Was Adam’s sin just an accident? No! Was it just ignorance? Was it just forgetfulness? Not at all! It was a deliberate choice to believe Satan’s lie. It was disbelieving God and reckoning himself to be perfectly capable of looking after himself and going his own way. That is the condition of every human being born into this world since the first man, Adam.
Suppose God said to a man, “I want you to trim these bushes by three o’clock this afternoon. But be careful. There is a large open pit at the edge of the garden. If you fall into that pit, you will not be able to get yourself out. So whatever you do, stay away from that pit.” Suppose that as soon as God leaves the garden the man runs over and jumps into the pit. At three o’clock God returns and finds the bushes untrimmed. He calls for the gardener and hears a faint cry from the edge of the garden. He walks to the edge of the pit and sees the gardener helplessly flailing around on the bottom. He says to the gardener, “Why haven’t you trimmed the bushes I told you to trim?” The gardener replies angrily, “How do you expect me to trim these bushes when I am trapped in this pit? If you hadn’t left this empty pit here, I would not be in this predicament.”
Adam’s sin was not an accident or an act of ignorance. Adam didn’t simply slip into sin; he jumped deliberately into it with both feet. He jumped into the pit. Adam was clearly warned about the pit. God told him to stay away. The consequences Adam experienced from being in the pit were a direct punishment for jumping deliberately into it.