Something happened in the Garden of Eden that’s diabolical and evil.  I know we’ve all probably read Genesis chapter 3 over a hundred times but I don’t know if we’ve grasped the significance of what really happened.  I know it must have been a shock to Adam and Eve what happened to them.  One day all is well and the next thing they know, life as they knew it was over. 

Can you imagine being so blessed that you never had to worry about anything, no sickness, no disease, no lack, no want for anything?  They had everything they could ever hope for. They had a great life.  It was perfect, until someone, a stranger, a liar, a thief, a murderer, a serpent, a devil came along and took everything from them; their life, their joy, their health, their peace, their shelter, their food, their comfort, and their home.  They lost everything in an instant.  Can you imagine what that must have felt like?

And everything happened so fast. The next thing they knew, they were being evicted and kicked out of their house, with no food, and no place to go.  I can imagine that it might have been very cold outside the Garden of Eden.  They didn’t even have time to stop and think about what had happened?  All they knew, is that, all they had was gone and for what?

For something a stranger told them.  This person was not even their friend.  They didn’t even know him but yet they took him at his word. Why?  Because it sound good.  (Note: Just because it sounds good, doesn’t mean that it’s good for you.)  Scriptures says, there is a WAY, that seems right unto a man but the END there of is the way of death.

And the sad part about all of this, is that it’s still happening today, this very second.  All of us are still listening to this enemy.  We may have thought this person was our friend but they weren’t.  They were really our enemy and they didn’t mean us any good.  And this enemy comes in all shapes and forms so that you cannot recognize that it is our enemy.  Scripture says, be wise as a serpent and harmless a dove, for the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Adam and Eve let the enemy come in and they did nothing about it.  They might as well have welcomed him in.  This enemy came in and did whatever he wanted to do. He has molested, cheated, stolen, killed, and destroyed their lives.  One day their life was great and now it’s torn all to pieces.  It’s like a very expensive merchandise that has been thrown down and shattered into a million pieces.  And they stand there wondering, how will we put all the pieces back together again?

They are frighten and don’t know what to do.  They try to fix themselves by covering up their shame.  Instead of running to God, they run away from God.  Even when God call out to them, they try to hide.  In the same way, God is still calling out to us.  But because we have done wrong, instead of running to God, we try to hide and run away from God.  But nevertheless, the Lord is still calling us.  Of all the trees in the garden that they could have eaten from, they chose the one that God told them not to eat from.  And now they find themselves being kicked out of their parent’s home and own their own.

They wanted to be grown, so now they are on their own.  When you are living in your parent’s home, you have to live by their rules.  There is a price to pay if you break the rules.

So the situation looks hopeless for Adam and Eve. It looks impossible.  It looks like all hope is gone.  It looks like there is no way they can ever be put back together again.  It looks like they can never go back home.  They’ve been blinded and can’t see.  They’ve been crippled and can’t walk.  They’ve gone deft and cannot hear.  They’ve been made sick and can’t get well.  They feel like all hope is gone.

That’s what this enemy has done and that’s how he has made them feel.  He promised them the world but he took everything they had and now they have nothing.  And they just stood there and let him do it.  They didn’t even try to stop him. 

And the same thing is still happening today, we are still eating from the tree of knowledge.  Now, this is the result of eating from the tree that God warned us about.  This is from eating from the tree that God commanded us, that if we eat, we will surely die.  But just like Adam and Eve, we don’t listen either.  And we are still not listening.  We are still eating from this tree every day, while we could and should be eating from the tree of life.

The tree of life was right there in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve had a right to eat from that tree, yet they chose not to.  So they had to be kicked out of their parent’s house, in case they tried to go back and eat from the tree of life, which would have been really bad for all of us.

So now, they are living outside the protection and care of their parents. They had great fellowship and communion with their parent, but now that communion has been broken.  Now, they feel afraid of their parent.  They use to talk to their parent about everything, but that has changed now.  Even the relationship between Adam and Eve has changed.  It used to be wonderful, now it’s hard.  They started pointing fingers, even at their parent.  Adam said, “This woman You gave me,” shifting the blame from himself.  Eve said, “The serpent tricked me.”  Nobody wanted to take responsibility for their own actions.

All that their parent had for them was good, but they believed a liar that told them that the grass was greener on the other side. And just like Adam and Eve, we have also believed a lie.  Scripture says, who changed the truth of God into a lie.  Scripture says, he is a liar and the father of it.  Scripture says, he was a murderer from the beginning.

That is all this enemy does is lie, lie, lie.  He has been lying to us forever. That is what he does.  He changes the truth of God into a lie.  God said don’t eat or you’ll die.  The enemy says, you won’t surely die.  Essentially, this is what that liar told them, God knows that if you eat, you can be like him to know good and evil and then you won’t need him.  You’ll be able to do whatever you want to do. You won’t need God’s permission.  You won’t even need God.

And that is the same lie, the enemy is using today.  He is still saying, we don’t need God.  He is still saying, all we need is knowledge and we can figure out our own problems.  He is still saying that God is holding out on us, that’s why he doesn’t want us to eat from this tree.  But what the devil is not telling us is, to be carnally mined is death, because the carnal mind is enmity against God.  The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God and indeed it can never be.

The truth is, this tree of knowledge is the devil’s tree.  That’s right I said it and I’m going to say it again for clarity.  The tree of knowledge, of good and evil is the devil’s tree.  I know you think God put it there.  And that’s just what the devil want you to think.  If God put this tree there, then we would be able to eat from it.  But since God did not put it there, that is why He did not want Adam and Eve to from it.

The tree of knowledge, of good and evil does not represent the Father.  The tree of knowlege, of good and evil represents the devil, that’s why it is there, because it is his tree.

Jesus said in a parable that the enemy has done this.  The tree of knowledge is not God’s tree. The tree of knowledge belongs to the devil and that is precisely why, the devil wanted Adam and Eve to eat from it.  That was and is his diabolical plan.  And it has worked like a charm and he has been using it ever since.

He tried to use the same plan on Jesus, but it didn’t work. He told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone be turned into bread.”  Jesus said that, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” But the devil wasn’t finished, he knew that his plan has always worked.  He knew that if he said the right words, he would get Jesus to listen to him, so he kept trying.  So he said to Jesus, “If you just worship me one time, I’ll give you all this power and the glory, because it’s has been delivered unto me and I will give it to whomsoever I will.”  But Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan, it is written thou shall worship the Lord God and him only shall thou serve.”

Scriptures says that we should present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable which is our reasonable service.  We should not be conformed to this world but, that we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what is God’s good, acceptable and perfect will.

That liar makes what he says sound so simple and so easy.  Scriptures says resist the devil and he will flee.  Scripture says give no place to the devil.

We must realize once and for all that the devil is not our friend and he is no good.  He only wants to hurt us.  He’s lying to you when he tells you, take those pills, smoke this joint or take these drugs, it’ll make you feel this way and that way.  It’s the same old trick he used on Adam and Eve.  You’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.  But what he doesn’t tell you is the PRICE you’ll have to pay for it.  Just like a drug dealer who says, Hey man, try this, it’s free.  It’s free until you get hooked and then you’ll sell your own body, your child’s body and anything else you can for that fix.

We need to look that devil dead in the eye and tell him that we will worship the Lord God and him only shall we serve.

Scriptures says, love not the world and neither the THINGS that are in the world, that nice car, that nice home, that good job, that beautiful woman, that handsome man, that diamond ring, that big congregation. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  As believers in Jesus Christ and his disciples, we need to stop thinking like the world, looking like the world, acting like the world, being like the world and talking like the world.  If we continue to eat from the tree of knowledge, we will continue to be influenced by the tree of knowledge of the world.  Instead, as believers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we need to eat from the Tree of Life, which is the Word of God, so that we will be influenced by the Word of God and Spirit of God.

The devil use the same old tricks every time, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, which is not of the father but the world.

We must understand that all power is given unto Jesus in heaven and in earth but until Jesus comes back we have to fight the good fight of faith.

Adam and Eve had everything but gave everything over to the devil.  Jesus has taken away all the power of the enemy and strip him of all his authority but we still have to walk in that power and authority.  We have to walk by faith not by sight.  We have to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.  We have to walk in the spirit and we will not for fill the lust of the flesh.  We have to let this mind be us that is also in Christ Jesus.  To be carnally minded is death.  To be spiritually mind is life and peace in the Holy Ghost.