DO YOUR SINS AFFECT YOUR CHILDREN?

By

Al Gormley

 

 

Exodus 20:3-6

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

 

Exodus 34:6-7

“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

 

Jeremiah 32:18

“Thou showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,”

 

 

These verses teach us that the Lord visits iniquity.  The effects of our sins not only fall upon us but upon our children, our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren.  Our children have to suffer because of our sins our families ourselves suffer.

 

You may be saying I don’t believe the Lord would do that.  He said He did.  The Lord does deal with our sins.  We better listen and take heed to Gods word.  Whether we like it or not our sins affect our children. My sin causes my family to suffer.  And your sin causes your children to suffer.

 

I want to use some illustrations from God’s Word to show that this is true.  That’s the only way I know how to prove this.

 

ADAM: Genesis 4

Adam sinned and it affected the whole human race and that included his children.  Adam’s sin had an effect upon his children.  His children were sinners because of Adams transgression and of and of course we are to.  All of us know this that in Gen 4:8 Adam and Eve had two children Cain and Abel and the Bible teaches us that Cain rose up and killed Abel.  I John 3:10 tells us why.  Where did he get his evil works, where did he learn sin, where did he get it from?  He got it from his daddy.  Adam reaped what he sowed.  Brother Adam sinned and it cost him.  Adam sinned and it affected his children.

 

NOAH: Genesis 6:8

Noah had 3 sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  In Genesis 9:20-27, let’s notice what happened to him when he got off the Ark.  In the first place He shouldn’t have gotten drunk—SIN.  He shouldn’t have been naked—SIN.  If he hadn’t of gotten drunk he would not have had all of this happen to him.  In Genesis 9:24-27, Canaan was cursed because of Noah’s sin.  In Genesis 10:6, we have the 4th generation.  The curse went all the way down into the 4th Generation.  Canaan was cursed and it was all because of Noah’s sin.  We cannot sin without reaping what we sow. 

 

LOT: Genesis 13:10-13

Lot was Abraham’s nephew.  Abraham was to be blessed of the Lord and Lot went out with Abraham.  First, Lot separated himself from Abraham.  Then he pitched his tent toward Sodom, a very wicked city.  This was the first step in getting away from the Lord, when he got his eyes on the world, the pleasures of this life that exactly what Lot did.  He is going to create some real problems for himself and he is going to create some real problems for his children.  In Genesis 19:1 He not only pitched his tent toward Sodom but now he is sitting in the gate.  Now he is the judge or the Mayor of Sodom.  He is saying I want to see how close I can get to sin and not partake.  A lot of people do this.  Now what was the result of Lot getting in the midst of the world, living like the world.  He was no witness to his people.  In Genesis 19:13-14, this sin affected Lot’s daughter.  Their husbands were burned to death.  Lot should have gotten out of there.  It would be awful for me to see my sons-in-law burned up in fire because of my sin.  Listen, people suffer when we sin.  When we don’t stand up for the things of God, our children suffer, we suffer, and everybody around us suffers.  In Genesis 19: 14-16, verse 15, the angels had to literally drag Lot out of there.  He didn’t want to come out. Sin will affect you.  In Genesis 19:30-36, Lot got his own daughters pregnant.   In verses 37 and 38 the Moabites and the Ammonites were enemies of God all the way through the Bible.  The Moabites and the Ammonites were the result of Lots sin.  His daughters reaped Lots sin. 

 

ABRAHAM: Genesis 16

Then we have Abraham’s sin with Hagar.  I don’t want my family to be the enemy of the Lord.  I want to live my life in such a way that my children will be friends of the Lord—that they will fight the battle with me, not against me.

 

ACHAN: Joshua 7:1

Did Achan’s sin affect his own children?  In Joshua 7:20-26, Achan said “I HAVE SINNED.”  His wife and his children suffered because of his sin.  We may not want to accept that, but I say again our families suffer because of our sins.  May we that are heads of our homes take a stand for the things of God.  May we fill our place.  If we don’t, our wives and our children are going to suffer.  Let me say this, Christ is head of the church, and if we don’t submit to Him we are going to suffer too.  Husbands, if we don’t take our place with our children we are going to suffer and they are going to suffer also.  Men it’s your responsibility to spank your children.  Wives you better let him do it.  A child left to himself will bring his mother to shame.  Children honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon earth. 

 

ELI: I Sam. 2:12

In verses 22–26, let’s notice how Eli dealt with his children.  Read Verses 29-34.  Eli why are you honoring your sons above me?  Your sons will die if you do.  God is a jealous God.  He doesn’t want us to put anybody or anything above Him.  See I Sam. 3:13.  Yes, his sins affected his children.. He had the responsibility of restraining them.  It’s not enough just to speak to them.   Ladies, you better allow you husband to discipline your children.  I am going to try and keep the Judgment of God off my children and my house.  If we don’t restrain them, God has a way of restraining them.  God killed both of his sons.  One sister I know told her children as she spanked them, “If I don’t punish you the Lord will.  I am just trying to keep you out of jail.”

 

DAVID: II Samuel 11

David was supposed to be at war.  Adultery and murder.  He saw, He sent, and he sinned.  II Sam. 12: 8-14.  Never depart from thine house.  Why?  Because you’ve sinned against God.  It was because of David’s sin that that child died.  God judgment fell upon David’s children.  What we sow, we are going to reap. I heard this preacher tell of his friend that he did not want to plant all the seeds his Dad told him to plant. So he dug a hole and planted the seed and put the bucket over them. It wasn’t long until the plants started popping up all around it.  You may sin, you may try to cover it up, and you may try to hide it. But your sins are going to find you out.  “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13.  Your sins are going to come out. It’ll come out in your children and in you. Don’t think you are going to get away with it. When you sins against the Lord, it is going to come out.  Our sins are going to affect our children. 

 

What about our churches? What about our Baptist churches that have gone away from the truth?  Somebody has let down somewhere down the line.

 

What is going to happen if we let down, if we don’t stand for the truth?  Our children are going to suffer. The church won’t save your soul, but it will save your life.

 

Our actions cause our children to suffer. If we don’t take a stand against sin in our church, and if we don’t conduct ourselves in a Godly manner, and if we live like the world, do you know who is going to suffer?  Not only are we going to suffer, but our children are going to suffer.  May God help us to take our stand for the truth.

 

What we allow in our homes affects our children, TV shows and hard rock music.  Hard rock music is straight from the devil.   The Lord uses His kind of music to move upon the hearts of His children, AND the devil uses his kind of music to move upon the heart of his people.

 

What emphasis do you put on serving the Lord? What goes in your eyes comes out your heart, lust, TV, adultery, and murder.  You let that child lay in bed and watch that TV and listen to that hard rock music when he gets older that’s what he is going to do.

 

Children, don’t have the attitude that if my parents’ sin causes me to sin, I am going to go on and blame it all on them.  Don’t forget your sins are going to affect your children. 

 

I am glad there is another side. Your godliness also affects your children.  Usually, if you have godly homes they will have godly homes. I realize there are exceptions to this.  Let’s spend our lives living for Jesus Christ.

 

Brothers and sisters, our sins do affect our children.

 

Have you been all that you should be in your home?  Young couples, you have the whole life of that child. What are you going to do with it?  You have only one shot at raising them. When the cake is baked, it is done.  You say, Preacher, I’ve got to get my own life right first.  Why not right now?  Do you want your children to be doing just like you are doing? You may be saying I can’t do anything about it now. Yes, you can.  You can repent!

 

 

Pastor Al Gormley

Bryan Station Baptist Church

Lexington, KY