TEXT: Genesis 3:1-6

There was once a serpent who could talk! He was a very pretty serpent, but he was bad and sneaky. In fact, Satan himself was in the serpent. The serpent lived in the Garden of Eden. That was a special and beautiful place God had made for the first two people He created, Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve loved God, but the serpent did not. He hated God and wanted Adam and Eve to hate God too. So the serpent thought up a wicked plan. He would trick Adam and Eve into doing something God had said not to do.

One day the serpent saw Eve in the Garden and spoke to her. He knew God had told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from a certain tree that grew right in the middle of the Garden. But he asked her anyway, “Did God really say you couldn’t eat from all the trees in the Garden?”

Eve answered that they could eat from all the trees except one. That was a special tree called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then the serpent lied to Eve. He said if she ate the fruit from that tree, she would be very smart, just like God.

Instead of telling the serpent to go away, Eve went over and looked at the fruit on that special tree. How pretty it was! How tasty it looked! Then she did exactly what God had told her not to do. She reached out and picked one fruit. She took a bite. Then she went to Adam and gave some to him. He took a bite too.

Adam and Eve knew God had said not to eat the fruit from that tree, but they didn’t obey God. God calls that sin. Whenever we do something we know we should not do, it is a sin.

The serpent was very pleased when he saw that his wicked plan had worked. Adam and Eve had sinned. God was very unhappy because Adam and Eve had not obeyed Him. But He was mostly unhappy at the serpent for tricking Eve.

God loved Adam and Eve but, because they had sinned, they had to be punished. God sent them away from the Garden of Eden. They could never go in there again. To keep them out, God had an angel with a flaming sword watch over the Garden.

And what happened to the serpent? God punished him too. From that time on he had to crawl on the ground and eat dirt!

PARENT’S CORNER

The concept that we are all born with sin in our hearts can be a difficult one for a child to understand. He may feel quite un­believing that a baby brother or sister could have sin in his heart.

To talk about this, take several apples of different sizes and cut them apart. Show your child that each apple contains seeds, no matter what its size.

Ask him if the apple can get rid of its own seeds. Show him that you can remove the seeds, explaining that God is the One who has to take the sin out of our hearts.