DON'T LOOK BACK- LETTING GO OF THE PAST
- Apr 26
- 17 min read
MOVING FORWARD IN CHRIST
This sermon emphasizes the importance of not dwelling on the past but instead focusing on God's future for believers. Drawing from Jesus' teaching in Luke 9:62 that "no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God," the message challenges Christians to stop being defined by past sins, failures, distorted memories, and old conflicts. The pastor teaches that believers are defined by what God says about them, not by their past mistakes or others' opinions. Just as a farmer must keep his eyes forward to plow straight rows, Christians must fix their eyes on Jesus to walk a straight path. The sermon offers hope that through God's forgiveness and grace, believers can leave the past behind and embrace the future God has prepared for them.
KEYWORDS
Forgiveness
Identity
Grace
KEY POINTS
Don't look back at sins that have been forgiven - God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west and doesn't keep a record of forgiven sins
Don't look back at defeats that get you down - failing at something does not make you a failure; setbacks are not final outcomes
Don't look back at the past and see it better than it was - nostalgia can be dishonest; we often romanticize what God delivered us from while forgetting the pain and struggle
Don't look back at old conflicts that make you bitter - rehearsing pain keeps it alive; bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die
You are defined by what God says about you, not by your past or what others say
Keep your eyes on Jesus to walk straight and avoid going crooked
Looking forward requires looking up to Jesus, looking ahead in faith, and looking outward in service
The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason - focus more on where you're going than where you've been
Serving others brings healing to yourself
BIBLE VERSES
Luke 9:62 - "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God"
1 John 1:7-9 - Guarantees forgiveness; walking in the light, confession of sins
Psalm 145:14 - "The Lord upholds those who fall"
Ecclesiastes 7:10 - "Do not say, why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions"
1 Peter 2:1-2 - Rid yourselves of malice, deceit, hypocrisy; crave pure spiritual milk
Hebrews 12:1-2 - Run with perseverance, fixing our eyes on Jesus
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Jesus said that no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. What areas of your past might be hindering your current service to God?
C.S. Lewis said you cannot go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. What specific steps can you take today to change the trajectory of your story?
The sermon states that failing at something does not make you a failure. How can you reframe a recent failure as a learning opportunity rather than a defining moment?
DEVOTIONAL
Letting Go of the Past and Moving Forward with Christ
Day 1: Leaving the Past Behind
Reading: Luke 9:57-62
Devotional:
Jesus makes a powerful statement: no one who puts their hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom. This isn't about perfection but about direction. When a farmer plows while looking backward, the rows become crooked. Similarly, when we constantly revisit our past mistakes, regrets, or former seasons, our spiritual walk loses direction. God has called you forward, not backward. Your identity is not found in what you've done but in what Christ has done for you. Today, choose one specific thing from your past you keep revisiting. Acknowledge it, thank God for His redemption, and consciously redirect your focus toward the future He has prepared. Pick a point ahead—Jesus—and never take your eyes off Him.
Day 2: The Freedom of Forgiveness
Reading: 1 John 1:7-9; Psalm 103:8-12
Devotional:
God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west—an infinite distance with no meeting point. Yet we often dive back into the sea of forgiven sins, fishing for what God has already removed. Corrie ten Boom wisely noted that God posts a "no fishing allowed" sign over that sea. When you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive. The question is: will you accept that forgiveness for yourself? Many can believe in God's forgiveness for others but struggle to receive it personally. Today, write down a sin you keep confessing repeatedly. After writing it, tear up the paper as a symbolic act of releasing it to God's forgiveness. Stop bringing back what God has already forgotten.
Day 3: Failure Is Not Final
Reading: Psalm 145:14-16; Proverbs 24:16
Devotional:
The righteous may fall seven times, but they rise again. Failure is an event, not an identity. Thomas Edison didn't see his thousands of attempts as failures but as discoveries of what wouldn't work. God upholds those who fall—not those who never stumble, but those who get back up. Your setbacks are not your final outcome. Every believer has failures because everyone who attempts something risks not succeeding. The difference is whether you allow failure to define you or refine you. Are you confusing a temporary setback with a permanent defeat? God sees your courage to continue, not just your momentary stumble. Today, identify one area where you've given up after failing. Ask God for renewed courage and take one small step forward in that direction.
Day 4: The Deception of Nostalgia
Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:10; Numbers 11:4-6
Devotional:
"Why were the old days better than these?" This question reveals a dangerous spiritual amnesia. The Israelites remembered Egypt's food but forgot Egypt's chains. Time and distance distort memory, making the past seem better than it actually was. We romanticize what God delivered us from, forgetting the stress, pain, and bondage we prayed to escape. Nostalgia can become a prison that keeps you from embracing God's present work. Mountaintops provide inspiration, but fruit grows in the valleys. Your current struggle is producing something eternal within you. The "good old days" weren't as good as selective memory suggests. Today, list three blessings in your current season that you might be overlooking. Thank God specifically for where you are right now, trusting He's growing fruit for future valleys.
Day 5: Releasing Bitterness, Embracing Freedom
Reading: Hebrews 12:1-2, 14-15; 1 Peter 2:1-3
Devotional:
Bitterness is drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. Rehearsing past hurts keeps wounds open and chains attached. You cannot run the race God has marked out while dragging yesterday's conflicts behind you. Hebrews calls us to throw off everything that hinders—including unforgiveness, resentment, and unresolved anger. When you fix your eyes on Jesus, the past loses its grip. Interestingly, healing accelerates when you serve others. As you help someone else through their pain, God ministers to yours. Your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror for a reason—you're meant to focus on where you're going, not where you've been. Today, identify one person or situation you're holding bitterness toward. Pray specifically for that person's blessing, and ask God to heal your heart as you release them.
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
.I did a message last week that went in line with not concentrating on your past.
And I kind of wanted to continue things.
It's a little bit different, but it's along the same lines of what I taught last week and what I spoke on last week.
This week I want to speak to you about not looking back.
Satchel Paige, baseball great.
He had a good rule for living.
He once said, don't look back, something may be gaining on you.
I think those are wise words there.
And while that may be funny, there is a deep spiritual truth to that statement.
Jesus said in Luke chapter nine, verse 62, no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.
No one who looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.
Just think of that for a moment.
Stop looking back at your past.
Don't look back there.
I told someone this week, you are not defined by what you've done.
You may have consequences for what you've done, but you are not defined by that.
You are defined by what God says about you, not what the court system says or the world says or your neighbor or your so-called friend says about you.
You are what God says about you.
In farming terms, if a man plows while looking back, his rows come out crooked.
In spiritual terms, if you keep looking behind you, your life will lose direction.
A farmer once asked why his rows were so straight.
He was asked that question.
And here's what he said.
I pick a point ahead of me and never take my eyes off of it.
I do that when I'm mowing the lawn.
I like straight lines.
They're not always perfectly straight, I gotta tell you, because my yard is bumpy, and it kind of throws you out of kilter a little bit, you know, when boom, boom, boom, boom, you know, and you're trying to keep your hands like this.
But when I first start that one first line, I aim for the fence post in front of me.
I put my one tire, whether it be right or left,
on that fence post and that's where I aim to keep that straight line.
There's been a couple times that I have forgotten which fence post that I started with.
And when I got to the end, I thought it was on the right fence post and I looked back and my line was just real crooked.
If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we'll never go crooked.
We'll always stay straight.
Praise God.
That's how the Christian life works.
You can't walk straight by looking backward.
Looking back hinders forward progress.
Looking back may be making you depressed.
Looking back may be bringing you defeat this morning.
C.S.
Lewis,
How many have seen the Witch in the Wardrobe movie?
Okay, C.S.
Lewis wrote those books.
All right, you can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
Oh man, I don't know about you this morning, but I'm thankful that my ending's been changed because of Jesus.
Come on.
It's been changed because of Jesus.
Praise God.
I'm gonna give you four don'ts this morning.
So if you're taking notes, please write these down, or you can take a picture of the overhead.
First of which is don't look back at sins that have been forgiven.
First Epistle of John, chapter one, verse seven through nine guarantees forgiveness.
Here's what it says.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
And the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and He is just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
The book of Psalms tells us God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west.
We can believe this for others, but it's a little harder to believe it for ourselves at times.
I can have faith like you can't believe for somebody else, but sometimes it's hard to have my own faith for me.
Anybody ever been there?
Maybe you're there right now.
Know what I'm talking about.
A man once came to his pastor and said, I keep confessing the same sin over and over.
The pastor replied, God forgave that sin the first time.
You're the one who keeps bringing it back up.
whoa or you're the one that keeps committing it that's why you got to go and do it you need to stop knock it off you either do a 180 turn or you don't turn at all because the only other turn is a 360 and you're just back to where you started from and if you're just continually doing something habitually you got to break that and i got to tell you you the only part you play in that is releasing it to god because if you try to break it on your own it ain't gonna stand
It will not stand.
Truth is, God doesn't keep a record of forgiven sins, but we often replay them like a broken record in our life.
Dutch watchmaker, Christian writer, and Holocaust rescuer, Corrie ten Boom, I think I skipped one here, but that's all right.
Here we go.
She said this,
God takes our sins, the past, the present, and the future, and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says, no fishing allowed.
I just got goosebumps on that one.
Some of y'all are going back to the same swim hole or fish hole or whatever you want to call it, and you're diving in or you're throwing that line in there.
You need to knock it off.
That sea of forgiveness is forever.
Never bring it up again.
The second don't this morning, taking notes.
I'll get it here.
There it is.
Don't look back at defeats that get you down.
Don't look back at defeats that get you down.
Everyone has failures.
Look around the room today.
We all have failures in our lives.
Only those who attempt nothing never fail.
If you don't ever do anything, you're never gonna fail.
However, we all live a life where we have to do something.
And when you do something, there is the greatest possibility that you're not gonna do good at it.
I remember when I first started riding a bike.
I didn't get on that bike and just boom, took off like Evel Knievel.
Some of you young people probably don't even know who that is, but you older folks do.
I had to learn how to ride that bike and it took me falling, skinning up my knee a few times, bruising up my elbow.
We did not have helmets back in those days.
My very first helmet, because they didn't even have bicycle helmets yet, my very first helmet was a motorcycle helmet on my bicycle.
You talk about looking crazy, but I got this big old, I look like those football players that wear them big old things now.
You know what I'm talking about?
I was watching a Green Bay Packer game and this guy comes out and he looked like something from Spaceballs.
You know, had a big old helmet on.
I'm like, what is that?
That's what I looked like riding a bike back in the day.
But I had failures before I finally came to the point where I learned how to ride that bike without falling over.
The book of Psalms says the Lord upholds those who fall.
That's Psalm 145, 14.
Failing does not make you a failure.
I want you to hear that this morning.
Failing at something does not make you a failure.
There's some things that we need to fail and walk away from and other things we fail and need to continue to do until we perfect them.
How are you gonna know the difference?
The Holy Spirit will give you wisdom.
hear His voice, seek His voice and listen to it when He calls you to do whatever it may be.
Thomas Edison failed thousands of times before inventing the light bulb.
When asked about it, he said this, I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Come on, that's the kind of attitude we need to have.
I've just found 5,000 ways that ain't gonna work that way.
So I'm gonna try it this way.
And we have the light bulb today because he kept pursuing it.
Some of us quit too soon because we confuse a setback with a final outcome.
And there will be setbacks in our life, but it is not the final outcome.
I may be down, but I'm not out.
I'm not out until I leave this world, then I'm out.
The third don't, hang on, Winston Churchill.
Anybody remember Winston Churchill from World War II?
Yes.
He said this, success is not final.
Failure is not fatal.
It is the courage to continue that counts.
Continuing on, what does the Bible say about that?
The Bible tells us to be steadfast, to have the shoes, the sandals of readiness.
to run the race so that at the end I can look back and say, I ran that race well.
Yeah, I had failures, I had mishaps, but man, I made it to the finish line.
I made it to, and you know what?
I'm telling you this morning, you may not feel like it, you may not even think it right now, but I'm gonna tell you that you're gonna get to the finish line in one piece if you continue to keep your eyes on Jesus and follow his ways.
You may feel broken this morning, but come on.
Jesus is there, and he will keep us together until we get to the end.
Finish the race well, folks.
Finish the race well.
The third don't I wanna share with you today is don't look back at the past and see it better than it was.
Ecclesiastes 7.10, do not say, why were the old days better than these?
for it is not wise to ask such questions.
In the book of Numbers, Israel looked back to Egypt.
For a moment, they forgot the slavery and remembered only the food.
You see, distance, time, makes the past look better than it really was.
We actually had this happen in our lives and one particular instance that this happened in was we decided to take our five children on a cruise.
Now, when I was a kid, I never got to go on a cruise.
It wasn't until I was an adult and I was 43 years old before I went on my first cruise.
So I was excited about my first cruise and the kids seemed to be excited when we presented it to them.
they were going to go on this cruise yet the entire time that we were on the cruise the majority of them complained about not having internet i'm like what is wrong with you seriously how many years did we get along without internet all right and you're on a boat with all kinds of activities and food
and we're going to beaches and it's sunny.
Now there was a couple of days of rain, but it was mostly sunny and it was a beautiful time.
Weather was, it was cold here and it was warm there and it was wonderful.
Then when we got back, you know, they griped the whole time.
I mean, the entire time they complained and griped.
And am I wrong, babe?
Nope.
But as we got back and the years seemed to pass, that cruise was wonderful.
We had so much fun and when we said all you did was grab, no we didn't.
We didn't care about the internet.
I'm like, are you kidding me right now?
Because I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.
That's what happened.
They looked back and they saw the past totally different because of the time, the distance of time.
Nostalgia is often dishonest to us.
The children of Israel said, we had it better in Egypt, yet Egypt had chains, Egypt had bondage, Egypt had oppression.
Sometimes people romanticize what God delivered them from.
I'm just gonna wait a moment, let that one sink in.
People will say, those were the good old days, but they forget about the stress,
the pain, the struggle that they prayed to get out of while in those days.
I'm not saying that the good old days are all bad, but we tend to forget the bad.
I haven't done a funeral yet, and I've done hundreds of funerals, and I haven't done a funeral yet where somebody got up and said, that person was just a piece of trash.
Now they may say that off to themselves,
everybody that stands up and says anything always points out all the good that that person did even if they were a down out no good dirty scoundrel they were wonderful the way they said good morning to me i mean come on am i wrong in that no i am not wrong in that at all people forget
about the past late if that wasn't if that wasn't true you ladies would only have one child and maybe not even have one with the pain you go through before they had the epidurals i can't even imagine those poor ladies working out in the field i mean they worked until they birthed them out they're out in the field and they're birthing them out in the field plop hey we had a girl somebody get over there to help martha she needs some help over there you know what i'm saying
You forget about the pain.
I got to tell you this morning, I'm looking forward to the future because I'm somewhere in the future and I look much better than I do right now.
Come on, that future could be five minutes from now, but I'm looking forward to it.
I'm looking forward to the return of Jesus.
Praise God.
Evangelist Billy Graham is quoted as saying this, mountaintops are
There he is.
Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.
Can't grow fruit on top of the mountain when things are good and stuff.
You know, wonderful, praise God, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
But it's in those valleys when I'm going through the hardest of times that God builds something in me.
God begins to construct something that's gonna last over those mountaintops.
I want bigger mountaintops, I really do.
But God knows my life and he knows what I need and sometimes the valleys are a whole lot bigger than the mountaintops.
and they last a lot longer and i don't like that until i get to the other side and man when i get in that other valley i'm glad i had that fruit from that that valley before because it's helped me through this valley right now and then this valley is going to grow fruit that i can use in the next valley because it's going to happen it's not a matter of if but when that that valley is going to happen again so if you're on a mountaintop right now rejoice and praise god
Ask God to impart something in you that's gonna help you when you get to the valley, because the valley is coming.
I want you to listen to me this morning.
A great future will beat a bad past every time.
The fourth and final don't that I wanna share with you this morning is this.
Don't look back at old conflicts that make you bitter.
Rehearsing pain keeps it alive.
Going over old wounds reopens them.
Even forgiven conflicts can become dangerous again.
if we're not careful.
1 Peter 2, verses one and two calls us to move forward in spiritual growth.
Here's what it says.
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it, you may grow up in your salvation.
Bitterness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.
It really is.
Hey, I want them to die.
Come on.
Carrying past hurts is like dragging chains behind you.
You can move forward, but it's exhausting and slow.
Nelson Mandela.
He said this, resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
Exactly what I said before, he made that quote.
And if you know what Nelson Mandela went through, for him to make that statement takes a lot of forgiveness and a lot of letting go of pain.
Here's the truth.
You cannot move forward while emotionally living in yesterday's arguments.
Hebrews 12, one and two, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
When you fix your eyes on Jesus Christ, the past will lose its grip.
The past will lose its power.
I choose to look ahead because God is not finished with us yet.
Our best chapter, I believe, has not yet been written.
There's a reason that the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror.
You're meant to focus more on where you're going than where you've been.
I choose to look outward by serving others.
When you start helping others, healing begins to happen in you.
I say that all the time.
I sound like a broken record just saying that.
As you are helping others, whatever it is, physical, mental, emotional, whatever the case, spiritual, when you're helping someone else, God is healing you.
He's changing you.
He's doing something within you.
If you haven't been ministering to people,
You don't know what I'm talking about.
But if you have, you can attest to that.
And you know that you get strengthened and you get healed when you're helping other people, when you're ministering to other people.
Do you know why it is that way?
Anybody know why it is that way?
I'll tell you why it's that way.
Because God has set it up that way.
Jesus taught us to serve others rather than serve ourself.
because he knows that there's healing, there's deliverance, there is power when we are helping others and loving on others.
So stop, stop looking back.
Forgiven sins, past failures, distorted memories, and old wounds, stop looking at them.
And begin looking up to Jesus, looking ahead in faith and looking outward in service because you cannot move forward with God while holding on to yesterday.
You can't do it.
And I leave you with this this morning.
If you keep looking back, you're gonna miss what God is gonna do next.
You're gonna miss it.
And I don't know about you this morning, but I don't want to miss what God is going to do, what God is doing and what he's going to do.
So you know what I say?
I say goodbye yesterday.
It's already done.
It's already done.
I say hello today, and I'll see you tomorrow.
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