Overcoming Family Sin Patterns Pt1
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“THE BLOODLINE OF THE KING”
“THE BLOODLINE OF THE KING”
INTRODUCTION — “WHAT RUNS IN THE FAMILY?”
People often ask:
“What runs in your family?”
Maybe it is eye colour.
Maybe temperament.
Maybe musical ability.
I’ve often said, our kids got their brains and good looks from their mum, but their sense of humour from their dad!
But sometimes what runs in a family is far darker.
Rage. Addiction. Violence. Lust. Abandonment. Fear. Control.
And if we are honest, many families carry repeated patterns that pass from generation to generation.
Years back I used to be a housing officer, and can remember serving a court notice for rent arrears on both a mother and her daughter on the same day! - chaotic living had passed from mother to daughter.
God warned Israel in Exodus 20:5:
5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
This does not mean God condemns innocent children for sins they did not commit.
But Scripture reveals a sobering truth: sin patterns repeat through generations.
What fathers tolerate, children often inherit.
What is hidden grows.
What is repeated strengthens.
Rob Reimer writes:
“Family sin patterns have unusual pull on our souls; they are often the most stubborn sin patterns to break.” — Rob Reimer
Today we are going into one of the most tragic family stories in Scripture:
the house of David.
And yet — incredibly — it is through David’s bloodline that Jesus comes.
Because God delights in redeeming broken bloodlines.
2 Samuel 11 — David’s Lust and Violence
A couple of weeks ago when we looked at the are of Repentance we explored the first part of the story of David in 2 Samuel 11-12.
We saw how David had started well:
David was a giant killer.
A worshipper.
A king.
A man after God’s own heart.
But one evening David looks at Bathsheba.
Lust is conceived.
Adultery follows.
Then murder.
15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
Sexual sin and violence become intertwined.
And what David does privately begins echoing publicly through his family.
Because sin never remains isolated.
Nathan prophesied against David after confronting David regarding his sin and said:
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ”
Imagine poison entering the source of a river.
It does not stay at the source.
It flows downstream.
One poisoned spring contaminates everything connected to it.
Un-repented sin works like that in families.
THE PATTERN REPEATS: Amnon — Sexual Violence
In 2 Samuel 13, David’s son Amnon lusts after Tamar his half sister.
He conspires, then rapes Tamar, he violates his own half sister.
The same spirit of lust and selfish taking that was in David now manifests in the son.
Absalom — Violence and Rebellion
Tamar is found by her full brother Absalom who discovers what has happened to her and Absalom becomes consumed with rage and revenge.
We read in verse 22
22 And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.
Then according to verse 23, Two years have passed: King David has done nothing to punish Amnon. So Absalom conspires and he murders Amnon.
Then rebellion slowly grows and takes root in his heart.
Eventually he rises against his own father to steal the kingdom.
And in a horrifying fulfilment of Nathan’s prophecy which he spoke against David after David had taken Bathsheba and killed her husband, Absalom publicly sleeps with David’s concubines.
22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
Sex. Violence. Pride. Rebellion.
The cycle deepens.
REBELLION IS NOT FREEDOM
Absalom story is important because he shows us something critical.
Rebellion against sin does not break bondage.
It spreads it.
Absalom may have hated what happened in his family.
But instead of healing, he rebelled.
And rebellion turned him into another destroyer.
Rob Reimer writes:
“Rebellion only leads to different forms of bondage.” — Rob Reimer
Somebody may say: “I’ll never be like my father or I’ll never be like my mother ”
But unless Jesus heals the root, the same darkness reappears differently.
A person raised by a parent addicted to alcohol may never drink alcohol— but becomes addicted to work. Or pornography. Or control.
The addictive spirit behind the bondage simply changes form.
Or someone who parent was always explosive in their anger chooses to rebel and instead uses cold silences and withdrawal to convey anger.
Rebellion alone cannot heal what sin has damaged.
The Bible is very strong on rebellion in 1 Samuel 15:23
23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
Freedom is not found in rebellion. Freedom is found in surrender to Jesus.
“In a spiritual kingdom there can be no victory through rebellion, only in submission to the king.” Rob Reimer
SOLOMON — THE PATTERN EXPANDS
Then comes Solomon.
Gifted. Wise. Blessed.
Yet he multiplies wives.
Hundreds of wives.
Hundreds of concubines.
And eventually those relationships pull his heart toward idols.
4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
The pattern is now generational.
Lust opens the door to idolatry.
And idolatry opens the door to spiritual bondage.
BLESSINGS, CURSES, AND SPIRITUAL STRONGHOLDS
Deuteronomy 28 speaks of blessings for obedience and curses for rebellion.
When generations continually surrender to sin, strongholds form.
What begins as compromise can become bondage.
What becomes bondage can become generational oppression.
That is why some families seem trapped in repeating destruction.
Divorce after divorce.
Violence after violence.
Addiction after addiction.
Poverty after poverty
Fear after fear.
Rob Reimer writes:
“These behaviors have often been modeled and reinforced for many generations. They are entrenched.” — Rob Reimer
Illustration — Deep Wheel Ruts
Old wagon roads developed deep ruts from years of repeated travel.
Eventually the wheels dropped automatically into the groove.
Family sin patterns are like that.
Generations travel the same destructive road until the rut becomes deep.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 we read:
19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
Today you can choose life, not just for yourself, but also for those who may come after:
THE FIRST ADAM VS THE SECOND ADAM
Now here is the Gospel, the Good News
The Bible teaches that all humanity inherited sin through a bloodline.
22 For as in Adam all die…
Adam passed down sin.
Brokenness. Rebellion. Death.
Every human family carries the stain of the Fall.
David’s family was not unique.
It was humanity on display.
But then comes Jesus.
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Again in 1 Corinthians 15:45 we read:
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
Jesus is the Last Adam.
And do not miss this:
Jesus comes through David’s bloodline.
The broken bloodline becomes the bloodline through which redemption, renewal, restoration, enters history.
That means your history does not disqualify you.
Jesus steps into broken family lines to redeem them.
JESUS BECAME THE CURSE
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
At the cross Jesus took our sin, shame, bondage, curse, rebellion.
The cross interrupts the cycle.
The bloodline of Adam ends at the Cross.
A new family begins in the ‘Last Adam’, Jesus Himself.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
You are not doomed to repeat your family history.
In Christ you receive a new inheritance. A new identity. A new Father. A new bloodline.
Rob Reimer says:
“There is no soul in bondage beyond God’s redemptive reach.” — Rob Reimer
The story of David’s family is not ultimately about generational sin.
It is about generational redemption.
Sin patterns travel through bloodlines, but King Jesus — the Son of David — came to break the curse and begin a new bloodline of freedom.
To finish I want to return to that Exodus 20:5 verse I started with and finish it with the next verse where God says:
6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
