Forget the Past | Isaiah 43 | Gary Hamrick

let's take our Bibles and go to Isaiah chapter 43 Isaiah chapter 43 if you need a Bible today we might have a couple still on the shelves the ushers will come down if you see an usher that means they might have a Bible and if they do you can raise your hand and receive a Bible from one of our Usher's page 515 in the church Bibles that's where Isaiah 43 is now I have to admit I had every intention of moving on to another section of Isaiah as we make our way on Sundays through the Bible from cover to cover last week we were in chapter 41 and 43 and I had intended to move on to you know sections 45 to 50 but the Lord just kind of put me on pause and focused my attention on a passage in chapter 43 that I want us to read today and I just believe the Lord wants us to kind of take it slower here because there's something he wants to do in our hearts from these verses so I'm gonna read from chapter 43 verses 14 down to almost the end of the chapter down to verse 25 we're gonna start here Isaiah 43 let me start reading at verse 14 this is what the Lord says your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel for your sake I will send to Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians in the ships in which they took pride I am the Lord your holy one Israel's creator your king this is what the Lord says he who made a way through the sea a path through the mighty waters who drew out the chariots and horses the army and reinforcements together and they lay there never to rise again extinguished snuffed out like a wick forget the former things do not dwell on the past see I am doing a new thing now it springs up do you not perceive it I'm making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland the wild animals honor me the Jackals and the Owls because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people my chosen the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my prayer yet you have not called upon me Oh Jacob you have not wearied yourselves from me Oh Israel you have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings nor honored me with your sacrifices I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense for you have not bought any fragrant calamus for me or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices but you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses I even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more let's pause there and pray father in heaven we're thankful for your word today for all those who are here and those who are watching online and we just pray that we wouldn't be heroes only but doers of your word that we would apply these things to our lives Lord we want to glorify you and honor you and we trust that you've received our praise through worship and now that you would just as equally be praised as we've study your word and apply it to our lives we're grateful Lord for your grace and your love and your mercy in our lives be glorified now we pray in Jesus name and everybody said amen well if you have no regrets in life then that probably means you haven't lived long enough because if you've lived long enough you will have regrets you will have regrets about something you did you'll have regrets about something you said you'll have regrets about something you saw something you heard and if it isn't regrets for something you did saw hurt or sad you'll perhaps have regrets for something you didn't do something that you wish you had done that now is too late to go back and do or you might have regrets for something that perhaps happened to you no fault of your own but you regret that it happened to you or you regret that something never happened that you wish had happened life is full of regrets it's not a matter of will you experience regrets all of us if you live long enough we'll have regrets but the real issue is how do you handle those regrets because how you handle those regrets are the difference between being stuck in the past or moving on to your future and one of the things I hear just about as often as I hear anything else in 30 years of ministry are from people who are haunted by things they've done in the past and this inability to move on when you look here in Isaiah 43 this is what God is addressing in verse 18 when he says through the prophet Isaiah forget the former things do not dwell on the past what exactly does that mean and even more importantly how do we do it how do we practically forget the former things and not dwell in the past well in order for us to really answer those questions we first need to understand context in this passage here whenever you're trying to dig out the meaning of Scripture it's always critical that you look at the context otherwise if things are taken out of context then it can lead even to heresy let alone a misinterpretation so it's important for us to understand context when Isaiah is writing these things roughly 700 BC as he reflects the heart of God to his people forget the former things do not dwell in the past so here's the context of this passage Isaiah again prophesying to the southern kingdom of Israel called Judah around 700 BC he his ministry spans about 40 years from 740 to 700 BC so he's prophesying this is important in historical context he's prophesying about a hundred years before the Babylonian Empire rises to power about a hundred years before the Babylonians rise to power and as he begins to prophesy here what we need to understand is we have the advantage historically of looking back to see that the things that Isaiah was pointing towards I have actually now transpired that he speaks of the Babylonians coming to power we know historically now that they did the Babylonians came to power they conquered the Assyrians before them and the Babylonians then rose to world domination and part of their domination was coming down and besieging the southern kingdom of Israel known again as Judah this is where Isaiah is prophesying but again he's prophesying about a hundred years before the Babylonians will do this but around the Year 606 BC the Babylonians will come into the the kingdom of Judah the southern part of Israel and they will take prisoners of war a numbered among those early prisoners of war were Daniel and his friends same Daniel as the book of the Bible he along with many others will be taken captive by the Babylonians transported to Babylon which is on the Euphrates River in what is modern Iraq and then shortly thereafter 20 years later 586 BC the Babylonians will actually conquer Jerusalem the capital city of Judah and they will destroy the temple of God and they will carry off the articles the sacred articles within the temple of God they will take them back to Babylon as plunder of war and Jerusalem will be just leveled and the temple of God just completely destroyed now the interesting thing is the tragic thing is that God had for warned his people this is in part why Isaiah is prophesying a hundred years before this Isaiah will prophesy just before and during the Babylonian conquest and the warning from God to his own people was that you're living in idolatry you're rebelling against me you're not turning from your wicked ways so I'm gonna spank you and God's method of spanking them was to call for the Babylonians to come they're going to be the rod of God's discipline to get the attention of the people whom he loves nothing like a little war to get your attention nothing like being taken prisoner to get your attention and so this is what happens and the Jewish people will spend the next 70 years in captivity under Babel domination many will be taken off to Babylon and and they will become citizens in Babylon many of them won't even return to their homeland but after 70 years is over God will allow the Jewish people he will work through another King the King Cyrus whom Isaiah mentions will get to him maybe next week he raised up another king of the medo-persian Empire to come and destroy the Babylonians so that then the Jewish people are allowed through the favor of the new medo-persian King the Jews are allowed to return to their homeland now what I'm giving you is all history but from where Isaiah is prophesying it's all future and when God predicts this whole rise of the Babylon Empire and fall of the Babylonian Empire he speaks about the punishment of the Babylon Babylonians because they overstepped their bounds that yes God used them to spank the Jewish people but then the Babylonians began to oppress the Jewish people they were harsh to the Jewish people and so God then raised up the medo-persians to conquer the Babylonians and Isaiah here in chapter 43 looking at verse 14 he's talking about the future punishment of the Babylonians now again yep you have to wrap your mind around this and you have to understand context Isaiah is prophesying roughly a hundred years before the Babylonians even rise to world power and yet he speaks not only past their rise to world power he speaks of their imminent destruction that God is going to bring him down look again to verse 14 this is what he says in verse 14 this is what the Lord says your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel for your sake I will send to Babylon speaking to for the Jews sake I will send a Babylon and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians in the ships in which they took pride now again this is Isaiah is talking a hundred years before there even a world power but we know historically that the Babylonians had a large commercial shipping industry and they also had a very strong naval force because Babylon the city of Babylon was located on the Euphrates River and they had access to the Persian Gulf so they so God says in advance you're gonna rise to world power you're gonna you're gonna dominate the seas you're gonna have commercial shipping industry you're gonna have naval power and I'm gonna destroy your ships because I want you to understand you're not as powerful as you think you are I'm a little bit more powerful and your boat ain't gonna float anymore so again I say you saying all of this in the future all this in the future now what's important then to realize here is that God is laying out for the Jewish people well in advance of all of this you're gonna rebel against me because if your idolatry so I'm gonna call for the Babylonians to come this is all future I'm gonna call for that boat babblings to come they're gonna take you captive for seventy years after seventy years are over I'm gonna restore you I'm gonna forgive you I'm gonna bring you back to your homeland but I'm gonna destroy those Babylonians on your behalf and that's what Isaiah is saying here and it's all in the future now here's why this is critical because then in verse 18 when God says so I want you to forget the former things do not dwell in the past check it out God is saying I want you to forget the former things that don't dwell on the past but the past is in their future does everybody follow me with this so so this this would be I know some of you like glazed over now like what in the world all right so this would be the equivalent I'd like a dad having a conversation I'm gonna really try to simplify this with with like say for example like a six year old child say okay all right now son so here's this conversation dad's having with the six-year-old son son listen you've been rebelling against me and you've been giving yourself into idolatry all right video games and and so yeah and I don't I don't feel like you're being respectful and so I know you're only six but I also know that this isn't going to get better you're gonna continue to just repel and you're gonna get a bigger idol called a cellphone and and so when you're sixteen when you're sixteen I'm gonna send you off to military boarding school that's what I'm gonna do because you're not going to get better I'm gonna send you off to military are you still with me son I'm gonna send you off to military boarding school and then they're gonna just man you you're gonna wish you were six again you're gonna remember this conversation and because they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna run you like an Amish mule let me tell you something you're gonna get three squares a day it won't be pretty you will not be happy you will miss us but then guess what after boarding school I'm going to bring you home I'm going to forgive you you're gonna be restored in right relationship with us so I want you to know now forget boarding school don't dwell on the past you get this I mean is it this would be a little odd telling a six-year-old here's what's gonna happen in your future and and because you're bad and but yet I just want to point out the fact that I'm gonna restore you everything's gonna be fine so forget what is coming that's what God is saying here now why is this important here's why it's important because I love this aspect about our Father in heaven he looks actually beyond their punishment in this story and he highlights their restoration and forgiveness he looks beyond what they're doing wrong he looks beyond the rise of the Babylonians he looks beyond the fall of the Babylonians and he looks to the time when he's gonna actually bring them back to their homeland and he's gonna forgive them and restore them and that's why he says about 150 years before that whole restaurant ears before that whole restoration coming back in their homeland rebuilding the temple he says all right now I'm going to tell you now well in advance forget the former things do not dwell in the past because God is looking towards that wonderful time of forgiveness and restoration that's our father's heart for us that's our father's heart for us he's always looking ahead he's looking to the future he's looking to the promises he's looking to our Redemption our restoration our forgiveness we're the ones who get stuck in the past not God God is way ahead of us he's he's already seen the cross he's already seen forgiveness he's already seen Redemption He loves us and he wants all his best for us we're the ones that deal with the past we're the ones who get stuck in the past God doesn't consider the story Abraham for example when when God appeared to Abraham is about 75 years of age and and he said in the future you're gonna have a descendant and and your descent is gonna be the father of a great nation you yourself are gonna be the father of a great nation out of your seed will come a nation too numerous to count and you're gonna be you're gonna be blessed and I will cause you to be a blessing and and and then this whole the whole Jewish race comes from the seed of Abraham but Abraham was a 75 year old guy living in or in the middle of Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates worshipping a pagan God the moon God he had no relationship with God he was a Gentile God just sovereignly plucked this guy out among all the people of his day and said you're gonna be the man that and you won't end up trusting and me believing in me no be credited to him as righteousness and out of your seed will come a generation eventually leading to Messiah who will be the savior of the whole world and what God did to him was saying in your 75 and then the promises he had to wait me and you know the story kind of rushed it ahead of time and you know so and and he took the advice of his wife and you know that's up and now it's today called the Middle East conflict but anyway and so not that you shouldn't take the advice of your wife but in that particular case in that particular case she's like why don't you sleep with my maidservant and make a family through her and and of course you know Abraham's like let me think about it okay yeah but by the time he gets to be a hundred here he is now he and Sarah she's ninety and and they're having a son Isaac the child of the promise and Paul when he writes about it and reflects on it in Romans chapter four verse 17 he talks about Abraham though he were dead because though physically he's still alive he's a hundred yet he's passed the age and Sarah's passed the age of reproducing children so this had to be a miracle that God caused and so Paul's reflecting on this in Romans 4:17 and he says the God sees things not as they are though they are dead but as they shall be that's why he can say to AB Abraham at the ripe old age age of a hundred you're going to be the father of a great nation because God was looking beyond the present and he was looking to the future and God was looking at this whole promise fulfilled through the ultimate seed of Abraham it's very similar also you think about the life of Moses when Moses is mentioned in the Hebrew Hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 and here he has many of you know a story that he was you know miraculously rescued Farrah put out this order to kill all the baby boys he was trying to tamp down the the rise of the Hebrew population and so he gave this order which is basically partial birth abortion and and some Hebrew midwives said we're not going to do that and we're gonna honor God and we're not gonna do that and so they kept you know sparing the baby boys but Moses was placed in a little basket made out of Reed and pushed down the Nile River just you know trying to protect his life and Pharaoh's daughter then retrieves him from from from the Nile and Moses is raised in the house of a pharaoh but when the story is told of his life in Hebrews 11 26 it says how Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead he's looking ahead not behind he was looking ahead to his reward now how is it that a guy born 1450 BC can regard disgrace for the sake of Christ Jesus hasn't appeared on the world scene except that you see Moses was always looking ahead looking forward to the redemption through the promised Messiah he knew in his heart there was ultimate redemption that was coming and he would rather be aligned with that good purpose than to indulge in the treasures of Egypt and so therefore he was more interested in looking ahead to his ultimate reward it is we who get stuck in our past Paul another great example he wrote that classic passage out of Philippians chapter 3 12 to 14 when he said I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of me and he says not that I've already taken hold of it he says but one thing I do this much I know forgetting what is behind and pressing straining leaning toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus in other words this perspective was that this is good for us to know Paul even in his own testimony since I was a blasphemer I was a persecutor I was a murderer I had a past life he says but when I came to know Christ now my whole ambition is to just run the race with perseverance and strain forward to finish well to cross that finish line and not to look back because my past is my past and I have to just leave my past in the past I don't want my past to haunt me or to interfere with the race that I'm running how many people do we know this to be true who run track and field and if it's a neck-and-neck right at the finish line it and the way athletes now are these days the the difference between those who medal and don't is often a fraction of a second fraction of a second and how many people do we know of lost the medal because near the finish line they took a moment to glance back and it took that tenth off of there off of their game you see and so this is important for us to realize as Christians we have to run this race and we can't look back and God says to us here and isaiah 43:18 forget the former things and do not dwell on the past see I'm doing a new thing now it springs up do you not perceive it and then the question becomes okay then how then do we do these things three things very quickly number one right out of this verse how do we forget to pass how do we move on number one right out of this verse forget the former things forget the former things now what what does it mean to forget because how can we just forget something that is seared in our minds because of what we've done or maybe something that was done to us and so our past is a difficult thing well when the Bible says forget it it doesn't you know this is it's not trying to be unrealistic like you just put a out of your mind and then you know maybe one day you'll never think on this again look I do believe that God can take away memories and for our benefit that are painful and he can just erase those things but generally speak when it says here to forget it doesn't mean that somehow you're no longer gonna remember what it means is no longer give it its weight and you can see that clearly further in the chapter in reference to the way that God forgets concerning our sins look further in chapter 43 verse 25 it's the last verse we read at the beginning of our study verse 25 I even I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more in that a great verse you got a highlight that are underlined that of your Bible and just remind yourself of that from time to time but it says here that God remembers your sins no more now how is that possible God is omniscient God knows all things and so he can't forget things and it would be inconsistent with his character to say that he well he just he's absent-minded no longer remembers he just forgot all right so what this literally means is what it says that he no longer remembers our sins is that he chooses to no longer hold our sins against us it is the idea that he's placed the weight of our sin on to his son when Jesus died on a cross and therefore now he has rendered our sin powerless because he has removed the weight of it and it no longer has the same weight that it did and that God it's not like he whoops I don't remember that you ever did that it means I know what I choose to no longer hold it against you I have removed the weight of it in that same way we need to understand what it means to forget our own past it's not like you're not going to remember it in fact they're gonna be certain things from time to time that might trigger it what it means is that when you when you remember it you no longer give it its weight you render it powerless and you begin to realize that that is in the past but I'm not going to give it any weight I'm not gonna give it any value I'm not I'm no longer gonna going to bring this to remembrance and I'm gonna render those things powerless in my life the next thing we see is in the other part of that verse and number two do not dwell on the past now this speaks to the problem that we all have of replaying something over and over again in our minds and rehearsing it and reliving it and thinking ourselves what if I just done this differently maybe this wouldn't have turned out this way and if if I hadn't been at this particular place at this particular time maybe this wouldn't have happened and you know and say we start rehearsing and reliving it and and and and just regurgitating it and you know all the other our words you can think of rehearse regurgitate relive you know and you know and we just start to dwell on it and this is what God is saying to us don't do that don't dwell on the past don't keep rehearsing and don't keep replaying it in your mind if it's something that you did ask for forgiveness and then walk in that forgiveness the key to ending the rehearsing and reliving and regurgitating all this is forgiveness it starts with asking God to forgive you and then because he forgives us through a son we have to learn to forgive ourselves here's a lot of people end up doing they're like well I know God is forgiving me but I don't I can't forgive myself really because when you when you say that what that means is that God who is supreme am impotent omniscient on the president everything God is supreme God has chosen to forgive you and yet you're saying I'm not going to forgive me you've just elevated yourself above God and you now have removed yourself from under his authority his lordship and you have presumed upon yourself to be greater than God and I know it's not intentional but that's what's happening where when you say I'm not gonna fit I know God's forgiving I just can't forgive myself you now are saying that you were greater judge over your life that he is in effect and when God says I forgive your sins you need to walk in that forgiveness otherwise you're dwelling on it this is why the psalmist says in Psalm 103 verse 12 as far as the east is from the west so far have I removed your transgressions from you now notice God is intentional about things he doesn't say as far as the north is from the south because the north and south have poles when you go as far as you can north now you are going south and when you go as far as you can South now you are going north where do East and West intersect they don't and so you they never intersect how far east you have to go before you're now going west how far west you go before you're now going east it depends on the point of reference but East and West never intersect so God is saying intentionally I don't intersect those things in your life anymore as far as the East is from the west so far if I removed your transgressions from you as far as God is concerned our sins are removed in such a way they don't they don't intersect anymore this is the way that God sees us in His mercy towards us and his love towards us this is why Micah the Prophet would write in Micah 7:19 you Lord will again have compassion on us and you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea this is our Father and this is the way we need to walk in that forgiveness and it also works in regards to people that you replay what they've done to you not just when you revisit your past but you revisit the past as it relates to what others have done to you the same the same word applies forgiveness forgiveness in Colossians 3:13 the Bible says forgive as Christ has forgiven you and ask yourself how is Christ forgiven me because in the way that he's forgiving you is what God calls us in a similar way to forgive others I mean I mean can you imagine did God ever say to you I forgive you but I'll never forget what you've done God doesn't say that or worse does God ever say I will never forget you and I hope you rot in hell but we say that all the time shame on us we need to stop saying those kind of things I know stuff could be painful and stuff can be difficult I get that but God says I want you to forgive as I forgiven you in the same way I forgiven you I want you to forgive other people so that you'll be free from dwelling on the past and rehearsing this forget the former things render them powerless don't give it any weight don't dwell on the past don't keep rehearsing it let it go forgiveness for self forgiveness towards others and then lastly verse 19 reminds us see I am doing a new thing now it springs up do you not perceive it it reminds us to look for the new thing that God is doing and by the way that God asks this question there in verse 19 do you not do you not perceive this you have perceive it it implies to us that it's possible to miss the new thing it's possible to miss the new thing if you're still stuck on the old thing it's possible to miss the new thing do you remember mrs. locked she didn't really have a name but it's Lot's wife so I'm calling her mrs. lot in the Bible in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah God rains down judgment on those wicked cities and before he does he actually sends an angel to go down and take by the hand lot and his family that his wife if you need to get out of here God God's about to rain down some nasty stuff on this town you need to leave and as they got a little further away the Bible says missus lot turned she looked back and the Hebrew indicates she looked longingly and so she became the Bible says a pillar of salt and God just kind of froze her in time and now she's a Salt Lick down at the Dead Sea it's incredible the deer go up anyway that's that's terrible is it too soon too soon yeah too soon it's been like four thousand years but anyway yeah she became a pillar of salt made obviously for an awkward conversation around the dinner table from then on out you know a lot was just like hey can you pass me the salt oh it's possible to miss a new thing because you're looking back remember the Israelites on their way from Egypt to the promised land started complaining in the wilderness they're complaining grumbling murmuring against God they get right near the border of the promised land and they send in a recon team 12 spies despite out the land ten comebacker like bad bad news man there's giants in the land is ugly people I mean it's gonna be nasty to try to take this take that and the two of them Josh Makeba were like no no we got this because gods on our side but the ten spread a bad report among the people in the bad the the bad report turned into all this negative stuff and all the people listen to numbers 14 says that night all the people the community raised their voices and wept aloud all the Israelites grumble against Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly said to them if only we had died in Egypt or in this desert why is the Lord bringing us into this land only to let us fall by the sword that wasn't the case but that's what they thought our wives and children would be taken as plunder no they won't wouldn't it be better for it listen to what they say wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt and they said to one another we should choose a leader and go back we ought to go back to Egypt let me check this out you've been slaves for hundred years in Egypt and you think that's the better answer to your life you know why because some people get so stuck in the past even the bad past that they can't move on with God and that entire generation died in the wilderness because they did not see they could not perceive the new thing that God was doing they never entered the promised land only their children would they would die in the desert is it possible it's possible to miss the new thing that God is doing when we're still stuck in the old thing so forget the former things do not dwell in the past and look for the new thing that God is doing God is the god of new beginnings God is the god of second chances and God is always more interested looking way ahead to your forgiveness Redemption and restoration may we walk in His grace and in his forgiveness for our lives let's pray together Lord we come to you now and we just humble ourselves before you and I'm sure that there are people here that have been living with plenty of regrets because that's usually the nature of life but we thank you Lord as we look into your word today that you remind us to forget the former things and do not dwell in the past see I'm doing a new thing and now it springs up do you not perceive it do you not see this Lord what is it that you want to do in our hearts to help relieve us of the torment of the past what is it you'd like to do Lord no doubt you've caused us to slow down going through Isaiah just so we can tarry at these verses just so that we can be free I'm gonna pause in my prayer right now with your head still bowed and Donny's just gonna sing a short chorus and I just want you to just spend a moment in prayer you don't just sing this song just just pray where you are and if if you just have things you just want to give to the Lord just give it to him just say Lord I don't want to I don't want to be tormented by my past I want to be free and just spend a moment in prayer while he sings this chorus and you just let the Lord minister to you can we do that just just where you're seated Donny's gonna sing [Music] joy begins her eyes and home begin to light the way our God exchange is old for New Year dawn as Concord night and death has lost to life now we are exchanging gold for new year joy begins her eyes at home begin to live way our god exchanges old for new year dawn its Concord night and death has lost to life now we are exchangeable for new [Music] Lord we do want to exchange old for new we do want to put the past in the past we want to move on in your grace we need your help Lord because sometimes it's easy to get stuck help us Lord to walk in your newness of life may we forget the former things may we not dwell on the past may we see and perceive the new thing Lord that you are doing in our lives that we might walk Lord in your grace in your forgiveness for those Lord who were just tormented by their past I pray they'll leave here today having that lifted having that lifted Lord like a weight this is a new day Lord you are the god of second chances you were a father of new beginnings and we love you and praise you together in Jesus name and all God's people said

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Cornerstone Chapel, forgiveness, Gary Hamrick, regrets, Past

Id: TkR4lD8don8

Length: 37min 1sec (2221 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019