Reversing Irreversible Consequences | Tony Evans Sermon

god knows what you like he knows our propensity and he has compassion when we come home come back home as quickly as possible though your sins being scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be his will so whatever inheritance whatever god still wants to do for you to you through you in you don't lose anymore jesus christ broke the curse so don't ever talk about you being cursed again if you know jesus christ the curse the consequence of the law is broken the greatest miracle of all is when you dip yourself in the blood of jesus christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life how many of you like puzzles anybody like putting together puzzles okay well today we're going to have a puzzle and we're going to see the protrusions and the indentations of this puzzle come together to address the issue of irreversible consequences can they be reversed is there the possibility that things could be different although they look like they can't be gehesa is elijah's servant elijah has just instructed naaman how to be healed seven times into joy naaman dips down seven times comes up totally healed and then turns and offers elijah money clothes silver gold well worth in today's dollars over a million dollars naaman says elijah because you gave me the secret to this healing i'm going to make you a millionaire in verse 16 elijah turns him down i can't take your money i can't take your clothes it's not about that and he turns down the money gaheza sees him turn down the money to which gajesa says you got to be out of your mind you didn't heal this man you offered him well over a million dollars and you're going to turn it down so when naaman leaves gaheza goes after him when gaheza catches up with naaman he says to him my master sent me and he told me to catch up with you because we got two seminary students he calls them sons of the prophets we got two students who need who need a scholarship to get through school who needs some clothes because they poor seminary students and so he sent me to get a little something something from you let me have a talent and some of the clothes so before i get any further let me tell you what's going on now the bible calls it the sin of covetousness covetousness is desiring and plotting to take something that is not yours to have that's covetousness ascending forward is greed going after something that is not legitimate for you to have in an illegitimate way colossians 3 5 calls covetousness idolatry it is the worship of another god because you don't believe your god is the source so you go to an illegitimate means to get it covetousness jesus said in luke chapter 12 about the covetous man you don't have to turn there he said be aware of every form of greed it comes in different shapes and different forms and you know you're a covetous person when you plot to get something you're not authorized to have in an illegitimate way through deception he says elijah sent me elijah didn't send him anywhere not only that but there was a fundamental mistake that gaheza made he said elijah sent me he uses elisha's name he uses god's name but he leaves out a phrase that elisha said when he was offered the stuff because in chapter 5 verse 16 elijah said as the lord lives before who i stand before who i stand it means to whom i'm accountable in other words elijah knew he was not just accountable to other folk he was accountable to god and god would see what he was doing even if no man saw it so gaheza says elijah sent me and as god lives but not before whom i stand he lost sight of a divine accountability so he comes and he says show me the money i got some seminary students here elijah sent me to help naaman is glad to oblige so naaman goes and naaman uh and hands it to giza two talents some clothes he's the ghost takes it to his house and hides it he then goes to elijah and elijah says where you been jesus says i ain't been nowhere elijah says did not my heart go with you when you went to naaman and when you connive to get this how you know this elijah has scoped him out and this is what elijah tells him therefore verse 27 the leprosy of naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever so he went out of his presence a leper as white as snow let's look at the consequences of his decision consequence number one a personal curse leprosy and it was incurable and unreversible according to leviticus chapter 13 verses 45 and 46 when you got leprosy you now had to move outside the camp because it was contagious so you would you would you could you could give somebody else leprosy and there was no way to fix it it was irreversible as we saw last week [Music] uncurable [Music] this is the tony evans training center an online platform of courses featuring compelling video and audio teaching by dr tony evans designed to expand both your biblical knowledge and thinking on relevant societal issues these courses challenge and build leaders who speak out in love welcome to our course our mobile app allows you to stay connected to videos audio and reading material and gives you the ability to interact with other students this is on-the-go learning in community whether you have time for a deep dive or bite-sized learning have a good run these courses can go where you go at your speed our oneness in christ can make all the difference in the world life is busy but bible study is still possible the tony evans training center explore the kingdom anytime anywhere perhaps there's somebody here today who feels like you're living under a curse this thing won't go away it's affected every area of your life there's no cure you are a leper no solution but not only that he says you shall be a leper and your descendants not only that he tells them it'll never change forever let's fast forward to chapter 8 verse 1. now elijah spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life saying arise and go with your household and sojourn wherever you can sojourn for the lord has called for a famine and it will even come on the land for seven years so the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of god and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of the philistine seven years at the end of seven years the woman returned from the land of the philistines and she went out to appeal to the king for her house and for her field now the king was talking with gegiza the servant of the man of god saying please relate to me all the great things that elisha has done as he was relating to the king how he had restored to life the one who was dead behold the woman whose son he had restored to life appeared to the king for her house and for her field and yehiza said my lord o king this is the woman and this is her son whom elijah restored to life when the king asked the woman she related to him so the king appointed for her a certain officer saying restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now i got a question what in the world is gaheza doing in the palace what is he doing in the past this boy is a leper leviticus chapter 13 verse 44 and 45 says lepers have to be segregated from the congregation but now he's talking to the king and if you're going to protect anybody it's going to be the king now only is he talking to the king he is a liaison between elijah and the king because he now has a job he's still called the servant of elijah so he is standing between elijah and the king when he's been condemned to be outside due to leprosy come on now i need some more pieces to this puzzle because chapter 5 and chapter 8 don't make sense enter a woman a woman whose son had been raised from the dead we're told in those first few verses of chapter 8 that this woman the shunammite's son was raised from the dead by elisha in the first three verses of chapter eight you see the phrase seven years seven years seven years and seven is the number of completion over a seven year period the woman is first meets elijah and gets a miracle the raising of her son seven years later she comes to the king what happened in the seven years oh another piece of the puzzle there's a famine in chapter 6 verses 25 and following there was a great famine in samaria while he's talking about her okay wait a minute i gotta put this puzzle together i got a leper who appears no longer to be a leper i got a woman i got a prophet and i got a famine how do these pieces hook up how do these pieces come together how is he talking to the king like nothing is wrong how does the woman show up while he's talking about the woman why does this seven year gap show up chapter seven verse 3 now there were four leperous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another why do we sit here until we die in other words we're in a hopeless situation and we're just sitting here waiting to die if we say we will enter the city then the famine is in the city and we will die there so we go there there's nothing to eat there so we're gonna die there but if we sit here we're gonna die here so we are dead men regardless now therefore since we're going to die anyway why don't we go to the camp of the arameans if they spare us and we live if they kill us we're going to die so we're going to die anyway so let's go over there to that army that's against israel and let's ask them if they'll give us some food they may kill us but we're going to die anyway we're in a catch-22 that's unfixable so they'll arise at twilight and they go into the camp because the camp has food this is the enemy of israel and they're keeping food from israel verse six for the lord had caused the army of the airmen to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses even the sound of a great army so they said to one another behold the king of israel has hired against us kings of the hittites and kings of the egyptians to come against us therefore they arose and fled in the twilight when they took a chance they discovered god had already gotten rid of the problem if they would have stayed outside and done nothing they would have never discovered what god had already done he had already scared the aramean army so that they fled and when they fled well i said stay with me now stay with me now when they fled they left all that stuff behind because when they fled the lepers come verse 8 they entered the tent and they ate and drank and carried from their silver and gold and clothes and went and hid them and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also and went and hid them verse 9 then they said to one another stay with me here we are not doing right this day is a day of good news but we are keeping silent if we wait until morning light punishment will overtake us now therefore come let us go tell the king household rewind when e giza took that which was not his to take elijah says to him just before he sentences him is it time for you to have silver gold clothes this that and the other he said it's not wrong that you wanted it it's wrong that you wanted it in this time he said it's not time whenever you have to connive to get something god has not given you it's not because it's necessarily wrong to have it it's not your time when you have to be illegitimate to get it that means you run into maybe a content problem but definitely a timing issue because when the bible says god gives something he gives no sorrow with it so if you got to be if you got to be be manipulating to make it happen then what you have done is that you have misused the time but now this table has been laid out because god had gone before them and cleared it up so that now there's all this stuff but they they they say well let's get this for ourselves let's take this for ourselves and then one remembers and says to the other three no no no no no been there done that i'm telling you is that these four lepers are gaheza and his sons go back you're going to be a leper and so will your descendants you got to connect chapter five with chapter eight and somebody's got to explain how he's now in the king's court with no issues and contagious and how does these four characters the king elijah the woman gaheza and then this central event the famine hook up so that he's now in the king's court it's comparing scripture with scripture the reason that the names are not given is because he's living under a curse what's the point what is the point over and over again in chapter eight seven years seven years seven years seven years seven years the time of completion oh let me give you another word for it it's called retest a retest is when god creates the exact same situation or a similar situation to it to see whether you learned your lesson called the retest you know the one thing i loved in school about retest that means the teacher was giving me another chance it does not change my previous grade but it gives me hope for a better tomorrow because it's a retest notice it's the exact same situation with the exact same stuff silver gold money closed he says the problem gehesa is it's not time meaning another time it will be time but it's not time now he gives him a retest if you are in an un or irreversible situation you ask god for a retest lord give me another opportunity to take the exam again and god we'll test and retest and retest again then retest on top of the retest until you get the message till i get the message till we get the message while elijah prophesies at the end of the seven years that the drought is getting ready to end the drought's getting ready to be over he prophesies that that it's coming to a conclusion but the officer of the king says that ain't gonna happen that ain't gonna happen this this this drought not gonna come near the end like you're talking about preacher so elijah tells him in chapter seven he said look now only is gonna come to an end you're going to see it but you're not going to benefit from it now look at the end of chapter 7 verse 17. now the king appointed the royal officer on whose hands he leaned to have charge of the gate but the people trampled on him at the gate and he died just as the man of god had said who spoke when the king came down to him verse 20 and it happened to him for the people trampled on him at the gate and he died wait a minute when we come to chapter eight geezer is talking to the king wait a minute he's now the liaison he not only get his job back because he's called the servant of elijah he's now the one that the king is leading on for information the same thing that the royal officer got to use well wait a minute when the royal officer got trampled that opened up a job opportunity and so now the king is leaning on the former leper to get information he now has two jobs he's the servant of the elijah and he's the information center for the king because if god's sovereignty allows it not only can he reverse your leprosy he can give you opportunities that you never thought could be in your life in your world and in your future so god is a god of retest [Music] have you ever felt like you've run out of options you get up and go has gotten up and gone and you know you you look through the tunnel and it's all dark except for the oncoming train coming your way hope is gone throwing in the towel you resigned it'll never get better i've got good news in spite of how bad it looks in spite of how bad you were to bring it to the point it's at now the sins the mistakes the failures the rebellion and you don't even know how to spell the word hope anymore you've really set yourself up for god to do um a reversal he has a boomerang principle that he loves to operate with his children when he looks like you've gone way out of the way he knows how to turn that thing around and bring it back and change your situation i know it right now looks like there's no way out i know it looks like right now for many that you've been consigned to a life of rejection of failure and it's unrecoverable that's where god does some of his best work that's where god literally changes his mind when we change our direction so even though it looks like it is impossible and it is as far as you are concerned and as far as people are concerned but since there's nothing impossible with god if you're still here you're still alive you're still breathing then you go for that return because god is able to uh how shall we say it make dry bones rise again he can take the grave and bring life out of it he can take yesterday's disasters and turn them into tomorrow's blessing you don't give up on god because guess what he has not yet given up on you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 47,489

Rating: 4.9110546 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, sermons

Id: ky9yzemHdBo

Length: 27min 40sec (1660 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021