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Hey man, so keep your place there in Luke chapter 9. So there's a lot going on in this chapter. It's a long chapter. But the context of the chapter I want to point out, just look back at verse number 2, just to keep the context, we're going to look at the story at the very end of the chapter. But I want to just, you know, as all the things that happen, the transfiguration, all the conversations and advice Jesus gives, look down at verse number 2 where Jesus, where the Bible says, and he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. So the whole context of the chapter is kind of captured in the first couple of verses and then the last few verses of the chapter, and that's what we're going to talk about this morning, where Jesus is basically sending out the disciples to preach the kingdom of God. And then at the end of the chapter, he's saying for people to follow them, and then he gives some certain advice to a couple of people that want to follow him. Look down at Luke chapter 9 in verse number 57. We're going to look at this last couple of conversations that Jesus has at the end of Luke chapter 9, but the main context is in the sense that Jesus is going out to preach the kingdom of God, and he needs people to come with him to preach the kingdom of God. Look at verse number 57, and the Bible says, and it came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. So that means whithersoever means anywhere. It means anywhere you go, I will go with you. Look at verse number 58, Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man have not anywhere, not where to lay his head. He's like, well, you know, it's not going to be easy. This is difficult. This is going to be not something that is pleasant, but look at verse number 59 for the first exchange that I want to look at this morning, where he says unto another, follow me, but he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. And Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And then a second man comes up to him in verse 61 and says another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go, bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So the title of the sermon this morning is looking back. Looking back is the title of the sermon this morning. Now if you look at these two exchanges, these two specific exchanges in verse 59 and verse 61, one could read through that in the Bible and those could seem like very harsh answers that Jesus gives, where somebody wants to go back and attend his father's funeral and then somebody wants to go and literally just say goodbye to his family. I mean, these people aren't saying we won't follow you, Jesus. They're just saying, well, one says I have to go back and bury my father and the other one says, you know, I want to just go say goodbye to everybody because I'm going to follow you, Lord. Well, the first one that wants to go bury his dad, Jesus basically says no. He says no. He says let the dead bury the dead. I mean, you say that seems pretty harsh and then the simple one, the other one, you know, that wants to go back and say goodbye, the answer is the same. He says no. And then he gives this advice at the end that says, you know, any man looking back, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So the question this morning is why? Why did Jesus give this type of answer to these two men on, you know, wanting to go and just take care of this business that they had to take care of before they came and followed Jesus? So I want to give you some advice. I want to give you really four main points this morning on how to handle the past, on how to handle things that are in the past while explaining why Jesus gave this seemingly harsh advice to these two men. I mean, you just take these two cases and you have one, you know, who wants to go back and bury his father, attend the funeral or whatever that entails of his father. And what's interesting is this has literally happened here. This literal case has literally happened here. You say, why is there a problem with somebody going back and burying their father? And by Jesus saying, let the dead bury the dead, it implies that here we have a bunch of unsaved people back here and it's going to be, you know, this funeral for an unsaved person by unsaved people. Look, the problem is, is there are many things back there. There are many people back there and funerals tend to bring lots of different people from lots of different areas back. Many people just see themselves, you know, see, there's certain people in lives of people that they'll only see them every 10 or 20 years at a funeral is one of those things where there's all these different things. There's family. There's probably a lot of business that needs to be wrapped up, you know, when a head of a household like that dies. There's many, maybe there's obligations to somebody that come up, you know, during the course of that funeral. But Jesus was just saying, he's like, look, he's like, we're going forward. We're going this way. Why do you want to go and deal with all of that? I mean, where were they going? I mean, he literally set up in verse 56, you know, the Son of Man doesn't come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Jesus is literally talking to the disciples about going to save people and these two men that want to be disciples, which what is a disciple? It is a follower of Jesus, somebody that is not only saved, but then follows Jesus. These wannabe disciples just, you know, Jesus is like there's people up here to save. Like the building's on fire. The building's on fire, and here we have people that are, you know, wanting to volunteer to be firemen that want to go in the opposite direction. Jesus is like the building's that way. The building is in front of us, you know. I mean, souls are on the line. This is why Jesus seems so harsh to these people, because souls are on the line. Jesus, all he saw was the kingdom of heaven and, you know, the lost souls that needed to hear the gospel. That's what he was all about. I mean, even the second guy who wanted to just go say goodbye, Jesus is saying, don't even say goodbye to the past. He's like, just come forward. See, the problem with saying goodbye to the past, and Jesus knew this, and there's many examples that we'll look at this evening, is that, or this morning, is that the past could convince you to stay. This is the problem that Jesus didn't want them to go back and even say goodbye. He didn't want them to be part of the past. He wanted them just to go into the future. So look, that's really the first lesson that I want to get you to see this morning, is that the past presents danger to the future. And this is why Jesus was saying, you know, look, you've just got to stay away from the past. You just can't go back there at all, because it endangers the future. I mean, it seems counterintuitive that the past could ruin the future, but it's very true, and that's what Jesus knew. So people, a lot of people, their past can literally derail the entire rest of their life. And then, you know, their entire life becomes regret, because they could never get away from the past. I mean, regret's a big deal. A lot of people will say, well, I have things to go back in the past. There's things, but I have regrets. There's things that I feel bad about. This guy wanted to go back and get some things right with family members at the funeral, whatever it is. But look, Jesus is saying you have to just leave the past in the past, because it has the ability to destroy your future. That's why he gave these harsh answers. Look, regrets, I've said this before, but you can learn, where do regrets come from? Regrets in people's past, where do they come from? In order to understand where regrets come from, you have to understand that there's three ways, there's three ways to learn things in this life. The first way is the way that we all want for our children, I hope. I hope that that's why you bring your kids to church and why you teach your kids the Bible, why you want your children to have a biblical worldview, why you want to have your kids have a Bible-based education at home, because you want your kids to just learn the easy way, which is just to hear it, to see it in the Bible, and to just do it. You want your kids to read the Bible, to see the Bible, and to do the things in the Bible to just avoid all the pitfalls in this life. That's the best way to learn. The second best way to learn is from watching other people fall into the pit, and seeing other people fall into the pit, and also hopefully knowing the Bible, and being like, okay, that person just fell into a pit, I don't want to do that. I don't want to be like that guy, meaning you're learning from other people's mistakes. Look, these are the two regret-free ways to learn in your life. But there's a third way, and unfortunately, many of us have chosen the third way to learn. The third way to learn is to literally just fall in the pit ourselves. Just go and just walk, and you fall in the pit, and you smack your face on the bottom of the pit, and you say, oh, man, I don't want to do that again. But that is where regrets in your life come from. But here's what you need to understand about regrets in your life, because a lot of people really get hung up on the pitfalls in the past. But here's what everybody needs to understand in their life. Everybody has regrets, everyone. Every single person has regrets. There is not a single person here or anywhere or anyone that you know or ever will know that can look back in their life and say, you know what, I did all that right. There's nobody. So to let regrets hang up your future is ridiculous. There's nobody that did it perfect all the time. There's nobody that didn't fall in the pit and learn, you know, the worst way, at least sometimes. So, I mean, I've preached a whole sermon on, you know, what do you do about regrets? Well, you say your sorrys, you do your trespass offerings, meaning you say your sorrys and you get what you can right. That's all. You say your sorrys, you ask for forgiveness, well, what if they won't forgive me? And that's not on you. You say your sorrys, you do your trespass offering, which is you make, you make restitution where you can. You did something that cost somebody a thousand bucks, pay them a thousand, give them the money back. You do that and then guess what? You move on. You go forward in your life because the past has the ability to destroy the future. If you hang out in it, which is why Jesus said, don't even go back there. Turn to 1 John chapter number 1. It seems counterintuitive, but it's very true that the past can just destroy your entire future. Many people will never have a future that they can be, you know, that they can present to the Lord that would be pleasing to the Lord because of their past, because they can't get beyond the past. Look at 1 John chapter 1, but here's what you need to understand. If you are hung up on the past, whether it be regrets or, you know, things or people in your past, if you're hung up on those things, that is not of God. That does not have anything to do with God. Look at 1 John chapter number 1 and look at verse number 9. Regrets, guilt, these are feelings that can be used to control what you do going forward, and that is not of God, and that is what you need to understand. Look at 1 John chapter 1 and verse number 9. The Bible says this. It says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is not a salvation verse. This is talking about getting right with God. Look, if you take this, if you take this as a, just a side note, if you take this as a salvation verse, this is where you get the Protestants. This is where you get Etch A Sketch theology, where I have to get resaved every single Sunday. I have to go and confess my sins to a priest. I have to say a confession in church, whatever it is, and I have to wipe that slate clean when I go to church every Sunday or every month or every other month or every quarter or whatever it is, it's not salvation, it's talking about being right with the Lord. And the Bible says if you confess your sins, look, you should confess your sins. You should confess your sins to the Lord on a regular basis. You should be constantly getting right with the Lord. And guess what? He'll forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's not talking about forgiveness for salvation. That's talking about being right with your heavenly Father. See, people may withhold forgiveness from you, but God will not. But God forgives, and He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. As a matter of fact, turn to Hebrews chapter 8, turn to Hebrews chapter 8. The Bible says that when you have gotten things right, look at Hebrews chapter number 8 and verse number 12. I'm trying to prove to you this morning how worthless, how damaging, and how ridiculous and stupid it is to hang out in the past, to get hung up on the past, and quite frankly, how dangerous it is, how detrimental it is. Look at Hebrews chapter 8 and verse number 12. The Bible says that once you've gotten right with God, once you've confessed your sins, look at verse 12. It says, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 10, 17 says, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. He says it twice within two chapters. The Bible here is saying God is telling you that if you are hung up in regretting your past, that's not of me, God is saying, because I don't even remember your sins after you've gotten them right and you've confessed them, and I've forgiven those sins. Having the past to derail your future makes no sense at all. An analogy I've used before is it's like you're lost, you're lost in the woods and you're confused, you're lost, you don't know if you're going to get out, and then somebody walks up to you and they hand you a map and they say, hey, you're right here and all you have to do to get out is just follow this map and go this way. And then instead of getting up and taking the map and walking out of the woods, you sit there and cry over the fact that you were lost in the first place. That's how much sense it makes to allow the past to stop, to derail, to damage your future. But it is very real. Turn to Luke chapter 15. It is very real and it is a very real danger and many Christians for some reason get wrapped up in their past and allow it to derail their future. Look at Luke chapter 15 and verse number 10, Luke chapter 15. So the first point, again, the first point that I'm trying to convince you of this morning from the Bible is that the past can damage, the past can destroy the future. The past has that ability. You need to be aware of that. You need to understand that and you need to be careful with your past because of that. Look at Luke 15 verse number 10. Now we see this analogy in the Bible. Look at verse 8, not verse 10, verse number 8. Either woman having 10 pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, Jesus is giving an example here. He's giving an analogy here. Doth not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligent till she find it. And when she has found it, she calleth her friends and neighbors together saying, rejoice with me for I have found the peace which I had lost. Likewise I say unto you that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. One sinner that changes his mind and gets saved. One sinner that goes from being lost to being saved. And the Bible here says everyone is happy. Found it. Everyone's happy about it. Heaven is literally rejoicing in the fact that this peace, that this sinner, that this person is now saved. So imagine, just imagine for a minute, imagine somebody, you know, living a life that they shouldn't have been living and then, you know, hearing the gospel preached and getting saved and you know, heaven is literally rejoicing in the future of that newly saved Christian. Heaven's rejoicing. Heaven is looking forward and as Jesus, as his, the vision of Jesus is only a vision of lost souls. It is only, it is only about the kingdom of heaven to Jesus. That is the perspective of Jesus when he is speaking. So he's only thinking about the kingdom of heaven and trying to get as many people as possible into the kingdom of heaven. So when somebody gets saved, heaven, I mean that's, that's what's happening here. It says likewise, I say unto you, so the analogy ends in verse number 10. It says likewise, like this, I say unto you that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. When one person gets saved, meaning when you go out soul winning today and you preach the gospel to someone, you lead them to trust in Jesus Christ, heaven is rejoicing at that point. Angels in heaven are rejoicing at that moment at 2.45 at something that happens in, on a street in Fresno. Heaven is rejoicing. The angels are rejoicing. And then that sinner that is now saved, they just, and heaven's rejoicing, why? Because somebody got saved, yes, but now that person is going to be another soldier for Christ that's going to go out and get more people saved and this, the kingdom of heaven is growing and growing and growing and then that person turns backwards and starts walking backwards and it's just like, what in the world, where are you going? This is what Jesus was getting at. This is why Jesus was saying, why would you go look back that way? Wait, what are you doing back there? Why do you even want to look back there? Why would you want to put your hand on the plow and even look backwards? It's not going to work. This is what Jesus is saying. So the first point is this, your past has the ability to destroy your future. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter number five. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter number five. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter number five and look at verse number 17. So the first point is that your past has the ability to destroy your future so you need to not even look in the past. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse number 17 and the Bible says, in 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse number 17 says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Look at this, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. The second point is this, going forward means you're leaving things behind. Notice it says old things are passed away. There should be, if you're going somewhere new, there should be something new there. There should be something that is different. There should be something that is new. I've literally had people, you know, quit the Christian life because they're like, this is also new to me. It's supposed to be new. It's all new because you're going to a new place. It's a place that you haven't been before. The old things, the things that you do know, those are the things that should go away. Everything in front of you will be new because you haven't been there before. But guess what? If you're going forward, so this is a good test, am I growing in my Christian life? Well, are there new things in front of you? You should ask yourself that question. Ask yourself these two questions, are there new things in front of me and am I leaving things behind? Because if you're like, everything's just kind of the same. There's nothing new in front of me and there's nothing that I'm leaving behind, you're not growing in your Christian life. You should be going forward and literally all things should be new to you. I mean, I've heard that so many times. People will come to church, they'll visit and they'll get into church and things like that and they're just like, oh, this is eye-opening, like it's all just eye-opening. That's how it's supposed to be because all things are new and then things will just inevitably, if you just keep doing the new things, inevitably you will have to leave the old things because if you stay in the old things, it will destroy the new things. This is what Jesus is getting at. If there's nothing in the rearview mirror, you aren't moving forward. You know, this means that as the first guy said, I want to go back and bury my father. You know what that means? It means that you might have to leave people in the past, literal people. Because guess what? People in the past, people in the old things that are still there, you know what, they're going to want you to still be there too. That means that you might have to let people go. Well, people that have no problem with your future, especially people that want to go with you in your future, want to be part of your future, that's not what I'm talking about. But there's going to be people that are in the past that are in those old things that want you to stay in those old things and don't want you to leave those old things. Those people, those people need to become part of the old things as you go into the new things. Look, somebody with a lot of regrets is going to have a lot of people that want to keep them in those regrets. And that is not, like I said, that is not of God. Somebody that wants to keep you in those regrets and wants to keep reminding you of those things, that is not of God. Those need to be part of the old things as you go into the new. Look, there might be things. So there might be people that need to become part of the old things that you leave behind. There might need to be things that you leave behind. There might need to be sin, things that you struggled with in the past, things, look, these things, things that could stop you in your past, sins that you struggled with could stop you from going into your future. Those are things that will want to keep you in the past, but you need to identify those things. You need to identify those things. You need to make those things part of the old things. You need to leave them behind. You need to put those things far away. If you have struggles with things, if you had struggles with alcohol or drugs or fornication or whatever it is, if you have, you know, you have internet problems, you need to get far away from the computer. You know you can survive without a screen. You know that? You know if you don't look at a screen all day, you will not die. You can survive. You know there's, let's get, I mean, let's get crazy this morning, but here's the thing, folks, there's a real world out there. There's real people out there. There's real relationships out there. You know, this online world, the fakeness of the online world is a very similar, you know, analogy to the past destroying the future because the fake online world will destroy the real world for you. I mean just like regrets, just like focusing on the past, the fakeness destroys the real. I mean tell me, tell me that, tell me that a husband looking at women on the internet, you know, good luck with your real relationship with your wife if that's what it's going to be because the fake will destroy the real. Just like the past can destroy the future. You can survive with all those things. There's things that you may need to leave behind. If you've struggled with things in the past, don't go anywhere near them. If you've struggled with alcohol or, you know, whatever it is, don't go anywhere near that thing. And by the way, those things in the past might also be attached to people in the past. So anything that you've struggled with in the past that's attached to people, you've got to leave those people too. You've got to leave all of these things behind. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. There might be places in the past. There might be places in the past, but you know what, when it says all things become new, you might need to change the scenery in your life, like literal places. Look at Ephesians chapter number 4. Look at Ephesians chapter number 4. Look at verse number 22. Look what the Bible says here. It says in verse number 22, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts. That's super interesting right there. So the Bible here is saying that the old man, what's the old man mean? The old man, the old ways, that's before you were saved. That's the man before you were saved. Talking about just he had deceitful lusts, what's that mean? That the old man, look, every single one of us here was the old man, was somebody that wasn't saved. The Bible here is saying when you weren't saved, you had desires, lusts. You had desires that were deceitful. You had lusts that weren't right. Look, you just had interests, things that were driving you, things that commanded your decisions that were deceitful, that weren't not the right things. But now are you the old man now? So here's what's interesting. Look down at verse number 24. It says put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and truly true holiness. So you had this old man that had all these desires and wants and needs that drove your life and drove your motivations and drove your what? Really just drove your decisions, both good decisions and bad decisions. And then you become this new man, and here's what's really interesting. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 36. I think that one of the reasons, one of the reasons that God sent the lower kingdom of Judah into captivity, just one of the reasons, one of the side reasons why he sent them into captivity for 70 years and then brought them back is it's a picture of the old man versus the new man. Look at verse number, go to Ezekiel chapter 36 and look at verse 20, 20, we're going to go to verse 26 first and then we'll go back to verse 24. But look at this. It's very similar to what I just read you in Ephesians chapter 4 where God here is talking about how He's going to bring them, you know, He's going to bring them back as a nation. But this applies very well to the individual who gets saved from that old man to that new man, from that, those deceitful lusts to that, you know, just a heart of righteousness. Look at verse number 26. It says, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. Sound familiar? And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. Now here's what's interesting. Look up at verse number 24. Look up at verse number 24. So He's saying He's going to change the heart of the nation. And really what He means is He's going to change the heart of the individual. He's going to make the nation get right. And what does that entail? What does that entail? It entails them actually changing their physical location. We're talking about places that you might leave behind. Like when you, you know, when you decide to move forward in your Christian life, you may have to leave actual places behind. Look at verse 24. For I will take you from among the heathen after the captivity and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. So let me ask you this question. As you were the old man and you get saved, what are the odds that as you live that life, and I don't know when you got saved, you know, maybe you got saved when you were 15, maybe you got saved when you were 25, maybe you got saved when you were 35 or later, whatever. My point is, is that when you had those deceitful lusts that were driving all your decisions, what are the odds that you get saved and you're exactly where God wants you to be? And you're exactly in the location that you need to be. As the, you know, you think about the things that drive, you get born again, you have a new life, you start over and you think about the things that, you know, from a job to family to just preferences of where you want to live, this is why you end up with people that are like, they get saved and they're just like somewhere where there's just no church at all that they can go to. And it's like, well, I mean, it's totally understandable that you can end up in that situation because you had deceitful lust before. Whether or not there was a good church there had nothing to do with why you made the decision to live in the middle of North Dakota or whatever. I mean, that was just family preferences, job preferences, the deceitful lusts, the deceitful lusts that drove you as the old man. So when you get saved, it's totally understandable that you wouldn't be in the right place because what was driving you was deceit. What was driving your desires and your wants and your decisions was not God, was not righteousness. You might need to change the scenery after you get saved. I mean, it's kind of a story I'm tired of hearing. I mean, it's kind of like, well, I got no church. I don't know what to do. All things are new. Maybe the place needs to change. Look, maybe even, you know, maybe just the neighborhood needs to change because there's too many people in the neighborhood. There's too many things and places that bring you into the past. It's totally understandable that you would be in the wrong place when you get saved. What matters is whether or not you let that wrong place and that past destroy your future. That's what matters. I mean, it's time to stop letting the past and deceitful lusts of the old man destroy the future. So when people, you know, people talk to me and, you know, come and visit and things, and they're like, oh, we wish there was a church like this where we're at. It's like, hey, you know, maybe I'll just start being mean. Instead of just being like, oh, yeah, you know, well, you know, you could move. People have done it, you know. You know, a lot of people have done it. There's nothing unique about me. Tons of people have done it. So many people that I know have done it. You say, why? Because they were in the wrong place when they got saved, and it was all old stuff. And all things become new, and they're like, oh, well, we need to go there. That's the new place. That's where we should be. It's very clear, and they go there. But what is it? What is it that keeps people in those places? It's the people. It's the things. It's the places. It's the past. It's the past destroying the future. That's exactly what it is. I mean, the new man wants new things. All you have to do is just, I mean, the place that you are now, this is, you know, those are the things of the old man. That's why Jesus said in Luke 9, follow. You know, what they were saying, Jesus, I'll follow thee. And Jesus is saying, no, you won't. Because Jesus is saying, we're going somewhere new. And the first thing they said, I'll follow thee. And then the next thing out of their mouth was that they wanted to go somewhere that Jesus wasn't going. So the main issue, look, turn to Hebrews chapter 12. So look, the past can destroy the future. And number two, number two, if you're going into new things, that means that new things should be in front of you, and old things should be behind you. Look at Hebrews chapter number 12. Look at Hebrews chapter number 12. And look, especially for the new man, like literal man, the new man who's going to be leading a family into all things new, this is super critical for the new man. I mean, so for the new man to be sitting here, and because look, the Christian life and the Christian family is led by the man. It is led by the husband and the father. So it's really, really bad. And Jesus was talking to men here. It is very bad for a man to be crying about the past, because there's a bunch of people waiting on him to get up off the forest floor and start moving in the right direction, following the map. It's extra critical. So to let the past, to be stuck in the past as a man that is leading a wife and children, it's crucial that that doesn't happen. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number one. Here's the main issue, folks. Let me just wrap it up like this. Here's the main issue in this Christian life. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number one. The Bible says this. It says, we're foreseeing we are also encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. This is right after, remember, Hebrews chapter 11, the faith chapter, talking about all the great men and women that kept the faith of the past. It says, we're foreseeing we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which just so easily beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. So notice, Christian life is compared to a race here. There's a few things here. First of all, all the people from the past, Isaiah and Samson and all these, Abraham and Sarah, all these people are watching us. These are witnesses to what we are doing now. It says, take the weights off you. What's it saying? It says, don't weight yourself down with things in the past. Don't weight yourself down with things that don't matter. So you've got to put these weights off of you so you can run this race. You've got to get rid of the sin. Otherwise, it's going to what? It's going to drag you back. It's going to stop you from going forward in the race. But the question is this. It's compared to a race. Do you run a race backwards? You don't run a race backwards. Who does that? Who just is constantly looking backwards? It's always like the football game or whatever, where the dummy looks behind him to see if he's ahead. And then the guy's right behind him and takes the ball from him or something like that. But he's looking over his shoulder. No, you run a race forward. You run a race going forward. Here's another thing, and here's really the main point. Here's really the main point and the reason to preach a sermon like this. Can you stop a race once it's started? A race is timed. Can you make your kids younger? You say, well, you know, I haven't been a good parent. Boo hoo. There's been times where we all haven't been good parents. I haven't been a good parent. Confess it, say your sorrys, and start running now, though. I mean, kids, kids, you know what kids care about? You know what kids care about if you have a parent that's made a lot of mistakes and they're just stuck in regrets and all these different things about things that they did in the past. And you're just like, look, especially fathers and leaders of families, you just kind of have to become a man now. Kids care what happens now. Kids care what you do now. When you see older children that have no confidence in their parents because their parents have made so many mistakes, it's because their parents go and they say, oh, sorry about that, and I'm gonna be better now, but nothing changes. Right. If starting rate now, all you did was look into the future and started actually running the race, the regrets would stop. Everything would become what? New. Because you've never done it that way, but what people do is like, oh, sorry, and they just keep doing the old stuff. Oh, sorry about that. So yeah, people lose confidence in them. But all kids care about is what you do now. I mean, even if there's a hesitancy of people to forgive, it's usually because they think you will look back. They think you will constantly be looking over your shoulder. And Jesus knew, you know, Jesus knew, he says don't even look back because he knew that, you know what? You go where you're looking. I used to coach baseball. I don't know if you knew that, but I would teach little kids, you know how you teach a little kid to hit a baseball? You teach them to never, because what little kids try to do is they, somebody pitches a ball at them and the kids stand there, and the minute they start swinging the back, they turn their head and they're like, they close their eyes and they swing as hard as they can and they close their eyes and they just start looking at the clouds or closing their eyes or whatever. You say, no, no, no, you keep your eyes on the ball and you throw your hands through the ball. And I would just teach the little kids, six, seven year old kids, you just look at the ball until it hits the bat. They watch the ball the whole way and you throw your hands through the ball and you just, your hands go where you're looking. And Jesus knew, you go where you're looking. You're looking back at the funeral, that's where you're gonna go. And the person that came to me and said, I'd like to go back and bury my father, I'm like, don't go, never came back. That was it, never saw him again. Because you go where you're looking. You go, you follow where your eyes are looking. Turn to First Corinthians chapter number nine. Actually, you go to Acts chapter 20. I'll just read for you First Corinthians chapter number nine. The important part of a race is to know that it's timed. It's, you can't go backwards in a race. Know ye not, First Corinthians 9, 24, you're going to Acts 20. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize. So run that ye may obtain. What is the most and only important part of a race? Think about it. What's the only important part of a race? Say you start a race and the gun goes off and you fall down on your face and you scrape your knees and everybody's laughing. You're like, look at that fool. He fell down, he didn't get started right. Everybody runs up ahead of you and you're all scraped up and everybody's laughing at you and they're saying you don't know how to run and they say you don't know what you're doing and you shouldn't even abandon the race in the first place. But is that the important part of the race? Look at Acts 20, 24. It says, but none of these things move me, Paul says. Neither count my life dear unto myself so that I might what? I might finish my course with joy. Paul is saying, remember our study in Acts. They're begging Paul to not go to Jerusalem. They are begging. They're crying. They're telling him, don't go there. The Holy Spirit was saying to him, you are going to be arrested there. And Paul said, I don't care about that. He said, I don't care about what happens to me in this life. What is important to me is that I finish well. All that matters in a race, folks, is the finish. In Ecclesiastes chapter nine, the Bible says the better is the end of the thing than the beginning thereof. Actually, turn there. Go to Ecclesiastes chapter seven. It doesn't matter if you fall down and you scrape your knees at the start and everybody's laughing at you and maybe you're running and halfway through the race you fall down again. And everybody's just like, what in the world is this guy even in the race for in the beginning? Maybe they're laughing at you. Maybe they're throwing things at you. But all that matters even at that point is the end. In Ecclesiastes seven, verse number eight, better is the beginning, is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. But now look at verse number 10. But say not thou. Look at this. So the Bible here is saying it's the end that matters. It's ending well that matters. This is exactly what Paul was saying. He's saying, I'm going to Jerusalem. I don't care what happens there. I wanna go to Rome. Why? Because the end matters and I wanna end well. And I don't care how it ends. I wanna end well though. Now look at verse number 10. Say not thou. What is the cause that the former days were better than these? You know what the Bible is saying there? It's saying, don't say. What could have happened before? Don't cry over the past. Don't cry over the things that have happened before. All that matters is how you end. And that's exactly how a race works. If you run hard and finish strong, nobody even remembers the start. Because the start never mattered. Only the end matters. Look folks, I mean this is a serious thing. And this is a serious theme in the Bible that God is trying to just drive into our hearts again and again and again. Turn to Genesis chapter 19. Turn to Genesis chapter 19. Turn to Genesis chapter 19. When God sent the two angels to take out Lot and his family, look there was four people. There was four people that were taken out of the city. Only three made it. You say why is that? Look at Genesis chapter 19 and look at verse number 17. And you wonder why the angels said this. You wonder why the angels said this because it has direct application on our Christian lives, on our new path going forward in our Christian lives. It came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad, nothing's in the Bible on accident. When they had brought them forth abroad and that he said escape for thy life, what did he tell everyone? He said look not behind thee. Neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Now look at verse number 24. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities and that which grew upon the ground. Verse 26, but his wife looked back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt. God killed Lot's wife simply because she looked behind her. God was like, you know what? It's bad enough that you went to this city, that you lived amongst these wicked sodomites and all these people and you were vexed with these people for years. It's bad enough that I had to send two angels in there to save you and rescue you. And then out of all that, you come out of the city after the angels save you and what do you do? You look back and you're like, oh! And he just strikes her down right there. God is saying, no, you look forward now. I have saved you from all of that. I give you forgiveness when you confess your sins to me. I will make my relationship with you right every single day of your life. I will give you eternal security and then you can confess your sins to me every day of your life and we can have a great relationship and then you're gonna go and you're gonna look back and you're gonna go back to those people and back to those sins and back to those things, which what? Stops you from going forward and doing what you need to do for the kingdom of heaven. Go to Jeremiah chapter 29 and we'll end here. I mean, just looking back and I go, you know, I did so many things wrong. Everybody did it wrong! Amen. Luckily, luckily, as we struggle so much with this in our lives, luckily, and I thank him for this, luckily God does not look back. God looks forward. Jeremiah 29, 11, the Bible says, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you what? To give you an expected end. God looks forward. Why in the world would we look back? Let's bow our heads and have a word.