As a Christian trying to fulfill the will of God in your life, you might find yourself headed in the wrong direction. When that happens, you might find the consequences of making a wrong turn overwhelming. From the book of James, Tony Evans provides you with the key to making a U-turn and heading back toward God.
on the highway of life it’s not uncommon
to find yourself going in the wrong
direction you made a poor decision you
followed some bad advice and before you
know it you’re off course in that moment
you have a decision to make do I ignore
the warning in my head and continue
driving down the road or do I find a way
to turn myself around and start moving
toward my true destination what you need
is a u-turn a place where you can get
off the wrong Highway reverse course and
get back on the right one the turn is
coming the question is what will you do
when a person has a master key to a
facility that means that they can unlock
any door all doors are subject to this
one key I want to launch our time
together today by giving you the master
key because the key I’m getting ready to
give you will unlock every door you are
not an exception to this key it’s a
master key for whatever the circumstance
or consequence is you are dealing with
what is the master key that can give you
hope about a reversal in your
circumstances simply stated the master
key for the reversal of consequences
brought on by sin is developing a
lifestyle of repentance repentance is
necessary because of the existence of
sin sin may be defined as any violation
of the divine standard any violation of
the divine standard the biblical word
for it is sin the biblical word is not
mistake the biblical word is not bad
habit the biblical word is not my bad
the biblical word for the violation of a
divine standard is the word sin let me
hear you say sin the reason why I wanted
you to say it is because it’s not like a
popular word but it is the only word God
recognizes when it comes to the need for
the repentance that gives hope for the
reversal of circumstances so whenever we
violate transgress the standard of God
God says that sin now the reason is the
sin
has to do with the nature of God the
Bible describes God as perfect and
righteous in all of his ways he is a
perfect being in the same way that you
don’t like trash or garbage God doesn’t
like sin so God cannot have any
relationship with sin and maintain his
holy integrity
so that means sin has to be addressed
before consequences can be addressed
what many people want is God to change
their consequence without them facing
their sin leave my sin alone but get rid
of the problems caused by it don’t ask
me to adjust my sin make me feel better
look better be better help a brother out
help a sister out there can be no
dealing with the consequence unless we
deal with the cause and the cause is sin
which is an affront to a holy God and a
violation of his divine standard sin in
the Bible violating God’s revealed
righteous standard is associated
normatively
with death you saw it over and over
again in this exact you’ll 18 passage
why will you die repent so that you
don’t die romans 6:23 the wages of sin
is death
James 1:15 when sin is completed it
brings forth death over and over again
hosea 14 1 your downfall is because of
your sin so
death is associated with sin in the
Bible death means separation a
separation occurs when we sin a death
occurs because a separation occurs
what’s the separation fellowship with
God is lost when sin is introduced God
must separate from sin since we are
sinning he has to separate from us in
terms of our personal relationship which
I’ll explain in a moment a distance
occurs when sin is introduced into a
scenario when that gap occurs because
sin has been introduced that space due
to the gap caused by sin then becomes
filled with consequences there is a
spacing issue where consequences fill in
the gap where the sin created the
separation because God is no longer
there to block it you remember when God
told Adam the day you eat the fruit that
same day you will die but he didn’t fall
down dead that day he didn’t physically
die that day oh but he died because the
Bible says that God removed him from the
garden and from intimate fellowship with
him so there was a spiritual death there
was an emotional death it says fear took
over and controlled him emotional death
is when you can’t live with you
relational death we hear we hear couples
say when they are getting a divorce the
death of a marriage there is a
relational death that can occur there is
economic death where your bills are
controlling you and you’re not
controlling them
and so there is the death economically
that can occur so there are all these
kinds of deaths and they’re all death in
the Bible because the biblical meaning
of death is an illegitimate separation
and of course then there is the worst
death of all eternal death we call it
hell eternal death is where a person is
separated from fellowship with God
forever as all all those are called
death in the Bible so you must now clear
your mind of limiting the definition of
death to a funeral and understand that
death is any illegitimate separation so
then what is life life is the coming
together of things that should not be
separated it is the spirit in the body
it is the relationship on track
it is the economics in harmony life or
what the Bible calls eternal life is not
a place that’s heaven it’s an experience
that his life in the Bible is
experiencing God’s reality in harmony
with you and in the various scenarios of
your life so if you are a dead man
walking or a dead woman walking in some
category
there has been an illegitimate
separation that needs to be harmonized
again and the word that God uses to
bring the illegitimate to the legitimate
is the word repent that is this word of
turning death into life sin is the word
for taking life and turning it into
death so that’s why repentance is the
master key for whatever the scenarios
are today
opening the door based on God’s
prerogative – reversing limiting
canceling or giving you the capacity to
handle consequences it’s his prerogative
but you don’t even get position for that
prerogative without the word repent
repentance is defined as an internal
resolve and determination to turn from
your sin repentance is an internal
resolve and determination to turn from
your sin sin creates a broken
relationship where consequences brought
on by Satan or situations or even what
God allows to enter into your life
because there has been a rupture
repentance is God’s way of sewing back
together
the rupture with him when the rupture
with him is sewn back together through
repentance the possibility of reversal
of consequences now exists repentance is
the internal resolve and determination
to turn from your sin without that
internal resolve and determination thus
no real repentance then you and your
consequences must learn to live together
the best way you can cuz you are stuck
with them let me tell you the
ingredients that you need to stir
together to get a real repentance
number one to repent starts off with a
recognition of sin there is a
recognition of sin to see if you don’t
believe it’s sin then you don’t need to
repent of it it is sin because there’s a
violation of a divine standard that’s
what makes something sin so you must
recognize it to be so first John 1:9
says that if we confess our sins he’s
faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
the Greek word confess means to say the
same thing that’s what the griot
mulligan means to say the same thing you
must say about that thing what God says
about it
secondly there must be remorse over what
you now recognize what the Bible calls
in 2nd Corinthians 7 verses 10 and 11
godly sorrow godly sorrow is I’ve hurt
God now you may have heard your
neighbors you may have hurt yourself but
the one thing has offended the most is
God so he says godly sorrow leads to
repentance that this thing whatever the
thing is has hurt the heart of God he
says it must be godly sorrow not the
world’s sorrow worldly sorrow is you got
caught
godly sorrow is I’ve hurt the heart of
God godly sorrow guilt and shame over
sin must be the reaction to the
recognition of sin then what’s
recognizing it and being remorseful over
it that must be the decision to reverse
it the decision to reverse it how do you
know that this thing is real that you
really want to deal with it fruit in
other words you are doing something that
demonstrates you want a reversal
he uses the word over and over in
Scripture return return Zechariah
chapter 1 verses 3 & 4 return to me so I
can return to you Malachi chapter 3
verse 7 return to me so I can return to
you I want to come back to you but you
keep dying on me by refusal to address
the sin havingness it is one thing not
addressing it is another in James
chapter 4 the people were concerned that
their prayers were not being answered
they were praying and nothing was
happening
he says you have not because you ask not
in verse 2 verse 3 Thins you asked but
you still don’t receive because you ask
with wrong motives so that you may spend
it on your own pleasures your
adulteresses don’t you know that
friendship with the world is hostility
toward God whoever wishes to be a friend
of the world makes himself an enemy of
God God has enemies
don’t camp because he’s writing to
Christians or do you not think that the
scripture says to no purpose he
jealously desires the spirit which he is
made to dwell in you why this a big deal
of God to leave the jealous person he
saved you for himself but he gives
greater grace all he’s giving you divine
favor therefore it says God is opposed
to the proud you can do it without him
but gives grace to the humble so what
should you do submit yourself therefore
to God resist the devil and he will flee
from you don’t miss read that he didn’t
tell you resist the devil he said submit
to God a lot of people say oh I can’t
get rid of this devil and you won’t
because he’s got space to work in so he
first says submit to God submit means to
place yourself underneath the authority
of someone place yourself under the
authority of God and then resists the
devil why because once you get God on
your side you got help with the devil so
if the devil is bringing these
consequences and you want to get the
devil off of your back you’ve got to
first come underneath God so God can
work with you and getting the devil off
of you because the devil can handle you
he can’t handle God working with you and
how do you do that verse 8 says draw
near to God and He will draw near to you
repentance is a lifestyle of
acknowledging to God our sin with the
remorse that I’ve heard God with the
request that he intervenes in not only
my forgiveness but in my circumstances
and repentance opens the door for him to
limit postpone avoid reverse
kids sue or empower in the midst of
dealing with the circumstance it’s his
prerogative but you’ve opened the door
for one many or all of the above that’s
why whenever you see or almost every
time you see repent connected with the
word return he tells you what he’s gonna
do for you if you do it he says you will
establish now the grounds for God to
deal with your consequences Isaiah 30
verse 15 says your deliverance is in
your repentance oh I love what Acts
chapter 3 says verses 19 to 21 therefore
repent and return so that your sins may
be wiped out in order that times of
refreshing may come because it’s never
what you want when you got consequence I
want to be refreshed from refreshing may
come from the presence of the Lord and
that he may send Jesus the Christ
appointed to you whom heaven must
receive until the period of restoration
of all things about which God spoke
about by the mouth of his holy prophets
from ancient time he says repent and
return so that you can be refreshed the
Bible says all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God as judge he
has pronounced the whole world guilty
because all have sinned so when we
relate to God judicially as a judge
we’re guilty so what the judge did god
what sin Jesus Christ to the cross to
bear our guilt God can only accept you
into heaven if you are as perfect as he
so what God did was become a man down
the cross and credit the righteousness
of Christ to all who come to Christ for
it
so judicially as a judge you stand I
stand we stand all who come to Christ
stand before God as though we’ve never
sinned because God has credited to our
account the righteousness of Christ he
who knew no sin became sin for us so
when it comes to your eternal destiny
guilt has been covered which is why you
can’t lose your salvation guilt has been
covered by the death of Jesus Christ
because when it comes to your eternal
salvation
the judge has acquitted you once you
come to Christ first John 2:2 makes it
clear that at the death of Christ he
died in propitiation for our sins but
not for our sins only but for the sins
of the whole world it says so he says
your deliverance is in your repentance
you’re driving south on the highway as
you’re driving south on the highway it
dawns on you you should have been going
north so you recognize you’re going the
wrong way you’re saying that you’re
going the wrong way but you keep passing
exit then you have not yet repented you
recognize it you feel bad about it but
there has been no reversal or attempt to
reverse now you feel bad enough long
enough it dawns on you I better do
something different so you see an exit
coming up 1/2 a mile you move over to
your right lane
and you exit off of confession off-ramp
I agree that I’ve been going the wrong
way
I confess South is not the right way so
I’m getting no now you haven’t solved
the problem yet but you’ve acted you’ve
acted you got me
it may not be big fruit but it’s some
fruit and you’ve acted and you’ve pulled
off on confession are friendly but
there’s a bigger problem getting all
doesn’t solve your problem
coz loft is over there but there is a
connection between the ramp you got off
and the ramp you need to get on we’ll
call it grace overpass because the Bible
says grace is greater than our sin so
when you get off the confession off-ramp
there has been a buttress built for you
to make it right so you now cross over
grace overpass on the other side of the
overpass is an on-ramp we’ll call that
restoration on ramp so you get off on
confession exit off ramp you cross over
grace overpass you get back on
restoration on ramp and guess what
you’re headed in the right direction now
depending on how long you’ve been going
wrong it may take you a minute to get
back fully on the right Road but I got
some good news for you if you’ve ever
been on a long trip and gone on a long
journey and that was time to come on
have you ever noticed it seems to take
less time
to get home then it did going there no
wait a minute it’s the same amount of
miles if you’re taking the same route it
may be the same amount of distance
because you’re taking the same route but
it feels different and you know I feel
different
cuz you go at home God says if I can
just get you to come home it may take a
minute it may take some time but because
you’re coming home and I want your home
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the key to your reversal is spiritual
your circumstances and mine when they’re
negative often are tied to the fact that
we are not in proper spiritual alignment
and that’s why in our passage in spite
of the fact that we may be praying if we
have not identified and addressed the
unrighteousness then we have not
addressed what God needs to see
addressed in order to feel free enough
to provide the change that we’re
desperately crying out and calling on
him cruel so if you want to see your
reversal make sure there is no spiritual
impediment to the change that you
desperately are crying out to God for to
take place in your own life the passage
says that he gives greater grace he
gives a greater flow of his of his
provision of victory of his provision of
divine favor when he sees that you feel
about sin and I feel about sinning the
way he feels about sin when he sees that
humility our willingness to humble
ourselves under his authority and yield
to his rule over our lives then that
lets him know we’re serious and that
allows the free flow of His divine
goodness to more graphically come in our
direction
none of us is perfect but we can pursue
godliness when we pursue godliness and
God seeing us pursue him then grace
flows a lot freer and transformation a
lot quicker and that is the single
greatest key to seeing God reverse
things in your life
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haven’t you ever wanted to go back in
time to place yourself into the pages of
the Bible to immerse yourself in the
stories of Ruth of David of Solomon the
Bible allows us to travel back in time
and experience real history and to a
place where God wrote the greatest story
ever told the story of Jesus Christ
now you’re invited on an adventure to
the land where it all began in November
2018 join me on a tour of the Holy Land
experience the sights and sounds of the
Jordan Jericho and Jerusalem let history
come alive and discover Israel with me
November 2018 visit tony evans dot org
to learn more
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in the brand-new series
u-turn reversing the consequences in
your life renowned pastor and theologian
dr. Tony Evans delivers practical
insights and direction and how to turn
things around in your life who doesn’t
need a tool from time to time request
this powerful complete series today and
start heading in the direction of your
destiny
you