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Stop Longing For What Once Enslaved You And Start Rejoicing In Where God Is Taking You, Don’t Look Back!
The Bible is a Book that moves forward, not backwards. It was first written in Aramaic, then Hebrew, then in Greek and put into Old Syriac, Old Latin, Old German and finally in Old English. God pulls us forward into the light, Satan lurks in the shadows behind us, looking back puts us in the ring with the Devil. Staying there too long and we become bruised and bloodied in the battle. Today my message is ‘Don’t Look Back!’, and it’s a call to putting our eyes on Jesus Christ as He moves us forward here in these last days.
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which 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.” Philippians 3:13-14 (KJB)
SUNDAY SERVICE STUDY NOTES: Don’t Look Back!
Don’t Look Back!
1). Looking Back Shows a Divided Heart
Main Text
“Remember Lot’s wife.” Luke 17:32 (KJB)
Supporting Text
“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Genesis 19:26 (KJB)
Truth
Lot’s wife left Sodom with her body, but her heart was still tied to what God was judging. Looking back revealed inward attachment to a condemned world.
Application
A Christian can be outwardly separated and yet inwardly longing for the old life. God wants not just our feet moving forward, but our heart moving forward as well.
2). Looking Back Is Dangerous When God Has Called You Out
Main Text
“And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” Genesis 19:17 (KJB)
Truth
The command not to look back was connected to survival. Sodom was under judgment, and hesitation in a place of judgment was deadly.
Application
When God delivers you from sin, worldliness, false religion, or compromise, you are not to linger over what He has called you to leave behind.
3). Looking Back Makes You Unfit for Effective Service
Main Text
“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 (KJB)
Truth
A ploughman looking backward cannot plough a straight row. A backward glance in the Christian life destroys focus, direction, and usefulness.
Application
You cannot serve the Lord well while constantly longing for yesterday, revisiting old sins, old loves, old ambitions, or old defeats.
4). Looking Back Hinders Forward Growth
Main Text
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which 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.” Philippians 3:13-14 (KJB)
Truth
Paul teaches that spiritual progress requires forgetting the things behind and reaching toward the things ahead. The Christian life is a forward walk.
Application
Looking back at past failures can paralyze you. Looking back at past victories can puff you up. Either way, looking back keeps you from pressing toward the mark.
5). Looking Back Can Mean Longing for the Old Life of Bondage
Main Text
“And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Exodus 16:3 (KJB)
Supporting Text
“We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:” Numbers 11:5 (KJB)
Truth
Israel kept looking back to Egypt, forgetting the bondage and remembering only the pleasures. This is what the flesh does. It edits the memory and romanticizes what enslaved us.
Application
Many Christians do the same with the old life. They forget the chains and remember only the passing pleasures of sin.
6). Looking Back Reveals Unbelief in God’s Future Provision
Main Text
“And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” Hebrews 11:15-16 (KJB)
Truth
The saints in Hebrews 11 did not keep their minds fixed on what they left. They looked for something better ahead. Faith looks forward.
Application
To keep looking back is often a sign that we doubt God has something better before us than what lies behind us.
7). Looking Back Can Pull You Back Into Defilement
Main Text
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:20-22 (KJB)
Truth
Looking back often leads to turning back. What begins with a glance can end in entanglement.
Application
The Christian must guard his mind, affections, and desires, because the backward look can become a backward step.
8). Looking Back Distracts Us From Christ
Main Text
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 (KJB)
Truth
The Christian race is not run by looking backward, inward, or sideways, but by looking unto Jesus.
Application
When your eyes leave Christ and drift back toward the world, the flesh, regret, bitterness, or nostalgia, your race will suffer.
9). Looking Back Keeps Old Things Alive That God Has Put Away
Main Text
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJB)
Supporting Text
“I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth 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. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:15-19 (KJB)
Truth
God has made the believer a new creature in Christ. Constant backward living keeps old things on life support that God says are passed away.
Application
Stop building memorials to what God has already buried.
10). Looking Back Is the Opposite of Hope
Main Text
“Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” Proverbs 4:25 (KJB)
Supporting Text
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Colossians 3:1-2 (KJB)
Truth
The Christian life is built on hope, expectation, and forward vision. We are not camped in the ruins of the past. We are heading toward Jesus Christ, the judgment seat of Christ, and home.
Application
A backward Christian is usually a discouraged Christian. A forward-looking Christian is a hopeful Christian.
Practical Areas Where Christians Look Back
- Past sins
The devil wants you chained to forgiven things.
- Past wounds
Bitterness keeps your face turned toward old pain instead of future grace.
- Past successes
Living on yesterday’s victories produces present-day barrenness.
- Former worldly pleasures
The flesh loves to make Egypt look better than it was.
- Old relationships and attachments
What God removed from your life does not need to be resurrected.
What Happens When We Stop Looking Back
- We walk by faith
2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJB) “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”
- We grow in maturity
Forward motion is the mark of spiritual health.
- We become useful to God
A fixed eye makes a straight furrow.
- We gain victory over the flesh
Forward focus weakens backward cravings.
- We finish well
The Christian life is not about how you started, but how you finish.
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:24 (KJB)
Closing Challenge
- Lot’s wife looked back and died in judgment.
- Israel looked back and wandered in defeat.
- Paul refused to look back and pressed toward the prize.
The lesson is plain: what God has called you out of is not worth turning around to admire. The world behind you is under judgment, but the glory ahead of you is in Jesus Christ. Keep your eyes forward.
“Remember Lot’s wife.” Luke 17:32 (KJB)
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