SWORD IN THE HOUSE
BIBLE PASSAGE: 2 SAMUEL 12: 1- 31
MEMORY
VERSE:
Know
therefore that the Lord thy
God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them
that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
NOVEMBER 03, 2019
INTRODUCTION:
What is your family known
for?
Our family included
maids, farmers, carpenters, fishermen and teachers. Every
one of my ancestors made their own way and earned their money in difficult
times. Today,
almost every family of our relatives has oversees-worker because they see that
this is the key to have an abundant life.
Our ancestors are known
for witchcraft and faith healers, overflowing of alcohol drinkers during
occasions, adultery, but above with these negative things, our ancestors were also
known for being pioneers in church planting. The grandfather of our grandpa was
a pastor in a Protestant Church, and some were deacons and deaconess.
As individuals
and families, we have committed many sins over the years. Most of the times
when we sin, we only think of ourselves and not thinking of our family or the
consequences of it; we might think it a little but the degree and urge of doing
the sin is far greater.
Our lesson for
today is titled, “Sword in the House” and it came from 2 Samuel 12:10, Now therefore the
sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and
hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. This was said by
Nathan to David when he committed adultery. If you were in David’s situation
what would you feel when you hear that sword shall never depart from thine
house? Everyone of us has a family and we know how painful to be in a family
full of chaos. In this lesson, we have three points to consider.
LESSON OUTLINE:
1. YOUR SIN AFFECTS YOUR FAMILY (2
SAMUEL 12:13-14)
What do you think is the most painful problem or struggle we face,
is it when it involves our family, right?
I remember when my niece was diagnosed with the
painful disease, Leukemia; she needed blood donors with AB type and we really
needed our relatives’ help because in Anilao’s blood, it flows this type but
sad to say we got none. Maybe they had different reasons, and this was the
cause of her death; we found none. With that disease, we realized that some of
relatives before, died also of this kind of disease. It means this disease
flows in our blood. That time, my sister (carol), my niece and I only are the
regular attender in this church, and this caused me to think why she died in an
early age (11 years old) and why she got that kind of disease. Why I say this?
It’s because it’s truly painful when see our love ones are in a painful
state.
King
David committed sins, which resulted in death. He lusted after Bathsheba,
the wife of one of his soldiers. He arranged to sleep with her, and she became
pregnant. After finding out about her pregnancy, David sent her husband Uriah
into a fierce battle and had him assigned to the most dangerous position in the
battle. Uriah died in the battle. Bathsheba mourned for her husband. When her
time of mourning was over, David brought her to his house, and she became his
wife.
“…But
the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” 2
Samuel 11:27b
The Lord sent Nathan, a prophet
and advisor of David, to tell him that he would be punished for the murder of
Uriah, but he would live. He also told him that the son that he had with
Bathsheba would die. 2
Samuel 12:13-14 says, “And
David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also
hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to
the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”
David’s
son became ill soon after he was born. David prayed and fasted. On the seventh
day, his son died. King David who was called “a man after God’s heart” lied,
lusted and committed adultery. Then he manipulated battle positions to have
Uriah killed in a fierce battle. His punishment was the death of his son. In 1
Kings 21:29, Ahab was warned by prophet Elijah about his punishment because of
his evil doings but he heard it, he repented and in verse 29 God replied, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me?
because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his
days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.
What comes to your mind when you see that your sin affects your
son? (allow response from the audience). If we are the sons or daughters, are
we going to blame our parents for our misfortunes? Even though sin
can be passed down through the generations, each person is responsible for his
or her personal sins against the Lord.
2. YOUR SIN CAN MULTIPLY AND BECOME A
STRONGHOLD (EXODUS 20:4-6)
Sins have many
patterns. Once a sin pattern begins in a family, it can continue and multiply
among the family members. It can last for four generations and can become a
stronghold and a stumbling block for the whole family. Sin is not only
disobeying God’s commandments. It is also worshipping anything other than God,
which is idolatry. Exodus 20: 4-6 says, “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
shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments..”
Abraham’s
family is a prime example of generational sin repeating itself from one
generation to another. In Genesis
12 Abraham lied about his relationship with his
wife Sarai. He told her to say that she was his sister. He knew that she was a
beautiful woman and he was afraid that if he told the Egyptians that she was
his wife, they would kill him and take her. Pharaoh’s officials praised
Sarai to Pharaoh, and they took her to his house and he took her for his wife.
“And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his
house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.”
(Genesis
12:17) When Pharaoh realized that she was his wife, he
told Abraham to take her and go. Abraham lied because he was afraid of being
murdered and losing Sarai. The lying spirit in Abraham’s family continued to
the next generation. In Genesis
26 Isaac told the men of Gerar that his wife,
Rebekah, was his sister. He was afraid that they would kill him and take her.
Both father and son lied about their wives because of their own sins of fear
and doubt.
In Genesis 27 Jacob deceived Isaac and stole his
birthright and blessing. It was important for Isaac to give the first-born
family blessing to Esau, the one whom God had chosen. Rebekah heard Isaac say
that he was going to give Esau the first-born blessing, so she schemed to get
the blessing for Jacob. She arranged with Jacob to deceive Isaac when he
brought him a meat dish so that Esau would not get the blessing. The sins
of lying and the deception of his mother and brother were agonizingly painful to
Esau who had to live the rest of his life without the blessing of the first
born, which was rightfully his.
3. GOD MADE PROVISION FOR OUR RELEASE
FROM SIN
a) JESUS
DIED FOR OUR SINS ON THE CROSS (GALATIANS 3:13)
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree:
We do not have to surrender to the binding power of
our sins or the sins of the generations. God
made provision for our release from our sins many years ago when His son,
Jesus, died for our sins on the cross. When we appropriate Jesus’ sacrifice for
our sins for ourselves and confess our sins, we have taken the first step to
break the binding power of generational sin. When the binding power of sin is
broken, we can receive the grace to forgive that God offers each one of us. He
is a loving God and He makes space for grace in His heart for each one of us
when we turn to Him and release the offenses from others that we have been
holding onto. Along with grace He provides compassion and mercy to release our
past to Him.
We can always pray, as the psalmist did in Psalm
79:8-9. “O
remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily
prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and
deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.”
b) OUR
FAMILIES NEED JESUS (GALATIANS 3:10-11; JOHN 3:18)
Let’s
go back to David’s life. We can see that prophet Nathan warned David in 2
Samuel 12:10, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart
from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of
Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife”.
The parents exactly
know what the feeling is of having sons or daughters who are not walking
uprightly. In case of David’s consequences of his sin, “sword shall never
depart from thine house”, is the most painful scene you can see in your family.
Let’s see what prophet Nathan was
saying:
·
Bathsheba’s
son dies (II Sam. 12:14)
·
Amnon
raped his half-sister, Tamar (II Sam. 13:14)
·
Absalom
kills Amnon for raping Tamar (II Sam. 13:28-29)
·
Absalom
escapes to a foreign land for three years (II Sam. 13:38)
·
Absalom
returns (without any recognition from David) to Jerusalem and dwells there for
two years before seeing David (II Sam. 14:28)
·
Absalom
steals the hearts of the people deliberately and rebelliously. Also tries to
overthrow his father (II Sam. 15:6)
·
David’s
flight from Jerusalem, with the mass of the people against him (II Sam. 15:14)
·
Absalom
lies with one of David’s concubines (II Sam. 16:21-22). To manifest his claim
to be the new King, Absalom had sex in public with ten of his father’s
concubines – which could be considered a direct, tenfold divine retribution for
David’s taking away the woman of another man.
·
The
terrible battle in the forest of Ephraim, won by David’s forces, with Absalom
killed in battle (II Sam. 18:6)
·
Even
when the great king was dying, his son Adonijah was attempting to take the
throne by force, and was later executed as a traitor (I Kings 1:5; 2:25)
With these things happened to David, he humbly accepted and
continued trusting God’s will in his life and his family. And through all the
chaos within the family, God raises the next king from David’s house; King
Solomon. God gives him a special name, Jedidiah. It is of Hebrew origin, and
its meaning is “beloved of the Lord” (biblical: a blessing).
Like we previously mentioned, even though sin can be passed
down through the generations (Romans 5:12), each person is responsible for his
or her personal sins against the Lord. For our family not to face this kind of
chaos in the family, they need Christ in their lives.
Galatians 3:10 says, “For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them”. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is
evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of
faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree:
If we love our family,
pray for them and find ways to make them accept Christ’s redemption.
CONLUSION:
One of the
verses that makes me think deeper is the verse from Exodus 20:5 which says, 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; this verse also frightens me.
Some people
hear such a verse and say, “God’s not fair! Why should children suffer for
their parents’ sin?”
Let’s admit
that the sins of parents often have terrible consequences upon their children.
It’s unavoidable. Many studies have shown, for example, that children of
divorce tend to struggle in certain predictable ways, no matter how amicable
the separation or how well the former partners get along with each other after
the divorce. Despite any of that, their children still suffer.
Most
children feel a deep sense of rejection when their dad takes off with another
woman. Despite giving repeated assurances of his love, they just don’t believe
him. Because his actions speak louder than his words, they feel rejected and
even responsible for the broken marriage. Many times, in fact, a child feels
even more rejected than the wife or husband left behind. Children are the ones
who generally suffer the most—and so the sins of the parents are visited upon
their sons and daughters.
Of course,
this doesn’t mean that if you had unrighteous parents, then you must face the
wrath of God for the rest of your life—because, after all, the Bible says,
“He’s going to visit the sins of the parents on the children to the third and
fourth generations.” Don’t overlook the crucial condition there: “To the third
and fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Exodus 20:5,
italics added for emphasis).
If you
continue in the hatred of God that your parents modeled, then God’s judgment
will continue, even to the third and fourth generations.
Oh, but
don’t stop with verse 5, as far too many preachers do. Continue reading through
to Exodus 20:6, which puts the whole thing in a much more
hopeful context: “But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep
My commandments” (Exodus 20:6).
While it may
logically follow that a boy raised in an ungodly atmosphere is apt to grow up
to be very ungodly himself, thank God for the love and grace of Jesus Christ.
You can break any hurtful or wrong relationship with the past. Maybe your
parents did not bring you up in the fear and admonition of the Lord; perhaps
they set a very poor spiritual example. But thank God, that chain can be
broken.
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
You don’t
have to suffer because of your parents’ hatred of God or because of their
mistakes. You can break that curse. When Moses repeats this speech in Deuteronomy 7:9, he revises it to make his point even plainer.
He says, “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God
who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him
and keep His commandments.”
Conclusion taken from: https://calvarychapel.com/posts/generational-sin
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