How Sin Operates - Genesis 3:1-7
Pete Rapolas, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday April 1, 2009
Genesis 3:1-7
How Sin Operates
Getting up close and personnel with our enemy sin
Introduction:
* Since I was a little boy and up to this present day I have always been curious on how things work.
# As a little kid I would often take apart things to see how they work
* Toaster, taken apart
* Toys taken apart
* You should seen me when we finally got pets…just kidding unlike a toaster and toys you cannot put a pet back together again.
# Up until this present time there are things I am still curious about.
# Take the remote control,
* I find it fascinating that I can sit on the couch press a button and instantaneously the channel changes.
* I’ve become so fascinated with it, that if the remote is misplaced I search hours on end trying to find it, while the television sits on the same channel.
# Wireless Internet is something fascinating as well
* When you think about it, how did anyone come up with the idea that you can send information via space?
* Just think right now, that there is a flood of information coming through this place.
+ My eighth grade year I decided to see how my bike works so instead of getting a book and finding out the mechanics behind it.
# I did what I know now is called reverse engineering.
* Reverse engineering is
o Reverse engineering is taking apart an object to see how it works in order to duplicate or enhance the object.
* My eighth grade year I took my bike completely apart
* Of course, once I did that, I needed a mode of transportation and since I knew everything about my bike since I took it apart, I was now…in my own mind an expert on bicycles.
* That week I painstakingly put my bike together and do you know what I found out.
o My bike did not need some of the pieces that were on it.
+ In fact, there was A LOT of pieces that just did not belong.
* To celebrate my newfound knowledge I decided to take my bike and ride it down the steepest hill by my house.
* I found out while going down and my bike flipping after applying my brakes.
o Those parts I thought I did not need were in fact very essential to the structure of my bicycle.
+ This evening, we are not going to be talking about bicycles or engineering, for those of you who came with that in mind, I wouldn’t blame you for leaving now.
# However, we are going to be a bit of reverse engineering on this thing that mankind deals with.
* And that thing is sin.
* So let us open our bibles and turn to Genesis 3 and see where we first here of sin.
# Tonight I am going to be sharing with you five elements of how sin operates.
Big Idea/Thesis:
Although sin is something that we will deal with it until we meet our savior, seeing how sin operates is our best defense in avoiding it.
Verse 1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
+ Here we are in the Garden of Eden or paradise as some would call it
# A time of no work, no traffic and no alarm clocks
# A time no worry and a time of intimate fellowship with the Lord.
+ Here in verse one we read that a new figure enters in a serpent that was more crafty or clever than any of the other animals and it is here that we read how sin operates.
# Notice the question that the serpent asks Eve
* Did God actually say
* Or did He really mean what He said
* Are you sure you heard Him correctly.
# The first element in how sin operates is temptation
* When someone goes fishing what is one thing that person needs in addition to a fishing pole and hook?
o Bait right?
o The purpose of bait is to tempt the fish into taking a bite of the hook.
# In the spiritual sense sin operates by tempting you with the idea that God’s commands aren’t really commands at all but suggestions
* It is the idea that God’s ways are holding you back. And that the grass is greener on the other side.
* In Kuala Lampur a deal too good to be true turned out to be just that: too good to be true
o Unfortunately, a businessman who paid for chemicals that were supposed to turn paper into $20 bills did not discover that the secret was a scam until it was too late.
o Thirty people were arrested in suspicion of being involved with the operation that netted $15,789. The crime was one of a pattern that operated essentially the same way. A wealthy person is invited to a hotel room and shown how a mix of mystery chemicals can turn ordinary black paper into $20 bills. In reality, the papers used are darkened reproductions of bills. They are counterfeit—and so is the chemical process.
+ Only the temptation is real.
* What this individual should have known was to be good to true ended up learning things the hard way and the same thing goes with temptation in a believer’s life.
# It’s interesting to note that the same tactic was used when our Lord was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights in Matthew 4:1-11
* In fact, let us turn there now and see how we can put to death temptation in the life of a believer.
# Notice verse 3 where the enemy tempts Jesus to command the stones to be turned into bread.
* After 40 days of not eating, experts call this the second death.
o You see it is around the 40th day without food that your body with no fat to eat anymore must know start to consume your muscles and you are literally dying a second death as you are withering away.
o It is hear that Satan tells Jesus to turn stones into bread.
* Yet we read that Jesus responds to Satan with scripture
# Again in verse 5 Jesus is tempted and again we read that Jesus uses scripture to put to death temptation
* This repeats in verses 8-10
# The key to beating temptation is to know the Word of God
# In addition Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth tells us
* 1st Corinthians 10:13
o No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
# Eve was tempted be, cause she failed to heed the commandment of God and the result was that sin flourished.
# Let’s read on
Verses 4-5
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
* The next step in how sin operates is through doubt.
# Here we read the Eve does not run away from the serpent but starts conversing with it.
# That is the problem with how we deal with sin, is instead of running away from it we start hanging out with it.
# Billy Sunday once said:
* The reason why sin flourishes is people treat sin like a cream puff instead of rattlesnake.
o Sound advice by Mr. Sunday, instead of holding fast to the Word of God and taking in every promise and warning we decide to take our chances.
* I once heard of story of a soldier in WWII who happened to be walking across a field,
o Only this field was posted with signs that mines were in the area.
o This man failed to heed the signs and walked right into the field.
* Another soldier saw this man, and told him to stay put, and he would go and get the map where are the known minds where.
# Instead of listening to God’s word and running to him, eve listened to words of the serpent and doubt rooted up.
* In youth ministry, one of the biggest areas teenagers face is sexual temptation.
o What is interesting about teenagers and even adults for that matter is you can tell them God’s design for sex in the confines of marriage, and some get it.
o Others start rationalizing it
+ They begin to question God’s word by asking
# If God created sex why wouldn’t he want me to enjoy it outside of marriage.
# Even in scripture we see this same thing apply
* The youth group on Wednesday is closing up 1st Samuel and what stood out in that story of that of King Saul
o In fact let’s turn there now to 1st Samuel 13:8-14
+ Saul running out of patience with the Lord’s prophet Samuel begins to doubt Samuel’s (Lord’s) words and takes part in an unlawful sacrifice
+ Notice the words spoken by Samuel to Saul in verses 13 and 14
# Saul choose his way instead of God’s way
* Sin crept in and it eventually took his kingdom away.
# How doe we confront doubt but with fear
* The fear that I am talking about is the fear of the Lord
o We are all familiar with the story in Genesis 22 of Abraham offering his only son Isaac
o But what we can learn in this story is that despite the doubts Abraham might have had taking his son up the mountain is that he had a greater fear of God than the doubt that he had
o The result we read 22:12
+ He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
* Even our Lord has great advice in Matthew 10:28
o And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
* Start fearing God and doubt will wither away
Verse 6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
* Once temptation and doubt crept into Eve’s mind, the next element in sin’s sinister operation is Deception.
* Notice verse 6 here
# Saw that the tree was good for food
* This was the one tree that the Lord told Adam and Eve they could not eat from.
* Eve, no longer looks at it that way; she now sees it not as something bad but as something good.
# Advertisers spend millions of dollars each year with deception.
* I do not know if you have not watched television lately but here are a few things, I have observed.
* Deception: Only beautiful and in shape people drink beer.
* Reality: before I came to Christ I can tell you that the party that goes on in every beer commercial does not exist.
* Deception: There is never any traffic for the driver and their new automobile.
* Reality: People spend more hours in traffic now than they did 10 years ago.
# When I watch TV, I am a sucker for infomercials.
* They items they are trying to sell seem so handy to use
* Who wouldn’t want a tool that allows you to put jewels on all your clothes?
o You could be the life of the party with your name encrusted with gemstones in the back.
* The problem with all those things is that they deceive.
o There might be a bit of truth to it but there is more deception than anything.
# Eve was deceived into seeing something that she should have stayed away from as good.
# How do we fight deception?
* "You must spend a lot of time handling counterfeit money to know what it looks like," said Ruth Bell Graham to a man from Scotland Yard, who was in charge of identifying counterfeit money.
* "No," he replied. "We never touch the stuff. All day long, we just handle the real thing: genuine currency. And when a counterfeit bill comes our way—we can quickly detect it."
* You see, when we know God’s word and what God’s word says about sin, we will no longer be deceived into thinking it is something it is not.
* In addition, as believers we need to be weary of how sin poses itself.
+ The next step in how sin operates is with desire.
# My daughter is too young right now, but there is going to be a time where my wife and I will be at the store and do you know what they put at the front of the check out lines?
* Not vegetables, but candy.
# Stores in general are very smart in how they place items for their customer.
* Candy at the check out line will cause desire in the heart of a child and I have seen what happens to that child.
* It is not pretty.
* Back to verse 6 we read that
+ and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise
# Again we read Eve falling for the deception only this time it was
* A delight to the eyes
o The word for delight used in this passage can also mean desire
o What Eve saw with her eyes she desired it.
# Sin operates by creating a desire in your life.
* I mentioned before how advertisers use deception in marketing their products however they also create a desire.
* Car commercials are great, because they often have a man or women leaving a huge office building.
o Getting into his/her new car, and going out with friends at a nice restaurant
o Followed by dancing and coming home to an incredible house.
* The purpose of the commercial is not only to deceive but also to put in your mind a desire.
o They should probably put words up at the end of the commercial.
o Does not your life suck, buy our car, and see what happens.
# In second Samuel, we read of David desiring something that was not his to take.
* His affair with Bathsheeba had lasting consequences and it was birthed by temptation, followed by doubt, followed by deception and then ultimately desire.
# The apostle John in 1 John 2:16 shares with us some insight about desire
* For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
* The desires of the flesh, like eve faced, as if David face, and we face all come from the world.
# How do we fight desire:
* First, recognize where the desire comes from.
* Secondly, we must die to ourselves by picking up our cross daily and following Jesus
* Lastly, we must desire the things of God
o Our Lord tells us in Matthew 5:8
+ "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
+ If we start desiring the things of the world, we will live an empty life.
+ If we desire the things of God, we will be satisfied.
+ Like the praise and worship song goes
# You’re all I want
Verse 7
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
* Of course we all know how the story goes
# Eve falling for the lure of sin, gives in and so does Adam and as we read here verse 7
+ Our last step of how sin operates is disappointment
# We have all heard the saying there is no such thing as a free lunch.
# Moreover, for those of you who have ever taken an exclusive all expense paid trip hosted by a time-share company know that truth very well.
+ Sin always hypes itself up to be something that it isn’t
# Here Adam and Eve thought they would be like God and the result is that they were kicked out of the garden and paradise was gone.
+ In our own walk, we must realize that sin always disappoints in the end.
# Even Solomon the wisest man in the world shares with us in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
* And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
* Solomon who had all the resources in the world, who took part in anything the flesh desired tell us in verse 11
* and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
# Church we need to realize the importance of how sin always disappoints.
* For once we realize that sin and all its offering is just an illusion we will be weary for wanting to take part in that sin.
Conclusion/Summary:
* The first element in how sin operates is temptation
# The key to beating temptation is to know the Word of God
# 1st Corinthians 10:13
# No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
+ The second element in how sin operates is through doubt.
# We confront doubt but with fear
* The fear that I am talking about is the fear of the Lord
+ The next element in sin’s sinister operation is Deception.
# We fight deception from knowing the truth
* The truth and warnings that come from God’s word
+ The next element in how sin operates is desire.
# How do we fight desire:
* First, recognize where the desire comes from.
* Secondly, we must die to ourselves by picking up our cross daily and following Jesus
+ Our last elements of how sin operates is disappointment
# For once we realize that sin and all its offering is just an illusion we will be weary for wanting to take part in that sin.
Download | Duration: 00:39:46
Genesis 3:1-7
How Sin Operates
Getting up close and personnel with our enemy sin
Introduction:
* Since I was a little boy and up to this present day I have always been curious on how things work.
# As a little kid I would often take apart things to see how they work
* Toaster, taken apart
* Toys taken apart
* You should seen me when we finally got pets…just kidding unlike a toaster and toys you cannot put a pet back together again.
# Up until this present time there are things I am still curious about.
# Take the remote control,
* I find it fascinating that I can sit on the couch press a button and instantaneously the channel changes.
* I’ve become so fascinated with it, that if the remote is misplaced I search hours on end trying to find it, while the television sits on the same channel.
# Wireless Internet is something fascinating as well
* When you think about it, how did anyone come up with the idea that you can send information via space?
* Just think right now, that there is a flood of information coming through this place.
+ My eighth grade year I decided to see how my bike works so instead of getting a book and finding out the mechanics behind it.
# I did what I know now is called reverse engineering.
* Reverse engineering is
o Reverse engineering is taking apart an object to see how it works in order to duplicate or enhance the object.
* My eighth grade year I took my bike completely apart
* Of course, once I did that, I needed a mode of transportation and since I knew everything about my bike since I took it apart, I was now…in my own mind an expert on bicycles.
* That week I painstakingly put my bike together and do you know what I found out.
o My bike did not need some of the pieces that were on it.
+ In fact, there was A LOT of pieces that just did not belong.
* To celebrate my newfound knowledge I decided to take my bike and ride it down the steepest hill by my house.
* I found out while going down and my bike flipping after applying my brakes.
o Those parts I thought I did not need were in fact very essential to the structure of my bicycle.
+ This evening, we are not going to be talking about bicycles or engineering, for those of you who came with that in mind, I wouldn’t blame you for leaving now.
# However, we are going to be a bit of reverse engineering on this thing that mankind deals with.
* And that thing is sin.
* So let us open our bibles and turn to Genesis 3 and see where we first here of sin.
# Tonight I am going to be sharing with you five elements of how sin operates.
Big Idea/Thesis:
Although sin is something that we will deal with it until we meet our savior, seeing how sin operates is our best defense in avoiding it.
Verse 1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
+ Here we are in the Garden of Eden or paradise as some would call it
# A time of no work, no traffic and no alarm clocks
# A time no worry and a time of intimate fellowship with the Lord.
+ Here in verse one we read that a new figure enters in a serpent that was more crafty or clever than any of the other animals and it is here that we read how sin operates.
# Notice the question that the serpent asks Eve
* Did God actually say
* Or did He really mean what He said
* Are you sure you heard Him correctly.
# The first element in how sin operates is temptation
* When someone goes fishing what is one thing that person needs in addition to a fishing pole and hook?
o Bait right?
o The purpose of bait is to tempt the fish into taking a bite of the hook.
# In the spiritual sense sin operates by tempting you with the idea that God’s commands aren’t really commands at all but suggestions
* It is the idea that God’s ways are holding you back. And that the grass is greener on the other side.
* In Kuala Lampur a deal too good to be true turned out to be just that: too good to be true
o Unfortunately, a businessman who paid for chemicals that were supposed to turn paper into $20 bills did not discover that the secret was a scam until it was too late.
o Thirty people were arrested in suspicion of being involved with the operation that netted $15,789. The crime was one of a pattern that operated essentially the same way. A wealthy person is invited to a hotel room and shown how a mix of mystery chemicals can turn ordinary black paper into $20 bills. In reality, the papers used are darkened reproductions of bills. They are counterfeit—and so is the chemical process.
+ Only the temptation is real.
* What this individual should have known was to be good to true ended up learning things the hard way and the same thing goes with temptation in a believer’s life.
# It’s interesting to note that the same tactic was used when our Lord was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights in Matthew 4:1-11
* In fact, let us turn there now and see how we can put to death temptation in the life of a believer.
# Notice verse 3 where the enemy tempts Jesus to command the stones to be turned into bread.
* After 40 days of not eating, experts call this the second death.
o You see it is around the 40th day without food that your body with no fat to eat anymore must know start to consume your muscles and you are literally dying a second death as you are withering away.
o It is hear that Satan tells Jesus to turn stones into bread.
* Yet we read that Jesus responds to Satan with scripture
# Again in verse 5 Jesus is tempted and again we read that Jesus uses scripture to put to death temptation
* This repeats in verses 8-10
# The key to beating temptation is to know the Word of God
# In addition Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth tells us
* 1st Corinthians 10:13
o No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
# Eve was tempted be, cause she failed to heed the commandment of God and the result was that sin flourished.
# Let’s read on
Verses 4-5
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
* The next step in how sin operates is through doubt.
# Here we read the Eve does not run away from the serpent but starts conversing with it.
# That is the problem with how we deal with sin, is instead of running away from it we start hanging out with it.
# Billy Sunday once said:
* The reason why sin flourishes is people treat sin like a cream puff instead of rattlesnake.
o Sound advice by Mr. Sunday, instead of holding fast to the Word of God and taking in every promise and warning we decide to take our chances.
* I once heard of story of a soldier in WWII who happened to be walking across a field,
o Only this field was posted with signs that mines were in the area.
o This man failed to heed the signs and walked right into the field.
* Another soldier saw this man, and told him to stay put, and he would go and get the map where are the known minds where.
# Instead of listening to God’s word and running to him, eve listened to words of the serpent and doubt rooted up.
* In youth ministry, one of the biggest areas teenagers face is sexual temptation.
o What is interesting about teenagers and even adults for that matter is you can tell them God’s design for sex in the confines of marriage, and some get it.
o Others start rationalizing it
+ They begin to question God’s word by asking
# If God created sex why wouldn’t he want me to enjoy it outside of marriage.
# Even in scripture we see this same thing apply
* The youth group on Wednesday is closing up 1st Samuel and what stood out in that story of that of King Saul
o In fact let’s turn there now to 1st Samuel 13:8-14
+ Saul running out of patience with the Lord’s prophet Samuel begins to doubt Samuel’s (Lord’s) words and takes part in an unlawful sacrifice
+ Notice the words spoken by Samuel to Saul in verses 13 and 14
# Saul choose his way instead of God’s way
* Sin crept in and it eventually took his kingdom away.
# How doe we confront doubt but with fear
* The fear that I am talking about is the fear of the Lord
o We are all familiar with the story in Genesis 22 of Abraham offering his only son Isaac
o But what we can learn in this story is that despite the doubts Abraham might have had taking his son up the mountain is that he had a greater fear of God than the doubt that he had
o The result we read 22:12
+ He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
* Even our Lord has great advice in Matthew 10:28
o And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
* Start fearing God and doubt will wither away
Verse 6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
* Once temptation and doubt crept into Eve’s mind, the next element in sin’s sinister operation is Deception.
* Notice verse 6 here
# Saw that the tree was good for food
* This was the one tree that the Lord told Adam and Eve they could not eat from.
* Eve, no longer looks at it that way; she now sees it not as something bad but as something good.
# Advertisers spend millions of dollars each year with deception.
* I do not know if you have not watched television lately but here are a few things, I have observed.
* Deception: Only beautiful and in shape people drink beer.
* Reality: before I came to Christ I can tell you that the party that goes on in every beer commercial does not exist.
* Deception: There is never any traffic for the driver and their new automobile.
* Reality: People spend more hours in traffic now than they did 10 years ago.
# When I watch TV, I am a sucker for infomercials.
* They items they are trying to sell seem so handy to use
* Who wouldn’t want a tool that allows you to put jewels on all your clothes?
o You could be the life of the party with your name encrusted with gemstones in the back.
* The problem with all those things is that they deceive.
o There might be a bit of truth to it but there is more deception than anything.
# Eve was deceived into seeing something that she should have stayed away from as good.
# How do we fight deception?
* "You must spend a lot of time handling counterfeit money to know what it looks like," said Ruth Bell Graham to a man from Scotland Yard, who was in charge of identifying counterfeit money.
* "No," he replied. "We never touch the stuff. All day long, we just handle the real thing: genuine currency. And when a counterfeit bill comes our way—we can quickly detect it."
* You see, when we know God’s word and what God’s word says about sin, we will no longer be deceived into thinking it is something it is not.
* In addition, as believers we need to be weary of how sin poses itself.
+ The next step in how sin operates is with desire.
# My daughter is too young right now, but there is going to be a time where my wife and I will be at the store and do you know what they put at the front of the check out lines?
* Not vegetables, but candy.
# Stores in general are very smart in how they place items for their customer.
* Candy at the check out line will cause desire in the heart of a child and I have seen what happens to that child.
* It is not pretty.
* Back to verse 6 we read that
+ and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise
# Again we read Eve falling for the deception only this time it was
* A delight to the eyes
o The word for delight used in this passage can also mean desire
o What Eve saw with her eyes she desired it.
# Sin operates by creating a desire in your life.
* I mentioned before how advertisers use deception in marketing their products however they also create a desire.
* Car commercials are great, because they often have a man or women leaving a huge office building.
o Getting into his/her new car, and going out with friends at a nice restaurant
o Followed by dancing and coming home to an incredible house.
* The purpose of the commercial is not only to deceive but also to put in your mind a desire.
o They should probably put words up at the end of the commercial.
o Does not your life suck, buy our car, and see what happens.
# In second Samuel, we read of David desiring something that was not his to take.
* His affair with Bathsheeba had lasting consequences and it was birthed by temptation, followed by doubt, followed by deception and then ultimately desire.
# The apostle John in 1 John 2:16 shares with us some insight about desire
* For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.
* The desires of the flesh, like eve faced, as if David face, and we face all come from the world.
# How do we fight desire:
* First, recognize where the desire comes from.
* Secondly, we must die to ourselves by picking up our cross daily and following Jesus
* Lastly, we must desire the things of God
o Our Lord tells us in Matthew 5:8
+ "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
+ If we start desiring the things of the world, we will live an empty life.
+ If we desire the things of God, we will be satisfied.
+ Like the praise and worship song goes
# You’re all I want
Verse 7
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
* Of course we all know how the story goes
# Eve falling for the lure of sin, gives in and so does Adam and as we read here verse 7
+ Our last step of how sin operates is disappointment
# We have all heard the saying there is no such thing as a free lunch.
# Moreover, for those of you who have ever taken an exclusive all expense paid trip hosted by a time-share company know that truth very well.
+ Sin always hypes itself up to be something that it isn’t
# Here Adam and Eve thought they would be like God and the result is that they were kicked out of the garden and paradise was gone.
+ In our own walk, we must realize that sin always disappoints in the end.
# Even Solomon the wisest man in the world shares with us in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
* And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
* Solomon who had all the resources in the world, who took part in anything the flesh desired tell us in verse 11
* and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
# Church we need to realize the importance of how sin always disappoints.
* For once we realize that sin and all its offering is just an illusion we will be weary for wanting to take part in that sin.
Conclusion/Summary:
* The first element in how sin operates is temptation
# The key to beating temptation is to know the Word of God
# 1st Corinthians 10:13
# No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
+ The second element in how sin operates is through doubt.
# We confront doubt but with fear
* The fear that I am talking about is the fear of the Lord
+ The next element in sin’s sinister operation is Deception.
# We fight deception from knowing the truth
* The truth and warnings that come from God’s word
+ The next element in how sin operates is desire.
# How do we fight desire:
* First, recognize where the desire comes from.
* Secondly, we must die to ourselves by picking up our cross daily and following Jesus
+ Our last elements of how sin operates is disappointment
# For once we realize that sin and all its offering is just an illusion we will be weary for wanting to take part in that sin.
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