The devil lied, he can't give us what we already have.

Genesis 3:1-19 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; ¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. ¹⁸ “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

The root of the first sin was not that Eve ate the fruit and gave it to Adam. That was the consummation of the sin. The root, the initial temptation was when the serpent was able to cause Eve to question God’s word. In most things, God’s word, His will, His standards and His expectations are clear. Yet, like Eve, many are tempted and deceived into questioning God’s word. Eve believed the logic and the explanation of the serpent, the deceiver, rather than believing the simple truth of God’s word. Many today believe that God must have meant something different, that there must be some other reason or explanation for God’s words. To them the deceiver repeats the same temptation:  “You surely will not die! … Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”       The problem with man knowing good and evil is that often we will choose evil rather than good. Jesus sums it up in John 3:19 saying:    “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

The account of Adam and Eve’s sin and God’s seeking them out is really the first account of the gospel, the good news. The text says:    They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”    In the same way, when we give into temptation, when we reason that we know the meaning of God’s word better than He Himself knows it and we sin. We tend to hide from God. We may not hide in the trees as Adam did. Instead we hide behind this new interpretation of God’s word which we have chosen. We cover our own sin and shame with the fig leaves of our own doctrines. Yet as He did with Adam and Eve, God still comes to seek us out. God still desires to speak with us and have fellowship with us. In Genesis 3:21 it says: The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.    God covered them with garments of skin. Something had to die to cover the sin of Adam and Eve. John 3:16 says:    “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”     Jesus death on the cross more than just covers our sins. We have been redeemed from sin, reconciled to fellowship with God and restored to all that God intended. God already created Adam and Eve in His own image. Genesis 1:26-27 says:   Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.       Believing the serpent, eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil didn’t make Adam and Eve like God. The truth is they were created like God, sin caused them to be separated from God.

In the text we see another thing which is repeated frequently in our day. When God confronted them with the reality of their sin, we see their response:      The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”  Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”    Blaming others, justifying our own actions by blaming someone or something other than ourselves is a common response to sin. Our culture and our society perpetuate this response, justifying the actions, even violent behavior, blaming it on someone or something else. 1 John 1:9 tells us the way we should respond to our awareness of sin, rather than justify or blame it says:     If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In John 10:10 Jesus says:    “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   The devil can’t give us, through sin and disobedience, what God has already given us, what Christ restored to us. In verses 14-19, in today’s text we can read the consequences of sin and there will always be consequences for sin. Rather than believing the lie, rather than hiding from God, rather than blaming others though, the good news is that:  “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”          If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Jesus says:   “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   We are, you are created in the image and likeness of God. The world can’t give you that. Sin can’t give you that. Jesus Christ and the power of the cross will restore those who believe.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You for the good news that never changes. Thank You that You loved us so much that You made a way that we could be redeemed and restored to Your image and likeness. Thank You for the abundant life You give through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior.    Amen