Making Peace With Your Past

Lightly Cleaned Transcription

Introduction

A few years ago, a movie came out that was very popular called Forrest Gump. Forrest had a friend that he grew up with named Jenny. Jenny adult life was completely messed up. Dropped out of college, taking drugs, and consistently getting involved in abusive relationships. There is one scene in the movie where Forrest and herself take a walk that leads them by the old house where she grew up. It was in that house that she was abused by an alcoholic father. The house is run down, roof is collapsing, front porch ready to fall off. A few window panes remain. The sight of the house brings back very painful memories. In a rage, Jenny begins to throw her shoes and every rock she can find at the house. Finally she collapses from exhaustion. After an awesome stillness and a silence, broken only by sobs, Forrest Gump moves lovingly toward her, and as he lifts her up says: “Jenny, sometimes there are just not enough rocks!”

What Forrest was saying was that throwing rocks was not going to cure the pain from her past. She could bulldoze the house and still not have peace.

Today I want to talk with you about making peace with your past. For Jenny in the Forrest Gump movie, her painful past was due to an abusive father. Yet I do not want to focus in on the pain caused by others, but on the pain that we bring into our own lives. We can make choices that are very costly to us. WE can make decisions that can bring a load of guilt that is unbearable.

Look at the top of your Encouragement for Living notes at the quote:

“Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.” – Author Unknown

I am talking about dealing with pain that comes from decisions and choices that we ourselves have made.

As I thought about this most common problem my mind reflected upon King David. The Shepherd-King who made some very bad choices and for nearly a year simply let his sinful past gnaw at him. He committed the double sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the sin of murder against her husband. Did he finally make peace with his past? Yes, he did, but not without some persuasion from God.

Nathan the prophet came to him with a horrendous story of a rich man who robbed a poor family of their only lamb to prepare a meal for some visiting travelers. David in anger stated that the rich man would restore four-fold to his neighbors and then would pay with his life. Nathan then told him that he was this man. In Psalms 51 we find David’s record of how he made peace with his sinful past.

Steps To Finding Peace With My Sinful Past

1. Run To The One Who Wants To Forgive You – Verse 1

Many times when we make a terrible choice (sin) we try to run away from those we hurt.

Example: Olivia took one of Jared’s toys yesterday, and when he called her name to give it back, she ran away from him.

We come by this honestly. Our first father and mother, Adam and Eve, ran from God when they recognized their sinful choice.

The problem with running away from our poor decisions and choices is that we run away from peace as well. David’s departure from God began on the roof top overlooking Bathsheba’s bath tub. David continue to run from God as he committed his sexual sin and ran even faster trying to cover the sin up. He continue to run from God for at least 9 months and he was a miserable man. He describes himself has a man without joy, as a man with broken bones.

He does not find peace until he runs back to God.

Isn’t it interesting that when we sin, we want to stay as far from God as possible? In these times, we have forgotten a very important fact about God… He wants to forgive us!

How do I know that?

1. He loves you. He gave His only begotten son. He so loved the world….
2. He has abundant mercy. The Bible tells me that God pursues after me to give me goodness and mercy. “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6 [NLT]

2. Be Open About Your Sinfulness – Verses 3-4

I have always wondered why David left out the human victims of his sinful choices (Bathsheba and Uriah)? I cannot help but wonder that in the past year of his life, David had managed to rationalized his behavior. Perhaps this young lady was trying to catch the eye of the King. Uriah caused his own death by not following the instructions of the King. I know… I know… this is silly. Yet we all do it in some measure! We are not open about what we have done.

And guess what?

• We will not find peace until we are open, honest, real with what we have done.
• We cannot find forgiveness until there is true confession.
• We cannot find correction until we have admitted the wrong.

No matter how much we can rationalize our behavior, blame it on someone else, we still have sinned against a holy God who loves us.

3. Allow God To Deal With Your Sin In His Way – Verses 7-9

Many people try to deal with sin in their own way. One such man was Martin Luther. In his writings about his life he reports that he came to the Catholic confessional so many times and with every little sin, that the priest grew weary of him. One day in hope of obtaining and indulgence promised by the pope, he went to what was called Pilate’s Staircase in Rome and began crawling up it on his knees. While doing this he was halted by the words of the Scriptures which came to him: “The just shall live by faith.” This was like a great light that shone upon Luther. He realized that he was trying to deal with his sins in his own way, making his own payment. This would not do.

What do we do with our sins?

• We try to forget them but cannot.
• We try to make up for them, but cannot.
• We try to bury them in busy work, but cannot.
• We try to find some other person to tell us that we are okay, but we do not believe them.
• We just carry the guilt around with us and live miserable lives.

I have a better solution. Instead of you and I dealing with our sins, we should turn them over to God to deal with them.

What will God do with our sins? Read Psalm 103:12:

“As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 [NKJV]

Why would God hide our sins?

1. His Son Jesus has paid the price in full. There is no more debt.

   Example: Carolyn and I are re-financing our home and all-of-a-sudden there is a hospital bill on our credit report from 1997 stating it needed to be paid. The truth is there was a debt, but we paid it in full. My bank wanted us to paid it again. They had to investigate the claim, found the bill had been paid, and it was simply a mistake on our credit report.

   This will never happen with God when we let Him deal with our sins. When we confess them to Him, He forgives them for Jesus as paid the price for our sins.

2. God hides our sins forever, never to be found again.

   Someone has said that God has taken our sins and cast them into the sea. He then posted a “No Fishing” sign. Don’t go fishing for those sins anymore. God will never bring them up to show us those sins; we should not go looking for them as well.

4. Be Assured That God Can Change You Into A New Person – Verses 10-12

1. God can provide a clean heart. “What’s the use in seeking forgiveness, I will sin again.” There is truth in that statement, we will stumble again. Yet at the same time, God can create a clean heart that will resist sin… a heart that will say “no” to sin.
2. God can give a steadfast spirit. God can give us a Spirit that desires to do what is right.
3. God can restore your joy.

What Are the Results of Finding Peace with Your Sinful Past?

• Teach others about God’s gift of peace – verse 13. Many are struggling along in guilt because they have never seen what a relief, what a glory it is, to have God refuse to hold a man’s transgressions against him. Teaching others should always follow the experience of forgiveness.
• Praise God for the removal of guilt – verse 14. “I will praise you, God, for two things: 1) You have taken my guilt away, you have delivered me from bloodguiltiness; and 2) You have broken my willful spirit. That broken spirit, that contrite heart before you, is all the sacrifice you are looking for. So I can praise you, God, for having broken my stubborn will and brought me to the end of myself.”
• We can give God sincere worship – verses 16-17. Then worship will be realistic. It will not be a mere form; it will be real. Every song sung, every psalm read, every prayer uttered will not be a mechanical perfunctory repetition of words but the healthy articulation of a heart that has been cleansed and set free.

Closing

Do you know that every person is a king over a kingdom? Each one holds a certain area of influence. Our family, our friends, our loved ones are in a sense a kingdom over which we have much influence as a king. What happens to your kingdom when sin reigns unchallenged in your life? It falls apart. You know that, do you not? But God offers to restore that kingdom, to build it up again, to make it real this time, to heal the relationships and build them on a right basis.