For today’s lesson please reread Genesis 19:14-17. I find it interesting that as they were fleeing from the sinful city, just as we might flee from sin, they were told not to look back because they would be swept away. God sent his angels as messengers and he uses messengers in our lives for a reason. When we are told to flee a sinful situation, such as a premarital or adulterous relationship, we are to do so immediately without looking back or we will be swept away in disaster! God warns us to flee for our own protection. We can see from the scriptures that is clearly why the angels told them to flee without looking back.

Why do you think God gives us this warning? _________________________________________________________

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If you are being tempted to be involved in an adulterous relationship at any level of sexuality, I urge you to flee before you reach total destruction and find yourself swept away. I know people who thought they were leaving their marriages for something better and once they got over there they were worse off than before. I’ve also seen the situation where an affair was exposed and both marriages stayed together but were completely devastated to a point they never fully recovered. For some reason many people who get themselves into situations such as these believe the aftermath won’t be that bad. They don’t realize how something like this can have lifelong devastating affects.

Today we are going to skip down a few verses in Genesis from verse 17 to verse 26. Genesis 19:26 says, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Why do you think his wife looked back? ______________________________________________________________

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Why do you think she didn’t obey the warning given to her? ______________________________________________

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There is no right or wrong answer. Maybe it was that she was hesitant on leaving that life behind because she had become comfortable in it. Perhaps she wanted one last look. Perhaps her flesh was torn between leaving the comfort of chaos that she had grown used to and the fear of unknown peace. For example, have you ever actively chosen to leave a relationship that you may have been emotionally or physically involved in premarital or extramarital that you know was not ordained by God, yet after you made the choice to break it off the temptation to look back was overwhelming? What part of it felt overwhelming?
 
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Looking back at a sin you are “fleeing” from can have serious ramifications. When we cling to our pasts, we cannot possibly move forward. It’s like having one foot in the church while the other foot is knee-deep in sin. We can’t do both.

Have you ever had a time in your life when you had one foot in the door at church and the other foot knee-deep in sin? What was the result?
 
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I know I have. If we don’t turn completely away from our sin, then we won’t come to full repentance and will be susceptible to falling back into it again and again. Have you ever known someone who made the decision to turn away from something sinful yet at some point along the way they began looking back and they became tempted again only to fall right back into the same pattern of sin? You see this seems to be the case in many adulterous relationships. The couple having the affair tries cutting it off before it comes to light, but because they have not cut all ties to each other they can’t seem to completely break it off. They have one foot staying put in the relationship while the other foot is trying to run in the opposite direction. That can’t work! You have to have both feet running in the same direction.

I know several stories of women who longed to break free from the addictions to alcohol or prescription drugs yet once they made the decision to turn from it, somewhere along the way “out” they looked back and began craving it again. Another thing that can happen is that Satan sees that as a weakness in you and tempts you with every trick in your old book to get you to fall back into the addiction again. Ladies, the battle was not meant for us to fight alone.

Read Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Him that gives me strength.”  God tells us here that we can get through the battle with him that provides us the strength.

Not only does God give us the strength we need, he also provides a way out when we are under temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” God promises us here that no temptation you face is too strong for you. He also promises to provide a way out of it. Hang on to that promise. Don’t believe the lie that any temptation is too strong for you to resist. If He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world then you have all you need to fight temptation.