No Looking Back
The sermon emphasizes the importance of forgetting the past and focusing on an everlasting preoccupation with God.
A.W. Tozer emphasizes the necessity of forgetting our past in order to grow spiritually, arguing that clinging to past sins only hinders our relationship with God. He asserts that if we trust in God's forgiveness, we should move forward without lamenting our failures, as God fills the void left by our sins with new life and purpose. Tozer encourages believers to focus on knowing God and experiencing His presence, which is the ultimate goal of salvation. He challenges the current state of Christianity, urging Christians to prioritize their relationship with God and to worship Him as they will in heaven. The sermon calls for an everlasting preoccupation with the Triune God, highlighting the joy and fulfillment found in His presence.
Text
There is an art of forgetting, and every Christian should become skilled in it. Forgetting the things which are behind is a positive necessity if we are to become more than mere babes in Christ. If we cannot trust God to have dealt effectually with our past we may as well throw in the sponge now and have it over with. Fifty years of grieving over our sins cannot blot out their guilt. But if God has indeed pardoned and cleansed us, then we should count it done and waste no more time in sterile lamentations.
And thank God this sudden obliteration of our familiar past does not leave us with a vacuum. Far from it. Into the empty world vacated by our sins and failures rushes the blessed Spirit of God, bringing with Him everything new. New life, new hope, new enjoyments, new interests, new purposeful toil, and best of all a new and satisfying object toward which to direct our soul's enraptured gaze. God now fills the recovered garden, and we may without fear walk and commune with Him in the cool of the day.
Right here is where the weakness of much current Christianity lies. We have not learned where to lay our emphasis. Particularly we have not understood that we are saved to know God, to enter His wonder-filled Presence through the new and living way and remain in that Presence forever. We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God. The Triune God with all of His mystery and majesty is ours and we are His, and eternity will not be long enough to experience all that He is of goodness, holiness and truth. In heaven they rest not day or night in their ecstatic worship of the Godhead. We profess to be headed for that place; shall we not begin now to worship on earth as we shall do in heaven?
Sermon Outline
- The Necessity of Forgetting the Past
- The Power of God's Forgiveness
- The Filling of the Holy Spirit
- The Emphasis of Christian Living
- Saved to know God and enter His Presence
- An everlasting preoccupation with God
Key Quotes
“Fifty years of grieving over our sins cannot blot out their guilt.” — A.W. Tozer
“God now fills the recovered garden, and we may without fear walk and commune with Him in the cool of the day.” — A.W. Tozer
“We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.” — A.W. Tozer
Application Points
- We should trust God's forgiveness and move on from past regrets.
- We should focus on knowing God and entering His Presence.
- We should live an everlasting preoccupation with God, just as we will in heaven.