Gen 3:4-6 (NIV) “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 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. Once you can see Satan in action, it helps you see what he is trying to do to you. As you see him trick Adam and Eve into sinning, you can allow God to help you build a wall against Satan’s schemes. 2 Cor 2:11b (NIV) For we are not unaware of his schemes. However, the study about how Satan operates has to be small; the major part of your study is to involve you in God and His provisions. Jesus will be exposing you to only a small part of Satan’s schemes.

Eph 6:10-11 (NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God SO THAT you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. You will be learning how to take your stand against the devil’s schemes. You will be learning how to put on the full armor of God. The main thing for you to learn is how to submit to God so you can resist the devil and make him flee from you. James 4:7 (NIV) Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Once you see how much love comes from God toward you, it helps you resist the devil and give your whole life over to God. John 10:10 (NIV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Gen 3:7 (NIV) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Once a sin is committed, it can’t be uncommitted. Satan tempts everyone; it isn’t abnormal or wrong for you to be tempted. It isn’t a sin until you yield to it. But, once you yield to it, the consequences of sin are pouring into your life. Because of the magnitude of the sin Adam and Eve committed, this spiritual disease of a sinful nature got passed on to everyone of us. Our body is born with a sinful nature; it was waiting for the moment when you got old enough to be responsible for your actions. Just as soon as the Holy Spirit decided that you were old enough and mature enough to start being held accountable for your actions, He started dealing with you concerning the right and wrong aspects of your behavior. Then when you sinned against your conscience, the consequences of that sin moved into your life.

Satan told Adam and Eve: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened.” Once they ate some of the forbidden fruit, that was exactly what happened: Then the eyes of both of them were opened. But, that wasn’t all Satan said; he went on to say: “and you will be like God.” Trying to be like God separate from God is what destroyed Satan and turned him into the evil creature he is now. You don’t want to be turned into an evil creature like Satan. So, the way to stay away from this curse on your life is to stay close to your heavenly Father. Adam and Eve wouldn’t have heard this presentation if they hadn’t stood there and listened. Curiosity as to what Satan wants to say, can open this door. Pride in thinking you can listen to him and reason out whether or not it would be a good thing for you, can open this door. A hunger for pleasure and fun, can cause you to listen to what Satan has to offer. Feeling like God hasn’t given you the power to walk away, can cause you to open this door.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. This is when Adam and Eve’s conscience was activated. As long as they were innocent, they couldn’t sin because there was no law of their conscience. You started out just like them in innocence; but, when your conscience came alive through the decision of God, you sinned against it and died spiritually just like Adam and Eve. Through your conscience the Holy Spirit told you that what you were about to do was wrong; but, you did it anyway. That opened the door to the consequences of sin. Now you are being plagued by some of those doors you opened. It is now harder for you to get those doors closed. In those areas where you haven’t opened those doors, the temptations aren’t as strong. That is why you don’t want to open any more doors to sin.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves: Your first reaction to the consequences of sin is to try to cover it up, to try to handle it yourself, and to try to explain and justify it. You try to forgive yourself and make yourself feel better about what you have done. All of these procedures make you journey through the consequences of sin last longer and longer. 1 John 1:8-10 (NIV) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.

The only way to be set free from the consequences of a sin is to FIRST confess it, admit it, repent of it, and look to Jesus for HIS forgiveness. But, there is a second thing you need to do: Gal 6:7 (NIV) Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. When you sin, you are planting a seed; when you confess your sin, Jesus forgives you for committing it and turns it into a misdeed of your body. But, you will still reap the consequences of having sinned. If that weren’t the case, you might just decide to sin and then ask forgiveness for it. You might be tempted to make this a life pattern. That would cause you to cease being a true Christian. You must ALWAYS maintain a WANT and HATE attitude toward righteousness and sin. You MUST WANT to live a righteous life; and, you MUST HATE doing anything that is a sin. But, you DO have this want and hate because you are right here studying these things.

Gen 3:8 (NIV) Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. When God said, “You will surely die,” He wasn’t saying that Adam and Eve would cease to exist; He wasn’t saying that they would lose their human life; He was saying they would be separated from Him. Death isn’t to cease to exist; it is a separation from something. When you die as a human your soul and spirit are SEPARATED from your body. When you die spiritually, you, the spirit being, are separated from God. When you sinned against your conscience, you died spiritually. You didn’t drop over dead physically; you went right on living as a human; but, you were dead in your relationship with God.

Gen 3:9-10 (NIV) But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Your sins cause you to run and hide from church, the Bible, Jesus, and other Christians. But, since you have been born again, you must resist this fear and hiding and move toward all these things. Satan will try to cause you to feel a type of guilt that keeps you SEPARATED from all of these things. That is why Romans 8:1-2 says: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Satan is trying to tell you that you aren’t worthy, are rejected by God, and don’t deserve forgiveness. He is trying to SEPARATE you from your heavenly Father. You are God’s child; He doesn’t deal in what you deserve. He is gracious and merciful; He only deals with gifts to His children.

Gen 3:11-13 (NIV) And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Don’t blame your parents, society, circumstances, or other people. Blame will keep you from confessing your sin, repenting of your sin, and getting forgiveness from Jesus. The only way you can move on into getting your healing from Jesus is to first confess, repent, and receive Jesus’ forgiveness. No matter what else happened to you that you feel CAUSED you to sin, you didn’t have to yield. Eve didn’t have to listen to Satan; and, Adam didn’t have to accept the forbidden fruit from Eve.

Gen 3:14-19 (NIV) So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

As long as you have even the slightest feeling of desire toward those things you are being tempted with, it will make it hard for Jesus to help you. Pray and ask Jesus to heal you from the desire. But, it is just as important for you to know the difference between your spirit’s desire and your body’s desire. Rom 7:22 (NIV) For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. Your body doesn’t feel this way about sin and righteousness. It still has a strong desire toward sin; it is animalistic and has to be changed through another process other than salvation. It didn’t get born again, it isn’t saved, and it isn’t a Christian. Rom 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Jesus is going to be training you and empowering you to do what this verse and many other verses are asking of you.

Eph 6:10 (NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Jesus is going to be taking you from this horrible failure in Adam and Eve’s case. He is going to be showing you how to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. He is going to make you more than conquerors through Him Who loved us (Rom 8:37). He is going to teach you how to be able to do everything through Him Who gives you strength (Phil 4:13). Adam and Eve have shown you what not to do; now Jesus is going to empower and teach you what to do. He will help you close these doors to those temptations that are harassing you. And, He will help you keep from opening any new doors to sin. Let your heart feel faith, excitement, hope, and joy in expectancy for all Jesus is about to do for you, to you, with you, and through you.