Gen 3:1-3 (NIV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Eve is having a discussion with the devil. Have you ever had one? Satan doesn’t come to you in the form of a snake. What he does now is come into your thoughts. And, when he does that, he doesn’t represent his own self. He tries to convice you that his words are your thoughts; it is as if you came up with that thought. The memories of past temptations and the sins you committed seem to come up in your mind.

The way for you to have a conversation with the devil is for you to start reviewing the past memories of sins you have committed. You are allowing the devil to take you down memory lane into a lure and offer of experiencing it again. He will want you to allow him to remind you of the pleasure, the fun, the excitement, and happiness that it brought. He won’t remind you of the consequeces, the side effects, and the pain that came afterward. Once you yield to his memory that he brings to your mind, you are making the deadly mistake Eve made; you are listening to him. But, if you immediately start thinking about all the wonderful things Jesus has done for you, you will find that you can only think one thought at a time. You can either continue your conversation with the devil or you can start up a conversation with Jesus.

Gen 3:4 (NIV) “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. How did Eve hear Satan say: “You will not surely die.”? She was listening. You have power over what you think; you can change the subject and start thinking about all Jesus has done for you. You can immediately run to Jesus and let Him point out the beautiful sky, the beautiful stars, the trees, the flowers, and birds, and the wonderful life He has given you. You can start thinking about all the blessings Jesus has done for you. You can make a list of all the blessings He has poured on you. You can only think one thought at a time. If you focus your thoughts on Jesus and His miracles, blessings, and provisions, then you aren’t having a conversation with Satan.

You will not surely die: Jesus said in John 8:44 (NIV): “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” It is important for you to see the truth about the temptations you are yielding to. If all you think about are the lies of the devil, as he shows you all the “benefits,” then you will be lied to and cheated. But, if you will allow Jesus to show you all the damage, all the sickness, and all the perversion of those sins you are yielding to, you will see the truth. It just took one word--not--to corrupt God’s words; You will NOT surely die. It just takes one slight change in sex to corrupt God’s beautiful plan for sex in marriage. Fornication and adultery destroy the relationship God has for a couple in marriage. The spiritual disease that enters into a person’s life through breaking God’s rules not only contaminates them, it infects others as well.

Gen 3:5 (NIV) For GOD KNOWS that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened: Why did God label the thing you are being tempted with as a sin? Because GOD KNOWS that it will hurt, damage, and destroy you. HE KNOWS that in the long run it will END UP being a deadly device in your life. HE KNOWS that it will take you down a path that is evil and disappointing to you. HE KNOWS it is a trick of the devil trying to destroy your life here on earth and in eternity. No one loves you like God does; no one had done more good for you like God has; and, no one cares about your future like God does. If Adam and Eve had just looked around the garden for a moment, they would have seen the love of God for them. Satan hadn’t done anything to gain their respect or trust. Don’t listen to him; don’t argue with him; don’t discuss things with him; and don’t try on your own to win over his temptations. Cry out to God and get His help in saving you from the temptations of the devil.

Gen 3:5 (NIV) “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will BE LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil.” Satanic bait is a lie wrapped up in a truth. Adam and Eve would be like God, knowing good and evil; but, they wouldn’t be like God in knowing what to do with that knowledge. James 4:17 (NIV) Anyone, then, who KNOWS the good he ought to do and doesn’t DO it, sins. The moment Adam and Eve gained the ability to know the difference between good and evil, was the moment they got the law of their conscience. Rom 4:15b (NIV) And where there is no law there is no transgression. If they had obeyed God and hadn’t eatten the fruit of that tree, there would have been no awakened conscience and no law. But, since they disobeyed God and ate the fruit, the law of their conscience came alive and they died. Rom 6:23a (NIV) For the wages of sin is death.

If you refuse to listen to Satan, then he can’t trick you into believing lies. But, for you to refuse to listen to Satan takes a power you don’t have. If Adam and Eve had called out to God the moment Satan tried to talk to them, God would have come and rescued them. Anytime a thought comes into your mind that is contrary to your conscience, the Bible, or what Jesus is teaching you, don’t try to think it through; don’t try to tough it out; don’t argue with it; and, don’t continue waiting to see what it is all about. If you have the slightest doubt about its purity, righteousness, and truth, immediately take it to God. Without the knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and power of God, you will end up yielding to temptation.

Gen 3:6 (NIV) When the woman saw: It happens when you start VISUALIZING the sin you are being tempted with. THE WHOLE RESON Satan was having this conversation with Eve was to get her to start looking at the fruit. If he couldn’t get her to start thinking about its benefits, he would have failed. If Satan can just get you VISUALIZING, imagining, and remembering the pleasure of the sin, HE HAS YOU! The whole battle is whether or not you will yield to looking at the sin in your mind. If you start down the road of imagining the “benefits” of a sin, you have lost. All the other techniques, procedures, discussions, and goals of Satan are simply designed for one thing, can he manipulate you into just taking a quick glance at the sin?

Gen 3:6 (NIV) When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom: The fruit wasn’t designed to be good for food; it didn’t have anything to do with food; it was designed to give the knowledge of good and evil. God labelled it “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God labelled it a sin: You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fruit was not designed to be pleasing to the eye. God wanted Eve to see it as evil; not because the fruit itself was evil; but, because eating it was evil. Sex isn’t evil; sex outside marriage (fornication and adultery) is evil. The fruit wasn’t designed to be desirable for gaining wisdom. Wisdom was to do what God told them to do or not do. Wisdom is to realize that God knows what He is talking about. Wisdom is to realize that God has your best interest in mind. Wisdom is to run to God when you are tempted.

You know that those things you are being tempted with aren’t good for you. You know you are being tempted to do something that is causing you a lot of grief. You have gone down this path before and have suffered for it. Unlike Eve, this isn’t your first time to be tempted. But, whether it is your first temptation or your thousandth one, the systems of Satan’s temptations remain the same. If he can just get you to take a quick look, you will see things that are NOT there. You will feel things that are not real or good for you. Your body will be set on fire and drag you into the sin that Satan is trying to get you to yield to. Let Jesus teach you that when you go ahead and take a look, you will see a whole pack of lies.

Gen 3:6 (NIV) When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it: First you have to listen; then you have to look; then you have to visualize; and then you will have to yield. 1 Cor 10:13 (NIV) No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Your first way out is to not listen to anything that has the slightest hint of being a sin. Your second way out is to not take a look at the subject Satan is trying to discuss. Your third way out is to not allow yourself to visualize the “benefits” of the sin. Your fourth way out is to not yield to the sin. But typically, if you don’t take the first way out, you won’t take any of the other ways out that God provides you.

Gen 3:6 (NIV) When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it: Sooner or later you will infect someone else. Even paying for pornography is a process of financing the group that is providing it. A lot of sins require more than one person in order for the sin to be committed. Sex with a prostitute passes their sins into the recipient. 1 Cor 6:16 (NIV) Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” Jesus wants to set you free from yielding to temptation not only for you, but so you will cease to be contageous. Once you “do what it takes” to be set free, you will not longer infect other people. You will become a person who is yielding to Jesus’ power to set others free.