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We're there in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, look at verse number 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse number 5. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts of itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You know, this verse can be used for many different things and as we're going through the Perfect Man series, one thing I do want to talk about is basically our thought life, you know, what transpires in our minds. Now, we all have, you know, God's given us a mind. There's nothing wrong with imaginations in of themselves. There's nothing wrong with thoughts or memories and ideas. And, you know, God's given us a mind to be able to plan ahead and, you know, get ready for changes that might develop. God's given us a mind so, you know, we can be thinking and we can, you know, read the Bible and meditate upon it and, you know, to reason and to use logic. And so, what I wanted to look at today was, you know, we all have a past, don't we? We've all got a life that we've lived. Some of us growing up in a Christian home, you know, it's a blessing. Like for myself, some of you have not. One thing I can definitely say, we've all made mistakes. It doesn't matter if you've grown up in a Christian home or not. Some have made bigger mistakes than others but we all look back to life and we can go back and remember times that we've done things wrong and we have regrets potentially. And so, the title for the sermon this morning, Brevin, is Memories of the Past. Memories of the Past, okay? And I actually initially wanted to call this sermon Forget the Past but it's not really the right title, okay? Memories of the Past. We all have a past that we've lived and we all kind of remember events that took place. And, you know, our past, you know, the experiences that we've gone through make up the human being that we are today. But you notice there again in verse number 5, 2 Corinthians 10, 5, And every high thing that exalts of itself against the knowledge of God. You know, this mind, God has given up for productive reasons. He's given us memories and thoughts for productive reasons. But we can also use the same thing that God has given us and use it for negative things. And, you know, it's kind of like what I preached last week about emotions. You know, God's given us emotions for the right reasons but sometimes we can use our emotions in the wrong reason which leads to sinfulness. Well, the same thing. This mind can be used for good. This mind can be used for evil. And sometimes we might have imaginations that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And then it says here, I'm bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Every thought we have to take it into captivity if it is contrary to what God wants to be thinking about meditating upon and the like. Now, the reason I wanted to preach this sermon is I've probably never been so aware of the problems that mental issues can cause the physical body. I think since becoming a pastor, I've become really aware of individuals that may be struggling physically. And listen, we all have struggles physically. I'm not saying that everybody has an issue or sickness, you know. But a lot of the times that people struggle with physical issues because it originally starts here, up there in the mental area. You can be thinking about just bad things, negative things all the time and it causes effects on your physical body. If we keep going there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 verse number 6, just have a look at verse number 6 quickly, it says, and having a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. I'm not going to touch upon this thought right now, but I just want you to remember this. That as we take our imaginations, our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ, what we are doing when we recall things that we thought about or mistakes that we've made in the past is that we're seeking to have revenge on all disobedience. Because we've disobeyed in the past. And it's time to take revenge on that disobedience that we've had in the past. We'll touch upon that a bit later on. But I just want you to know that that's also followed up there, the fact of casting down imaginations, you know, taking the captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And as I said to you, you know, I thought about calling this sermon, Forget the Past. But, you know, I'll quickly read to you from Psalm 111 verse 4. It says, You see, God wants us to remember the past. God wants us to remember what specifically about a past in that verse. Well, the great works that God has done. You know, God has done great things for you in the past, Brethren. He saved you. And I'm sure he's answered many prayers. I'm sure you can look back in your life and see the hand of God leading you and guiding you and protecting you. You know, when we think about God's works, he does want us to remember. He wants us to remember our past. Okay, hey, but there's a healthy way to remember the past. And there is a unhealthy way to remember the past. Okay. And so forget the past applies sometimes. But I don't want you to take the extreme view that it doesn't matter what took place yesterday. You know, no, you know, things that took place yesterday may very well be a positive influence to your future or even today. Now, can you please take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah 43. Turn to Isaiah 43, please. Turn to Isaiah 43. So even though there can be good things to think about the past, one thing you also need to understand as you turn to Isaiah 43 is you don't want to live in the past. Okay. You've lived the past already. You cannot go back in time and relive and stay in that past environment. No, God has given you a brand new day today. What's the date today? I haven't got the date on my watch. Oh, that's the 13th. Today's the 13th of February 2022. God has given you the present. And you know what? God wants you to live in the present. God does not want us to live in the past. Okay. Live for today. Look at Isaiah 43 verse 15. Isaiah 43 verse 15. The Lord God is speaking here to the nation and he says, I am the Lord, your holy one, the creator of Israel, your king. Now, what else does God say? He identifies who he is. Look at verse number 16. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters. He says, look, I'm the God that delivered this nation out of the sea. This is the Red Sea. When God part of the waters and he allowed the nation of Israel to go through those waters, he created a path. Okay. He did a miracle so they would be delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. He keeps going there. Verse number 17, which bring forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power. They shall lie down together. They shall not rise. They are extinct. They are quenched as tow. So God says, look, I wiped out the Egyptian army that went after you. Okay. These are things that took place in Israel's past. And God says, I'm the same God that has done these amazing works for you in the past. So you go, well, maybe God wants us to live in the past. No. Let's keep going. Now, look, we can't say that God is saying forget the past completely. Okay. Because it's just brought up the past. All right. But now that you remember the past, you know how God has led you. You know that God can help you. God has a testimony that he's led us through tough times. Then what does it say? Verse number 18. It says, remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. But God says, look, don't even remember anymore. Don't even think about the things of old. Why? Verse number 19. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. God says, look, yes, the past is great. I've helped you in the past. But you know what? I make a new thing. Don't dwell in the past. Don't live in the past. There's a future for you. You know, I've given you today. There's a new thing that God is creating. And of course, as we keep going through this chapter, you'll learn that God is speaking about the new thing being the return of the Lord when he's able to rule and reign on this earth that thousand years, the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Now we learn our interesting principle there. Is the past insignificant? No, God just brings up the past. But should we live in the past? No, God says, look, don't dwell in the past. Yeah, it's great that we've done these things together. I've helped you through these tough times. But listen, now focus on today and focus on the future to come. You know, we can't go back and relive those days and just live in that environment when God has given you today to accomplish great things for him. And so, as I said to you, brethren, don't live in the past, live for today. I think we have a good principle here that's laid out there in Isaiah 43. Now I want you to turn to Philippians chapter 3 for me, please. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. I've got to put my phone on silent. I'm getting buzzed for some reason. All right, Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 and verse number 13. Now this is a passage that I've read earlier during the Perfect Man series. And I said, look, I'm going to come back and touch upon this at some point in the future. But Philippians chapter 3, verse number 13. The apostle Paul, speaking to the Philippian church, he says, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. He says, look, I forget the past. I'm forgetting the things that are behind. And reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And so, brethren, as we see this, you know, we see that, you know, you can get caught up in the past. And one of the problems of being caught up in the past, thinking about, you know, just reliving that and just living in that environment, is that it's going to stop you from doing great things for God. You know, God wants us to reach out for that prize. You know, God wants us to look forward to the future. He wants us to think about what can Christ do for me today? What can Christ do for me tomorrow? What will Christ do for me all the days of my life? Is there a time to think about the past? Yes. To think about the great things that God has done for you. But then let that spur you on and say, well, if God has done great things for me in the past, then God can do great things for me today. God can do great things for me in the future. And so you see, we should not be people that relive our past transgressions. You know, I've met many Christians and I think even myself. I think we can all get to a point in our life when we look at our past mistakes and look, we've all done it. Please never think I'm the only one that has made bad mistakes in my past. Everybody has. As I said to you, some have done greater mistakes than others, but we've all made mistakes. We all have regrets. We all look back and you know why? If we really wanted to just dwell our past, we can think about all our mistakes, all our failings. You know, we can think, I wish I did it differently. I wish I did it differently. You know what? Forget about that, brethren. If you're just stuck there, mentally stuck there, you won't be able to move on in the future. All right? Please be careful. The apostle Paul was very careful. We know about his past. We know that he persecuted the church. We know that he sought to throw Christians in prison and shut down the churches. And that's a pretty wicked thing to do, to be closing the work of God, to be stopping the soul winning, to be stopping Christians from serving God faithfully. That's pretty wicked. And look, the apostle Paul can dwell in the past if he wanted to. Oh, the mistakes have made, all the problems I've done. And look, yeah, he can do that, but then he won't be able to do anything great for God in the future. You know, God wants us to live for today. He's given us a day to live today. Yesterday is done. The day before yesterday is done. Last week is done, brethren. You can't change it, okay? So stop living there and think about what can God do for my future. Now, when you think about living in past transgressions and past sins, you know, the thought behind this number one is that you just haven't really learned to forgive yourself. You know, and I'll get into that in the future. Sorry, I'll get that a bit later in the sermon. But yeah, you need to learn how to forgive yourself. You know, we have a Lord God who has forgiven us all our trespasses. When Christ went to the cross, you know, yes, he took on all our sins. He took on all our failings. He took on all our mistakes. The penalty has been paid. Judgment has been passed, okay? So you need to learn to move on because God has moved on, all right? Now, I was looking into this issue about, you know, thinking about the past, all in the past, and psychologists have this term called rumination, rumination, and they use this term to talk about people that just live in the misery of the past, okay? So look, I don't really endorse psychologists because, you know, I believe the best. If you want your mental condition, you know, go to God's word, go to the Lord God. He'll help you out for your mental conditions. But yeah, the psychiatrist may notice what's wrong with you, but they're not gonna give you Godly counsel as to how to get past that, okay? So I'm not trying to, you know, promote psychologists here. I'm just trying to pull to you some research or just an article that I read online about this issue. Re-numeration, let me just read it to you. Sorry, rumination is when you're stuck in a loop of repeated negative thoughts about the past. Now, Brevin, could that be you today? Could that be you this morning, okay? Is when you're stuck in a loop of repeated negative thoughts about the past. Now, do we all think about the past sometimes? Yes. Do we all think about the mistakes we've done in the past? Yes. You know, that's part of life. I mean, that's God's given us a mind. We remember the things, right? But this person is stuck in a loop. That's all they think about. They're consumed with their past mistakes over and over and over and over again. You know, the word has moved on. God has moved on. He's forgiven you, you know? We want to move on. We want to do great things for God, but this person is stuck in this loop over and over and over again. Another thing in this article, it says rumination is a behavior and not a mental health condition. I thought that was quite interesting because a lot of people like to think, you know, they say, well, I've got a mental health issue and I can't do anything about it. But listen, this issue, you know, about just dwelling on the past, it's a behavior, okay? You've learned a bad habit is what I'm trying to say, okay? You can't, don't take the view that, well, I can't change it, you know, I'm just living in the past and that's just who I am. No, this is that behavior. You've taught yourself to dwell on negative things. You've taught yourself to dwell in the past and the mistakes you've made. You know, you're damaging yourself. This is a behavior. And brethren, you need to learn how to snap out of this. You got to get out of this cycle, okay? And you got to live for today. You know, your loved ones need you to live for today. They don't need you to live in the past. They need you now. They need you tomorrow, okay? And if you're just dwelling on the past, you won't be there for the people that you love the most, all right? What else does it say? It says rumination can impact your mental health. So it does impact mental health by, let me just give you a list of things that I mentioned, causing or increasing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Look, I don't know. Maybe you're someone that is very anxious. You're full of anxiety, full of depression. Well, are you thinking about the past? Do you dwell on your past mistakes? Hey, this could be you, all right? This is something that God wants you to change. God wants you to cast down these imaginations. God wants every high thing that exalts of itself against the knowledge of God to be cast down, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You know what? You've got a work to do. If this is you, you got a lot of work to do up here. There's a battle to be fought for right up there, okay? And God's gonna help you along. God's gonna give you the strength. If you're struggling in that mental area, you need to go to God and say, God, help me. When I start having these negative thoughts, when I'm in this repetitive loop of my past mistakes, God, I need you to help me. Help me to put my mind on things that are positive. Help me to think about today. You've given me a brand new day today, Lord. Help me to live for today and not my past mistakes. What else? What other issues does it cause your mental health? It says it leads you to live in a constant state of dread. Is that how you wanna live? A constant state of dread? Okay, then start thinking about all the mistakes you've made in the past, okay? What else? It impairs your ability to focus. Yeah, you won't be productive for the day, right? It's sapping your motivation and limiting your ability to feel joy. Maybe you've got a lack of joy, right? Maybe you're lacking motivation. Why? Because you're dwelling in the past. All right, what else? It changes your sleep patterns. You can't go to sleep at night. You're struggling to sleep because you think about all the things in the past, all the mistakes, all the issues, all the bitterness, all whatever it is that you're going through, okay? Something you need to overcome. And also in the article, it says chronic stress. So just chronic, the idea that you're just constantly thinking about these things. Constant stress can also lead you to develop physiological challenges such as systemic or chronic inflammation. And this is what I was talking to you about. Where you put your mindset on can affect your physical body, can cause inflammation in your body, right? Autoimmune issues, things like that where your body's attacking healthy tissues, right? Because it's in this constant state of dread and negativity. In fact, the article continues by saying, constantly thinking about negative aspects of the past can also impact your emotional health. Hey, last week I preached about controlling your emotions. Maybe you can't control your emotions because you're dwelling in the past. So you can see how these sermons that they're to be, these sermons that I'm preaching about the perfect matter is they're to build upon each other, okay? Sometimes there'll be a bit of overlapping, but it's to build us to be that well-rounded, mature Christian person. And yes, even your thought life needs to be fixed. Even God wants that to be changed in your mind. And then it also says in the article, you may frequently feel overwhelmed, angry, or sad. So yeah, you're gonna have negative emotions, unnecessarily things that took place in the past. Okay, move on. You got to live for today, brethren, okay? Now you say, well, Pastor Kevin, you don't sound very loving, just move on. Well, that's what God wants you to do. He wants you to move on. I want you to move on. I want you to do great works for God. So sometimes you've got to forget that past. The mistakes, move on from it, okay? It's out of your hands now. God has dealt with it. You've dealt with it. You need to, and maybe you haven't dealt with it. You need to deal with it, okay? And move on and do some great things for God. Now, the other thing that I mentioned is, we've made mistakes, we've done sins. I'm sure there are still some consequences of the sins that carry on even today for the things you've done in the past. Sometimes those consequences may cause you to go back and dwell in the past. But brethren, just remember, they are consequences. You've been forgiven, okay? You've been forgiven by God. Let me just read to you. In fact, can you please turn to Hebrews chapter eight for me, please turn to Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight. And while you're turning to Hebrews chapter eight, let me read to you from Psalm 103 verse 11. Psalm 103 verse 11, you turn to Hebrews eight. Psalm 103 verse 11 says, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Think about how far heaven is from the earth. Can you see God's throne from where you are right now? I can't, it's pretty high. Pretty high up there, brethren. But then it says in verse number 12, as far as the east is from the west, so far have he removed our transgressions from us. Our transgressions have been removed. They were put on Jesus Christ. He paid for them on the cross. It's been done, he's been judged. You know, the wrath of God fell upon the Lord. Sin for us became the curse for us. It's been handled in the body of Christ. Brethren, if you're just constantly going back to your past and your past mistakes and your sins, you know what you're doing? You're taken away from Jesus. Jesus has dealt with it. He's paid for it. He's felt all the pain that comes with your sin and the consequences of your sin. He's felt the illness that comes from your sin. It was put upon him. It's been dealt with. Okay, he's suffered for you. So you don't have to keep suffering for the mistakes you've made in the past. You need to learn to move on. God has forgiven you. Look at Hebrews 8, verse 12. Hebrews 8, verse 12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. God will be merciful to my unrighteousness and their sins in their iniquities, will I remember no more? Will I remember no more? You see, once God has forgiven us for our sins, he doesn't just forgive us. He forgets. He says, I'm not gonna remember it. I'm not gonna bring it to my remembrance. Could God bring it to his remembrance? I guess he could, but he says, I won't. And God is true to his word. God does not lie, brethren. He doesn't, that's it. He's forgiven us. It's forgotten. Now it's time for you to forget it, all right? Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 16. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 16. Hebrews 10, 16 reads, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. All right, so God really gives us multiple verses. I can go through other passages where God promises to us that he's gonna forget our sins. He's not gonna remember them anymore. You know what? If you've made some major mistake in the past, some major sin, all right, and it's still bothering, it's still, ah, man. Hey, are you saved? Christ has paid for it. Or after salvation, if you've committed sins, hey, have you confessed it to the Lord? He's forgiven you, all right? And because he's forgiven you, he's forgotten about it. All right, what about you? Have you forgotten about it? You should forget about it. That's why you went to God, to confess it. You know, to be cleansed in the sight of the Lord. So not only that you can have salvation, but you can walk in his light. You can walk in fellowship with God. You know what? He's cleansed you, he's forgiven you, he's forgotten the sins that you've committed. This is why every new day can be a wonderful new day, where God's mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. Reverend, sometimes we're not faithful to ourselves, but God is faithful to you. You know, and you might look back and you know, you're just thinking about all the things you've done. Well, God's forgiven not just you. You know, Christ has paid for the sins of every man. You know, every believer that's placed their faith on Christ those sins have been taken care of. God's forgotten a multitude of sins. What a great God that we serve. And listen, if we're commanded to walk in the steps of Christ, if we're trying to be more God-like, if we're trying to line up our will with God's will, then this is an important part of your life that you need to overcome. God's forgotten my sins, I need to get over it too. I need to forget about it as well, okay? I said, but I can't wipe my memory, okay? Well, stop bringing it to your remembrance. As soon as it comes to your mind, hold on. God said to take these thoughts into captivity, okay? God says, I need to control my thought life. Yes, you can. Yes, you can control your thought life, okay? Don't say you can't, okay? You definitely can. Otherwise, God would not have told us to be thoughtful about the imaginations that we have in our minds, okay? Can you please turn to Matthew, please? Turn to Matthew chapter 18. Turn to Matthew chapter 18 for me. Matthew chapter 18. Another area of our life that we can't sometimes get over, it's not just our mistakes, and I've covered that in depth now, but also when people have wronged us. People will wrong you. People will do you wrong, okay? That they'll sin against you. And when people, when you don't settle things, when you don't address an issue or someone has wronged you, if they've not asked for forgiveness, they've not apologized, something that can come into your life is bitterness, okay? And you'll be like, man, this person's wronged me, and they're not apologetic. They haven't asked for forgiveness. They haven't acknowledged that they've done wrong. The Bible says in Ephesians 4 31, let all bitterness, brethren, let all, all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Brethren, all bitterness must be removed, okay? God does not want us to live in bitterness. That's what the past does. You dwell on the mistakes, on the problems, on how people have wronged you in the past. It brings bitterness. I can't believe that person is still whatever. Who cares, all right? You know what? The next point that I have for you, brethren, is forgive others. Forgive others. God has forgiven you. How about you forgive others? Look at Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18 verse 21. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. 70 times seven. You know, God instructs us to be forgiven, okay? Now, you know, there's this thought that, well, if someone comes and asks for forgiveness, then you forgive them. But if they don't ask for forgiveness, then don't forgive them. You've got it messed up, okay? Yes, there is a truth to that thought, okay? Let me share what that truth is, okay? If someone comes and they've done wrong to you and they say sorry, they apologize, you are commanded by God to forgive them. This is clearly laid out for us in the Bible. You've got no choice. You can't say, well, I'm still gonna hold it against them. No, you forgive them. Hey, you may not trust them the way you used to trust them, but you're still commanded to forgive them. Don't hang the mistakes over their head forever if they've apologized, okay? Don't just forgive, forget. God has forgiven you, and then he's forgotten what you've done. Listen, forgive, forget, move on, all right? Move on with your life. Don't hang it over the head of the person that's asked for forgiveness. You say, what about, so-and-so did this to me, and they still haven't apologized. Pastor Kevin, you don't understand. It was 15 years ago, and they still don't acknowledge what they've done. You know, they still haven't come up to me to forgive me. What did it say? Let all bitterness, okay? Let all bitterness be put away from you. So brethren, if someone has done you wrong and they haven't asked for forgiveness, you know what you do? You forgive them. Why? So you don't become bitter, okay? You don't have to walk up to that person and say, look, even though you haven't apologized, I forgive you. No, you don't have to even tell them, okay? Because yes, you're right. They should be the ones that come up and apologize to you. And if they apologize to you, the commandment is you forgive them, okay? Now, if someone hasn't apologized to you, you forgive them not for their sake. You forgive them for your sake. So you don't become full of bitterness and anger, meditating about the past. Oh, this thing happened 15 years ago. This thing happened 20 years ago. Hey, this thing happened last week. All right, move on from your bitterness. I understand, I've been bitter, brethren. We've all been bitter, haven't we? These are common thoughts, but we need to learn to overcome them. Hey, just, you know what? Okay, they wrong me. They don't wanna acknowledge it. God wants me to be focused on today. God wants me to focus about in the future, to come. The great things that God can accomplish in my life. And you know what? Just thinking about this person that has done me wrong, it just brings me back to the past. It just draws me into anger and bitterness and wrath. I need to put that away from me, the Bible says. So you know what? I'm gonna forgive them for my own sake. So I don't get stuck in that area and I can just move on from my life. Hey, and if one day they come up to you and ask for forgiveness, bonus. Bonus, then you can actually tell them, yes, I have forgiven you for that already. So you need to get over it forever and you need to get over the past, okay? Put the past behind you, stop living in the past. It's going to affect you. And I promise you this, it's gonna affect your loved ones. It's going to affect your spouse. It's going to affect your children. It's gonna affect your friends if you're just constantly in the dumps, okay? You know, one thing that I, as a husband, as a father, one thing that I just really want in my life, yes, I want my own personal joy, but even more than my own personal joy is to see my wife happy. Even more than my personal joy is to see my kids happy. Honestly, I'd rather live a life of misery and see my children and my wife happy, my loved ones happy. But here's the thing, they can't be fully happy if I'm living a life of misery, see? I contribute to their life. We're not just these people that live in a little isolation cube. And our effects don't affect other people. Your output, okay, whether it's a negative one or a positive one affects the people that you love the most, all right? So if you truly love somebody, okay, you truly love your spouse and your children, you gotta learn to overcome those things in the past because you're only gonna hurt them as well, okay? And they're gonna be cast down. You know, why isn't my wife happy? Why isn't my husband happy? Why aren't my children happy? It's gonna cause effects, okay, to others around you. Please, please love your loved ones. I know you do. One way to love your loved ones is to get past the past. Get past the past. Get over the past, okay? Get over the past. All right, can you please turn to 2 Corinthians now, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, where we had the reading from, 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And at the same time, you know, God has given us the ability to remember the past. God has given us the ability to remember our sins. God has given us the ability to remember our mistakes. Is it ever wrong to revisit our sins? Is it ever wrong to revisit our mistakes? You say, Pastor Kevin just said he was. No, I didn't say that. I said, don't live in the past. Don't dwell on the negative, okay? Obviously God's given us the ability because there's a profit in being able to look at the past mistakes that we've made, all right? And while you'll turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, I'm going to read to you from Hosea chapter six, verse number one. Now we went through the book of Hosea, not long ago as a church. You may recall this about the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And God had prophesied through Hosea that would be captured by the Assyrians, all right? And in Hosea chapter six, verse one, it says, come and let us return unto the Lord. He have torn and he will heal us. He have smitten and he will bind us up. And so brethren, one thing we learned there is that God, yes, in the past, sometimes God will chastise us. Sometimes we've been torn by God because of our sins, our mistakes. But then what? What do we learn? So now that we're in the dumps, you know, we can look back the dumps and say, well, you know what? Not only will God allow bad things to happen as a consequence of our sins, not only would God humble us and chastise us, but also he will heal us. He will also bind us up. What am I saying? What I'm saying is that it is good to look back at your mistakes, to learn from them, to see God's hand of leading, to see how God's helping you from those mistakes that you've made in the past. You're there in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse number six. I just read that bit earlier. It says, for though I may just, sorry, and having a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. You know what? You look back at all your disobedience, you look back at all your sin, and instead of just going, oh, I can't believe it. No, you know what? You say, what? I'm gonna take revenge on the disobedience that I've done. I'm gonna take revenge for the sins that I've committed. Okay, how do you take revenge for your disobedience? As it said there, when your obedience is fulfilled, you take revenge on your disobedience by becoming obedient, okay? By becoming obedient. What do we learn? Learn from your mistakes, okay? Learn, that's why God's given us a memory. Not to live in the past, but then we can say, man, I made some mistakes, man, I definitely did. Thank God that he's forgiven me. Thank God he's not only forgiven me, he's forgotten about it, but you know what? I'm gonna use that experience to learn from my mistakes. I messed it up last time, I'm not gonna mess it up this time. You know, I made these mistakes, I'm gonna teach my children to make sure they don't make the same mistakes that I made. You know what? I have that story, I'm gonna tell my kids about the story of the wrong that I've done, the consequences, so they can learn not to make the same mistakes. That is the right view of having the past brought to remembrance, so you can learn from them, so you can take revenge on your disobedience. Please go to chapter seven now. Second Corinthians chapter seven, verse number eight. Second Corinthians chapter seven, and verse number eight. Second Corinthians chapter seven, and verse number eight. Now, you may recall that the Corinthian church was a messed up church, Paul's having to rebuke them, all right? And that was the first letter, he rebukes them sharply, he rebukes them a little bit more in Second Corinthians, but he's also praising them for the changes that they've made. And he says here in verse number eight, Second Corinthians chapter seven, verse eight. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent, for I perceive that the same epistle have made you sorry, though it were for but a season. He says, look, when I wrote that letter, the first Corinthian letter, you know, it made your church very sorry, right? It brought them back, remembering the things that they've done, remembering the mistakes they've made, remembering the fact that the carnal and the men worshipers, and they're not serving God the way that they should, it made them sorry. Now, brethren, okay, did they stay in that continual sorrow? Did they say just in that repetitive loop of all the mistakes we've made? No, he says, look, that it made you sorry, though it were but for a season. I made you sorry for a season, a period of time. Yes, it's fine to look back and go, man, we messed up. All right, for a season. Then what does that mean? For just a period of time, then move on, okay? Because then it says in verse number nine, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance, for you were made sorry after a godly manner, godly manner. You're remembering the mistakes in a godly manner, why? Because it's causing you to repent. It's causing you to go from disobedience to obedience. It's causing you to realize the mistakes that you've made, and now you want to do better. It says that you might receive damage by us in nothing, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Now think about that, brethren, okay? Is it okay to have sorrow of the past? Of course it's okay if it leads you to repentance, if it leads you to learn from your mistakes, hey, that's a godly sorrow. But listen, if your sorrow is of the world, you're not gonna learn from your mistakes, okay? You're gonna be dwelling in the past, poor me, all the mistakes I've made, and the Bible says this worketh death, okay? This is why, as we saw earlier, the mental condition can affect your body. It can deteriorate, it can cause you to die, okay? Die earlier than what God's intention was for you in your normal, healthy state. Look at verse number 11. For behold, this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge, remember that? Revenge on your disobedience, what revenge. In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. You've cleared yourself, you've made changes, you've fixed the mistakes, now you're all clear from the mistakes that you've made. What zeal is causing you, yea, what revenge, what clearing. Reverend, that's why God's given us memories, to think about the past, so we can think, man, yea, I really messed that up, but you know what, I need to learn from this. I'm gonna take revenge for my stupidity. I'm gonna take revenge for my sinful ways and do better today. So, brethren, you know, forget the past, yea, it's a fitting title, I guess, but I don't want you to just completely think, well, it's never okay to go back to the past, it's okay, as long as it's godly repentance, godly sorrow that leads you to repentance, okay, and not worldly sorrow that leads to death. Just dwell on the past, mistakes that you've made. Brethren, again, we've all made, I'm not trying to mock anybody. Please, if you think I'm preaching this, ah, Pastor Kevin must be referring to me, maybe I am, maybe I am referring to you. It's the Holy Spirit of God letting you deal with your heart right now, okay? But brethren, I'm the same, we're all the same. We can all get stuck in the past, okay, and forget the mistakes that we've made. And as I said, do some have greater sins than others? Oh, we need to move on, okay? We need to have godly sorrow that will lead us to repentance to fix the mistakes that we've made in the past. All right, can you please turn to Psalm 77? Turn to Psalm 77 for me, please. Psalm 77. And while you're turning to Psalm 77, I'm going to read to you a quick from Revelation 2, verse 4. And Revelation 2, 4 says, Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Okay, so we know that Christ here is speaking to a church that's left the first love, all right? And you know, and we soon see that because they've left the first love, they're not doing the first works that God has asked them to do. But he says in verse number five, Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen. Jesus Christ says, look, remember where you used to be. Remember your spiritual highs. Remember when you're doing great works for me. See, there's another time to look back at the past. So look at the great achievements we've done for God in the past. And then look at us today. Hey, are we moving forward? Are we continuing great things for God? Or have we dropped the ball? Okay, so that's another time to look back at the past. You know, to review ourselves. How well is our service for God? And it says there, remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, okay? And do the first works. Yeah, repent. Start doing the works that you've not been doing. Or else thou will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. So there is a good time to look back at the past as well, not just to learn from our mistakes, but also to look at our achievements, okay? So recall your spiritual achievements and remind yourself, man, I used to do some great things for God. Why aren't I doing that today? Man, I used to go soul winning every week. Why aren't I going soul winning this week, okay? Why haven't I been? I need to get back on it, okay? You remember the past to help you, motivate you to do things for God today. You're there in Psalm 77, verse number one. Psalm 77, verse number one. The Bible says, I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. In the day of trouble, I sought the Lord. My soul ran in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. So we start Psalm 77 with the Psalmist in despair in the time of trouble. He's calling out to God for help, all right? Many of the Psalms like this, of course, but I want to drop down to verse number five. He says this, I have considered the days of old. Man, I'm thinking about the past now. The days of old, okay? He's troubled right now. He's troubled today. He goes, I'm going to look at the days of old. Yeah, what about the days of old? The years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with mine own hearts and my spirit made diligent search. He's really thinking about the past, the songs of the night that he used to sing unto the Lord. All right, drop down to verse number 10. And I said, this is my infirmity. He goes, right now I'm suffering. I've got sickness. I've got infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings. As I said to you, brethren, another good time to remember about the past is to recall your spiritual achievements, to recall the times where God has helped you in your life. You might be going for a time of infirmity, sickness, you might be going for a time of trouble right now. And you might be that downcast and look, I don't blame you. That's what's gonna, that's the result, right? You're going for troubles, it's going to cause some downcastness, some depression, some sadness. Well then what does the Psalmist say? When I'm in that state, I'm gonna recall the days of old. I'm gonna remember when God saw me through. I'm gonna remember when God did great works for me. And when I recall the past, it's going to help me in the present. All right, he's not recalling the past mistakes and dwelling in all his depression and sadness. No, he says, I need positivity right now. All right, now I'm suffering, I need some positivity. Where do I get that from? My past, when God saw me through. And once again, if God sees me through, has God seen me through before? God's done great works for me before, then God's gonna help me in this time of trouble as well. Brethren, God's given us a wonderful memory so we can be positive minded, so we can draw from the great things that God has done so we can continue having hope for the future. Knowing that God has delivered us before, God will deliver us again. Please go to Psalm 118. Please go to Psalm 118. And I'm going to read to you from Ecclesiastes 7, verse 10. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 10. I like this verse actually a lot. Ecclesiastes 7, 10 says, Say not thou, so don't say this, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? You know, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? You know what people say, the lingo we use today, the good old days. Have those good old days? Yeah, when we used to be able to walk the streets without being concerned about theft or robbery, or the good old days when children had respect for their elders and they don't have it today. The good old days, you know, Bible says, say not that, don't say this, okay? What is the cause that the former days were better than these? Then it says this, for thou does not inquire wisely concerning this. You're not being wise. You're not inquiring wisely the good old days. Brethren, you know what the good old days were bad old days as well. There was bad things that took place in the past as well. I mean, look, World War II was in the past. How much destruction and loss of life did that cause? The World Wars, Brethren, all right? I mean, you know, yes, there are good things that happened in the past, but there are bad things that happened in the past. Hey, Brethren, there are good things that happened today and there are bad things that happened today. There are good things that are gonna happen tomorrow, but there are bad things that are gonna happen tomorrow. There's always good and bad. The Bible says, look, forget the good old days. All right, hey, rejoice in the positivity, but don't think they were good then and now it's all horrible. God wants us to live today. He's given us today to live for him. I'm glad you're in church. I'm not sure who's at church, but I'm glad you're at church. You're living for the Lord God. He said, today's a day where I can be in the house of God amongst believers, hearing God's word. I'm gonna start this day, I'm gonna start this week in a positive way, hearing the word of God, amen. Singing him praises, amen. Fellowshiping with the Brethren, amen. Going soul winning, amen. Okay, good old days, great. Make today good as well. Make today a good old day in the future, okay? The Bible also said you're in there in Psalm 118 verse 24. Psalm 118 verse 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will think about the good old days because today is such a horrible day. There is so much crime, there's so much sin today. You know, homosexuality, it's just out of control. Oh man, we're sick of this word, abortions. Yeah, you know what? We ought to be sick of those things. So Brethren, this is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in us. You don't have an option. God says rejoice and be glad because God has given you today. Stop, man, good old days. Today's a good day, okay? Today's a day that God, did God make today? Then it's a good day. Is God good? Then today's good, okay? God has given you a day today to live for him, to serve him, to meditate upon him. Brethren, we need to fill our mind with positivity, okay? If we're looking at the past gives you a positive view for today, praise God for it. But if it just brings you low, then you know that's an imagination that I need to take into captivity. That's a thought that's contrary to God. God wants me to live today. The past is gone. I can't change that. I can't fix that. Can you please turn to Philippians chapter three? Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, verse number four, please. Philippians chapter three and verse number four. Another mistake some people make about the past and is they glory in their, sometimes people, you know, not just look at their past and be like, man, I really messed up. But they actually can glory in their past. They can glory in their life even before they got saved. I'll read the passage first and I'll give you my thoughts around it. Philippians three, verse four. It says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh that he have whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. Wow, man, this pool is really good, eh? Circumcised, right, from a child. They've been following the law. The stock of Israel is the chosen people of God. Right, that's what people say. Or the tribe of Benjamin. Hey, that was one of the good tribes, right? The southern kingdom. And Hebrew, the Hebrews, even the Hebrews looked at me and said, man, that is a Hebrew, all right? As touching the law of Pharisee, man, he's educated in the Old Testament laws, even though they believe the law of rubbish, okay? They said, hey man, look, if I, look, he goes, if I, I can glory in my flesh if I wanted to. Okay, I can glory about my past if I wanted to. Concerning zeal, because man, I had zeal persecuting the church. Yeah, I was so zealous for God, I was persecuting what I thought was a cult back then, okay? Touching the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. No one could look at me and say, man, that apostle Paul is really defiling the law. No, it's, man, this guy is really trying to follow the law. Okay, blameless. Verse number seven, but what things were gained to me, those I counted loss to Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. I count it but dung, because man, the achievements that I did in the flesh, the achievements I did before I was even saved, that's just rubbish. It's dung. It doesn't compare to Jesus Christ. I don't want to, I want to win Christ. I'm saved, and I just want to serve him. It's so much better to be in Christ Jesus than where it was, where I was in the past. You know, sometimes we may dwell in the past, and you might say, you know, before I was saved, man, I had so many friends, right? Everyone liked me. I was the popular one. You know, I had all these mates. I had everybody. Everybody would come to me, and then I got saved, and then my friends departed. You know, they left me, because I thought I was this religious nut. Okay, oh man, the good old days. Like damn, when I had all these mates. You know what? It's dung in comparison to what you have today, brethren. It's dung, okay? You know what the other thing that I think about in this passage is we would have, in my old Christian high school, we would have people come in, and you know, I think I've shared this before, but you know, we would have like some guy who's been in prison for 20 years, and he's tattooed all the way up, you know, and he might come out and say, man, you know what? Back in my days, I was on the streets, and we dealt with drugs, and I stole cars, and you know, I don't know, committed murder. You know what? And I've been thrown in prison for the last 20 years, but now I'm a Christian. Praise God, I've repented from all that, and you know, they give their testimony like that, and these testimonies were 99% about their wicked past, and like 1%, and now I found Christ. Now, first of all, these people weren't even saved because they believe salvation was, I've cleaned up all this part of my life, and look at me now, living for Jesus. That's not salvation. Salvation isn't you cleaning up your life for Jesus. Salvation is Jesus giving his life for you, that your salvation will be by faith alone without the works, without glory in the flesh. But you know what these testimonies I heard in my Christian high school? They would glory in the flesh. They would. That's how I did all these things, and you know what? The students would walk away from that, we called it chapel, would walk away from the chapel, not going, like the students aren't speaking to one another saying, man, what a wonderful work Jesus did in that man's life. You know what they walked away with thinking? Man, you know, this guy's so cool. Look at the tattoos on his body. You know, this guy's been dealing drugs. This guy's had a hard life. How cool is this guy? And so the students would be glorified in the life of old, the sins of old. Why? Because that's a testimony. That's what they glory, they don't glory in Jesus. They glory in their past. We had so many of these testimonies, bikies, long hair people coming, all these past things that they've done. And you know, I'm sure the teachers thought this would encourage Christians to live a Christian life. No, it motivated Christians to live a horrible life, to think they must be cool, this hard life to live on the streets or whatever it is. No, there's no glory in the flesh. It's all done, it's all rubbish. Forget about it, okay? Glory in Christ, win Christ, live for Jesus. God has given us salvation. God has given us new life at the church. He's given us so much. He's given us a King James Bible that we can learn the truths of his word. He's given us his Holy Spirit. It's amazing how much God has given us and is so much more valuable. The things of the past can't even compare. The things of the past cannot compare. You know, you may have had a whole bunch of friends because you were some popular, you know, whatever, you know, troublemaker, whatever. You know, what's even better to have your friend as the Lord God? You know, having your sins forgiven, being able to be led by the Holy Spirit of God. Hey, that's your best friend. That's your closest friend that you could possibly have. Okay, it's so much better to be saved than to glory in your past. All right, I'm near the end now. Please go to Isaiah 65, go to Isaiah 65. This is more of a conclusion, really, what I'll be looking at today, sorry, right now. But I hope this sermon's been a benefit to your blessing. You know, please be careful about your thought life. You know, if you're downcast today, think about why that is. Why are you downcast? Are you downcast because you're just constantly in the past and just beating yourself up for your mistakes? Well, God's forgiven you. He's forgotten, move on. You might be downcast because you're going through troubles today. Okay, and yeah, okay, you're going through troubles. Think back to the time when God delivered you. Think back to the times when God has helped you and done great works for you. Be encouraged in the Lord. Be hopeful, be prayerful that the Lord will see you through once again. All right, God wants us to have a positive view today, to have our minds upon Jesus Christ, not to be dwelling in the past. But look at Isaiah 65 verse 17. And I throw this as a bonus to the sermon, okay? Because sometimes we ask me a question, you know, when we get to heaven, are we going to remember our life on this earth? You know, I think some people, I've heard this a few times. People think that when we get, once we get to heaven, especially the new heavens and new earth, that we're just gonna completely forget like planet earth. Like we're gonna forget, you know, the years that we've lived and like, you know, I'll be walking up to brother Hayden was there. So I'll be walking up to brother Hayden, right? And say, hey, you know, my name is Kevin. Nice to meet you for the first time. And like, and having no recollection of what took place before. And the reason is that misunderstanding, I think, I think from what I've heard is they get it from Isaiah 65. So let's have a look at this. Isaiah 65 verse 17. Isaiah 65 verse 17, please. I'll give me a minute to turn there. Isaiah 65 and verse number 17. All right, the Bible reads, "'For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.' And then it says this, "'And the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind.'" So some people read this passage thinking, okay, we're not gonna remember the old earth at all. Like we're not gonna remember anything about what took place. We're not gonna remember where we were born. Like I'll be meeting my kids in heaven for the first time and have no idea that my kids are on the earth if they're saved, okay? But you know, but let's keep going to verse number 18. And I know it sounds that way, but look at verse 18. It says, "'But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem, a rejoicing of a people, a joy.'" Now I believe when you look at Isaiah 65, just these two verses, you can work out what you forget, okay? So in verse number 18, God says, "'Look, the reason I look,' because it starts with but, okay, verse number 18, "'But,' but instead of, you know, thinking about the former things of the past, but I want it to be a place of gladness and rejoicing.'" Okay? Yes. So if the new heavens and the new earth is a place of rejoicing and gladness, then what things are we gonna forget? Well, obviously the things that brought sorrow, the things that brought sadness, all our wrongs that we've done, all the things that might break your heart. Those are the things that will be forgotten. It's not that everything gets forgotten. It's just the things that bring sorrow, okay? And I do believe if you just look at these two verses together, that will be a conclusion, unless you look at verse 17 alone, and that's where you draw that thought. But the reason I wanted to do this, can you please now turn to Revelation 21? Turn to Revelation 21, because when Isaiah 65 speaks about the new heaven and the new earth, it's always thinking about future events, okay? We know that Revelation 21 speaks about these future events. So let's turn there. Revelation 21 in verse number one, because this teaching from Isaiah 65 comes up again in Revelation 21, okay? Revelation 21, verse number one, just to give the context, it says, "'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.'" Just to show you, yep, this is about the new heaven and the new earth. Now drop down to verse number four. It says here, "'And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.'" So we saw in Isaiah 65, the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. Revelation 21 clarifies a little bit more. What are the former things that are passed away? Well, we just saw God wiping away our tears. Why? No more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, neither shall there be any more pain. So this part of our earthly life, the pain, the sorrow, the sins, the problems that came with the sins, these things, our tears are gonna be wiped away, and the former things are passed away. There will be no remembrance of the things that caused us pain in heaven. And then look at verse number five. "'And he that sat upon the throne said, "'Behold, I make all things new.' And he said unto me, "'Write for these words are true and faithful.'" So if all the sadness and pain is taken away, yes, all things are new, we're gonna be able to rejoice in new Jerusalem, in the new heavens and the new earth for all eternity. The point being, even in heaven, even in the new heavens and the new earth, we are gonna be able to remember our lives in the past. But it won't be the bad things. It'll be the good things. It'll be remembering salvation. It'll be remembering what Christ has done for us. It'll be remembering all the help that God has done for our lives. It'll be all the good memories you have with your family and friends. And maybe some of those same family and friends have done you wrong, well, those things will be forgotten. You will just remember the positive things, the great things. You'll be looking back at your life thinking, man, I lived such a great life. Right now you're thinking, man, I've lived a miserable life. No, but those things will be forgotten. All that pain, all that sorrow, all that suffering, will be forgotten. And the new heavens and the new earth will be a place of rejoicing. Yes, remembering the things of the past that gave us joy, being focused upon eternity to come. I love the Bible so much. I love the great hope that we have, you know, that these pains will go. And brethren, if that's how God's gonna help cause us to live our lives in the future, rejoice in, okay, forgetting the bad things, not living the past, then brethren, bring some heaven to you today. You know, you don't have to wait for the new heavens and the earth. Bring some of that today into your heart. Forget the past, okay? God has forgiven you. God has forgotten for the mistakes that you made. Okay, be positive minded and understand that God has a great plan for you this very day. Let's pray.