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??Introduction：Do you ever feel sad as you think about all the trouble in the world？It seems every day we hear bad news of war, earthquakes, disease, or other disasters. Many times people ask “Why did God let this happen？”
??In our last lesson we learned that when God created the world, there were no terrible things like war, earthquakes, storms, sickness or death. God created a perfect world. But what went wrong？Pay careful attention to our lesson today, and you will find the answer.
??Do you remember some of the things God created？The plants and trees; the sun, moon and stars; the sea creatures and birds and animals. What was God’s most special creation？It was people! God made the first man Adam in His own image and gave him a soul that will last forever.
??Genesis 2：8 & 9 says, “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Why do you think God went to all the trouble to plant a special garden just for Adam？Because He loved him so much!
??Did you know God loves you just as much as He loved Adam？How do I know？Because you too were created by God. God says in Jeremiah 31：3, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” Your perfect Creator God knows the day you were born, and already has a perfect plan for your life. His plan for your life includes knowing God and having wonderful fellowship with Him. No one could ever love you as much as your Creator God loves you.
??Because God loved Adam so much, He planted a special garden just for Adam’s enjoyment. God told Adam to keep up the garden, but that was not hard work, for at that time there were no weeds! God told Adam he could freely eat of any tree of the garden except one, and that was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die.
??God loved Adam, and even brought all the animals and birds to Adam so that Adam could choose names for them! How would you like to have all the animals and birds in the world for your very own pets! At that time all of the animals and birds were tame, they did not harm people or each other. Do you think Adam might have spent many happy hours enjoying the animals and birds？Even so, there was one more thing God saw that Adam needed. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone, ” so God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and as he slept, God took one of his ribs and from that rib God made a woman, a mate, for Adam. Because God created Adam and knew everything about him, God knew just how to make the perfect mate for Adam. Can you imagine the happy surprise when Adam woke up to see this wonderful mate waiting for him？He called her Eve. What a perfectly happy world Adam and Eve enjoyed then!
??Because there was no sin, Adam and Eve had a perfectly pure conscience and enjoyed a close friendship with God. In fact, God’s Word says, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
??Lurking in the garden where Adam and Eve lived so happily was a creature called a serpent. A serpent is a snake, but this serpent was no ordinary snake like we see today.
??It was Satan, God’s enemy, speaking through the serpent.
??Did you know that at one time Satan was an angel in Heaven？His name was Lucifer, and he was a beautiful shining angel. But Lucifer became proud and tried to rebel against God, because he wanted to be God. God could not allow that rebellion, so he threw Lucifer and his followers out of Heaven. Now we call him Satan, or the devil, God’s enemy. Satan hates God and he hates you and me. He works night and day lying and deceiving people to try to turn them against God. He began with Eve in the garden.
??Satan disguised as a serpent came to Eve one day, “Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden？” Eve knew God’s rule and replied, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden：But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Do you remember the name of that tree？It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
??Satan gave a deceitful reply：“You will not surely die, for God knows that the day you eat of that tree, you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
??Now Eve had a very serious choice. The Bible tells us “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; ” Eve had deliberately made the choice to disobey God’s voice and listen to Satan, her enemy. She ate the fruit and gave some to Adam, and now Adam had a choice. Would he also disobey the God Who created and loved him and had done so many wonderful loving things for him？Yes, Adam chose to disobey God and he
??ate the fruit Eve gave him. Through their disobedience, sin came into the world.
??Even though Adam and Eve were the first two people to sin, they were not the only ones. Because of the sin nature we inherited from Adam and Eve, we were all born with a want-to to go our own way and disobey God. Romans 5：12 says, Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Do you pretend not to hear your parents when they call you？Have you been thinking angry thoughts about someone？Do you pout to get your way？Those are some ways that boys and girls sin.
??When sin entered the world, it brought many terrible things with it, but the worst thing is that sin causes you to be separated from God. If you continue in that sin, God says that when you die, you will be separated from Him forever in a horrible place of punishment called hell. Can you see that disobeying God is a serious sin？??Adam and Eve realized too late the serious sin of disobeying God. Because of that disobedience, their whole world changed. They had never known sadness or guilt or shame, but suddenly they felt all those things. The Bible says, “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, ” to make a covering for their bodies. Perhaps you are thinking, “But they didn’t die, as God said they would.” Oh, yes, they did die the worst kind of death. God says that when we are separated from Him, we are spiritually dead. We cannot enjoy fellowship with Him, or be in His glorious Home called Heaven. The day that Adam and Eve sinned, they suffered spiritual death and separation from God. Not only that, but their perfectly healthy bodies would now also have to suffer decay and sickness and death.
??Adam and Eve were so sad and ashamed. The Bible says, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day：and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”
??God called, “Adam, where are you？” Did God really need to ask that？Adam answered from his hiding place, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” When God asked Adam if he had disobeyed God’s commandment, Adam tried to blame it on his wife Eve：“The woman You gave me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.” Then Eve tried to blame the serpent for her disobedience：“The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
??God cursed the serpent：“Because you have done this, you are cursed above every beast of the field. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.”
??Then God in His great love and mercy made a marvelous promise! God promised that one day He would send Someone into the world Who would defeat Satan and save people from the terrible punishment of sin.
??You and I know that special Someone was God’s perfect Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! When Jesus left Heaven to come to earth to die for your sins and mine, He fulfilled the promise God made in the beginning of the world. II Corinthians 5：21 says, “For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who (Jesus) knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” When wicked men caused Jesus to be beaten and bruised, and nailed to a wooden cross, it should have been you and me. But Jesus Who had never sinned, became sin for us and took our punishment on the cross. It was an agonizing death for the Lord Jesus, but He loved you and knew His suffering would pay for your sin. After the Lord Jesus suffered and died, three days later He came alive again! Jesus is the living Savior Who can forgive you and set you free from everlasting death and separation from God! Jesus is the special Someone God promised Adam and Eve He would send to the world.
??What a marvelous promise God made to the world, even as He also had to pronounce punishment for sin. God told Eve she would suffer pain as she gave birth to children, and that her husband would rule over her. To Adam God said, “Because you listened to your wife, and disobeyed Me, cursed is the ground for your sake.” Now Adam would have to work hard to get food to grow. There would be thorns, and weeds, and other hardships he had never known before. Adam and Eve would know great sorrow for the rest of their life because of their sin.
??Did God still love them？We know He loved them, for even after their sin, God Himself made clothing for Adam and Eve out of animal skins. As we close our lesson today, we read that God did another loving thing for Adam and Eve. He made them leave the Garden of Eden. He knew that if Adam and Eve ate of the tree of life in the middle of the garden, they would live forever in their sin. Genesis 3：24 says, “..and he (God) placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.”
??Life on this earth would never be the same for Adam and Eve. They would be the only people to know how wonderful it was to live in a perfect world, and then to know the deep sorrow of what their sin had done to the world. Adam and Eve would see some of the terrible things that sin brought into the world：fighting, killing, sickness, decay, death, and many other sorrows. All of these terrible things are a result of sin.
??Adam and Eve must have found great hope in the promise God made to send Someone to break the power of sin. Probably they did not realize that it would be the very Son of God, Jesus Christ.
??If you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, He has forgiven your sin and made you His child. You have the wonderful hope of being in Heaven with Him someday. As you read God’s Word and obey Him each day, you will see Him working out His wonderful plan for your life. Even though you see the terrible results of sin in this world, you can thank God that you have been saved from sin’s punishment!
??If you have never believed on the Lord Jesus, won’t you go right now to "How to Be a Child of God" and follow those steps？God is ready right now to forgive your sin and save you from sin’s punishment.
