Don't Look Back

Bible says the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleansed us from

all sin and that's why we sing about the blood.

I know if you think about it from a human standpoint or human

perspective, it sounds like a gory thing or something like

that. But honestly, what Jesus Christ

went through us on the cross was a pretty gory thing.

He was whipped, he was beaten, He was, he was tortured.

And then he then he was killed and hung up on the cross and he

did it all for us. He could have, he could have

called 10,000 angels to come take him off that cross anytime

he wanted to. And he and he, he very could

have done it. And and if I was him, I probably

would have. But he knew what he was doing

and he knew why he was there and he knew was for me.

He knows for you. And he did it anyway.

And he loved us so much that he was willing to shed his blood on

the cross. You know, some people say well.

Jesus could have died in a different way.

You know, He could have just been maybe, maybe clubbed on the

head and died and that would have been a little bit easier or

something and and and and, you know, you think about it from

that perspective. Maybe it would have been easier.

But The thing is, all throughout the Old Testament, you see that

it was blood that had to be shed in order for that sacrifice to

be made. Jesus Christ had to shed his

blood on the cross. He had, He had to not just die,

he had to shed his blood. And that's why we say for the

blood. And that's all that I have to

plead. It's through the blood that

Jesus shed for me. I can't earn my way there, can't

do anything. I can't do enough good to

account for all the bad one sin. One sin is another.

Bible says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet

offended one point is guilty of all.

Just like somebody who loves the store one time is called a

robber, right? Somebody who tells a lie one

time is a liar. And that's why when we sin even

once, we're sinners and we can't get into heaven without Jesus

Christ. I'm so thankful that he died in

the cross for us. If you don't know Jesus Christ

as your Savior, I mentioned this on Thursday night in our

Institute class. I I would never be under the

illusion that in a crowd this size, every single person here

is saved. I think the majority of people

are saved, some of some that have not been in church all that

long time. Maybe it's you, and maybe you're

questioning whether or not you're saved.

That's you need to get it settled.

And I will always share the gospel in a message because

there's always somebody that does not know for sure that

they're on their way to heaven. And we need to make sure that

that that's that that we have that settled.

And boy, what a precious, precious thing that is.

I would never want to make the blood of Jesus Christ of none

effect. He shed his blood for you.

And when you reject that shed blood of Jesus Christ, you are

rejecting everything that he is and everything that he's done.

And what a horrible, horrible thing that would be to have to

stand before God and say I rejected your son.

I would not. I I would not want to be in that

position. And that's why I've accepted

Jesus Christ as my Savior. Doesn't have anything to do with

me. It has everything to do with

him. But I'm so thankful that he did.

I'm thankful that I've had that opportunity.

Genesis chapter 19 is a story that you're probably at least a

Genesis 19 · chapter mention

little bit familiar with. But before we get into anything

about the message, I want to read the passage to you this

morning. This is the story of Lot and the

destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sodom and Gomorrah was a wicked place, and a whole lot of things

that were going on in there that were just that.

They were thinking that quite honestly, were an abomination to

God. The homosexuality was one of the

things, but there was a lot of other things that were going on

in Sodom and Gomorrah that were displeasing to God as well.

And God decided that he was going to destroy Sodom and

Gomorrah for their sin. But obviously Lot and his family

were living there and Abraham being a just man and and and a

friend of God as the Bible says, went to God and said, hey, if if

I can find 100 righteous, will you spare the city?

And God said, all right, I'll spare the city And he started

looking and he couldn't find 100.

He said, well, how about 50? Couldn't find 50, how about 10?

All right, 10 And even 10. Righteous could not be found in

the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so God gave Abraham an opportunity to get Lot his his

nephew out of the city before he destroyed it.

There was some, there was some stipulations as they were

leaving. Don't look back.

And the Bible says this in Genesis chapter 19 and verse 15.

Genesis 19 · chapter mention

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened, A Lot

saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are

here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and

upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two

daughters, the Lord being unto him.

And they brought him forth and set him without the city.

Think about this. Lot was Lot was a just man.

The Bible says that it vexed just Lot.

Right? Lot was a just man, But Lot

decided that he was going to pitch his tent.

Towards Sodom and he just puts his tent in that direction.

He didn't go into it. He didn't settle down the city

of Sodom until Sodom started to wear him down and he started to

look at that city. And the more he looked at it,

the more he desired it. And the more he desired it, the

more he made the decision that he was going to move in.

Before long, Lot was sitting in the gate of the city.

That means Lot was one of the city leaders there in Sodom.

If anybody could have changed anything, Lot could have done

something to change it. But he didn't.

And before long, Lot's entire family was taken up in the

wickedness in the filth of Sodom.

To the point that when God gave Lot an opportunity to escape

that city alive before he destroyed it, Lot had to be

dragged out by the hand, by those angels.

He had become so attached to that city, so attached to that

wickedness, so attached to that lifestyle and everything that

went along with it, that even when he was faced with absolute

destruction, not only of himself but of his entire family, he

lingered. And the angels had to drag him

out, And and boy, what a phrase, the Lord being merciful unto

him. And they brought him forth, and

set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they

had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy

life, Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the

plain. Escape to the mountain, lest

thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not

so, my Lord, Behold, now thy servant has found grace in thy

sight, and now it's magnified thy mercy.

Which thou has showed unto me, and saving my life.

And I cannot escape to the mountain unless some evil take

me, and I die. Behold, now this city is near to

flee into, and it is a little. 10 Let me escape thither, is it

not a little one? And my soul shall live.

And he said unto him, See, I have accepted the concerning

this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city for that

which that for the which thou has spoken haste thee escape to.

Therefore I cannot do anything till become thither.

Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar.

Even then, lots fighting with this Angel.

No, no, I can't go into the mountains.

If I go into the mountains, something's going to happen to

me in the mountains. Let me go into this little city.

And Angel again, God being merciful, said all right, fine,

go into that city, but get over to the city.

Can't do anything to you. Get over there.

God's being merciful to you. He's trying to get you out of

this place. Just get out of this place.

Verse 23 The sun was raising upon the earth when Lot entered

into Zoar. Then the Lord reigned upon

Sodom, and upon Gomoral brimstone and fire from the Lord

out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities,

and all the plane, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and

that which grew up on the ground.

I looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he

stood before the Lord, and he looked towards Sodom and

Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plane.

And behold and loathe, the smoke of the country went up as the

smoke of a furnace came to pass when God destroyed the cities of

the plane. That God remembered Abraham and

sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the

cities in which Lot dwelt. It's an amazing thing.

And if you have been taking part in the Bible geography lessons

in that we've been doing on Sunday nights, you've seen the

pictures. Sodom and Gomorrah is a desert

now, but it was obviously used to be a very lush place, a very

lush plane. That's why a Lot even pointed

himself in that direction in the first place.

But when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he destroyed them for

for basically all the time. Now that land, the Bible says

it's going to be healed when Jesus Christ comes back.

And and in that end time all of that land where Sodom and

Gomorrah, all that desert area, the Judean wilderness and all of

that is going to grow and be as lush as the Bible says, as the

as the plane of sharing, which is one of the lushest places in

Israel right now. But you see what happens here in

this, in this, in this story. Could you imagine what Lot must

have thought when he realized that his wife was a pillar of

salt? I don't.

I I'm not sure just exactly when he realized that she was a

pillar of salt, she was behind him as they were running out of

the city. And I don't know if maybe he

looked back only to check on her and God was merciful again to

him because he wasn't looking at the city, he was looking at his

family. I don't.

The Bible doesn't tell us. But maybe, maybe, maybe he

never. Knew until they were safely in

the city of Zor. That is somehow he found out

that she had turned into a pillar of salt.

I don't know, but could you imagine what Lot must have

thought when he found out that his wife was a pillar of salt?

Why did she turn back? What a tragic story.

I don't know why she turned back because the Bible again doesn't

get that answer. But some people have suggested

that she was actually from Sodom, which is also was a great

possibility if you look at the story of of Abraham and Lot.

Sarah, Abraham's wife has mentioned many times in that

story. Lot's wife was never We don't

have a name for her. We don't know who she was, We

don't know where she was from. We don't know anything about

her. When a Lot pitched his tent

towards Sodom, there was no wife with him, at least in the story.

Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. Maybe she was from Sodom and

that's why she looked back. Maybe she was looking back to

see if any of the other her other family had decided to

follow her. Maybe she was looking back to

get one more look at her beloved city.

Either way, she made the grievous mistake of looking

back. God had very specifically told

them, when you leave the city, don't look back.

She violated a very direct command to look back at the old

life, to look back at the old world, where they were coming

from. And we need to look at the

command that we're given in Luke chapter 17.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

Turn over there. One of the shortest verses in

the Gospels. Now obviously John 1135 is the

one that all the kids are familiar with.

Jesus wept. And what a story that is, and

and I think it's it deserves a verse of its own.

But this one in Luke chapter 17 and verse #32 is also one of the

Luke 17 · chapter mention

shortest verses in the Gospels. And Jesus is giving a little bit

of a dissertation if you will, talking about several different

things when it when it comes to talking with a crowd of few.

If your if your Bible has verses in red, then you can see that

most of chapter 17 is in red. Jesus is talking about the

second coming and in the middle of all of that he starts to to

talk about this story of lot. And then he says this in Luke

Luke 17 · chapter mention

chapter 17 and verse #32. Remember lots wife.

Remember lots wife. Now that's a command.

You know anything about English grammar?

There is no subject. And when there is no subject,

it's an understood you. You remember Lot's wife.

This is a command that we've been given.

We only have one thing that we have to remember about Lot's

wife, because we don't have anything about her.

We don't know her name, so we're not.

It's not her name that we're supposed to remember.

We don't know anything else about Lot's wife except what she

looked back. And he says remember Lot's wife?

It's so if it's so important that we we remember the fact

that Lot's wife look back, then there must be an important

message in that for us. And there is.

And that's what I want to share with you this morning is some

reasons why in remembering Lot's wife, we should not look back in

our Christian life. Let's pray.

And then we'll look at a couple of those reasons this morning.

Father, we love you again. We thank you so much for your

goodness. I thank you for the story and

the reminder that we have to not look back.

Having put our hands to the plow.

God, I'll pray that this would be an encouraging and a

challenging message to us this morning.

We thank you for all that you do for us.

In Jesus name. Amen.

Turn, if you will, the Galatians Chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

The first thing that I want to mention as far as why we should

not look back is because there's been so much that we've there.

There's so much that we've been saved from.

There's so much that we've been saved from.

If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you're a changed

person. You should be.

Our life before salvation is characterized as the old man or

the flesh. And the Bible talks about all

all throughout the the the, the writings of Paul, especially the

fact that we are going to be constantly fighting against that

old man, that old nature. The old man is the man that we

used to be before we became a new creature in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if any man being Christ, he is a new creature.

The Bible tells us in First Corinthians old things are

passed away. Behold, all things are become

new. So that old man is, is, is who

we should be putting off, and we should be putting on the new

man. But that's the part of us that

fights against our desire to do right.

That old man is constantly going to be there.

We can never get rid of this flesh, this robe of flesh.

I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize, but that does

not come until we meet Jesus Christ in glory.

We're going to be dealing with this flesh all the way up until

that point, but why is it so much easier to do wrong?

Why is it so hard to live a consistently godly life?

Because we have a sin nature called the flesh, and we fight

against that. It constantly fights against Our

Calling as a Christian to live for Jesus Christ.

Paul uses what he knows about this war in the Soul to ask the

Church of Galatia a very important question here in

Galatians chapter 3. In verse #3, are you so foolish?

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the

flesh? He said.

How? How can you think that if you're

a new person in Jesus Christ, a new creature in Jesus Christ?

How is the flesh going to help you with that?

It's not. And I mean, he's point blank

about it. Why are you so dumb?

How can you be so foolish to think that the flesh is going to

help you? Flesh is not going to help you.

We've been saved from the flesh. We've been set free from living

as the old man. Are you so foolish that you

think that going back to that old man, or that old way of

living, that old lifestyle, can do something for you

spiritually? You've been saved from that.

Why would you go back to that? That's what Paul is asking

there. In other words, don't look back.

Because what you've been saved from, the flesh is weak, is not

an excuse to sin. It's a warning not to sin.

And I think I I believe the problem is that so many

Christians are abusing the doctrine of grace.

If I turn over to Romans chapter 6, a lot of Christians have this

Romans 6 · chapter mention

idea in their mind that because they're saved from spending an

eternity in hell, it doesn't matter how they live their

lives, right? Well, I've got liberty and Jesus

Christ, and you do. But that liberty is not a

license to sin. That liberty is a license to

live for Jesus Christ. And you have the ability to do

that because of the fact that you are in Jesus Christ.

An unsafe person cannot live a spiritual life.

An unsafe person cannot live a godly life because they're still

in the old nature. They're still, they still have

that flesh. They've never been a new

creature in Jesus Christ. They've never been made new.

They can't please Jesus Christ. They that are in the flesh, the

Bible says, cannot please God. Grace covers a multitude of

sins. That seems to be the mantra of

so many Christians today. But look what the Bible says.

This is Paul writing in Roman chapter 6 and verse #1.

Paul says this. What shall we say then?

Shall we continue and sin that grace may abound?

God forbid. How shall we that are dead to

sin live any longer? Therein he's saying you.

You're dead to sin. How are you going to live in it?

You. You.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin just so

we can have grace? No, He says, God forbid.

How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer in sin?

Look what he says in verse #6. Knowing this, that our old man

is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,

that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead

is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ,

we believe that we shall also live with him.

We're dead to the old nature. We're dead to those things alive

in Jesus Christ. That's what gives us the ability

to live the Christian life in a joyful way.

That's what gives us the ability to to to be able to live that

abundant life that he talks about.

Verse #12. I think he brings it all

together in this. Let not sin therefore reign in

your immortal body, that you should obey it in the lust

thereof. Neither yield you your members

as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but

yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the

dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness

unto God. For sin shall not have dominion

over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace.

So don't use grace as a license to sin.

Use grace as a license to live the abundant Christian life.

Don't yield your members as instruments to sin.

Yield them to God for him to use you.

Right. A knife can be a good thing and

a bad thing, right? A knife in the hand of a

criminal can be used as a weapon of murder, right?

But a knife in the hand of a of a surgeon can be a a weapon of I

don't know if weapon is the right word, but an instrument of

healing, right? It's whose hand is it in?

And that's exactly what he's talking about, yielding your

members as instruments not to sin so that you can have grace

yield them to God. You're already you're alive from

the dead. You're made new in Jesus Christ.

Let him use those instruments. He deserves them.

He's the one that's purified him.

Let him use those instruments. In other words, because what

you've been saved from, you cannot just live your life like

you please. Why would you want to do that?

He says You've been saved from a whole lot of things.

Yes, you have, Grace. And yes, God will forgive you

for the things that you do in your life, because we're not

going to be perfect. But we don't just go sin because

we have grace, because we have grace that should keep us from

sin. Of course grace covers those

sins, but we should avoid sin and that old lifestyle at all

cost. Turn to Galatians chapter 4.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

See a lot of people that don't know Christ.

Look at the Christian life is nothing more than a series of

do's and don'ts. Well, why would I want to get

involved in church? Just don't do this.

Don't do this, do that, do that. And I honestly, that's the way a

lot of young people look at the Christian life.

Just a list of do's and don'ts. They see Christianity as living

in change because of all the things that we can't do.

Well, you can't do this. You can't do that.

You can't drink. You can't smoke, you can't

curse. You can't.

You can't. You can't know.

The truth is, I could. If I wanted to, right, Nothing.

Stop me from going down to Wawa and buying a beer and and

drinking the whole thing. Nothing stopping me from doing

that right? I could go grab a pack of

cigarettes and smoke the whole thing this afternoon if I wanted

to. I probably couldn't.

I'd probably choke to death before I did that.

I've never had one, so I don't know.

But I could, right? I I could go, I could go do

anything that I want to do. It's not that I can't do those

things, it's that I don't have to do those things.

Think about the man that's addicted to alcohol.

He's in change to that alcohol. A person that's addicted to

smoking is in change to those things.

You think about pornography addictions.

Those people are addicted to that.

They they're in change to those things.

They're the ones that are in bondage.

Not me. I have the freedom in Christ.

I'm not in bondage to that lifestyle, like all of those who

are in those lifestyles that are trapped and looking for meaning

and happiness and peace, only to find out that that that in the

bondage that that they're in, it just constantly draws them back

in, right? How many times have, well, I've

been clean for for a month, but unfortunately I went back to it,

right? No, as a Christian, I don't have

to do those things. I've been clean for 35 years, 40

years. I've never been involved in any

of those things. That's because of my freedom

that I have in Jesus Christ. I'm freed from those things.

I'm not a slave to those things. And Paul sums it up perfectly

what we've been saying from in glacial chapter 4 and verse #9.

But now after that you have known God, or rather are known

of God. How turn ye again to the weak

and beggarly elements where until you desire again to be in

bondage? What's he saying?

He's saying a prisoner that's been free doesn't walk out and

say, you know what? I don't really like this free

air stuff. Let me go back into prison here.

Take me back and put me in chains.

Who does that? Nobody does that.

Right? You get your free.

I'm free. I'm free.

There's no walls around me. This is this.

I can't believe how beautiful the sky is today.

I can't believe what the sun looks like.

Right. That's what somebody who's freed

from prison does, and that's what we as Christians should do.

And what Paul is saying is when you go back to those things that

you've been freed from, it's the same thing as walking back into

prison and sitting down and asking to be put in chains

again. How can you do that?

How turn here again to the weak and beggarly elements where

until you desire to be in bondage, It's it's almost like a

rhetorical question, Paul. It's like Paul is just

dumbfounded. How can you want to do that?

And that's the question that I have for you this morning.

If you're a Christian, if you know Jesus Christ is your

savior, how can you participate in the things that the world is

participating in? How can you jump in and be

involved in the homosexual lifestyle and then sticking up

for all of those things? How can you be involved in

sticking up for abortion? How can you be involved in

Hollywood's productions? And you are when you're watching

those things, By the way, if if nobody watched it, they would go

out of business, right? You see that happen with Bud

Light, right? Everybody stopped drinking and

and they lost a huge, huge market share because people

finally standing up to some of this craziness in this nonsense.

And that's I mean that's biology.

That's all that stuff. That doesn't that.

I mean it does have a little bit to do with spirituality because

God said that he made a male and female.

But think about all the things that we should be standing up

for when it comes to Christianity that Christians

have just backed away from. If enough Christians would stand

up to it, we'd make a difference in this world.

But too many Christians want to go back to the weakened beggarly

elements where and to they desire to be in bondage.

Huge part of the problem is that most of the people who claim to

be Christians are not. There's not near as many

Christians in this country as claim to be Christians.

That's why the Bible. Says many will say it to me.

In that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in the name?

And then I name have cast out devils, and then and in thy name

have done many wonderful works? Then will I say to them, Depart

from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire.

I never knew you, right? That's people who are getting up

and preaching, getting up and proclaiming the word, getting up

and healing people and doing all these other things.

And we did all this in Jesus name, he said.

I don't know who you are, right? It's like the devils.

Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?

Right? They they were, they were

religious. They were going to go cast out

these devils. They were going to do all this

stuff in the name of Jesus. And he said, who are you guys

again? We don't know.

You and Jesus is going to do the same thing to a lot of people

who think they're Christians, who have pretended to be

Christians for a long time. These guys I know.

But who are you? I don't know You, and if I don't

know you, you're cursed into everlasting fire.

What a sad thing that is. That just goes to show you that

there's so many in this world today who claim to be Christians

who are not because they've never been washed in the blood

of the lamb, they've never been to Calvary, they've never had

their sins forgiven, and there's no change in their life.

You see. You don't have to change in

order to be saved, but you change because you have been

saved. There ought to be something

different about you and all these churches that are out

there preaching. Oh, just come as you are.

You don't have to change in order to be saved.

You don't have nothing. Nothing has to change.

Just just just claim the name of Jesus.

That's not salvation. You have a whole churches full

of people who have never been transformed by Jesus Christ.

And if nothing changed from the moment you got, from the moment

you accept that Jesus Christ is your savior, then I highly doubt

you accept that Jesus Christ is your savior.

Therefore, if any man being Christ, he is a new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become

new. You're not working for your

salvation, you're working because of your salvation.

You've been saved from something.

You ought to show a difference, and there ought to be a

difference in your life to show the.

Gratitude that you have for what Jesus Christ did for you on the

cross. Don't turn back.

Don't even look back because of all that.

You've been saved from when you remember the sacrifice that

Jesus made by going to the cross, when you remember how

miserable your life was before Jesus Christ, when you remember

what it was like to be in bondage to sin, how can you look

back? Remember Lot's wife?

She looked back. We shouldn't because we've been

saved from so much, but also #2, because there is yet much work

to do. Turn over to Luke Chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

The world is likened in many places in the Bible to a harvest

field, Jesus said. The harvest is plenteous, but

the laborers are few. And I will tell you that the

that the harvest is getting less and less plenteous part partly

because there are so few laborers, right?

What happens when you have a whole field of corn that grows

up and it's ripe and it's ready for picking and nobody goes and

picks it, Eventually it dies and eventually it keeps other things

from growing up, right. And I think that's exactly

what's happened in our world. The harvest still is plenty.

Plenty of harvest out there to gather, but most of those fields

are dying because nobody's harvested them.

Says the harvest truly is plenty of, but the laborers are few.

In Luke Chapter 9, Jesus is giving a lesson on true

Luke 9 · chapter mention

discipleship, and he has two different men that come to him

and tell him that they're willing to follow him anywhere.

And then Jesus gave them the command to follow him, and they

both came up with excuses why they couldn't.

The head of something that they had to do first.

So Jesus gives them this strong statement in Luke Chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

In verse 62, Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand

to the plow and looking back as fit for the Kingdom of heaven.

I think we could certainly apply that to somebody who is who

wants to go to heaven, but it's not willing to give up his sin

and his worldly lifestyle and forsake those things to accept

Christ. You don't have to be sinless to

be saved. You don't have to stop all your

sin to be saved, but you have to want to.

You have to have a desire. You have to have a new

relationship with your sin when you meet Jesus Christ.

That's what repentance is. Repentance is recognizing that

I'm a Sinner and that my sin is sending me to hell.

And I need a Savior, and I need a new relationship with him, and

I need a new relationship with my sin.

No longer will I love that sin. No longer will I revel in it.

No longer will I want to go back to it.

I've been saved from that but but, but I believe that we can

also apply this to Christians. He was saying you're not fit for

God's work if you if you look back I think there's a strong

allusion to Lot's wife in this passage.

In fact turn over to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

See, I think was what Jesus was saying is if you have a desire

to follow me and to reap the benefits of those who do follow

me, you can't be looking back to a worldly life again and and

hankering after it. You can't be, you can't be

having that draw that that makes you want to go back.

Not all of us are going to have that temptation.

There's that's part of temptation, A temptation to go

after this thing or that thing. But if, if, if you, if, if your

whole life is pointing back in the direction of, I want that,

like like the Israelites in the wilderness, right?

How many times did they say, oh, if we could only just go back to

Egypt, oh, life would be so much better back in Egypt.

The idea of putting your hand to the file with someone who's

intent on doing his job, he's not looking back with regret

that he undertook that job, right?

And that's exactly what he's talking about.

Somebody who is a Christian, somebody who's been saved,

somebody who who is going forward for the cause of Jesus

Christ does not regret the decision to become a Christian.

It's exactly what Jesus is trying to get across in our

spiritual lives. If you're going to serve him,

serve him with your whole heart. You come into a relationship

with Jesus Christ still loving the world, still looking with

regret on the pleasure that you gave up the wealth, the world,

the honors, and you're not fit to be called a servant of Jesus

Christ. I find it so interesting how the

Bible interprets the difference between where our loyalties lie.

Matthew, chapter 6, verse 24. No man can serve 2 masters, for

Matthew 6:24

either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will

hold to the one and despise the other.

Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Now, he doesn't say that we

choose between God and the devil.

What is? What is he saying?

That we're choosing between God and mammon, right?

You know what mammon is? It's wealth, treasure, riches.

So many people are drawn away by that.

The God says that we choose between him and the world, him

and that lifestyle, him and riches.

Serving Christ is everything or nothing.

Person that is not willing to sacrifice everything for the

cause of Christ is really not willing to sacrifice at all, and

that's what he's talking about. No man having put his hand to

the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of heaven.

Don't look back. Don't look back because of what

you've been safe from. Don't look back because there's

much work to do. And #3 if you'll turn over to

Philippians chapter 3. Don't look back, because there's

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

a reward waiting in heaven. We have the past, the present,

and the future. The past is what you've been

saved from. The present is what we have to

do now. The future is where we're going.

There's treasure and a reward waiting in heaven.

Philippians Chapter 3 is a familiar passage to most of us.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

In verse #13 it says this brethren I count not myself to

have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those

things which are behind. And reaching forth into those

things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of

the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

You know some people so well you shouldn't focus on on heaven.

You know, why would you focus on heaven as being a reason why

somebody would want to accept Jesus Christ?

Or why would you focus on on earning crowns?

It's all it's you should just focus on serving Jesus.

And I agree we should. But The thing is, why would he

give us those motivations if he didn't want us to be motivated

by them, right? If he didn't want us to be

motivated by the prize of the high calling of God in Christ

Jesus, then why would he mention it in this passage if he didn't

want us to be motivated by earning crowns?

And why would he tell us about the five crowns we can earn,

right? If he didn't want us to be

motivated by going to heaven, why would he describe heaven and

all the beauty and everything else?

He I think he wants us. To be motivated to go there and

to earn the rewards that we can earn, right?

But we have to forget some things if we're going to press

forward. And the first thing we have to

forget is past failures. See, the devil is going to try

to remind you where you failed. And we failed.

A lot of times as Christians, especially if you've been a

Christian for for quite a long time or any length of time,

you're going to fail as a Christian.

And the devil is going to point back at those things and say,

hey, remember what you did. God can't use you.

God could never use you again. Look at all those failures.

Look at all the things that you have to your name.

Look at the ways that you've messed up.

Look at the things that you've done.

So try to tell you that you can't be useful to God.

One songwriter put it this way. When Satan reminds me of things

I regret, I bring up Calvary, lest he forget.

What a what a great, what a great statement in a song.

Past failures cannot determine our future success for God,

forgetting those things which are behind, he says.

That means if you've had failures in your past, forget

them. Go forward.

You've made mistakes. The wounds heal.

Turn around and go forward for the cause of Jesus Christ.

But I'll say this too. We have to forget our past

victories. Not that we can't be glad for

them, but a lot of Christians want to live on what they did

yesterday for God. Oh, they like to dwell on things

that they used to do. I remember back in the day, we

used to and we would, and then we would.

And why aren't you doing it now? Forget the past victory.

Pretend they never even happened.

The same way we want to forget all our past failures, right?

We want, we don't want to remember the things that we made

mistakes and we want to talk about how good we are.

And all this, you know well how wonderful I used to be and all

the things that I used to do for God and all of those are still

stacked up to my credit. Pretend they never happened.

What are you doing for Christ today?

What have you done for him in the last week?

What have you done for Christ in the last month?

Forget those past victories. Living in the past is looking

back in the Christian life. Forget those past failures.

Forget those past victories and look forward to the prize that

God has for you to win. If you're still alive, then He

still has something for you to do.

When He's done with you on this earth, he'll bring you home.

If you're not home yet, then you still have work to do.

Get busy. Do it while you have the time.

Use the opportunities that he's giving you now.

You may not have all the energy that you used to have.

You may not have all the abilities that you used to have.

You may not be able to do everything you used to do, but

you can do something and do it for the cause of Christ.

There's so many more victories, so many more blessings, so many

more rewards that he wants to give you.

You can't win them by looking back and only win them by

looking forward and pressing toward that mark.

I have a cousin that's a very gifted runner, had a four year

scholarship to the University of Michigan.

And boy I remember we went up to we went up to Minnesota.

I think they were seniors and they hit their twins and both of

them are fast, but one of them is faster than the other.

One of them got a I think you got a scholarship to a division

two college and this one got a a a four year scholarship to the

University of Michigan to run track and and cross country.

And I remember we went up to visit for a family reunion in

July and we went up to Atasca State Park, which is the

headwaters of the Mississippi. And we're just going out there

to to relax. There's some trails out there

and they they came out there dressed in their running clothes

and they said, yeah, we got to get our run in.

We're we're just going to go run a short 6 miles.

And and like 30 minutes later they came back and they had run

their six miles and they just fit, you know, then they just

did everything that we we did the rest of the day.

I mean, these guys were in amazing shape, but he went to.

University of Michigan and he won.

He won several NCAA titles and different things.

I mean an excellent runner and he's only, I think he's been

graduated two or three years now, so he's not that far out of

it. He actually signed a.

Professional running contract and I forget who he runs for but

he does a lot of that kind of stuff anyway.

My dad being that he's you know obviously his, it's his sister

and and a lot of their family lives up there.

So he goes up there a decent amount, watches the races and

everything else And so he he really gets excited about the

the races. And so every once in a while has

send me a video of of some kind of race that happened or

whatever else. And a lot of times it's my

cousin, but other times it's it's different people.

And anyway. Not too long ago he showed me a

video of an indoor track meet and 1 runner had just.

I mean he he had gotten way out in front of everybody else and

he was, I mean to look like there was you know he was just

he was cruising and everybody else was kind of there.

But there was there was one guy and the announcers kept talking

about and they say I think he's just hanging back.

I think he's just waiting for his opportunity to pass and

because he should not be as far back as he is, I think he's just

waiting And he was, he was very near the back.

One lap left and the bell rings to show you that there's one lap

left and this guy started making his move and he started passing

people one after another after another and there was a pretty

good gap between 1st and 2nd place.

This guy moved up into second place and as they're rounding

these corners he was he was closing that gap and the guy

that was out in the front and and you know the the announcers,

of course they're getting all excited.

They're starting to talk about this could be a really close

finish and you know, they're they're getting more and more

excited. And and as they rounded the

final corner on the home stretch.

The the announcer noticed something that the runner in

first place did and he pointed it out and he said, oh, he just

made his first mistake. He looked back and that little

mistake of him looking back to see where that other guy was was

just enough that that guy needed to pass him as they stretched

across and and the guy beat him for first place.

The only way to effectively press toward the mark is to

continue to press toward the mark.

Don't look back. Don't look back.

Don't look back. Unless you want to go back,

because the direction you're looking is the direction you're

going to go. The interesting thing about

Lott's wife is that she was turned into a pillar of salt.

She didn't drop dead on the spot.

Why did? Why?

I mean, God didn't say don't look back or you're going to

turn into a pillar of salt, he said.

Don't look back, right? Why didn't she just drop dead?

Why didn't you know? Why didn't some burning ash

falling on her from Sodom and Gomorrah and she burned up?

Why a pillar assault? I showed you a picture of the

traditional spot of where Lot's wife was as we were going

through this when we visited in Israel.

But there's lots wife. Now whether that's her or not, I

don't know, but that's been there a long, long time.

Josephus, the historian that was alive during the time of Jesus

Christ, mentioned going to see the pillar of Lot's wife.

But God told us to remember Lot's wife.

You think maybe that's why she was turned into a pillar of

salt? Is a memorial, a reminder that

all those years ago in Genesis, when she looked back, got turned

into a pillar of salt. Here we are in Matthew, I'm

sorry, in Luke. And you can say, Hey, remember

Lot's wife? She looked back and she got

turned into a pillar of salt. God left lots Wife there is a

stark reminder to us not to do what she did.

And he says remember lots wife. There's nothing significant

about lots wife that we're given in the Bible other than the fact

that she looked back. Looking back is something that

we would do well to avoid. Don't look back because of what

you've been safe from. Don't look back because there's

yet much work to do. And don't look back because

there's a reward waiting for you in heaven.

Perhaps you're here this morning and you're looking back a little

bit. You've been saved.

Maybe you've even been saved for quite a long time.

Are you looking back? You're looking back and saying,

boy, if I could only do that. Oh, it'd be so wonderful to be

able to have the freedom to do that.

We're using using grace as an occasion to sin instead of as an

opportunity to have that freedom in Jesus Christ, to live for him

and to be used as an instrument of his.

Are you looking back? Are you looking forward in

accomplishing everything that he wants to accomplish through you?

That's the question for all of us this morning.

Let's pray. Father, we love you.

Give me. Thank you for your goodness to

us. Thank you for the reminder that

we have of Lot's wife. Tragic story for her, but a

tremendous reminder for us Don't look back.

This world has nothing to offer us.

And as we saw in our first chorus, I don't want to go back

to the world. There's nothing in the world for

me, God, I pray that don't be the mindset of every single

person in this one. In God, we're making, we've made

some mistakes. Start looking back.

Pray that you help us to get those things right with you this

morning. Pray that you give us the

boldness to take that step and got to do.

Pray If there is anybody in here that's still lost, still does

not know Jesus Christ or their Savior, still wondering maybe

where they're going to spend eternity, I pray that you bring

the conviction in their heart to the point where there is no

doubt that they need you and God.

I pray that you'd help them to make that decision this morning

as well, to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

God, may we all be where you want us to be, so that we can be

a church full of people that are being used by you to the fullest

capacity. Nothing that we're missing out

on. Nothing that we're lacking from

you because our hearts are so in tune with yours, pointing in the

direction that you're leading. And God, where we've started to

stray, bring us back. Thank you for all that you do

for us in Jesus. Amen.

If you would, please stand at your seat.