THE IMPORTANCE OF FORGETTING
Phil. 3:13
Morning Meditation 10/13/2013
Verse 13 says, “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.”
In some ways the Book of Philippians is one of the greatest little epistles in the New Testament. This passage of Scripture is a high water mark in the epistle because it not only teaches a very important principle, which is total commitment of our lives to Christ, but it does it in the form of personal testimony. Paul is telling us how this worked in his life. The truth that is being proclaimed by the teacher should be working in his own life. Otherwise it is just hearsay. It is just truth in an academic framework but totally unrelated to real human experience.
The words “this one thing I do” gives us the single-mindedness of the great apostle. He has one great truth that has mastered him. All other things are incidental. Paul says, “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” Paul says, “This one thing I do . . .”
Then he says, “forgetting those things that are behind.” The word “forgetting” (epilanthanomai) means “to forget, to neglect, to no longer care for, out of mind, forgotten, given over to oblivion, i.e., uncared for..” I can just hear some who are tortured by certain past memories say, “I wish I could do this to certain memories.” Well, let me give you the good news. You can and should. If you are going to run the race successfully that Paul is talking about in this passage of Scripture, you must. It is essential.
First of all we must have the right to forget. Do I have a right to forget those horrible things that I have done wrong? Or, that has been done to me? Have you dealt with your sins from God’s point of view? John says in his first epistle chapter 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The “if” here is a third class condition. It means “maybe we will maybe we won’t.” It is not assumed to be true. I ask you. Have you confessed your sins to God? You say, “What is it to confess your sins?” The word “confess” (homologeo) means “to say the same thing as another, i.e.., to agree with.” Do you agree with what God has said about your sins? If you do not, you have not confessed. This is what confession is. It means to agree with God about what he says is wrong in general and what you have done in particular.
Now there are people who do not agree with a lot of the laws in this country. But they must keep them as long as they remain citizens and live here. As they go from day to day they are not at rest concerning these laws but they reluctantly keep them because they dread the consequences if caught.
This is the way it is with many professing Christians. They claim to be in God’s family but they do not agree with a lot of what God has said in his Word that Christian ought to practice. It they get caught (under a Holy Spirit anointed sermon) they may come to the altar, bow their knee and confess to God that they are not living up to the standard. That is not what “confess” means. The word “confess” means that you have been won over to God’s view point. It means that you go to God and say to him something like, “God I have been disagreeing with you about on this subject. I have gone along. I have claimed to be an obedient child of yours. But in reality, I have been lying to myself and others. Lord, I can no longer do that. I see it now. You are right about what I have been doing wrong. I confess it to you now. I will no longer do this and tell myself it is ok. Lord forgive me for assuming that I was right and you were wrong.” Now that’s confession.
What does God promise that he will do when we confess? John says, “. . . he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The sin or sins have now been forgiven. Do I have a right to forget them even though they are forgiven? I ask you, what does God do with sins that he has forgiven? Hebrews 10:17 answers this: “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” You know, there are a lot of mysteries of the Bible that I would not begin to try to explain. But this verse is self explanatory. God does not remember the sins he forgives. If they come back up, who brings them up? Satan is the father of lies. This is Satan’s attempt to deny the complete efficacy of the blood that Christ shed on the cross. You can be sure that he will tell you that God has not really forgiven you of your past. Now here is an important question that I want to ask you. Are you going to believe God or Satan? If you believe God, you will do with your past what Paul did with his: “Forgetting those things which are behind. . .” There is a tremendous release for those who will believe God’s word and do this. Many are in bondage to sins already forgiven. Jesus came to set you free. You are not free if you are constantly reliving those past experiences for which you have been forgiven.
You say, “I have tried and it don’t work.” Let me ask you a question. If you explained the plan of salvation to someone. And you ended your explanation of God’s simple plan of salvation with Romans 10:13 and I will quote it for purposes of illustration: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Say for instance, that you prayed with this person. And after you prayed, while you both looked at this verse, with your finger on the verse, you asked the person, “did the Lord save you?” And the person said, “No, I don’t think so. I feel the same as before. I am the same as before. It just didn’t work for me.” What would you tell him? Now be careful right here. I want to tell you that I have told people the wrong thing at this point in the soul winning process. What would you tell him? You would tell him, “It not the verse or God who is not working, it is you who is not believing.” Listen, this is important. It does take faith on our part. Right? Until this person is willing to believe what God has said, do what God has said, and believe that God cannot lie, and that he has done in response to my prayer what he said he would do, whether I feel any different or not, he is not saved. God counts faith for righteousness Doubt or unbelief will never be counted for righteousness.
