Faith— 10/22/2020

“Getting Past Your Past”

By Pastor Donald Parker

Sin, a three-letter word that nobody likes to talk about; yet the Bible tells us that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Nobody is perfect, every single one of us, since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, have sinned. We have all made poor choices and bad decisions. Many people believe they have too much, or too great of sin for Jesus to ever forgive. Christians, sometimes believe that because of their past, Jesus will never be able to use them to do His work.

When we read the Bible, we can find many people that God used who had a past. They had sin in their lives. They had failures. They made some poor choices and bad decisions. They had regrets. But because of the power and grace of God, they had victory over sin. God wants to help you overcome your past.

However, we often carry around all those mistakes, all those poor decisions, all those regrets, all that guilt, all that sin, and it weighs us down. Guilt weighs us down and makes us believe that God will never forgive us. Instead of giving it to Jesus, we carry around all the guilt of our sin. We often feel as David did when he said this in Psalm 38:4 “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.”

So, the question becomes, “How do we get past our past and drop the weight of all the sin, all the guilt, all the hurt, all the regrets? First, we need to understand that even our biggest sin isn’t too big for God’s grace. Regardless of your past, regardless of your sins, you can bring it all, and lay it at the feet of Jesus. We need to understand that our sin won’t surprise Jesus. He knows our every sin. He knew that we would sin, that’s why he came and died on the cross; to pay for our sins.

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Our part is to confess our sin, God’s part and God’s promise is that He will forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” When you put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are a new person. The old life is gone and a new life begins at that very moment. All the weight of sin; the poor choices and bad decisions, the hurt, the pain, the regrets, the secrets, the guilt, all of it: all that sin, God forgives and wipes the slate clean! We don’t have to carry it around any longer.

If you are carrying around the weight of the sins of your past, you can get past your past by laying it all on the feet of Jesus. Right where you are, you can talk to God and say something like this, “Lord Jesus, I come bringing all this stuff, all these poor choices and bad decisions, all the regrets, all the hurt, all the pain, all the addictions, all the broken relationships, all this guilt, all my sins Lord, and bring it to you asking you to forgive me. I repent of my sins and ask you Lord to forgive me and wipe away all my sins and make me a new person. Thank you for saving me Lord and help me leave the sins of my past and not carry my past around any longer. Because of you Lord, I am forgiven, and my past is past.

You can’t change your past, but Jesus Christ can change your future. Jesus Christ wants to help you in this life and change your life for all eternity. Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14 “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Paul says, I press on and I forget the past, and with Jesus you can too!

My prayer is, if you have never given your life to Jesus, today is the day that you choose to do so. To learn more about the love of Jesus Christ, we invite you to join us Sunday mornings at 11am at First Baptist Church of Van Horn, “A Place to Belong.”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here