The Truth About Generational Curses (Pt.8) (304) – June 28 2025

As we progress through this series, we see the progression of this topic in Scripture itself. From recent episodes we have seen that the Lord did not visit the children of the third and fourth generation of fathers that committed sin as long as those children loved the Lord and kept His commandments.  The false teachings in the church about generational curses often do not teach this important clarifying truth!
 
In this episode, we see the progression of how the Lord decides to handle sin in the Old Testament. We see from studying Ezekiel chapter 18 in today's program the Lord putting a stop to an old proverb being spoken. That proverb illustrating that the children were having to pay for the sins and iniquities of their fathers.
 
We also read today in Ezekiel chapter 18 that all souls are the Lord's, and it is in fact the soul that commits the sin is the one that dies, not a child or a father of the one that sins. The Lord speaks to Ezekiel and gives examples of a just son not paying for the sins of his unjust father. Likewise, a just father not paying for the sins of his son.
 
This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC):  Exodus 34:5-7, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:4-8, Exodus 34:8-10, Numbers 14:1-24, Deuteronomy 5:7-10, Ezekiel 18:1-20.

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And a very good day, this is Pastor Marc Whelan with Touch of God and we're continuing the series the truth about generational curses and let's recap from last week when we were talking about Exodus chapter 20 verses 3 to 6 where the Lord in verse 5 said to Moses you shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me verse 6 but showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments so we saw here that if you love the Lord and keep his commandments the iniquities would not be passed down through to the third and fourth generation so the question we ended on last week was as for me and my house am I are we serving the Lord so this week we continue on and we begin when Moses is meeting the Lord on Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 34 verses 5 to 7 verse 5 and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him that means Moses stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord a God merciful and gracious slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness and truth verse 7 keeping mercy and loving kindness for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation so if you hear someone say to you you see in the Bible it says the Lord is visiting the children's children you may have a generational curse because of the problems you're having in your life and you think about these verses and you're not understanding that if you love the Lord and are doing his commandments and keeping his commandments he is not holding that against you he has not cursed you the Lord has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places remember what Balaam said to Balak how can I curse those who God has not cursed but we do see here in verse 7 that it says but who will by no means clear the guilty so let's look at this for a moment this is really important so God never cleared you and I of our guilt God forgave your sins when you confessed them to him but he never cleared you so what had to happen was for your old self to die and be born again your old self was the one God never cleared your new self is the new creation in Christ as it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 therefore if any person is engrafted in Christ the Messiah he is a new creation a new creature altogether the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away behold the fresh and new has come hallelujah so we see here that God never cleared your old self or my old self before I became a brand new creation my old creation was never cleared by the Lord but the Lord had to have my old self die and be born again it was my old self that God never cleared and of course I was not forced to make a decision for Jesus it was my own free will it's your own free will that made a decision for Christ and only then are you no longer hanging under the shadow of guilt and condemnation and this truth that the Lord will by no means clear the guilty those sons of disobedience walking upon the earth today they are not going to be cleared of their guilt all the time they reject Jesus and all the time they have not made a decision to confess him as Lord to come to him allow the Lord into their lives they are still walking around and the Lord will never clear them of guilt only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ can our sins be washed away our old self be dead in Christ buried and now we are resurrected and made alive in him we are a brand new creation hallelujah Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 to 8 verse 4 but God so rich is he in his mercy because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which he loved us even when we were dead slain by our own shortcomings and trespasses he made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ he gave us the very life of Christ himself the same new life with which he quickened him for it is by grace his favor and mercy which you did not deserve that you are saved delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation verse 6 and he raised us up together with him and made us sit down together giving us joint seating with him in the heavenly sphere by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus the messiah the anointed one verse 7 he did this that he might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable limitless surpassing riches of his free grace his unmerited favor in his kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus let's pause here for a moment are you hearing the power of the word of God illustrate the true heart and love the intense love of God for us from the Father from the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit God loves you today his intense immeasurable limitless surpassing riches of his free grace his unmerited favor is for you is towards you receive that love from him today he has not rewarded you according to your sins or iniquities according to psalm 103 verse 10 but let's continue with Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 for it is by free grace God's unmerited favor that you are saved delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation through your faith and this salvation is not of yourselves of your own doing it came not through your own striving but it is the gift of God so you see Jesus didn't come to only make you a better person he came to make a way for you to die and become like him with your new created self becoming like him now our life is supposed to be selfless not selfish selfish is the nature of our old self selfish is not the nature of our new self it is selfless just like Jesus demonstrated but you did not instantly become selfless at the moment you were born again because your mind was still mostly carnal even today it may still be somewhat selfish let us be honest with ourselves ask the Holy Spirit if there is an area of our heart that you can focus on becoming more selfless with the help of the Holy Spirit that you may become more like Jesus in that area remember Romans chapter 8 verses 1 and 2 shows us that there is now no condemnation or guilt for those who are in Christ who walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh all you have to do is strive to be more like Jesus by the power and the grace of God to allow you to do it let's continue in the Old Testament now Exodus chapter 34 verses 8 to 10 verse 8 and Moses made haste to bow his head toward the earth and worshipped and he said if now I have found favor and loving kindness in your sight O Lord let the Lord I pray you go in the midst of us although it is a stiff-necked people and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for your inheritance this was Moses speaking and pleading with the Lord now in verse 10 we see the Lord's response to Moses and the Lord said behold I lay down afresh the terms of the mutual agreement between Israel and me a covenant before all your people I will do marvels wonders miracles such as have not been wrought or created in all the earth or in any nation and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord for it is a terrible thing fearful and full of awe that I will do with you and in this verse the word terrible means great fearful and full of awe let's next go to Numbers chapter 14 and we read from verse 1 and all the congregation cried out with a loud voice and they wept that night all the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation accusing Moses and Aaron to whom the whole congregation said would that we had died in Egypt or that we had died in this wilderness why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword our wives and little ones will be a prey is it not better for us to return to Egypt and they said one to another let us choose a captain and return to Egypt verse 5 then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of Israelites and Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh who were among the scouts who had searched the land rent their clothes and they said to all the company of Israelites the land through which we passed as scouts is an exceedingly good land if the Lord delights in us then he will bring us into this land and give it to us a land flowing with milk and honey only do not rebel against the Lord neither fear the people of the land for they are bred for us their defense and the shadow of protection is removed from over them but the Lord is with us fear them not verse 10 but all the congregation said to stone Joshua and Caleb with stones but the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting before all the Israelites and the Lord said to Moses how long will this people provoke spurn despise me and how long will it be before they believe me trusting in relying on clinging to me for all the signs which I have performed among them verse 12 I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them and will make of you Moses a nation greater and mightier than they but Moses said to the Lord then the Egyptians will hear of it for you brought up this people in your might from among them and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land they have heard that you Lord are in the midst of this people of Israel that you Lord are seen face to face and that your cloud stands over them and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night now if you kill all this people as one man then the nations that have heard your fame will say because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to give to them therefore he has slain them in the wilderness and now I pray you let the power of my Lord be great as you have promised saying the Lord is long-suffering and slow to anger and abundant in mercy and loving kindness forgiving iniquity and transgression but he will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children upon the third and fourth generation pardon I pray you the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your mercy and loving kindness just as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now verse 20 and the Lord said I have pardoned according to your word so that means that while Moses was yet speaking to the Lord the Lord was already pardoning the children of Israel because by the time Moses had finished speaking in the verse before in verse 19 in verse 20 it says and the Lord said I have pardoned according to your word but the Lord continues in verse 21 he says but truly as I live and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord because all those men who have seen my glory and my miraculous signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness yet have tested and proved me these 10 times and have not heeded my voice surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give to their fathers nor shall any who provoked spurn despised me see it but my servant Caleb because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully I will bring into the land into which he went and his descendants shall possess it so you see here in this chapter yet another example of the Lord's heart the Lord's heart is so great with mercy and grace and love for his creation that a mere mortal person in the name of Moses can plead with the Lord and the Lord immediately pardons thousands upon thousands of people immediately while Moses is not even finished asking that is the Lord's heart the Lord does not curse us through generational curses he has given us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 7 to 10 verse 7 says you shall have no other gods before me or besides me you shall not make for yourself to worship a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth verse 9 you shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me verse 10 and showing mercy and steadfast love to thousands and to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments so here we see that the Lord is merciful and showing his steadfast love to the children of thousands of generations even those children whose fathers were in sin but the condition is that the children of those sinful fathers are loving God and are keeping his commandments for those who hate the Lord which obviously means they don't have a relationship with him they're not going to be keeping his commandments they're going to be keeping Satan's ways and not the Lord's ways they are condemned they will not be cleared of their guilt they are dead in their sins they are dead in their iniquities and they are the sons of disobedience they need to be told about Jesus the gospel needs to be preached to them so that they can make a decision for Jesus or not now we're going to go into Ezekiel chapter 18 now up to this point you have seen this pattern where there's been discussion between Moses and the Lord but there has also been a theme where the Lord has to act upon those who hate him because they are in sin and his mercy and his grace are for those who love him and are keeping his commandments he's merciful and graceful he's not going to visit the children to the third and fourth generations based on their father's sin if those children love him and keep his commandments but now we're moving to Ezekiel and an interesting development Ezekiel chapter 18 Ezekiel is about to tell us what the Lord told him verse 1 the word of the Lord came to me again saying verse 2 what do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge Ezekiel is saying here the Lord has asked him this question what do you mean by using this proverb concerning the land of Israel the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge well what is this proverb that Ezekiel shouldn't be repeating what does this proverb really mean regarding the sour grapes and the children's teeth it's really that the father's wrongs will be suffered by the children that the sins of the fathers will go down to the children of the third and fourth generations and the Lord is saying to Ezekiel why are you saying this to my children my children of Israel the Lord continues in verse 3 as he speaks to Ezekiel as I live says the Lord God you shall not have occasion anymore to use this proverb in Israel so the Lord is putting a stop immediately right here to the continued use of this proverb he doesn't want Ezekiel to say this proverb anymore because the Lord said as I live and the Lord is living forever omnipresent omnipotent and there is no end to the Lord so this is a forever expectation of the Lord that this proverb never be repeated again forever the Lord continues in verse 4 behold all souls are mine as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sins it shall die now this is a very key distinction here the soul that sins it shall die verse 5 but if a man is uncompromisingly righteous upright and in right standing with God and does what is lawful and right and has not eaten at the idol shrines upon the mountains nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel has not defiled his neighbor's wife nor come near to a woman in her time of impurity and has not wronged anyone but has restored to the debtor his pledge has taken nothing by robbery but has given his bread to the hungry and has covered the naked with a garment who does not charge interest or percentage of increase on what he lends in compassion who withholds his hand from iniquity who executes true justice between man and man who has walked in my statutes and kept my ordinances to deal justly then he is truly righteous he shall surely live says the Lord God so you can see here that in verse 4 the Lord is saying all souls are mine as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sins it shall die and in verse 9 we see that if that soul has been upright and has kept the commandments of verses 5 to 9 then the Lord says then he is truly righteous he shall surely live says the Lord God verse 10 if he begets a son who is a robber or a shedder of blood who does to a brother either of these sins of violence and leaves undone all the duties of a righteous man and has even eaten the food set before idols on the mountains and defiled his neighbor's wife he has wronged the poor and needy has taken by robbery has not restored to the debtor his pledge has lifted up his eyes to the idols has committed abomination things hateful and exceedingly vile in the eyes of God and has charged interest or percentage of increase on what he has loaned in supposed compassion shall he then live he shall not live he has done all these abominations he shall surely die his blood shall be upon him but if this wicked man begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has committed and considers and fears God and does not do like his father who has not eaten food set before idols upon the mountains nor has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel has not defiled his neighbor's wife nor wronged anyone nor has taken anything in pledge nor has taken by robbery but has given his bread to the hungry and has covered the naked with a garment who has withdrawn his hand from oppressing the poor who has not received interest or increase from the needy but has executed my ordinances and has walked in my statutes he shall not die for the iniquity of his father he shall surely live as for his father because he cruelly oppressed robbed his brother and did that which is not good among his people behold he shall die for his iniquity and guilt yet do you say why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father when the son has done that which is lawful and right and has kept all my statutes and has done them he shall surely live verse 20 the soul that sins it is the one that shall die the son shall not bear and be punished for the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear and be punished for the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him only and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon the wicked only so you see here that it truly is based upon the soul that sins not an ancestor not a generational curse from a grandparent it is not affecting a person it is not affecting you now that you're born again you are set free you are a brand new creation in christ you cannot have a generational curse and the lord already put a stop to this old proverb in the book of ezekiel the soul that sins it is the one that shall die the lord says in verse 20 the son shall not bear and be punished for the iniquity of the father neither shall the father bear and be punished for the iniquity of the son so it's both ways neither is going to be paying for the sins of the other whether it's a good son paying for the sins of an unjust father or a just father paying for the unjust actions of his son neither situation causes the other to pay for the other's sins they will face judgment for their own decisions and their own sins we also see in verse 20 here that children cannot blame their parents for the way they are children have their own free will to make decisions that affect their lives every day as we seek the lord with all of our heart we can be set free as we confess him as lord make jesus our lord and understand and learn from the word of god that a new creation truly is set free and no longer has any chains of bondage around him and we praise the lord today for sending us all free we're going to continue in ezekiel next week as we explore more on this topic in the meantime until next week you have a blessed week amen