasis on sin. He puts emphasis upon the sin that was in your life. But he got you out of it. He saved her soul. He applied the blood and he burnt the city. He burnt it to the ground. We can read in Luke the 15th chapter. There was a prodigal who left home and he went out into a far country. He saw it. He saw how pleasurable it looked. How it was attracting his soul. It attracted his mind. And he said, Oh, I want that. I want that world. And he asked his father, Give me the inheritance. And he took it all and he went into a far country. He went into that back and that darkened world. And he went unto that. And let me tell you tonight, I'm about to tell you my title in just a moment. But you're going back to sin. Don't go back to the far country. Don't go back to that wickedness. What are you doing there? Why are you messing with that? Don't look at the world. Don't come back. And Lord, help me now when I preach on, Why did you look back? Why did you look back? If you can, stretch your hands again and pray for me as I try to preach to you tonight. Why did you look back? I feel the Holy Ghost. I feel the Holy Ghost. She longed for it. She had desire for it. She said, I can't leave it. I can't leave Sodom. I can't leave Gomorrah. There was something back in that city that had her. This city had her. You might think she had Sodom. You might think that she got out of that city. And she was rescued. But Sodom and Gomorrah, it had her. It had such an influence. And an impact upon that family. You can read about the abominable things. That lot's daughters did. What a sin they committed. How disgusting they were. That's Sodom and Gomorrah for you. It affected the family. It changed their lifestyle. When Sodom and Gomorrah gets a hold of you, It'll change you. But your kids also. Don't mess with it. Don't mess with the Sodom and Gomorrah city. Hallelujah. He looked into that distance. In that dark world. Lot saw it. He saw it. Abram asked him. He said, pick. Pick a plane to choose. There was shooting that was going on. In the encamp. And he looked and saw it. And Lot looked. And he seen the plane of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he said, I'll take that. He wanted that world. He wanted that sin. He wanted that filth and that wickedness. We also can know about the prodigal son who looked. He looked into that world. And he said, I want that. I want that far country. I want that filth and that sin. But it's not worth it. What it'll do to you. It'll destroy you. It was only by God's mercy. It was a hard lot. That the prodigal son ate it up. And it compelled him back home. Hallelujah. That family of Lot's was never the same after that devastating day. Can you imagine the horror that the daughters of Lot and Lot witnessed after seeing the wife of Slot look back and turn into a pillar of salt? Imagine the horror, the devastation, how horrified they were to watch their home be burnt. But also watch their wife and their mother just leave like that. And die such a strange way of being turned into a pillar of salt. And may I tell you tonight, the more you mess with the world, the more it'll devastate the ones around you. Don't mess with it. Don't look at it. Don't look back to the world. Hallelujah. 1 Corinthians says, Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. He said, Don't look at it. Be conformed out of the world. Be ye a separate people. Romans 12, 2 says, Be not conformed to this world, but ye be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Don't be a part of this world. Be ye transformed out of it. Pray again, Church. Ask God, I will touch me, and I may preach to you. This world's pulled on you so strongly. This world's pulled at you so strong. It's got you so tied. It's got you so bound. I just say, I can't. I can't leave it. When the angels made theirselves to Lot's house, we don't hear much from Lot's wife. There was silence from her. She never said a thing. When the angels were speaking and talking about the judgment that God was going to pour out, you could read it. Lot's wife never said a thing. She was quiet the whole time. Never spoke. Never said, Oh, praise God. We're getting out of here. No, she never spoke. Inside her, there was a battle going on in her mind. And she said, I can't leave. I can't leave this. I'm out in the far country. I'm out in sin. I'm in the filth. I'm in the nastiness. But I can't leave it. I can't leave it. It's caught me so hard. And I can't leave it. Hallelujah. Holy Ghost of Heaven. Oh, God. Oh, God. That world had her. That world had her so strongly. Sodom and Gomorrah had her. And the sin was wrapped around her so tightly. It was holding onto her. I was listening to a message one time about a preacher who was talking. And he was preaching about a message about where are you going. And he was talking about a preacher. It was Brother Elnie Moore. It was up behind the pulpit. And he said, I was driving down the road. And I looked and I see a little hitchhiker walking on the side of the road. And he almost went and rode out his window and said, where are you going? Where are you going? I'm going to the far country. I'm leaving this. I'm going out in the far country. I'm sinning against God. That was what the prodigal son did. He was walking to a far country. And there had been one saying, where are you going? I'm going to a far country. I'm leaving my father's house and I'm going out. I'm going into sin. That was God's wife also. She said, I'm going out. I'm going to a far country. I'm going to Sodom. I can't leave it. I'm looking back. Oh, but may I tell you tonight, don't look back. Don't look back at that. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. You've looked back at it. Your eyes are turning back to it. God got rid of it for you. He burned it for you. He got rid of it. Why are you looking back at it? Why are you going back to it? The Bible said, come me out of the world. Don't look back at it. Come me out of it. Don't look back at that sin. And he burnt for you. He got rid of it. He destroyed it for you. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. What would it have been like if Noah, when he got in that ark with his family, and he jumped out of the ark? What would that show? That would show that Noah loved that world more than he loved the ark. He loved that world more than he loved the ark. He loved more of the world than he loved the rescue. What would that be like if he dived out of it and said, I can't leave it? Oh, and that was Lot's wife. She said, I can't leave it. It's my home. Everything's there. It's back there. She wasn't paying attention about the wonderful mercy that God was shown on the behalf of Abram. She wasn't focused on that. She was focused about my things, my friends. Everything's there. I can't leave it. Oh, but the Bible says be conformed out of the world. You're not part of it. You're not in that world no more. You're coming out of it. And don't look back at it. Hallelujah. Oh, yes. It affected the family. It changed them. They were never the same again after that occurrence. Never. Never the same again. I guarantee it. Never the same again. Sodom changed them. Sodom ruined them. And let me tell you, the more you mess with the world, the more it will destroy you. Oh, yes. Our pastor preached Sunday morning about rescuing the old man. And I wasn't trying to copy anything from him. I'd already felt the Holy Ghost. But let me tell you, you're rescuing Sodom. You're trying to go back to it and save things out of it. Stay out of it. Stay out of the world. Stay out of sin. We're a holy people. We're a holy nation. We're peculiar. We're unique. We're the holiness people of God and gospel light. Stay out of it. Stay out of the world. I'm not trying to be rude or mean or bold. But stop messing with unholiness. Stop messing with unholiness. And let me tell you something. I'm not off of the Holy Ghost here. I'm off of the bonus. I'm not trying to say anything out of place. But may I say this right here? And our pastor has already said it. That if you're using YouTube for entertainment, you need to stop. You need to stop. I'm telling you right now. We're a holy nation. We're a holy people. And when you keep looking at the world, and you keep messing with it, and you keep looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah, it'll mess with you more. It'll destroy you more. And before you know it, you're all clamped up like a pillar of salt. You're all stuck up. You're all stuck in the ways of the world. Hallelujah. We have dominion over this, though. I know I've been preaching it hard, it seems like. But we have dominion over the devil. Hallelujah. You have dominion over Sodoms and Gomorrahs in your life. Sodom and Gomorrah has been pulling at you. That far country has been pulling at your mind. That's been pulling at your soul. You have dominion over it. Romans 6.14 says, For sin shall not have dominion over you. For ye are not under the law, but were under grace. Hallelujah. We're under grace. We're under the blood of Christ. Child of the King. My Messiah. I'm under that grace. I'm under the blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah. We have dominion over sin. We have dominion in power above temptation. And above the devil. And above sin. When Lot starts thinking about Sodom and Gomorrah again, and Lot, listen to me. Don't look back at it. Don't look back at it. Don't be like your wife. Don't be like that one. Don't look back to the world. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Satan had put so much focus on that city. Satan had put so much in that city. So much corrupt imaginations. So much perverse ideas and thoughts. That city was a sin city. That city we will never understand. And completely know what Sodom and Gomorrah was like. But the Bible did say that in the last days, it shall be like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. And let me tell you, when it gets down to that, and we have to face that possibly, let me tell you, don't look at it. Don't focus on it. I've got my eyes above. I've got my eyes toward glory. Because we're going up. We're going on to a greater city. That's beyond my mind. Oh, Sodom. Oh, Gomorrah. I'm leaving you. I'm going on to a better land. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Pray again, church. Lift him up for a moment. I believe that something, God's going to do something in this house. Hallelujah. I'm not trying to re-preach what he preached. Oh, but when Saul was given the command by God, he was given the command by God above. He said, destroy the Amalekites. Wipe them out. Kill everything. Destroy it. Burn it. Get rid of it. And when God said, get rid of Sodom. Destroy it. Wipe it out. Wipe the plain out. Get everything destroyed. But get that family out. He gave the instruction. It was so bold. He said, and look ye not back. Look not back. Don't look at it. Just get out. And as I was reading this, I began to realize something. You can read it. It says that Lot and his family, they had made it to Zorah. They had made it to the city. And even at that distance, she still looked back. You've made it a long way, church. You've made it a far way. You've made it to Zorah, the place of rescue and the place of refuge. But even at that distance, you're still looking at it. You're still looking back to it. Agag is still alive. He ain't dead yet. I'd say today would be a good time for you to chop it off. Get rid of Agag. Get rid of the world and the sin. And start looking to God. Hallelujah. Oh, I'm for the Holy Ghost. Am I taking too long? Hallelujah. That prodigal son looked into the far country. He saw it. And let me tell you, you're looking at the world. You're looking back at it. And you're saying, oh, it looks like it's fun. Oh, it looks like it's so much fun. But let me tell you, that pornography will end in drastic and devastating measures. You look up the statistics of what pornography can do to some young people. It ruins them. It can destroy them. It's a shocking start. It's a shocking resolution. It said 77% of ages 12 to 15 are already addicted to pornography. Oh, what a shame. Sodom got a hold of them at far country. He got a hold of them. It compelled them. It seduced them and brought them in to sin. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You notice when Peter, he was a disciple of Jesus. And Jesus told him at the Last Supper, you will deny me thrice. You will deny me. When I caught crows, you will do it. And Peter said, not I, Lord. I'll go with you all the way. I'll go with you to prison. I'll die with you. But Jesus told him. And you notice as I read that, I began to think about it. Peter was far off from Jesus. He was over there warming himself by the fires of the world. He was hanging around the wrong crowd. He was far away. He followed him. But he was in a distance. He was in a distance. He was far off. He was in a far country. And when they asked him, surely you're a disciple for your speech. Say it. You're a Galilean. He said, oh, not I. And he cursed. And he swore. And said, I'm not him. Oh, yes. And when you get off in that far country, and you're off in a distance, you'll do things that you never thought you'd do. Oh, yes. I'll go with you all the way. I'll go with you all the way. I'm from the Holy Ghost. When you're off in that far country, you'll do things that you never thought you'd do. Hallelujah. I'm from the Holy Ghost. You ask anybody who got out of church, he took you farther than you wanted to go. He cost you more than you wanted to pay. He'll take you farther. He'll take you all the way down the highway to hell. He'll take you all the way down to that lake of fire and that place that burns with fire and with brimstone. I'm not trying to be scary or trying to mess you up. I'm trying to give you a warning. Don't look back at it. Stay out of Sodom. Stay out of Gomorrah. Oh, yes. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I believe it. Satan had picked out my grave and moved forward to put me away. But there came Jesus in his mercy and said, You can't have that one. That one's mine. And he brought me out. He got me out of sin. He got me out of that place. He got me out of Sodom. He got me out of Gomorrah. And why would you look back? I won't look back. I won't look back to the world and the sin that it has. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I believe it's time, we people, we take a stand against the devil. I'm about done. I want to read you some history right here. Rosa Parks made a stand in the 1950s when she refused to give up her seat. She said, I'm not doing it. I'm not going to back down. And let me tell you, that devil, he's trying to pull you and say, get out of here. Go back to Sodom. But it's time, we people, we say, I ain't doing it. I ain't moving. I'm right here in the mercies of God. And I ain't going back to the world. Hallelujah. Oh, yes. William Tyndale in the 1500s, despite the fact that it was illegal to translate the Bible, he did it anyway. How many can say praise the Lord for that? There was a man who had enough boldness, and he did it anyway, which led to his execution. But I'm glad he said, I'm not going to back down. I'm doing what's right, and I'm going to take a stand. It was also Shammah who stood on his farm, and he said, feel the same thing I did on my farm. I'm going to stand. I'm going to stand for what's right. I'm fighting to the very end. Sodom ain't going to have me. Gomorrah ain't going to have my family. I'm standing on the Word of God. Hallelujah. It was also during the Civil War that General Thomas Jackson, during the battle at Bull Run, was refusing to go down. And there he stood, standing like a stone wall. He was later on known as Stonewall Jackson. I want to tell you tonight it's time that we Christians stand like a stone wall and say, I'm not backing down. I ain't going down to defeat. I'm standing here. This is my post. Jesus is my captain. Jesus is my captain. I'm standing here on my post. Oh, yes. I'm with the Holy Ghost Church. Praise Him again. Lift Him up and pray here for a minute. God would help me and strengthen me. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost. I believe someone did not get baptized with the Holy Ghost. I believe it. How many believe it tonight? How many believe that God can do it? I'm putting the fiends behind me. Come on. Come on. I'm going to ask for an altar here. Stand up if you're willing to stand. I said stand up. Come on. Stand up if you're willing to stand. Who wants to stand against the devil tonight? Come on. Stand up. Come on. Stand up. Who wants to stand against the devil tonight? I ain't going down to defeat. I ain't going back to the world. I ain't going down to Sodom and Gomorrah. I'm coming out of it. I'm coming out of this world. And all the sin that it has. Come on. Get a song. Come on, church. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. I feel the Holy Ghost. I feel the Holy Ghost in this house. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm coming out of that. He burnt that. He burnt Sodom and Gomorrah. I had a hog lot experience. I had a hog lot experience. He burnt Sodom and Gomorrah. He burnt to the ground and all the inhabitants thereof. And I ain't looking back to it. I ain't going back to the world. I ain't going back to that sin. I'll tell you what's going to happen tonight. I feel the Holy Ghost. If we invite the presence of God in this place, I believe someone tonight can get ahold of the power. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. It's said in Joel, chapter 2. 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