Moving Beyond Your Past

Introduction

Good morning, everyone. It’s good to see you this morning. I want to encourage you to go ahead and get your Bible out, please. And make your way over into your old testament to the 51st Psalm. Please go on your Bible to Psalm 51. We’re going to read some verses out of Psalm 51 in just a moment. As you turn there and get settled in, let me just remind our family here at South Bumby of a couple of very important things. First, our gospel meeting with Brother Buddy Payne will begin two weeks from today. And it’s going to be just an amazing opportunity to learn some very important things from a very, very capable gospel preacher. There are flyers out there in the lobby for you to get and pass out, but we also have stuff on social media for you.

These things are also on social media. They’re on the Facebook page. So it’s not enough just to like it. You got to share it, okay? You got to share it as well. So let’s get that. Those flyers circulating on social media as much as possible the next couple of weeks. And also the big picture of the Bible, a sessions. Session two is today, and it’s for every member of the congregation who wants to learn how to use the big picture. 230 today, please come to that, and I think it’ll be worth your time. But that’s for any member of this congregation who wants to learn how to use that material and winning the lost.

According to the greatness of your compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions. And my sin is ever before me against you. You only I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you’re justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. Drop down to verse number nine now. Verse number nine in the chapter. David goes on to say to God, Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Drop down to verse 14 now.

In verse 14, he says, Deliver me from blood guiltiness. O God, the God of my salvation, then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. One more verse. Look at verse 17. In verse number 17, he says, The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

You ever thought those kind of things before? You ever said those kind of things before? You ever met someone who has said those kinds of things before. You ever met someone who’s been a Christian, maybe for decades. But they’ve struggled moving past their past. They’ve struggled moving beyond their past. They still walk around in their lives with constant feelings of guilt and anguish and shame over all the bad things over all the sins they’ve committed in their past. I submit to you that that kind of sorrow and grief and anguish was something that David, the man after God’s own heart. He certainly carries that around with him for a time in his life. In fact, that is exactly what we just read about here in Psalm 51.

Going back to these verses in Psalm 51, I want you to notice how here we read about David expressing great sorrow and guilt and shame over the sins that he committed in his past. Particularly, I believe he’s making reference to some sins that we can read about him committing in 2 Samuel chapter 11. If you remember in 2 Samuel chapter 11, there we read about David committing two awful sins that really started his life on a downward spiral. We read about him committing adultery with a woman named Bathsheba and then setting her husband Uriah up to be killed in battle in an effort to cover his tracks. David did some horrible and terrible things at that point in his life, and God exposed that evil through Nathan the prophet, and here in Psalm 51, he is expressing guilt and sorrow and shame over those things he had done, and that was certainly appropriate.

That was certainly right and righteous. You see, feelings of guilt and shame and sorrow are all necessary feelings that we must have if we’re going to properly seek God’s forgiveness. But the question is, what do we do after that? What do we do after we receive the forgiveness of God? I ask you that question because unfortunately, for so many of God’s children, after they receive forgiveness from God, they don’t feel very forgiven.

While they may want to feel renewed and cleansed and free and able to walk in newness of life, the fact of the matter is their past keeps hunting them.

In fact, there may be somebody in the room right now who’s living their lives that way. Maybe as I stand before you this morning, I’m describing someone sitting right there in the pew. Maybe this morning in this room, there is someone here who’s still stuck in the past. You’re still being weighed down and beat down by the past. Satan right now is assaulting you not with something current or existing right now, but with the past. He’s assaulting you with a past mistake. He’s assaulting you with a past sin that God is forgiving you of through your repentance, but you refuse to let it go. He’s assaulting you with something that continues to be a scar and a source of pain and grief and shame. Maybe there’s someone here this morning who’s experiencing that right now in your life.

1. Understand That You’re Not Alone

If so, then I want to give you some information from the Bible to help you. This morning, I want to give you some information from the Bible that will hopefully help you move beyond your past. And the first thing is this the first thing you’re gonna have to do if you’re gonna move beyond your past, is number one, you’re gonna have to understand that you’re not alone. You’re not alone.

Abraham. Abraham had a sinful past, right? In the Bible, we learned that Abraham told big lies at times that almost brought the wrath of God on various people, and he lacked in his faith on numerous occasions. It took him time to grow into the man who be willing to offer his son on an altar. That didn’t happen overnight. Abraham. He had a sinful past. And you know who else had a sinful past? Moses did. Remember, Moses missed out on entering to the promised land. Because there was a critical moment when he disobeyed God. And remember, before that, there was an occasion when he murdered somebody and hid his body in the sand. And there was an occasion when he was a fugitive. He was an outlaw.

Moses had a sinful past. And so did David. We’ve mentioned that. David committed adultery. He laid with another man’s wife and also committed murder. And his son Solomon. He got involved in idolatry. And then Samson, one of the great judges of the Old Testament. He was involved in sexual immorality with heathen women. And then remember Rahab, we had a sermon about her a few months ago. Before she became a servant of God, the Bible says she was a harlot. She was a prostitute. She was someone who engaged in sexual activity with men for money. And then the apostle Peter. Before Peter preached the gospel first to the Jews and the Gentiles in the book of Acts, in the scriptures, we read about him, denying that he even knew Jesus, not just once, not just twice, but three times on the night before the Lord was crucified.

And then what about Paul? What about Paul, who at one time was Saul of Tarsus? Well, you and I both know that when it came to Paul, he had a worse past than all those other people I just mentioned put together. We can read about that in the Bible. Go in your Bible, please to Acts chapter 8. In Acts chapter 8. And Acts the eighth chapter, we read about Paul when he was Saul of Tarsus. And this is after, in Acts chapter 8 and verse 1, this is after a Christian named Stephen is murdered by the Sanhedrin council because he preached the gospel. He preached the word of God to them, and they didn’t like what he had to say. And so in Acts chapter 8 and verse 1, after Stephen is killed, it says Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him, Stephen, to death.

And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they talking about the Christians were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles, some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. Verse 3, but Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women, he put them in prison. Look at the kind of life Saul is living before he becomes the great apostle Paul. In fact, Paul himself will make reference to this time in his life on numerous occasions. And one example of that is found in 1 Timothy. Look in your Bible at 1 Timothy chapter 1. Because as Paul writes to his friend Timothy, Timothy’s a young preacher. And at this time, Paul is an apostle, the great apostle Paul.

And he says in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and in verse number 12. In 1 Timothy 1 and verse 12, he says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, verse 13, even though I was formerly, there he’s talking about his life before he became a Christian. He says, I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a vile aggressor, yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. So you see what Paul is telling us about his life before he became a Christian. Notice how before he became a Christian, Paul, who at one time was Saul of Tarsus, he says he did some horrible things.

He actually tried to destroy the church. He actually persecuted members of the Lord’s church. He blasphemed God, he opposed the name of Jesus Christ, even though he is one of the great heroes of faith in the Bible, even though he is someone that we look up to as Christians, and we admire him, and we know that he did remarkable things in the kingdom of God. Paul says he has some bad memories of his life before he became a Christian.

He has some things in his past that he wished was not on the resume of his life. That’s what Paul says in those verses. And you know who else has that? I have that. You have that. Everybody in this room has that. It doesn’t matter what the color of our skin is. It doesn’t matter what our economic or financial status is. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been Christians or not, or how much we know about the Bible, like Paul, we all, every single one of us has things we’ve done in our past that are sinful. We all have done things that have hurt God and disgraced the name of Jesus Christ. We all have things that we are ashamed of and that we wish were not on the resume of our lives.

For some of us, our list of shameful things we’ve done may be adultery. It may be being unfaithful to our spouse, or being involved in drugs and alcohol, or being sexually promiscuous, or being someone who has destroyed relationships with people due to us being gossips and jealous and untrustworthy at times. Or maybe we’ve had moments in our lives when we were angry with God. We mocked God, we mocked Jesus, we mocked his church. We had no belief, no faith in him at all for a time in our lives.

2. Trust in the Forgiveness of God

But the point remains the same. The point is, everybody in this room, I don’t care how nice we may look this morning, our nice fancy church clothes, we got a past. We got a list of sinful things we have done, sinful things we’re ashamed of, but praise God that according to the Bible, when we surrender to the gospel and we gave our lives to Jesus Christ, God forgave us. God forgave us of our sins. God forgave us of every sin we’ve committed in our past, but the problem is we can’t move on because we don’t trust the scriptures. We don’t trust God’s forgiveness. We don’t believe in God’s forgiveness. We of all people, we really don’t have faith in the good news of the gospel. I mean, I know we can quote Acts 2 38.

We can quote that, right? We know that verse. But the question is, do we trust that verse? We can quote it all day. But do we trust it? Do we trust that when we repented and when we were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we receive forgiveness of sins? Do we really trust that verse? Or are we just quoting that verse? Do we trust Acts 2 in verse 38? And do we trust Acts 22 in verse 16? When the Bible says that when we were baptized, our sins are washed away. Some translations say they’re blotted out because we’re calling on the name of the Lord. Do we trust that verse? Do we trust that’s what happened when we were baptized for the remission of our sins and when we became Christians and we sinned because we we sin from time to time as Christians?

Do we trust 1 John 1 verse 9? Do we trust that when we sin as Christians and falls short from time to time? If we confess our sins, God is faithful and he is righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us. Watch it now, not from some unrighteousness. The Bible says from all unrighteousness. Do we trust that verse? Do we trust what the Bible’s saying there in that verse? And do we trust that verse in Hebrews 10 17 that Brother Wally read for us? That when we came to the Lord and submitted to his will, he forgave our sins and our lawless deeds, and he will remember them no more. Do we really trust what the Bible’s saying there? Do we really trust these scriptures we can quote so well?

Do we really trust God? I submit to you. And if we really trust God, we’re not going to be doing something he says he’s not doing. We’re not going to be living our lives, holding our past sins against ourselves when God says he’s not doing that. We’re not going to be bringing up our past sins over and over and over again. We’re not going to live our lives as though we’re still going to suffer the consequences for our sins when God says we won’t. Instead, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to be like Paul. We’re going to trust God. We’re going to trust the gospel. We’re going to trust Romans 1 and verse 16, where the Bible says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

We’re going to have an attitude like Paul has here, going back to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Go back to 1 Timothy chapter 1, please. Because in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 14, notice what the Apostle Paul says there. After telling us that he was a persecutor of the church, Paul says that the grace of our Lord was more than abundant. But the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Do we really have an attitude like Paul there in that verse? Do we have an attitude like the Apostle Paul? Notice how the Apostle Paul, instead of allowing the awful and terrible things he had done in his past to weigh him down and define him, he made a choice to trust in the grace of God.

He made a choice to trust in the forgiveness of God. He made a choice to trust and believe with all his heart that Jesus could save someone even as bad as him. Do we believe that? Again, if we believe that, if we really believe that, then we’re not going to live our lives doing something that God says he’s not doing.

And if we’ve done what God says we have to do to receive his forgiveness, then he is faithful to do what he’s promised, and that’s forgive us. That is wash away our sins. Let us remember our sins no more. If God says he is done with our sins, then we need to be done with them too. We need to let them go too. We need to really start believing what the Bible says, because if we don’t, that is a sign that we’re living our lives with the emphasis in the wrong place. That is a sign that instead of living our lives, celebrating and embracing the grace and forgiveness of God, we’re involved in a form of doing penance. We’re involved in a lifestyle that suggests that if we just beat ourselves up enough and bring up our sins over and over again and wallow in them, well, then God will really forgive us.

Then God will really take away our sins and cleanse us of our sins. That kind of attitude is so wrong on so many levels. In fact, one problem with it is it goes completely contrary to what Paul says in these verses in 1 Timothy 1. Look back at those verses in 1 Timothy 1. Notice how instead of placing the emphasis of his salvation on the guilt he felt over his past sins, Paul places the emphasis on God. He places the emphasis on the grace of God. He placed the emphasis on the fact that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and he was willing to forgive someone even as bad as him. Paul really believed that he had been forgiven by God. He really believed that God had forgiven him for all of the bad things that he had done in his life.

And if we’re struggling this morning with moving beyond our sinful past, then we need to start doing like Paul.

3. Leave the Past in the Past

And we need to trust it. We need to trust in the forgiveness of God. And after we do that, well, then the next thing we need to do is just leave the past in the past. You gotta leave the past in the past. And Paul talks about that in the book of Philippians. Go in your Bible, please to Philippians chapter 3. Look in your Bible, please at Philippians chapter 3. And in verse number 8, Philippians 3, verse 13. There were a lot of churches that Paul worked with. There were a lot of churches that he worked with. But out of all the congregations, this one in Philippi seemed to have been the one that was the most special to him. He had a very special relationship with his brethren.

And he tells them some very personal things about himself. And one example of that is here in Philippians 3 verse 8, where he says in verse 8, more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ.

That I may know him, that I may know Jesus, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. Not that I’ve already become, not that I’ve already obtained it, I’ve already become perfect. The word perfect there is not talking about sinless perfection. This is a full level of spiritual maturity. Paul says, I’m not there yet. But I press on so that I may laid hold of that, lay hold of that, for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, verse 13, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

Now let’s just stop right there for just a second. I want to highlight that language there, forgetting what lies behind. Notice how Paul says that when he came to his life as a Christian, there were some things that he chose to forget. There were some parts of his past that he chose to leave in the past. What parts of his past did he choose to leave in the past? Well, in the immediate context, he’s telling us that he decided, he made the choice to leave his status as a Jew in the past. That’s exactly what he’s talking about in verses 5 and 6. In verses 5 and 6 of that chapter, he lays out his impressive resume as a Jew. He says that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews.

He came from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee. He was someone who was zealous about the law of Moses. Paul says he had an impressive resume as a Jew, but he decided to leave all that behind when he started following Jesus. He says, now that he followed Jesus, none of that meant anything to him anymore. All of those accomplishments were rubbish when compared to the blessings he had in Jesus Christ. Paul says he chose to leave in the past, his credentials as a Jew. But even beyond that, a second thing that Paul left in his past was the guilt of his past sins. You see, while Paul certainly does mention his past sins often in the New Testament. They teach us lessons about grace and forgiveness, he never allows those sins to distract and cripple him in his service to God.

He never allows those sins to become tools that the devil could use to distract him and disable him from enjoying the blessings he had in Jesus Christ. Paul made a conscious choice to leave the past in the past. And you know who else needs to do that? We need to do that. I need to do that. You need to do that. While we’ve all done things that we regret and we are ashamed of in our lives, like the apostle Paul, we got to understand that God wants us to move on. We got to move on. We got to let it go. We got to understand that our past sinful life is over and we’re now new creatures in Christ. We’re born again. We’re saints. We’re disciples.

We’re Christians. We are children of God. We’re not children of the devil. You see, it’s the devil who wants us to wallow in the guilt of our past sins. It’s the devil who wants to take our focus off of the blessings we have received in Jesus Christ. He knows that if he can get us to constantly agonize and be miserable over our past sins, well, then he can disable us. Then he can keep us unhappy and miserable. Then he can get us to start doubting what the Bible teaches about freedom and forgiveness and newness, and we’ll never have the kind of joy that God wants us to have. It’s the devil who wants us to live stuck in stuck in the past. But Paul refused to do that.

4. Move Forward with Jesus

Paul refused to live his life that way. Instead of allowing the devil to use the guilt of being a violent aggressor against the church to beat him down and wear him down every day, Paul says he decided to move on. He decided to let it go. He decided to give it and leave the past in the past. And that’s what we have to do. If we’re going to be moved beyond our past, we got to trust in God’s forgiveness. And we got to leave the past in the past. And then once we do that, the next thing we can do, the final thing we need to do is we need to move forward with Jesus. Leave the past in the past and move forward with Jesus Christ.

And Paul talks about that. In Philippians 3 and verse 13 again, verse 13, brethren. I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the utter call of God in Christ Jesus.

By now, many folks here at South Bumbie know that I’m a huge sports fan. You know that, especially if you’ve been in my office. Big sports fan. Love football, love basketball. And in my view, the greatest basketball player of all time is not LeBron James, but it is Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Anybody who says it’s not Michael Jordan doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about. They don’t have a clue. They clearly did not see him play. Otherwise, they wouldn’t say that hot garbage. So, no, it’s it’s Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan’s the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers. Six-time NBA champion, six-time finals MVP, five-time league MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star, 10-time scoring champion, rookie of the year, defensive player of the year, two-time slam dunk champion, he did it all.

He accomplished everything you can accomplish as a basketball player, but few people know this. Few people know that in his childhood, he actually wasn’t very good. He wasn’t very good. He certainly is not the Michael Jordan that we know today. He actually tried out for his varsity team his sophomore year in high school, and you know what? He didn’t make it. That’s right. Michael Jordan did not make the team. The coach told him he was too short and he wasn’t good enough to play at that level. And thankfully, instead of giving up and wallowing in self pity and misery, you know what he did? He said he used that as fuel to get better. He said he used that as motivation to become a better player in the future.

He said, quote, whenever I was working out and I got tired and I figured I had to stop, I would close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that usually got me going again.

He used the disappointment of his past as fuel to accomplish his goal in the future. And don’t misunderstand what I’m saying this morning. Don’t misunderstand. I am by no means suggesting that Michael Jordan has the kind of character and attitude that we need to try to imitate in our lives. I am by no means suggesting that he’s a righteous and godly man, but what I am suggesting is what he did when he came to basketball is something that we need to do as Christians spiritually. I am saying that in addition to trusting and the forgiveness of God and leaving the past in the past, we need to use our past mistakes as rocket fuel to be better for the Lord in the future. I am saying that we need to use our past mistakes.

Not as something that will constantly drag us down and beat us down and wear us out, but as something that can launch us out into a positive future, a future that now includes access to God and prayer and a relationship with God and forgiveness from God and service and the kingdom of God and spiritual peace and a place in heaven.

Conclusion

You see the prize there. What’s the prize in that verse? The prize is heaven. It’s being with God. It’s living with God in His house forever. That’s what God has promised to give the forgiven and the faithful. That’s what we got to keep our eyes focused on. We got to keep our eyes focused on heaven. When we struggle with moving beyond the past. We got to learn to trust God. And we got to leave the past in the past and we got to move on in the future with Jesus. In fact, maybe there’s somebody here this morning who’s yet to do either one of those things. Maybe there’s somebody here this morning who hasn’t allowed God to deal with the sins of your past so that you can be in fellowship with him in the present and in the future.

If that describes you this morning, we want to help you. We want to help you make things right with God. We want to help you receive the forgiveness of God so you can leave the past in the past and move forward in a relationship with God in the present and in the future. Whether that means it’s time for you to obey the gospel for the first time, to have faith in Jesus Christ. Repent of your sins and be baptized so that the blood of Jesus can wash away your sins. You need to trust that the Lord will do what he says he’s going to do when you get baptized. And you need to leave those sins in the past. Trust that God’s forgiven you and move forward with Jesus and to a great future.

Or if you’ve done those things already, but you’re a Christian and you’re struggling right now, you got some sin weighing you down, you got some guilt weighing you down. Maybe you need some encouragement. Maybe you need us to pray with you and pray for you because you’re going to be able to do that.