The Unwelcome Visitor

Deuteronomy 5:9
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto 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,”

Have you ever had a person you didn’t want to visit your home come without an invitation? It wasn’t that you invited them, it was that they invited themselves, and now you are stuck trying to be hospitable to someone you really didn’t want to come in the first place. Not only did they invite themselves, but they also stayed longer than you wanted them to stay. You gave every hint that it was time for them to leave, but they just stayed and never left which left you with the uncomfortable task of telling them it was time to leave.

Sin is just like this unwelcome visitor, but the difference between the illustration above and sin is that we are the one’s who invited sin to visit. What many don’t take into consideration is that the sin we invite always stays longer than we want. The invited sin soon becomes the unwelcome visitor that we must put up with its consequences for the rest of our lives. The verse above describes sin’s stay when it says, “…visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation…” Yes, sin always stays longer than we expect for it to stay. There are four things about sin’s visit that makes it an unwelcome visitor.

First, sin’s visit strains your fellowship with God. The verse above states, “…for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God…” One of the personal unpleasantries of sin is that it always hurts your ability to have sweet fellowship with God. Sin takes away the confidence from your walk with Him. Sin makes your time with God a labor instead of a time of sweet time of fellowship. Adam and Eve learned this principle the hard way in the Garden of Eden. Every day they had sweet fellowship with God until sin visited their life and that fellowship was broken. Sin will never take away your salvation, but it always hinders your relationship and fellowship with God.

Second, sin’s visit has consequences that you may not like. God warned in the verse above that He punishes those who sin. Just because you are saved doesn’t mean that sin’s consequences no longer affect you. You cannot commit sin without having to suffer the consequences it brings. Sin always takes something from you; the only thing it cannot take is your salvation.

Third, sin’s visit affects others that you don’t want it to affect. The verse above says that sin visits the third and fourth generation. My friend, our sin often hurts those we love the most. I wish I could tell you that your family never has to suffer because of your sin, but that just is not true. If there is one reason you should keep from sin is that it will affect your children far more than you ever realized.

Fourth, sin’s visit teaches future generations that same hurtful sins. The reason the third and fourth generation are visited with the same sin is because they learned it from the first generation that committed it. Sin is always learned, and if you don’t get victory over it, your children will learn the habit and have to battle the same control of sin. You need to be the one who breaks the chain by getting victory over sin.

It is time to kick sin out of your life. Don’t allow sin’s unwelcome visit to continue. Future generations need you to get victory over your sin so that it doesn’t visit them.

Author: Allen Domelle