Consequences of Sin

Intro

There is a retold fable called The Hidden Debt and it goes like this.

In a small town, a man named James Carter owned a thriving business. He was respected in the community, a dedicated churchgoer, and a family man. However, beneath his success was a secret: years ago, he had cheated his business partner out of a large sum of money. The guilt weighed on him, but he justified it, thinking, "No one will ever find out, and my family will benefit from it."

James never repented, never made it right, and never told his children the truth. Over time, his heart grew hardened, and he unknowingly passed on a mindset of greed, dishonesty, and self-preservation to his children.

The Next Generation Suffers

Years later, his son, Daniel, inherited the business. He had learned from his father that success mattered more than integrity. Without a strong moral compass, Daniel made risky financial decisions, deceived his employees, and eventually lost everything. The family, once prosperous, was now drowning in debt.

One day, Daniel discovered an old letter—a confession draft James had written but never sent to his former business partner. Overwhelmed, Daniel realized that his father’s secret sin had led to a generational pattern of dishonesty and destruction.

Daniel, realizing the truth, made a

different choice. He repented, sought forgiveness, and committed to living with integrity. Slowly, he rebuilt his life, breaking the generational cycle his father had left behind.

The idea of generational sin is an interesting topic. but it comes up as we deal with the ramifications of What Gideon did and how it affected His kids. We learned last week that God uses the weak to shame those that think that they are wise. That God is most glorified when we realize that it is through His strength alone that we accomplish His will.

We also learn about forgiveness in our failures, but where we end off before the forgiveness part that comes up again is the continued sin of Man. Gideon ended badly by creating an idol for his family and the people of Israel to fall prey to. and because of the undealt with sin in His life the next generation followed suit. They where all guilty of choosing to follow sin on their own, but the parents didn't help them at all. How is what we are doing affecting the way our kids are going to live life.

There is great destructiveness in undealt with sin, even in the next generation but yet God’s sovereignty and His plan will come to pass whether we acknowledge him or not.

Gideon’s son becomes Ruler 8:31-9:6

We left off with the death of Gideon. He did not end following the will of God and had many wives and concubines. This is not something that the Lord ever condoned. In fact we can see the evidence throughout the OT that it caused the people grief when they started to do this. Because of all the wives and what would be similar to a common law partner of servants he had many kids. The ones born to the concubines where of a lower status since their moms where not actually wives.

One of the concubines had a son named Abimelech. They lived in Shechem which was north of Jerusalem. It is a place where Abraham built an altar to God. Out of all the sons that Gideon had, Abimelech was one of the least likely to take over the mantle of leader. And even though the Israelite's did not deal kindly with the family of Gideon, somehow the least likely became the ruler of them.

the sons of Gideon where conspiring to rule over the Israelite people and The lowest of them wanted to be the one to do it. So he went to his mother and her family and conspired with them to take the role. So they took 70 pieces of silver from the temple of their idol and Abimelech started the process. The number of silver equals the number of brothers he had. I figured the 70 pieces of silver would have been close to a years wages give or take. The whole thing was essentially financed by the false god Baal.

He went and hired worthless and reckless men to do his bidding we are told. They traveled to the city that his fathers sons, the rest of his brothers on his fathers side were living and murdered them all except for one, Jotham.

When the people saw what Abimelech had done they gathered around him and made Him King.

Transgressions

We can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all that transpired here was sinful. There is great destructiveness in sin and even the sins of the parents. The sins of Gideon and his generation affected the next generation because they where not dealt with. Sin lft unchecked in our life can have devastating results if it i not dealt with. We will get into this a little more in a bit but we continue on first with the story of Gideon.

Abimelech gets Rebuked 9:7-21

The remaining son of Gideon who escaped comes on to the scene in verse 7 to confront the men from Shechem on what they had done. He adapts a fable to help get the point across but we need to know that the fable is just a tool to help prove a point not the actual main point of what He is trying to say.

The fable

Jotham climbs about 800 feet up a mountain to speak to the people. The central charge that He brought to them is that they have not dealt truthfully and blamelessly with Gideon.

The imagery used is trees going to anoint another tree to rule over them. Meaning men going to anoint one of their own to rule over them. three different trees offered kingship over the land and they all refused for various reasons. Only the thorn bush, a useless plant (Abimelech) accepts the trees (Shecemites) offer with an absurd condition. The offer was to find shade in the thorn bush or get burned by fire from the bush.

The idea of getting shade in the thornbush is a little absurd, for one they do not offer that much for shade and to hide in them is not very comfortable.

The issue is whether it was right to make this man king and support the murder of the sons of Gideon. Abimelech is the thorn bush king that is going to consume them.

They are reminded that all that Gideon had done for them. He probably was one of the good trees in the fable. Not that he was innocent in the whole matter to begin with.

But the point of the fable is that if they acted honestly and faithfully with Gideon’s family then rejoice in your new king, but if not then you are going to be consumed. But the crime had already been committed and the punishment was assured.

Because of the sin of the people God was going to give them over to their sin. But through all of the consequences for what they had done we are still going to learn that it did not make God less sovereign. The events in this life are still going to move towards God’s intended outcome no matter how far away from God we might try to run.

The Downfall 9:22-57

Jotham’s rebuke was coming to pass. A kingship built on deceit without God’s leading was going to end badly for people. Only a couple years was Abimelech reigning but the people did not forget about. There are consequences for what they had done and God sent an evil spirit to stir the people. This I do not understand to much but trust in the plan of God and Abimelech was running in the opposite direction.

The Lord was at the source of the conflict. God allowed it to happen, for He is in control.

This passage describes the downfall of Abimelech, the self-proclaimed king of Shechem, as God brings judgment upon him for his violent and unjust rule.

God Sends Trouble (Judges 9:22-25)

Abimelech ruled Israel for three years before God sent a spirit of discord between him and the leaders of Shechem.

The people of Shechem turned against him, setting ambushes to attack travelers in his territory, weakening his rule.

Gaal’s Rebellion (Judges 9:26-29)

A man named Gaal arrived in Shechem and spoke against Abimelech, encouraging the people to follow him instead.

The Shechemites supported Gaal’s revolt, believing he would be a better leader.

Abimelech Crushes Shechem (Judges 9:30-45)

Zebul, Abimelech’s loyal officer, warned him of Gaal’s rebellion.

Abimelech ambushed Gaal, defeated him, and drove him out of Shechem.

After regaining control, Abimelech brutally destroyed Shechem, killing its people and sowing the city with salt to ensure it would remain desolate.

The Tower of Shechem Destroyed (Judges 9:46-49)

The remaining people of Shechem fled to a fortified tower for protection.

Abimelech burned the tower, killing about 1,000 men and women inside.

Abimelech’s Death (Judges 9:50-56)

He then attacked Thebez, another rebellious city.

The people took refuge in a strong tower, just as those in Shechem had done.

As Abimelech approached the tower to burn it, a woman dropped a millstone on his head, fatally wounding him.

Knowing he was dying, he commanded his armor-bearer to kill him with a sword, so people wouldn’t say that a woman had killed him.

But it is the last couple verses that I want to focus on. Judges 9:56-57

Judges 9:56–57 CSB

56 In this way, God brought back Abimelech’s evil—the evil that Abimelech had done to his father when he killed his seventy brothers. 57 God also brought back to the men of Shechem all their evil. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

God is divine and sovereign and his plans will come to pass whether we acknowledge Him or not. We have freedom to make decisions, to follow God or not but that doesn't affect the sovereignty of God. In this sense I am saying that God’s plans will come to pass and the consequences of sin will also come to pass if they are not dealt with.

But the main thing is is that our sin will by no means ruin the final plan of God. The events of this world will move unswerving towards God’s intended outcome. In this story God withdrew His presence from them He gave them the king that they so wanted and that they deserved and it did not end well for them.

There seems to be a contradiction between the plan of God and the free will of man. How do God’s plans come to pass when we supposedly have free will.

Free will and God’s plan

We have free will, but there are things in our lives that are more dictated by nature and circumstances. I refuse to eat beat borscht because a babysitter once forced me to eat it for supper once. I had to choke that whole bowl down. If you know me you know that though I have the free will to choose to eat it or not, I will not, likely ever again.

Who we are is a result of God’s work in our lives and our circumstances that we go through. They lead us to the decisions that we make. God is sovereign, has rendered certain things certain and I have the free will to choose to follow Him. people act according to their desires, yet those desires are shaped by God's sovereign plan. God is absolutely sovereign, yet human beings make real choices for which they are responsible.

We see this at work in the story here. God is in control, He knew what was going to happen, in fact he caused some of the events to happen, yet man was still held responsible for his actions.

So what?

There is great destructiveness in undealt with sin, even in the next generation but yet God’s sovereignty and His plan will come to pass whether we acknowledge him or not.

We struggle with what seems like a contradiction. but what we learn is this:

Sin that is not dealt with has consequences.

It starts out with the consequences of sin. Sin that is not dealt with has consequences. Even as a follower of Jesus our sin, if not dealt with has consequences. Like God not hearing our prayers as it tells us in Psalm 66:18 and Isaiah 59:2.

undealt with sin also has an effect on our families as well. we see that in the life of Gideon and his kids. The idea of Generational sin is an interesting one. I do not believe that God will hold the punishment of sin over the next generations head but that you are not as good at hiding your sin as you think you are. Your kids learn from you and the way you live and your sin starts to effect the way that you live your life.

Common sense tells us that behavior and attitude problems tend to run in families. Just like physical characteristics of height, weight, hair color, and complexion. This is because the way you act and the way that you live if not done in a godly way will effect the way your kids live and act. It is what they fall back on as they grow up unless it is dealt with and changed.

This is why we must deal with our sin in our lives and ask Jesus to change us and make us into the person that He would have us be.

Be careful how you live your life, because what you are dealing with in regards to sin might be seen by your kids and be passed on down to them. But know that sin can be forgiven, the cycle of sin can be broken if we bring it to our knees in prayer but knowing that we fall pray to sin, we fail, that there is much evil in the world around us we can rest assured of one thing.

Human failure can never foil God’s plan

God is in control whether we acknowledge him or not. The Lord moves things towards his intended outcome and whatever we try and do to run away from God His plan will always come to plan.

But this does not negate the fact that we have free will. They are both compatible. God is not merely a passive observer; He is actively governing history and human decisions. God’s will works through human decisions, not apart from them. God is absolutely sovereign, yet human beings make real choices for which they are responsible.

So knowing these two things, we must this day get down on our knees and ask God to forgive our sins. And find peace in the fact that though we make mistakes we can be forgiven and we have not and can not foil the plans of God.