How Temptation Falls Into Sin

2 Thessalonians 2:10  “”And wwith all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (KJV).

            

It seems like everybody has to believe in something.  When it comes to God, people either believe him and his word or they do not believe the Bible and fall for the lies of Satan.  When people reject the truth of God, there will always be consequences.

The serpent did not lose persistence.  He kept attacking Eve with his lies until she looked at the forbidden fruit.  She saw that the fruit was beautiful and her mouth was probably watering.  With the snake’s lies, she was tempted into wanting wisdom.  Therefore, she desired the fruit and took some and ate it.  The fruit was not full of worms or sour.  It was delicious.  Still, what she did-she craved something that she was forbidden to have and lusted after.  It is possible that she did not eat the fruit as soon as the serpent told her his lies.  She may have gone several days or weeks and even longer before eating the fruit.  She may have looked at the fruit, sighing when she saw its beauty, longing to eat it.  Even with all the other fruit in the garden, she would not be satisfied until she ate it.  Finally, no longer to hold back, she took the fruit and ate it.

This threefold temptation is similar to the one described in 1 John 2:16:  “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father, but of this world” (KJV).

God did not deliberately place the tree of Knowledge of God and Evil to tempt Eve.  When Eve took the fruit and ate it, it was the serpent’s doing and her doing.

The serpent preyed on Eve because she was naïve.  Since she was easily deceived, she fell into the sin trap.  As Psalm 119:11 states:  “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (KJV).  People who are ignorant are more vulnerable to temptation.

Today the biggest temptation to most people is money.  How many of you receive this type of email?  You won a specific amount of money.  The only catch is you have to send a specific amount of money back to cover the taxes.  For most people who are familiar with this know that it is a scam.  However, for some people who are struggling with debt are easily tempted with this type of offer.  While they struggle to scrape the money together for the taxes, they think they will have a windfall within a month.  However, they will lose any money they send out and never see that windfall.  These scammers find as many people as they can, hoping that they get some of the ignorant victims.

Even though it appears that Eve was innocent, she can blame no one but herself.  By disobeying God, she was showing that she distrusted his goodness.  Even though she had everything else in the garden, she was not satisfied until she ate that fruit.

Take a look at John 10:10: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it abundantly” (KJV) and John 17:3:  “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who thou hast sent” (KJV).

Eve thought she would have truesatisfaction when she took the fruit and ate it.  However, when she disobeyed God, she was not satisfied.  She used her sight and not her faith to satisfy herself.  Far too little and far too late, she found out that God is sovereign and good.  By not trusting him, she and Adam could not live abundantly.

1 Timothy 2:14:  “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression” (KJV).  God made Adam first.  Therefore, God spoke to Adam first concerning the forbidden fruit.  

Did Adam listen to God?  Did Adam tell Eve, “I can’t eat that!  That is the forbidden fruit!  No!  He took the fruit and ate it.  Adam obeyed a human rather than God.  When he ate that fruit, he sinned against God.  When he sinned, he not only hurt himself, he hurt the entire human race. 

As the apostle Paul writes in Roman 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered in to the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.  Everybody, because of the original sin, that is born will start the first second of his life as a sinner.