Reversing Generational Consequences, Part 2

The question is, is it time to break the cycle? Dr. Tony Evans talks about overcoming sinful patterns passed down from our parents. I'm not going to be locked in to that mess I've inherited.

I don't care what mom and daddy did, that's not me now. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. It's undeniable that choices have consequences, and the Bible is clear that even the choices family members have made before us will affect our circumstances. But there is a way to reverse negative consequences, and that's what Tony explores today.

Let's join him. We not only pass to our children our good looks, but we also transfer or have transferred to us the patterns of sinful behavior. These patterns, transferred from one generation to another, create spiritual scars on our lives. Scars that are reflected and then we pass them on, usually unbeknowingly, and it's usually not planned, but it is very real to our children. These generational realities come in all shapes and all sizes. We talk about some people being a born liar.

Look like they come out of the womb lying. We've seen people whose father was an alcoholic and they become an alcoholic. My grandparents got divorced. My parents got divorced.

I'm getting divorced because there has been this repetition of a negative pattern passed on. Children are not born racist. They're not born hating a group of people because of the color of their skin, regardless which way it goes. They picked that up. They learned that. They pick up a pattern of discrimination or prejudice or racism. They pick it up from their parents, they inculcate the pattern into their lives, and so they act out the transfer and then transfer it on. And so it becomes a generational problem that even in our country, after well over 200 years, we're still fighting with. It's because of generational transfer. Paul is writing to Christians who weren't doing too well with their freedom.

They were talking a good game, but experiencing the freedom, now that's a whole other story. He comes in verse 10 and he says in Galatians 3, For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, we're Gentiles here, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Stay with me. He says, the rules of God, the law, that's the Ten Commandments, the rules of God cannot fix your problem, my problem, the law. The law is centered in the Ten Commandments. Ten times God says, Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Everybody agrees with the Ten Commandments. In fact, the Scripture says the Ten Commandments, the law of God, is good.

We all agree you shouldn't do those ten things. The law is good. But he says, with the law comes a curse.

Why? Because all the law can do is show you the problem. It cannot fix it. The rules of God in the law of Moses he's talking about, the rules of God, which are good rules, and now that those Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament, so the law of God is good to expose you, but not to deliver you. See, many people have the wrong idea about how to approach God's rules, which are good. The law of God, as good as it is, is like a mirror. This morning when you got up, you went to the mirror, and the mirror showed you how messed up you are. The mirror showed you, you all messed up.

Your sleep habits didn't mess you up last night. Because you go in front of that mirror, your hair all out of place, you got dribble coming down your mouth, you got sleep coming out of your eyes, got wrinkled on your face where you slept on the pillow. You look in that mirror, and that mirror says you a hot mess.

But isn't that why you went? You went to the mirror to see how things really are. Because without the mirror, you would be self-deceived. You would think you're looking good when you're looking terrible without the mirror.

So you utilize the mirror to reveal. But what you do not then do is take the mirror off the wall to fix it. You don't comb your hair with the mirror. You don't wash your face with the mirror. You don't brush your teeth with the mirror. You don't use the mirror to fix it. Because that's not what it's for. It's good, but not good to fix it.

It's only good to reveal it. So what a lot of folk do is they go to the rules to fix the problem. And they make New Year's resolutions. I ain't gonna do this anymore. I promise not to do this anymore.

I really, really promise this time. And then they dedicate, then they rededicate, then they re-rededicate on the rededication. And what's bad about it is they mean it. I'm not talking about the insincere person.

I'm talking about the sincere person who really comes and they mean it. And like a New Year's resolution, for a week or two it works. For a month or so it works, until that thing winds back up again, or you get in that right situation, and bam!

Just think about your diet. You meant well, but it just comes back. The chicken comes back. It just comes back.

It just comes back. So let's get what Paul is saying here. Paul is saying all the law can do, which is good, is to condemn you. Because it's just going to show you what's wrong.

But you need to know that. You need to know what's wrong, but the law can't make it right. So wait a minute, then if committing myself to the law can't make it right, it can only tell me what's wrong that I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing, that I got from my parents, that I'm passing to my kids.

What's going to make it right? He says in verse 14, In order that in Christ Jesus the blessings of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. On the cross, Jesus broke the back of Satan. The Bible says that in Colossians 2, he condemned the devil.

So Flip Wilson was incorrect. The devil can't make you do anything. The cross broke, watch this, his authority. It did not remove his power, but it removed his authority. Authority is the legitimate use of power. Criminals have a gun, policemen have a gun.

So both have firepower, but only the policeman has a badge. He has legal authority, if he's using it correctly. So Satan's authority was broken, although he still possesses power. So anything he tries to do to you, if you have accepted Jesus Christ, is illegitimate. Since it is illegitimate, he's got to come up with a scheme to control you. And he only has one scheme. It comes out in different ways, but he only has one scheme to keep that habit from going away, to keep that anger from you stopping it, from keeping that addiction, from you letting go of it. He's got one scheme, and his one scheme is to get in your head. 1 Corinthians 11 says, like Eve who was deceived, he's got to trick your thinking. Let me put it another way.

He's got to make his thoughts your thoughts, so that after he's put his thoughts into your head, it's now your thoughts telling your action what to do. But it came from your brain, even though the eye may have been put there by the demonic transfer from your mother and father. So your mother and father may have done something, the demons grabbed it, delivered it to your head, so you're acting it out in your life. So the demonic realm uses its power of deception to put it into your life so that it becomes your habit or your action so that you bear the consequence of your decision, because it came from your mind, even though the idea may have been introduced by your parents. So God says, the death of Jesus Christ broke the curse of the law, He says, in order that God might give you the Spirit.

Watch this now. This is the most important feature. It is the Spirit's job, if you've accepted Christ, because those are the only ones that have the Spirit, it is the Spirit's job to make happen what the law says should happen but doesn't have the power to make happen. The Spirit's job is to make happen what the law requires.

The law requires it, so you need to know what's required, but the law can't help you do it. Dr. Evans will have more on what we can do to receive the Holy Spirit's help when he returns in just a moment. First, though, Tony has written a brand new book called U-Turns that goes hand in hand with today's lesson. There are ways to reverse the consequences of spiritual failures you may have experienced in your life in areas like addiction, sexuality, financial responsibility, and more, including problems you may have heard were irreversible. U-Turns will show you how to get your life headed in a new and healthy direction, so we're offering both the book and all 12 lessons in the U-Turns series on both CD and digital download as our way of saying thanks when you come alongside Tony's ministry and make a donation to help keep these broadcasts coming your way. We depend completely on your support to keep the alternative on this station, and this is one way we can show our appreciation. And if you want to learn even more about how God can work to redeem the negative consequences of bad choices, if you want to help others in this area, you'll want to look into the companion U-Turns Bible Study Kit and DVD Dr. Evans has prepared. You can find out more and make all the arrangements at TonyEvans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222, where one of our helpful resource team members can assist with your request. That's 1-800-800-3222.

Well, here's Dr. Evans with more of today's lesson. When you're driving down the highway and it says, speed limit, 75 miles an hour, you know what that law is there for? To condemn you. You ever got pulled over and congratulated for going under 70? You ever had the police and pull you over and say, you're obeying the law.

I just want to write you a ticket of congratulations. Because that speed limit isn't there to make you feel good. That speed limit is there to give them the legal right to pull you over when you break it. It's a law, but it's a law of condemnation. Galatians 5 verse 16. He says, the Spirit's job is to bring the promises of God into your life. Verse 16 of chapter 5 of Galatians, But I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. For if you are led by the Spirit, you are not underneath the law.

Whoa. The job of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is to make real the law of God activated in your life, my life, regardless of what you got from mom and daddy. Walk in the Spirit, and you will not act out the desire of the flesh. The Spirit's job is to give you the ability to override the flesh.

Even if the flesh still wants to do wrong, the flesh is not going to yield it. It's like the difference between gravity and aerodynamics. Gravity says, what goes up must come down. But when you get an airplane moving at a certain speed with a certain thrust, it doesn't kill gravity, it overrides it. So that's why you can fly. What the Spirit does is override the flesh even when the flesh is still fleshy.

So that raises a question. God has given the Spirit to everybody who comes to the cross. Jesus Christ broke the curse of the cross, so you are no longer under a curse. You may feel like you're under a curse. You may feel like mom and daddy is giving you a curse.

That's a lie. We just read 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. But the flesh is still there. We say a little prayer in the morning, and we think that covers the day. No, that covers the morning. That's all that covers. In fact, it covers a few minutes in the morning.

That's all that covers. Walking is continuous movement, right? One step after another. Those who walk in the Spirit, meaning every single time that desire comes up, you are to invite the Spirit's power to override it. So you are in movement with the Spirit whenever it comes up. And it's going to come up depending upon how deep you're into it, whatever the addiction or the sin or the circumstance is.

It's going to keep coming up. Lord, right now I desire to do that which is outside of the will of God. But because you broke the curse on the cross, I now invoke the Holy Spirit to give me the ability right now to override. What you just did was walk in the Spirit. If it pops up an hour later, you walk an hour later. If it pops up two hours later, you take another step. If it comes 30 minutes later, you take another step.

If it comes 10 minutes later, you take another step. So you learn to stay in stride with the Spirit whose job it is to make the law come alive in your life and to do what the law cannot do, cannot fix it. He says, and when you do this, you're no longer under the law, meaning under its condemnation. Ezekiel 33, verses 14 and 15. When I say to the wicked, you will surely die.

I love this. And he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness. If a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die. If a man commits iniquity, he shall surely die. Now, if God says you're going to surely die, you dead.

Okay? Okay, you're dead. Whether it's physical or spiritual separation, you're dead. When God says you shall surely die, that means surely. But then it comes right back in the next verse and says, when that person repents, he shall not surely die.

Wait a minute, there's been a reversal of consequences here, because the consequence is death. He says when you turn, repentance, when you turn from sin to God, by means of the Holy Spirit we just went over, who has given you victory, there is a reversal of consequences. Now, God decides how much and all of that, there is a reversal in that statement, surely.

But that raises a question. The Bible says God cannot change. It says He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So how can He tell me I'm going to surely die, but then tell me if I repent I'm not going to surely die? Did He not mean the first surely? Which we hope not. But He said surely.

Sure enough, you're going to pay a substantive consequence. But then He comes to the next verse and says, you repent, you shall not surely die. But He says He doesn't change.

Sounds like He just changed me. One thing is this. What we have is the attributes of God. God has attributes, perfections, characteristics, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, veracity, grace, mercy, truth, justice, wrath. He's got all these different characteristics. God reacts to sin by justice and wrath.

He has to because that's part of His makeup. And He must surely respond to it. But when you turn by means of the Spirit, who gives you power to override the cry of the flesh, once you turn and return, you are switching attributes you are relating to. See, when you were overhearing disobedience, you were under wrath. But once you turn and return, you're now located under mercy. Your turning hasn't changed God. He's still got wrath. He's still got justice.

But you're no longer operating under that. You have turned. And when you turn, you're now operating under His mercy and under His grace, which frees Him up to relate to you from over there instead of over here, but He still hasn't changed. He's still got justice.

He's still got wrath. But you have relocated yourself. And once you relocate yourself, He can now relate to you to your new location, and He hasn't moved an inch. Because He remains constant, but repentance means you've turned by means of the Spirit so He can offer you something different at His own sovereign will. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with one final challenge for today.

Stay with us. The biblical roles of husbands and wives, the source of our authority as believers, understanding the concept of grace, winning spiritual battles. They're all important subjects, but seem as different as night and day.

Would it surprise you to know there's a common thread running through all four? You can discover what it is by taking the course on Ephesians in the Tony Evans Training Center. One by one, you'll dig into the powerful themes of this book and make new discoveries about what Jesus' death accomplished, how to maintain unity at home and at church, what spiritual armor is all about. The course includes custom content from Tony not available anywhere else. Work through it at your own pace.

Collaborate with other students. Get your specific questions answered through our online forum. Connect with the Tony Evans Training Center at tonyevans.org.

It's like having a seminary on your smartphone or other device. Start today, tonyevans.org. And while you're there, don't forget to make the arrangements to receive those powerful resources I mentioned earlier, Tony's brand-new book, U-Turns, Reversing the Consequences in Your Life, the companion study guide and resource DVD, along with all 12 messages from his current series on CD and digital download. The entire U-Turns package can be yours when you make a contribution to help keep this broadcast coming your way each day.

This is a limited-time offer, so don't put it off. Visit us today at tonyevans.org to get all the details. You can make your contribution and your request online at tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our resource team members assist you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. In a culture that's supposed to celebrate diversity, we seem to spend a lot of time focusing on our differences, building walls instead of bridges. But there's a better blueprint in the Bible, and Dr. Evans will tell us about it tomorrow. Right now, though, he's back with this closing challenge for today. And so the question is, is it time to break the cycle? To say, God, I don't care what Mom and Daddy did, what Grandma and Daddy did, that's not me now. And I'm not going to be locked in to that mess I've inherited because you've given me something to break the curse by the blood of Jesus. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.