When Adam and Eve sinned, it brought to end their innocence. Like us now, they were able to choose between good and evil. Mankind had a very favorable beginning. Everything was perfect, sinless, and under man's dominion. He had only one command to obey, and everything else came natural to him.
Genesis 2:17
"But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die."
This was their only test to pass... If they could have not eaten of that tree... all other righteousness would have been natural. Yet, as easy as it was, mankind failed.
Genesis 3:6
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
So, the devil had to make the 'sin' look desirable, he made it look like if she sinned, she would gain some benefits... Adam and Eve were created without sin, but had the power of choice. If God had not given the power to mankind to choose sin or righteousness... mankind would have simply been robots. God's purpose was to see if mankind could remain innocent, and be true to God's trust, and thereby remain perfect under all conditions. Mere untried virtue does not deserve the name. Goodness is not a passive quality... but a deliberate choice between right and wrong.
The innocence of a baby, is one of simplicity... The child is too unaware of its world to make temptation to sin possible. But a child must grow and mature... and then temptation, and the knowledge of good and evil becomes possible.
Though we all love the innocence of a baby, we do not want the child to remain for decades in that state, but we desire to see the normal human development, and awareness growth... God wanted mankind to be wise, knowing, and still be faithful to Him as their Father and Creator... He knew they would sin... but He wanted to test mankind before the birth of offspring... so He could deal with such sin on a universal nature... The whole human race can now be dealt with alike... for we are all descendants of Adam and Eve who fell into sin... before we, or any of our descendants, were born.
Satan is called the "accuser of the brethren", and he is known as a tempter of God's children. Temptation was subtle, but the devil could not force man to sin, only tempt them to sin. The Lord allowed this test, for He wanted mankind to worship Him by choice, not by lack of opportunity to do otherwise.
The devil today still presents the poison of sin, the corruption of false doctrine, and puts icing on it, to make it look tempting, and still today, we find some who fall for every wind of doctrine, who stumble over ever stick in the road, who taste every offering of icing on any doctrine, and never learn what we were supposed to learn from the fall of Adam and of Eve.
First, they DOUBTED GOD'S WORD.
Today still we find some wanting to put doubt into others that the Word of God is fallible, changeable, outdated, no longer valid. Those lies were originally authored by the devil, and some still pass them down to today's generation, and some still fall into sin eating the icing, not noticing the poison with it.
Genesis 3:1 "hath God said"
Then the devil ADDED TO... MISQUOTED GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:2-3
"...lest ye die..."
Lucifer implied doubt as to the certainty of death. Many today have added to, or misquoted, or ignored certain parts of Scripture- to satisfy their own desires. Satan wants us to reject certain portions of the Word. Beware the icing hiding the poison, of twisting, misquoting, misapplying God's Word.
Then, the devil put icing on the poison of CONTRADICTING GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:4
"...ye shall not surely die..."
Lucifer sought to give his denial a rational basis, by casting an aspersion on God. This serpent, making a blanket denial of the truth of God, gave Eve the "authority" she desired to excuse her rebellion. Many look for someone to make a claim against the truth of God, so they can blame their own rebellion on the word spoken by another.
Then the devil put icing on the poison of MISINTERPRETATION OF GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:5
"For God doth know... your eyes shall be opened.. ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
II Corinthians 4:4
"...the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not."
Lucifer offers a reason for God to have been untruthful with Adam and Eve. Eve is anxious to believe such an aspersion against God, for it fits in with her desire to partake of that which was forbidden. She begins to believe the devil's implication. We see this even today, as false prophets come and misinterpret the words of God in the Bible, and bring doubt and confusion. God sits in heaven and shakes His head in amazement of the stupidity of so many, that fall for the misinterpretation of what He has spent millennia trying in His Written Word, clarifying and showing its truth by the Holy Spirit. Yet, mankind falls for so many misinterpretations, it is pathetic. It was when Eve believed the devil then, when Adam fell for her suggestion, and now when false prophets gain the ears, instead of hearing the rebukes of God's people.
Finally, after all that stupidity of the first two to be tempted, they TRANSGRESSED GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:6
"... the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise..."
I Timothy 2:14
"Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression..."
The poison was hidden by some tempting icing, the two in the garden of innocence fell for the temptation of that icing, and SINNED.
The devil has tried to get all of us to this point of trusting another source, other than God, and disobeying the Word of God. Deception is still possible, and that is why there are "false prophets" galore in our day. The Bible is filled with warnings against them... Beware... disobedience against God's Word is still a temptation... that we must avoid... rebuke... and shun...
TRANSGRESSION OF GOD'S WORD is still easy today. Some are still falling for the lies of the devil's cohorts. False prophets simply add a little icing to the poison of not trusting the Written Word of God, and of not testing voices we hear by that Written Word. The Holy Spirit's voice too is to be tested, to be sure it is truly He.
Genesis 3:6
"...she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat..."
How easily we sin... the devil puts icing on the doubt of God's Word, and mankind falls so easily.
Beware of sin with icing on it... despite the icing, sin still kills... corrupts... and ultimately dooms!!!
Some of you truly know of what I just wrote here... unfortunately, we see some few others still not having learned the first lesson recorded in our Bible. The first and most basic trick of the devil still stumbles and dooms too many.
Genesis 2:17
"But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die."
This was their only test to pass... If they could have not eaten of that tree... all other righteousness would have been natural. Yet, as easy as it was, mankind failed.
Genesis 3:6
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
So, the devil had to make the 'sin' look desirable, he made it look like if she sinned, she would gain some benefits... Adam and Eve were created without sin, but had the power of choice. If God had not given the power to mankind to choose sin or righteousness... mankind would have simply been robots. God's purpose was to see if mankind could remain innocent, and be true to God's trust, and thereby remain perfect under all conditions. Mere untried virtue does not deserve the name. Goodness is not a passive quality... but a deliberate choice between right and wrong.
The innocence of a baby, is one of simplicity... The child is too unaware of its world to make temptation to sin possible. But a child must grow and mature... and then temptation, and the knowledge of good and evil becomes possible.
Though we all love the innocence of a baby, we do not want the child to remain for decades in that state, but we desire to see the normal human development, and awareness growth... God wanted mankind to be wise, knowing, and still be faithful to Him as their Father and Creator... He knew they would sin... but He wanted to test mankind before the birth of offspring... so He could deal with such sin on a universal nature... The whole human race can now be dealt with alike... for we are all descendants of Adam and Eve who fell into sin... before we, or any of our descendants, were born.
Satan is called the "accuser of the brethren", and he is known as a tempter of God's children. Temptation was subtle, but the devil could not force man to sin, only tempt them to sin. The Lord allowed this test, for He wanted mankind to worship Him by choice, not by lack of opportunity to do otherwise.
The devil today still presents the poison of sin, the corruption of false doctrine, and puts icing on it, to make it look tempting, and still today, we find some who fall for every wind of doctrine, who stumble over ever stick in the road, who taste every offering of icing on any doctrine, and never learn what we were supposed to learn from the fall of Adam and of Eve.
First, they DOUBTED GOD'S WORD.
Today still we find some wanting to put doubt into others that the Word of God is fallible, changeable, outdated, no longer valid. Those lies were originally authored by the devil, and some still pass them down to today's generation, and some still fall into sin eating the icing, not noticing the poison with it.
Genesis 3:1 "hath God said"
Then the devil ADDED TO... MISQUOTED GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:2-3
"...lest ye die..."
Lucifer implied doubt as to the certainty of death. Many today have added to, or misquoted, or ignored certain parts of Scripture- to satisfy their own desires. Satan wants us to reject certain portions of the Word. Beware the icing hiding the poison, of twisting, misquoting, misapplying God's Word.
Then, the devil put icing on the poison of CONTRADICTING GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:4
"...ye shall not surely die..."
Lucifer sought to give his denial a rational basis, by casting an aspersion on God. This serpent, making a blanket denial of the truth of God, gave Eve the "authority" she desired to excuse her rebellion. Many look for someone to make a claim against the truth of God, so they can blame their own rebellion on the word spoken by another.
Then the devil put icing on the poison of MISINTERPRETATION OF GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:5
"For God doth know... your eyes shall be opened.. ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
II Corinthians 4:4
"...the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not."
Lucifer offers a reason for God to have been untruthful with Adam and Eve. Eve is anxious to believe such an aspersion against God, for it fits in with her desire to partake of that which was forbidden. She begins to believe the devil's implication. We see this even today, as false prophets come and misinterpret the words of God in the Bible, and bring doubt and confusion. God sits in heaven and shakes His head in amazement of the stupidity of so many, that fall for the misinterpretation of what He has spent millennia trying in His Written Word, clarifying and showing its truth by the Holy Spirit. Yet, mankind falls for so many misinterpretations, it is pathetic. It was when Eve believed the devil then, when Adam fell for her suggestion, and now when false prophets gain the ears, instead of hearing the rebukes of God's people.
Finally, after all that stupidity of the first two to be tempted, they TRANSGRESSED GOD'S WORD.
Genesis 3:6
"... the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise..."
I Timothy 2:14
"Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression..."
The poison was hidden by some tempting icing, the two in the garden of innocence fell for the temptation of that icing, and SINNED.
The devil has tried to get all of us to this point of trusting another source, other than God, and disobeying the Word of God. Deception is still possible, and that is why there are "false prophets" galore in our day. The Bible is filled with warnings against them... Beware... disobedience against God's Word is still a temptation... that we must avoid... rebuke... and shun...
TRANSGRESSION OF GOD'S WORD is still easy today. Some are still falling for the lies of the devil's cohorts. False prophets simply add a little icing to the poison of not trusting the Written Word of God, and of not testing voices we hear by that Written Word. The Holy Spirit's voice too is to be tested, to be sure it is truly He.
Genesis 3:6
"...she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat..."
How easily we sin... the devil puts icing on the doubt of God's Word, and mankind falls so easily.
Beware of sin with icing on it... despite the icing, sin still kills... corrupts... and ultimately dooms!!!
Some of you truly know of what I just wrote here... unfortunately, we see some few others still not having learned the first lesson recorded in our Bible. The first and most basic trick of the devil still stumbles and dooms too many.
