Remembering And Forgetting

Introduction

Well, somebody’s already changed the clock. We’ve moved up to an hour. It’s 5 15. I know my body feels like it’s 4 15 and ought to be just waking up from a nap or something. I don’t know. Feeling excessively tired tonight, but let’s study for a little while together from the word. We’re going to look at a couple of passages of Scripture by way of introduction tonight that when you stand them side by side might appear, and I’m emphasizing the word might appear to be in conflict with one another. Let’s look at 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 9. In this passage where Peter is talking about adding to our faith various qualities, and if these qualities are ours, we will be fruitful in the true knowledge of Jesus Christ.

He says in verse 9 that he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten the purification from his former sins. So if we leave off in the pursuit of these qualities, it’s because we’ve forgotten something that we were supposed to remember. That we have been saved, our sins have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. And that’s to be motivation or impetus for us to continue in the pursuit of these qualities. And if we leave off in this pursuit, it is because we have forgotten our former manner of life. So, don’t forget. Well, Philippians 3 and verse 13, then. Paul, on the other hand, and Philippians 3 and verse 13.

He speaks of attaining to the resurrection of the dead in verse 11 or to the resurrected life and perhaps even a bodily resurrection. There’s debate about what he refers to there. And that he has not obtained it yet. He has not already become perfect. But he presses on in order that he may lay hold of that for which he was laid hold of by Christ. And then he says this in verse 13, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. And reaching forward to what lies ahead. Well, on the one hand, we have Peter in 2 Peter 1 saying, don’t forget the purification of your former sins. And Paul in Philippians chapter 3 saying, forget what lies behind.

And reach forward to what lies before. Oh no. Well, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to remember or forget? And do these passages come in conflict with one another? Well, let me give you some other biblical examples before you become alarmed. There are other passages when you set them side by side, may appear to be in conflict with one another. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. And let me just say, if we come to the end of the day and say the scripture is contradicting itself, we have a very serious problem. Because this is God’s truth, and it’s the truth that sets men free. And so one of the very fundamental things about the Word of God is that it must harmonize with itself.

It’s one of the key and fundamental truths about this book. This book must harmonize with itself. It can’t be in conflict. And yet a lot of people interpret the Bible all the time in such a way that they put passages in conflict with each other. And I’ll tell you when that happens, what has happened? Their exegesis on one of those passages or of both of them is wrong. They have come to a wrong conclusion. You must not bring the Bible in conflict with itself. There is a way to rationalize these statements. Okay. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. By grace, through faith, you’re saved. Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

And let me just say this is one that particularly gets abused. Our beloved brother Paul wrote some things difficult to understand, and some rest those or twist those to their own destruction. This would be one that is often twisted and abused. Not of works, lest any man should boast. And so some would conclude about that verse that Paul is saying God does everything in salvation, and you don’t have to do anything. The implications of that conclusion are far reaching and disastrous. But that’s what some think Paul is saying in Ephesians chapter 2. That’s not what he’s saying. But if you just take these words, he says, not of works. Okay? So now go over to James chapter 2. In James chapter 2. And verse 17. This is this familiar faith versus works, or faith and works section of James.

When he says in James 2 and verse 14, if a man says he has faith but has no works, can that faith save him? That’s a rhetorical question. The answer is no. If faith doesn’t work, it’s not saving faith. Alright, verse 17. Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead. Being by itself. Okay, so James is telling us that faith without works is dead, and yet Paul has said, For by grace have you been saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. So of works or no works. Now one of the things you should see already is that these passages are not speaking about the exact same things. Okay, so that’s one of the keys to this. Here’s another Luke 14.

Jesus says, if you’re going to be my disciple, and don’t hate your own wife and father and mother and sisters and brothers, and yes, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple. He who does not carry his own cross cannot be my disciple. And then he challenges them to first sit down and count the cost. And so he says, hate your father and mother and sister and brother, even your own life. And some people do want to take that very literally and say, Yeah, I’ve wanted to hate my spouse for a long time. Or my brother or my sister. But is that what Jesus is commending them? Is that said in contrast then with Ephesians 5:25, where Paul said, husbands, sorry, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church.

Okay, so on one hand, Jesus says, hate your wife. It says it there. And then over here, Paul says, husbands love your wives. Well, which is it? Hate or love. Again, different things are happening in these two contexts. Another one. I talked about this on Christmas Day, if you’ll recall. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That famous quotation from Jesus’ birth story. Actually, the newer translations have better translated it. And that is peace on earth among men with whom God is pleased. The newer translations have done a better job with that statement. But peace on earth. But then Jesus would later say in his ministry in Matthew 10, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. A man’s foes will be they of his own household.

Well, which is it? Is God bringing peace or is it? He said in that text, I didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword. And yet he would later tell his disciples, or perhaps earlier, in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. And then this text, Sherry helped me with this one, I have to acknowledge, in Matthew 28, would Jesus said all authority. A passage we looked at in our Bible class this morning has been given to me and in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That’s the commission he gave to his disciples. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I would use this verse right at the top of the list to say baptism is necessary for salvation. To be baptized into a relationship, into the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism isn’t an afterthought in God’s plan. Well, then you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 17, and Paul says, now he’s an apostle too. Now he wasn’t present in Matthew chapter 28, but he is an apostle now, the apostle untimely born, and he says to the Corinthians, for Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent his disciples to Matthew 28, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. But Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not in cleverness of speech, the cross of Christ should not be made a void.

Now, if you just take those verses, rip them out of their context, set them side by side, they may appear to be in conflict with each other. But don’t you just think about the second verse there? Now, if Christ called on Paul to preach the gospel, does not the gospel involve a preaching of baptism? Well, certainly it does. Acts chapter 8 would illustrate that the story of Philip and the eunuch. And this is a figure of speech here that Paul is using. He did not merely send me to be a baptizer, but to preach the gospel. And the end result of that, of course, is that he’s going to baptize folks into Christ. But there were some in Corinth who said, Hey, Paul baptized. I am of Paul.

And that kind of division is not of the gospel. Now, baptism is of the gospel, but that kind of divisive spirit is not of this message that Paul had preached. And so we’re learning a little bit about the need to see words and phrases in their context. Obviously, in Luke chapter 14, Jesus is not saying you can literally loathe and despise your spouse. Sorry, Bert. Can’t loathe your spouse. He’s talking about, of course, loving him more than all those other relationships. And in the passage about peace, God offers his peace to all, but only those who embrace his peace receive. The relationship with God where sin is removed, and yet those, because many reject, it brings division within families. And it divides brother and sister, the very nature of the gospel because they don’t embrace the message of peace as you have.

Of course, the passage in Ephesians chapter 2. He’s talking about the basis of salvation. The basis of salvation is not by works that we have done, but a combination of God’s grace and man’s faith. Now, if you’re talking about the definition of faith involves our activity. Faith involves our working. And that’s all James is. James isn’t talking about grace and faith. He’s just talking about faith and how faith works. He isn’t saying that justification is the result of perfect works. James isn’t talking about that. He’s just saying real faith does something. And Paul agrees with that. And he has other passages that would say the exact same thing. And so these passages only come in conflict with one another when you remove them from their context and place them side by side.

This is an important fact in Bible study. And I noticed this morning when we were looking at 1 Corinthians 2 in Mike’s class, when Paul said there in verse 16, we have the mind of Christ. You might say, okay, mind of Christ. And then Paul said something about that over in Philippians chapter 2 when he said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Jesus Christ. Well, it’s not exactly the same in both contexts, even though both mention the mind of Christ. But we tend to want to do that. We see something in one context and we say, it’s the same thing in another context. Not necessarily so. And so that’s the warning of this particular study, and that’s the introduction. I really want to get to these two passages.

And like these other passages, they are not in conflict. That’s why I had to get the verses off of there. Because 2 Peter 1 9 and Philippians 3 13 are not in conflict with one another. They actually harmonize and go together. So exactly then, what is to be remembered and what is to be forgotten. We need to have a healthy remembrance of our past. All the way along in our Christian walk, we need to realize that we are what we are because of what God has done. And we owe everything to him. And when we lose sight of that is when we stop working at our faith. We must never forget from whence we came. That’s what Peter is telling us. However, there is a limit to that remembering to the extent that it does not discourage our spiritual walk.

Peter is encouraging a spiritual walk. And yet there could be a remembering or a dwelling upon the past that’s not healthy for us spiritually, that deters our spiritual growth. And so Paul is saying look, what’s in the past is the past. You can’t let that cripple you.

1. Remembering and Forgetting Past Sins

On the surface might appear to be in conflict, but they are not. Number one, let’s talk about remembering and forgetting past sins. What are we going to do with that baggage in the past? Thankfully, God forgets completely. That is one of the great provisions of the gospel, one of the great promises according to Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 12, and in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 17, when he promised their sins and iniquities, I will remember no more. You know, we’ll talk about this in a moment. We struggle to forget some things in the past. The older you get, the easier it gets to forget things. We have that to look forward to. But sometimes it’s hard for us to forget what’s in the past. You know the amazing thing?

I really believe God can choose to forget. To totally wipe clean the thought of the past if he wants to. But if that’s not what it’s saying, I know what it is saying for sure. That whatever was done in the past, if it’s remedied by his teaching. If we fall in line with his prescription for those sins of our past, he wipes the slate clean completely. We ought to find as Christians great solace in that. And I want you to look at a passage, and I love this passage when I started looking into this study tonight in Micah chapter 7. When Micah comes and then he’s had some hard things to say about his people and his times. Israel, of course, was up and down like a roller coaster and often more down than up.

But Micah has this affirmation in regard to the righteous. Who is a God like thee who pardons iniquity? In Micah 7 and verse 18. And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession. He does not retain his anger forever. Because he delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Doesn’t that make you glad? When you think about your forgiven past, that God takes our sins and he throws them into the depths of the sea. That’s pretty buried, isn’t it? That’s gone, obliterated. Another passage in Psalm 10. Psalm 100. I worked a sermon from this text with my good friend David Holver.

A sermon called Total Praise. Psalm 103, rather, Psalm 103. In Psalm 103, it says that he redeemed our lives from the pit. And then he goes on to say in verse 10 of Psalm 103, He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, this is the depths of the sea kind of stuff. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. I love that. How far is that? From New York to California. As far as the East is from the West, that’s how far he’s removed our sin from us.

That was the promise of the new covenant. Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more. And that was so important in the Old Testament, prophesied in Jeremiah chapter 31, quoted in Hebrews chapters 8 and 10, as we’ve already quoted, because that wasn’t available under the law. That kind of forgetfulness where our past sins were concerned. And so where does our two texts that we started with come into play? Well, in 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul thanks Christ for putting him into service. Because he showed him mercy, even though he was formerly, and this is the proper remembering. Now remember, Paul has said in Philippians 3, remember that passage? Forgetting those things which are behind. But now he’s recounting them.

Because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant. With the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance. That Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. This is a proper remembering. And it helped Paul keep his focus spiritually. I don’t think Paul could ever remove the thoughts of his past conduct. How many times do you think the stoning of Stephen was replayed in his mind? Or later than that in Acts chapter 8, when he wreaked havoc on the church, ravaged the church? Do you think those thoughts ever flooded his mind? He just mentioned them here in 1 Timothy chapter 1. And that recalling of what his past was motivates you to add to your faith like Peter was talking about.

So what did he mean in Philippians 3? Forgetting those things which are behind? I want to tell you, those thoughts, as horrible as they were in his mind, they were fueled for his faith, but they did not cripple him. He still basked in the mercy and grace of God and knew that those sins, as awful as they were, had been forgiven by the blood of Christ. And now he was determined to live a life of gratitude and debt and service to Jesus Christ. He embraced the forgiveness that was offered and desired no more, though I’m sure he did, as we do. He desired no more to disappoint his Lord. And so here’s the thought. Are your memories of your past and specifically your past transgressions? Are those memories helping you, or are they hurting you?

Are they the springboard for spiritual progress, or are they crippling you? I’ve known of people who would not partake of the Lord’s Supper because it says to partake in a worthy manner, and I’m not worthy. Well, you’ve been instructed, all Christians who are formerly sinners have been instructed to partake of the Lord’s Supper, so in that sense, none of us should be taking it. Because none of us are worthy in that sense. That’s not what the passage is talking about. It’s talking about a way of partaking it that is remembering the Lord and his death and how important it is in our forgiveness and salvation. No, if you’re looking for worthiness in that sense, no, you’re not worthy of that. None of us are.

Because you’ve transgressed again. What a disappointment you are. And you know, all sin is disappointing in God, and I’ll get to that in a moment, but there’s a remedy. Simon the sorcerer is one of my favorite stories. And it ought to be a favorite of all believers in the New Testament. Here is a man who believed and was baptized when Philip was preaching there. And yet he saw the ability that the apostles had, Peter and John, to lay on a hands and impart the Holy Spirit, and he said, Wow, get me some of that. Hey, can I have that ability? And Peter said, You have neither part nor lot in this matter. And I think that passage is saying that Simon, you’re not an apostle. This is, you’re not going to have this ability.

Only the apostles have this ability. You have neither part nor lot in this matter. And he says, furthermore, your heart is not right in the sight of God. I’ve just been forgiven of all the sins of my past, and I’ve messed it up already. Just walk away, forget it’s over. And after all, Peter says, You’re in the gall of bitterness and the bondage of iniquity. And I’ve said many times, that’s pretty bad, isn’t it? The gall of bitterness and the bondage of iniquity? That sounds bad. It is bad. But isn’t God’s mercy great? It wasn’t over for Simon the sorcerer. It’s not over for us. He says, repent and pray. That the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. Now let’s focus on the repentance part.

2. Remembering and Forgetting the Sins of Others

I mean, he had to get over that desire for what he had no right or part of. Repent and pray that the thought of your heart might be forgiven you. So do you have a healthy remembrance of your past sins? Secondly, let’s talk about the sins of others. What about remembering and forgetting in regard to the sins of others? You know, we have a lot of us. Some people are crippled by their past. And I’ve addressed that in point number one. But some folks really struggle with the mistakes of others. In regard to their own mistakes, we’re more than ready to move on. Let’s act like those things never happen. And boom, on we go. But the sins of others. Well, that’s perhaps a little bit more difficult.

We can more easily move on from our mistakes. And we look at some of the mistakes other people have made, and they are a lot more scandalous. And I’ll tell you, because we view it that way, that’s one of the reasons why people don’t want to publicly confess wrongdoing. I’ve been in situations where I told people I wouldn’t publicly confess that. Oh, the thought that the preacher would tell them they didn’t need to confess that publicly. First of all, it was a private matter. And they’re talking to me because they want my guidance and assistance and help. And I think that’s really the idea of James 5.16. I have another whole sermon about James 5.16 is not a passage that’s talking about confessing to the church.

When it says, confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you might be healed. I don’t think that’s talking about, well, whenever you’ve committed a sin, confess it before the church, and then the church is going to pray for you. There is a need for public confession, don’t get me wrong. Because this fellowship is all about our confidence in each other that we are genuinely striving to be true to the Lord. And when we’re doing something that is not reflective of that, I need to know, and you need to know that I’ve forsaken that. And that I am genuinely striving to serve the Lord. And so I’m not saying public confession isn’t warranted. The whole basis of our fellowship in this local church depends upon our confidence in each other that we are striving to serve the Lord genuinely.

So there’s a time for public confession. I just don’t believe James 5.16 that’s the first thought in James’ mind, as he says, confess your faults one to another. And the reason why I don’t recommend in every circumstance that people confess sins publicly because of the difficulty some people have from moving on. There are sins in our minds that are more scandalous. Fornication, adultery, even homosexuality, and sins in any of those areas.

And there are ramifications socially. There are consequences to some of the sins that we commit that do make them fairly significant in relationship. But the question is when a sin is forgiven, and when someone has truly repented of the wrongdoing, how are we going to regard them now? Some people will struggle to get past this sin that they know about in someone else’s life. But here’s what I want to tell you. Regardless of the sin of your past. How many? How awful in terms of our judgment of them. Every sin is scandalous before the throne of God. Even the little white lie. Even the occasion of gossip. In fact, I’ll tell you, I’ve seen gossip do a lot more damage in a church than a single case of fornication or adultery, even.

Oh, and I’m not telling you, okay, well, don’t sweat the big stuff then, because it’s the same as the small stuff. No, there are some consequences and ramifications to those sins. But I’m just saying, like Jesus told those in John chapter 8, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. And Jesus knows they’re glossing over the sins of their own lives. And he says, You who are without sin, cast the first stone. Your sin is just as scandalous as hers. In fact, the Pharisees were probably even worse because they’re not going to repent of theirs. Their self-righteousness and haughtiness and their lack of love for people. You think that’s not big before the throne of God? I’m going to tell you it is. It’s going to keep them out of heaven.

But don’t misunderstand what Jesus did there. I mean, he didn’t say that’s the end of the matter. He told the woman what? Go and sin no more. She needed to take care of the problem of sin, but you see, they did too. And the Pharisees represent perhaps some of the problems we have at times. We don’t think our sins are as bad as that woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. She’s the really bad sinner. Who’s the worst sinner here tonight? We all are. All of us of accountable age. Who have known to choose good and did not do it. We’re all the worst. Paul said he was chief. And I think that’s the way we need to see ourselves. I didn’t murder anybody.

But perhaps I have with my tongue. Maybe I’ve murdered their character with a word of gossip. All of our sins are scandalous. And I’ll tell you, we need to use that when we think about other people. And then this passage in 1 Corinthians 13, one of the characteristics of love. Love does not take into account a wrong suffering. It’s not keeping score. You committed three sins to buy one. Or remember what you did back in 1987. Still got it right here. Love does not take into account a wrong suffering. And going on in that text, I think this is also contained in these thoughts. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. You know what we do in all of our assemblies?

Aren’t almost all of our public prayers, don’t they involve a confession of sin in our past? When I’m teaching the class, I always get confession. I don’t put it at the end of the prayer. I’ve never liked that. I get it right up at the beginning because when we start Sunday morning together, I want we can eat fellowship with God when we get this thing started. I want to get confession up towards the beginning of the prayer so that all of us who are coming to the throne of God can rectify personally and individually anything outstanding between us and God. We need any barriers removed. We need to be in fellowship with Him. But you know, the guy that prays after me talks about the forgiveness of sins.

The guy that prays after him talks about the forgiveness of sin. Did we get it or not? Did we receive the forgiveness of sin? And yeah, I know people struggle. Sometimes we get lazy, and perhaps we’re not, and hopefully, again, there’s consequences and ramifications to those bigger sins that we talked about, but perhaps it’s just being too worldly minded. Spiritual neglect. Perhaps we went three or four days with hardly a spiritual thought. Whatever it is that you might have struggled with. But you know what I’m confident in? That everybody is bowing their heads and praying with me and asking for God to accept them at his throne. I think this is where love believes all things and holds all things, unless I know of some ongoing sin in your life that you’re not removing yourself from, I’m going to have confidence in you.

That you are genuinely striving to serve the Lord. And that you pray that prayer along with me. Finally, well, Luke 17. I find great solace in this. Luke 17, verses 4 and 5. Jesus said, and if he sins against you seven times in a day, if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times a day, saying, I repent, forgive him. I want to tell you that statement more than anything else Jesus said in his ministry, blows my mind. Because nobody’s ever sinned against me seven times in a day, not that I know of. Seven times? But even if he did it seven times and comes back to you seven times saying, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.

Man, you know we’re three strikes and you’re out. And what did the disciples say? This is where I am. I need more faith for this one. Lord, increase my faith. Help me to be stronger. But I take solace in this verse because this is the way God deals with his people all the time. Stumble after stumble after stumble. And he’s saying, I’m going to forgive you. If you will acknowledge it. If you will humble, be humble and contrite and say, I was wrong. I’m going to do better. That’s how God forgives us. That’s why I like this verse. Increase our faith. And all of this goes to say we need to work on remembering and forgetting. Perhaps emphasizing the forgetting in our relationships. I heard about Terry’s dad.

Was it your dad? Who said, leave the dead cats buried? Terry’s dad had some wisdom there. I don’t like digging up dead pets, do you? Dead cats, dead dogs, dead people. Don’t want to dig them up. Leave the dead cats buried. You know when we prayed together. Those of us who’ve been baptized into Christ had that initial cleansing, and those of us who have then prayed together. You aren’t confident. Unless you’re harboring some sin in your life that you’re holding on to, that you won’t acknowledge that it’s wrong, and that you need to get beyond that practice. Then I have every confidence that we have found acceptance before the throne of God. And in our relationships, we need to be as forgiving as God has been with us.

It’s hard. Yeah, but remember what you did. There’s not a spouse that couldn’t say that. Remember what you did? Yeah, but are you going to beat me over the head for 325 times now? How many times are you going to keep bringing that up? What do you want them to do? Go back and erase history, go back in time and fix it? Time travel. Sometimes I wish I could do that. It’s on a sci-fi shows. You know, I wish I could go back and fix some things. It’s there. And that’s really what Paul’s saying: forget what’s behind you. You can’t alter that. But what can you be today? Forgetting those things that are behind you. No, not completely just saying those sins didn’t matter. Oh, they mattered.

Conclusion

And it cost Christ’s blood to have them forgiven. But we’ve got to move on. And we need to move on with each other. We need to have a good balance between remembering and forgetting. And so I commend these thoughts to you. What about the sins of your past? Have they been cleansed in the blood of Jesus? That’s why we sing an invitation song to give you an opportunity to have that done for your soul’s salvation. Or if there is a need for confession of something, perhaps it’s not something that everyone is aware of, but perhaps you want to just get everyone praying for you about that particular matter. You can respond to the invitation for that as well. If you need to come now as we stand and say.