TEXT: GEN. 3:4-5
''And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die/For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.''
Satan brings poison to man in golden cup; wormwood and gall in a honey comb. He presents the sweetness, pleasure and profit that flow upon the commission of sin; but hides the wrath, shame and sorrow that compulsorily issued therefrom. To sleep with a woman outside the pale of marriage, is pleasurable, but a wound of conscience and name streams from it: the devil would present Delilah's glistering body, but would hide her instruments use in removing the eyes of mighty men . David saw a beautiful Bathsheba but never saw the slaying sword that was to come into his house. This unholy union would break his neck: (Psalm 51). Our first parents saw a beautiful and desirable and promising apple, but never saw the travail to be inherited by their seed. Oh! How many are they that are biting their fingers today just for a single bit of the apple of money, pleasure and profit. This apple has chocked some unto death. Some can neither swallow nor vomit it. Dearly beloved, there is poison in that golden cup: a sip would undo you forever! Our enemy would never show the hook, he is an intelligent and master fisher man. He knows what our needs are. He knows us more than we do our own selves. He can figure out where we are headed by our words and the company we keep. Hence, he knows the bait that fit our inclination and proclivity. How we, therefore, need not be ruled by brightness, attractiveness and by the principle of general custom and acceptability. I have heard of a preacher who said that once something is good then it must be from God: this sort of theology should be entertained with care.