Don'tlookback
Don’t Look Back
Thank you
Prayer
Introduction
How often have you ever wondered what would my life be like if I had done things Differently? What if I had made better choices? Where would I be now if I had come to the Lord earlier in my life? All of these questions are distractions. They come from the enemy and keep our focus and attention off of what God has ordained for our lives and what God would have us to do. Well, lets look at the text and see what Luke has to say about this.
Please turn to Luke 9:57
Luke is not a Jew but a gentile. He is also a physician, and his record of the gospel is very detailed. This is the first of two books written by Luke the 2nd being Acts. His name means (light-giving ) luminous; white , or Lu’cas, is an abbreviated form of Lucanus
At this time in the text Jesus has performed many miracles and they the disiples ,have witnessed evidence that Jesus has power from on high and they know that He is the Son of God.
Luke 9:57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Luke 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Luke 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luke 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luke 9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
This is the point that needs to be made here, Don’t Look Back.
The focus tonight will be the state of mind one has to be in and the positions we find our selves in when we look back. I will be addressing 3 points.
Point 1 - We first have to be distracted -
Remember the questions posed just a minute ago. What would my life be like if I had done things Differently? What if I had made better choices? Where would I be now if I had come to the Lord earlier in my life? These are distractions. When we are set on a path, a task, a mission from God, how many of you know the enemy gets busy. After Jesus had spent 40 days in the wilderness here comes the enemy to temp him. Right at the beginning of His public ministry here comes the Devil. Offering things and tempting Jesus. The same Satan wanted to distract Nehemiah once he was set on the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Now don’t you think that the enemy wants to do the same thing to us? Satan slips in unknowingly and distracts us form what God has charged us to do. He works on our minds by slipping into our thoughts and has us to question all that God has done for us to this point in our lives. If he that old serpant can get us to doubt God and focus on the past the enemy is winning the battle and we are missing it.
We do not have to focus on the past we are the elect of God.
We are Blood washed.
We have a savior in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we have word of God. If we just do what the Bible says in Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: The devil will not be able to distract us.
Paul said in Philippians 3:14-16 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
The word gives us a way to deal with distraction and not have these things affect our minds.
Repeat after me distraction is one of the devil’s devices don’t look back.
Point 2 (Looking Side To Side)
The second position we find ourselves in before we look all the way back is looking side to side. You know how it is when you are driving or walking and you don’t have full attention on what is directly in front and you walk into something trip over things or even worse have an accident.
Maybe for some it is focusing on what others have.
Did you see that new car that so and so got.
How did they get that? They just got a new washer and dryer how can they afford that.
They go to the boat every weekend.
They do all this stuff and they don’t go to church and you know they don’t tithe.
You know what I am talking about looking at what is on someone else’s plate.
I know none of us here ever said or even thought these things.
But Just incase you have remember we can’t compare ourselves to others.
What God has for us is for us and what is for them is for them. We have to keep in mind the path that has been set for us. If we Just do what God has instructed us to do we shall be rewarded here in this lifetime. How do I know?
Joshua 1:8 Says
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
We are the blessed of God, our Father owns the cattle on thousands hills, we are joint heirs with our elder brother Jesus how can we not be blessed
Tell somebody there are benefits to salvation and obeying the word.
We are blessed in the city blessed in the field blessed going in bless coming out. Just read Deuteronomy 28:1 everything that we touch shall be blessed. But if we don’t obey God we get the curses starting in Deuteronomy 28:15.
Looking side to side is not good. Don’t Look Back
Point 3 (Stopping)
My third and final position is stopping. (WALK AND STOP LOOK BACK)
Oh yeah we had good intentions.
Have you every taken a car trip say some 300 miles and it seems that it is taking forever to get there because you stop every 50 miles or so. Or maybe you started saving money for the child’s college education 15 years ago but something just kept coming up and now there is no money for little Mary’s education. We may have even started college ourselves but circumstances kept us form finishing. We use to attend bible study regularly or serve in one of the ministries but we stopped. I didn’t say God told us to stop, we decided to stop. There is a difference.
Exodus 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Exodus 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exodus 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exodus 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Exodus 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Exodus 14:15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
Looking back caused the people of Israel to long for the situation they had just got out of because they were familyure with it.
Does this sound like deja-vue? Some of you may have gotten out of bad relationships and went back because of the familiarity. You tried to convince yourself that it would be better the second time around.
You talked to all your friends to get their advice but you didn’t seek God.
Remember Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Psalms 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Genesis 19:17 God is intent on destroying Sodom and Gomorra. After much prayer from Abram and the visit from the angles of God Lot and his family are granted mercy. The angle of the lord gives them specific instructions to escape for there live and don't look behind them. What did Lot’s wife do.
Once God has pulled you out of a mess don’t look back. The people of Israle had suffered while in Egypt had seen the power of God with the plagues and longed be back there. Just as some of us long for what God has delivered us form. But God’s words were speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.
Once we have accepted the call of God Put our hands to the Plow there is no stopping to look back. Luke 9:61 says if we look back we are not fit for the kingdom of God. Imagine a farmer plowing a field and continuously stopping to look back. He would never get a seed planted. And if there are no seeds planted how can there be a harvest. If we do not plant the seeds that Jesus has entrusted to us how can the kingdom of God grow?
But we know that God is good. He forgives us and restores us right back to where we were.
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
So we may have been distracted,
We may have looked around,
We may have stopped but we know that God is a forgiving God. and that he is with us.
Jesus said in Mathew 28:20
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
God is
Luke 17:28 Jesus is reminding them that as it was in the days of Lot so shall it be again. He is telling us that our focus should be not on the things of this world but of us and our salvation and the promise of everlasting life.
- From the King James Bible.