Here’s a poem that goes with the theme of what we’ve been studying:
"If Turnip Seed Grow Turnips"
If turnip seeds grow turnips, And greens grow spinach greens;
If carrot seeds grow carrots, And bean seeds bring up beans;
If lettuce seeds grow lettuce, And Brussel seeds grow sprouts;
If pea seeds always bring up peas – Then what goes in comes out!
So kind words bring up kindness, And bad words will grow sadness;
Forgiving words will grow forgiveness, Glad words will grow gladness!
So watch the little seeds you plant, In all you say and do;
For what you sow is what you reap! Be proud of what you grew!
A. Let Us Go On
Have you ever thought about "time travel?" Wouldn’t it be great if movies like "Time Machine" and "Back to the Future" could be a reality? Think of all we could go back and change or do differently. Why we could go all the way back to the garden of Eden and correct that original sin and poof … everything is okay. Yes those are great thoughts, but you and I know that whatever we did yesterday, last week, last month and even last year is over and it is called the "past." There are no time-machines. "We cannot do anything about last year’s harvest."
Each of these laws concentrate on the today. Of course, they remind us of yesterday and tomorrow, but they speak to us of what we are to be sowing today.
Today’s lesson: If last year we failed to produce a crop worthy of God’s praise … today … we don’t need to view ourselves as failures and be upset over the past. And if we produced a good crop last year worthy of the Lord’s praise … today … we do not need to rest, thinking the this year’s crop will come on its own.
This seventh law teaches us to "go on." Since we cannot do anything about the past we must go on. Hebrews 6:1 READ. Their problem like many today is that they knew God’s Word, but their "use" and "applying" of God’s word in life’s situations was immature at best. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to "go on" and reach out with God’s Word to what confronts us and to become full grown and useful Christians. Sometimes we need to go…
B. How do we go on?
1. You must “deal with your mistakes”
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” You can’t gloss over sin. You can’t whitewash it. You can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist or that it doesn’t destroy. Sin breaks the heart of God. It goes against everything he stands for and everything he wants from us. He doesn’t just turn his back and ignore it. It is an issue that must be dealt with. In Isaiah 43:21-24 God is very specific about how his people have sinned against him. READ
This verse tells us some things. It tells that sin not only hurts us, it also hurts God. Our sins burden him, they make him weary, they hurt him. This verse also reminds us that when we sin, we are doing more than just bending the rules or breaking society’s moral code. We are offending God. Sin is, first and foremost, an act of rebellion against God.
David recognized this. After committing the sin of adultery with Bathsheba and after having her husband Uriah murdered, he repented and said to God...
Psalm 51:1-4 READ. Sin can destroy a friendship, it can destroy a marriage, it can destroy a career, it can destroy a ministry, it can destroy a life. But we must realize that the real damage caused by sin is that it creates a separation between you and God. You have to face up to your sin. You have to recognize that sin is responsible for the pain in your life. Secondly...
2. You must “trust God to forgive your sin”
A difficult lesson we all must learn is that we are absolutely, totally and completely unable to pay the price for our own sins. Hebrews 10:1-4, 11-18 READ. In society we have an idea of justice that works on a limited basis. For example, if you rob a bank you pay your "debt to society" by serving time in prison. Of course, if you ask anyone who has been to prison they will tell you that even after they served their time the debt wasn’t really paid in full. The stigma of having been in jail follows them for their rest of their life. It makes it difficult to get a job, to get bonded, to vote, to be in a serious relationship--you may serve your debt to society, but society doesn’t forget the debt.
There’s an old Humphrey Bogart movie called "Invisible Stripes" about an ex-con trying to make it on the outside, but everything seems to be stacked against him. He’s wearing invisible stripes, and no matter what he does, they’ll never disappear. We wear stripes, too. No matter how we try, we cannot pay for our own sins. You can’t "unrob" a bank. You can’t "unsay" hateful words. Once milk has been spilled, you can’t "unspill" it. There’s nothing we can do to pay for our own sins.
However, God has a plan for dealing with our sin. He doesn’t ignore it, he forgives it. He forgives it and then he forgets it. Listen to what he says: Is.43:25
There are two phrases in this verse I want to point.
a. First, he says "I forgive you for my own sake." He doesn’t forgive you because of who you are, he forgives because of who he is. You may not think that you deserve forgiveness, and from a human standpoint you may be right. But God doesn’t forgive from a human standpoint, and his forgiveness isn’t based on how much you deserve it. He forgiveness is based on his character, not yours.
b. Also, he says, "I remember them no more." There’s a story that illustrates this point. It’s just a story--it didn’t really happen, but it makes a point. A man came to his minister and said, "Minister, God speaks to me. I can ask him any question and he gives me the answer." Well, of course, the minister was skeptical, so he said, "You’ll have to prove what you’re saying is true. In my youth I committed a terrible sin, and later begged God for forgiveness. Ask him to tell you what it was. If you know the answer when you come back tomorrow, I’ll know God really speaks to you." The next day the man came back and said, "Minister, I guess I was wrong about hearing the voice of God, because I asked him what sin you had committed and he said, ’I don’t remember.’" The minister said to the man, "Then you have truly heard the voice of God."
Now, that story is a fable designed to make a point: God forgives our sin and he remembers it no more. In this sense, he forgives in a way that is entirely impossible for humans to do. We cannot "choose" to forget. We forget things accidentally, but if we try to forget something, we can’t. It’s beyond our power to forget on purpose. It’s not beyond God’s power. He can choose to remember our sins no more, and that’s exactly what he does. When he forgives, he forgets. You must turn to God for forgiveness, and let him restore your life. The third step is...
3. You must “let go of the past”
Too many Christians live in the past. They fail to forget and move on to what God has for them today with tomorrow coming. Philippians 3:13 “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” Great example in the O.T. when Moses and the children of Israel were confronted with the Red Sea in front of them and Pharaoh’s army behind them. Turn to Exodus 14:5-15:
1. Do not “be afraid”.
2. Stand “firm”. Did not mean stand still. Be resolute, unwavering.
3. “Move on”. God said there was only one way to go … "Go Forward!"
This is where we drop the ball all too often. God forgets the past, but we refuse to. We relive it day after day. We remind ourselves how terrible we are and what awful things we have done. As a result, just like Humphrey Bogart, we go through life with invisible stripes--and we allow them to hold us back. Don’t be a prisoner to the past. Let go of it. God has forgiven you. And not only has he forgiven you, he has commanded you: Isaiah 43:18: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” That’s pretty good advice, isn’t it?
4. You must “focus on what God can do in your future”.
When you examine the life of Christ and see how he related to people, something quickly becomes obvious: Jesus cares more about your future than he does about your past. Great example: Zacchaeus was a Jew, but he was despised by other Jews. Built a personal fortune by extorting exorbitant taxes from his own countrymen and skimming some off the top for himself. Heard that Jesus was coming to town, he desperately wanted to see him, but short/couldn’t see over the crowd. Climbed to the top of a sycamore tree and waited for Jesus to pass by. When Jesus reached the spot where Zacchaeus was, he said, "Zacchaeus, come down. I must stay at your house today."
People criticized Jesus for eating with a sinner, but Jesus wasn’t concerned with Zacchaeus ’ past, he was concerned with his future. That day Zacchaeus the sinner became Zacchaeus the saint. He turned his back on the past and began to concentrate on his future as a follower of Christ. He said he’d give back twice what he took. Jesus said, "This is why I have to come: to seek and save the lost." Luke 19:1-10
Jesus knew Zacchaeus could become an honest businessman. He knew Zacchaeus could be generous with his money. Jesus didn’t allow this man’s past to be an obstacle to his future. As soon as Zacchaeus was ready to forget the former things and concentrate on his future with Christ, he experienced salvation.
God has plans for you that do not involve your past. He wants to do something new in your life. Listen to what he says...Isaiah 43:19 READ
In 1986 Bob Brenley was playing third base for the San Francisco Giants. In the fourth inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves, Brenley made an error on a routine ground ball. Four batters later he kicked away another grounder. And then while he was scrambling after the ball, he threw wildly past home plate trying to get the runner there. Two errors on the same play. A few minutes later he muffed yet another play to become the first player in the twentieth century to make four errors in one inning.
Now, those of us who have made very public errors in one situation or another can easily imagine how he felt during that long walk off the field at the end of that inning. But then in the bottom of the fifth, Brenley hit a home run. Then in the seventh, he hit a bases-loaded single, driving in two runs and tying the game. Then in the bottom of the ninth, Brenley came up to bat again, with two outs. He ran the count to three and two and then hit a massive home run into the left field seats to win the game for the Giants. Brenley’s score card for that day came to three hits and five at bats, two home runs, four errors, four runs allowed, four runs driven in, including the game-winning run.
Certainly life is a lot like that--a mixture of hits and errors. And there is grace in that. Your life may seem like a desert, but God wants to make it an oasis. He wants to do something new in your life; it is your job to let go of the past and concentrate on what God is doing in your life today and tomorrow.
CONCLUSION
Letting go of the past--do you know what that is? It’s repentance. It’s saying,
"I don’t want the past to be part of my life anymore." Concentrating on what God is doing in your life today and tomorrow--do you know what that is? It’s obedience. It’s saying, "Regardless of what brought me to this place in my life, I will do today what God is calling me to do today."
If your life has been damaged by sin, God will restore you. He won’t hold the hurt against you. He will forgive you, for his own sake, and he will forget your sin forever. He has done this through his son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for all of our sins. You can be forgiven--completely forgiven--by the mercy of God. That’s his promise. Now, let go of the past, and concentrate on living for Christ today.
(From a series by Bob Aubuchon modified for my audience)
