The Key to Victory

Philippians 3:13-14

The key to victory in 2021 is Philippians 3:13-14. Paul was using the illustration of a race to describe his life. He was in the home stretch, but he was still running the race; the race wasn’t over. He said, “I have not apprehended it yet.” – NOT YET!

Right behind this conjunction is one of Paul’s secrets to living. THIS ONE THING I DO! It’s the only time this particular phrase is used in the New Testament. Single-minded concentration on the things of God is essential to running the race of Christianity. You cannot be dwelling on other things as an athlete and give your best performance. Therefore, Paul says “this ONE thing I do.”

What is "This One Thing I do"?
"Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." That's the key to victory in the Christian life. That's the key to victory for this time, for this day.

What do we need to forget?
Paul had learned that we have to lock the door on yesterday and throw away the key. He discovered that looking back almost always ends up going back. Let me repeat that... Looking back almost always ends up going back. In the Old Testament, we find the wandering Israelites ready to return to their old ways rather than pressing on. In the New Testament Jesus clearly taught us in Luke 9:62 that "no man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God's Kingdom."

4 THINGS WE NEED TO FORGET:

1. YESTERDAY'S MISTAKES
In his book "ENCOURAGE ME", Chuck Swindoll wrote a chapter titled, "The Fine Art of Blowing It". It begins like this, "It happens to every one of us. Teachers as well as students, cops as well as criminals. Bosses as well as employees. Parents as well as kids. The diligent as well as the lazy. Not even presidents are immune. Or corporation heads who earn six-figure salaries. The same is true of well-meaning architects and hard-working builders and clear-thinking engineers... not to mention pro ball players, politicians, and preachers. What? Making mistakes, that's what. Doing the wrong thing, usually with the best of motives. And it happens with remarkable regularity.

Everyone messes up. Everyone does stupid things. God says forget it! Leave them behind you. There are 3 things we are to do about yesterday's blunders:

1. Learn from them

2. Determine with God's help you aren't going to make the same mistake again

3. Forget them.

The enemy always wants to remind you and make you feel guilty for past mistakes - but God says: "Forget them. I have"! 

2. YESTERDAY'S HURTS
Life is a battlefield. On any battleground, injuries will occur and soldiers are going to get hurt. Sooner or later, someone is going to

...hurt you
...lie about you
...verbally or physically harm you
...misrepresent you

...chop you up in little pieces (not literally, of course)

...slander you

It's going to happen -- so what do you do?

You have two choices:

1. Allow the resentment and hate to build

2. Forgive and forget

    

You might say, but Lyne - 
... You don't understand

... You don't know how badly I've been hurt

... I was innocent. I didn't do anything wrong, but they hurt me. They lied about me.

... They hurt my feeling and didn't care. They criticized me even though I did nothing wrong.

... They talked about me behind my back.

... They cheated me, they rejected me, they hurt me really bad.

Believe me. God understands. Jesus was innocent, but they beat him, they tortured him, they mocked him, they crucified him. He didn't deserve it, but they did it anyway. On the cross He forgave them. On the cross, He provided salvation even for those who beat him, mocked him and crucified him. In order to press on in the Christian life, we, too, have to lock the door on yesterday's hurts.

3. YESTERDAY'S POSSIBILITIES

How often do we see people unable to operate in today because they are still living a "what if" life of yesterday? They keep talking about "what could have been" --"if I had only..." And very often they blame someone else

...if only my spouse hadn't...

...if only my parents (children) hadn't...

...if only my business partner had...

They even blame God - "if God would have... or if God wouldn't have..."

Build a bridge, and get over it!

We cannot live on yesterday's promises or yesterday's dreams. Too many people are dissatisfied with life because they've had an expectation of something that hasn't worked out. Paul is telling us - forget your past hurts, forget your past mistakes, and forget living with what might have been and finally...

4. YESTERDAY'S SINS

Billy Graham once said that 60% of all the patients in mental hospitals could go home if they would accept the fact that they are not guilty or that they have been forgiven.

So many people are carrying a burden of guilt of:

...A past mistake

...A moral failure

...A painful cut to a friend

...A physical hurt to someone

...A stupid, hateful remake

...A poor decision

...A sin so horrible they believe either God will not forgive them or they will not forgive themselves

***There is no sin, no matter how great or small, once it has been confessed and forgiven, the memory of it should torment us anymore.

See this ... Paul didn't say, "I've forgotten those things which are behind. Paul said, forgetting those things. He had learned the secret. There are some things in our memory that we will never fully forget. We have to keep practicing forgetting...

Guilt can eat us alive. Every time the memory comes back, every time a song or word or a smell or a picture or a person reminds us, we continue to practice forgetting. So how long do we have to practice forgetting?

...until the memory doesn't hurt anymore

...until we allow God to forgive us

...until we allow God to forgive through us

...until the pain is no longer there

...until we can use our past to help us grow in the present

...until we can use our past to help others in the present

God says in Jeremiah 31:34 "I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more."

Psalm 103:12 "I will remove their sin as far as the east is from the west."

1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

It's time to:

    Lock the door on the past!

    Throw away the key!

    Forget where you threw it!