A sinful nature is simply a nature that is liable to sin. Adam was created with a nature capable of sinning. If not, how, I ask, could he ever have been tempted to sin? So if asked the question “when did Adam get his sinful nature — before he sinned, or after he sinned”, the correct answer reveals the amazing fact that Adam’s sinful nature had to precede Adam’s first sin, not follow it!
An untemptable nature cannot be tempted, it is incorruptible. A truly divine nature cannot sin. Christians should all agree with that simple truth. It was not the act of sinning that gave Adam the sinful nature. Rather, it was the sinful nature in him that caused him to sin, to come short of God's glory. It was necessary for the Christ, Jesus, to come into the same corrupt state as fallen Adam that plunged our race into sorrows and death.
Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law. He could not have been tempted otherwise, but He was exposed to all the temptations to which man has been subjected. Jesus has shared the experience of our human nature, for He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Jesus was exposed to the same sinful nature as other men, yet being without sin:
“He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15
"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." Matthew 4:1
"For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." Hebrews 2:18
He was tempted by the same sinful nature of Adam’s sinful descendants. He suffered, being tempted, a suffering that surrounded an inner crucifixion that occurred long before being nailed to a cross. At the same time, He was living perfectly united with God in His inner spiritual man in order to become the perfect sacrifice. He had to be perfected before He went to the cross. It was throughout the years of His life that He lived victoriously, drawing from God while being tempted like men, suffering temptations to be less than perfect.
The sinful descendants of Adam all sinned, but they didn’t suffer this way. When temptation got too severe, they all folded in yielding to sin. Jesus did not yield to any temptation. He did not allow sin to rule within Himself. If He had, He would not have been perfectly without sin in order to be an offering that redeems our human race.
Jesus resisted to overcome all the temptations men face. This must have been excruciatingly difficult for Him to do many times, as He was exposed to similar desires and inclinations of other humans held in the sinful nature. Please draw reverent attention to these significant words of inspiration:
“Let this same attitude and purpose and mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus — Who, although being...one with God and in the form of God, possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God, did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself of all privileges and rightful dignity so as to assume the guise of a servant, in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form He abased and humbled Himself still further and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! Therefore God has highly exalted Him...” Philippians 2:5-9, Amplified
Was Jesus really tempted in all points as we are, or was He enabled to be oblivious to the cravings and demands of the human way of life? Anything that tempted Jesus Christ must have excited something that He responded to because it was a temptation! That for which we have no desire or inclination could not tempt us, as it would not have any seducing power.
Do not think that Jesus was so high and holy that He could not be tempted by the base things that allure other men! Yet certainly no lewd woman ever caught His eye, certainly no impure thought ever lodged in His mind, certainly no unholy behavior ever dominated His walk. He could have yielded and experienced the ways of man’s soulish infirmities, been molded under human weaknesses, and expressed feelings that have touched us all—but He did not.
Jesus Christ knows exactly how to conquer every human condition, every personal feeling. He knows how to conquer the temptation to lie, how to conquer all that would cheat, how to conquer every curse, how to conquer stealing attention that is not God given, how to stop murdering the influence of a brother. There had to be a susceptibility to corruption in Jesus that warranted an inclination to a corrupt response to that temptation. He was tempted in every point as we are, YET WITHOUT SIN:
“Having, then, a great Chief Priest, Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, we may beholding to the avowal. For we have not a Chief Priest not able to sympathize with our infirmities, but One Who has been tried in all respects - like us, apart from sin. We may be coming, then, with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may be obtaining mercy and finding grace for opportune help.” Hebrews 4:14-16 concordant
The blessed truths cluster about the person of Jesus. Many a Godly mystery has deep and inexhaustible meanings wherein are hidden many treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Jesus learned to overcome all the temptations common to man. That same process is worked out within all those God calls to sonship. In one instance of Jesus’s intense temptations, He desired to do His own will, but resisted even unto drops of blood. He was the perfect sacrifice, becoming the firstborn from the dead who gained the victory of an IMMORTALITY THAT IS INCORRUPTIBLE.
"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44
There is something diabolical about human temptation. Some fleshly bewitching and bewildering stirs up our earthly senses and excites our emotional passions. For that time the forbidden seems more important than anything else. Such inner weakness limits our powers of right moral judgment. People who are otherwise very intelligent and self-controlled will in brief seasons of temptation commit wholly unthinkable follies — which they often live to quickly regret and may have to bear with their whole lifetime.
Men and women's many good resolutions melt like wax in the intense hours of trial and temptation. As temptation simply presses in upon us, it acts like chloroform on the ungodly when it gets too close, depriving people of the very possibility of offering resistance. Temptations can come fast enough without seeking foolish troubles. It visits the maiden in her innocent dreams and the saint in his raptured devotion. It knocks at the door of the prophet, priest, and king, like it creeped behind Christ Jesus on the very mount of transfiguration with offers of a building program. It can beset us behind and before to lay its dreadful hand upon us, therefore we are taught to pray:
"…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;" Matthew 6:13
"So that, let him who is supposing he stands beware that he should not be falling. No trial has taken you except what is human. Now, faithful is God, Who will not be leaving you to be tried above what you are able, but, together with the trial, will be making the sequel also, to enable you to undergo it." I Corinthians 10:13 concordant
God in His great mercy gives true insight into the power of His Spirit and Word in our spirit within. He enables that spirit within us to successfully undergo every trial of tempting ways and to conquer just like Jesus. Our spirit cries “ABBA Father”, revealing that it is God Who is Fathering us to grow up and let Him take control within us. We have a great High Priest, Jesus in the heavenlies, and God is making us one spirit with the Lord. He sympathizes with us in each and every circumstance, because He knows, from personal experience, exactly what we feel and face as humans. God is giving us courage to draw nigh to piercing every fleshly veil through trusting Him.
God has placed a King upon His throne in heaven, One out of our midst. Each of us can be certain He understands us, advocates for each of us, and loves us, for He Himself lived on earth as a man and is now alive in God. Jesus understands us perfectly. He also is prepared to have patience with our weakness. He will give us just the help we need, a “present help in time of trouble”, to enter into the overpowering love of God's Kingdom.
When we speak of that ancient serpent which tempted Jesus, the devil and satan, we are not talking about a beautiful and glorious fallen angel, but that devilish spirit that savors lying about the good and evil things of earth. That devilish spirit uses man to transmit carnal thoughts about all manner of stuff. Even the scriptures are twisted to no effect by carnal minded men. The carnal mind of man is death that needs be conquered by Christ. This is the "dust" where the lying serpent spirit crawls about and needs be recognized within each of us in order to reject the devilish thoughts that feed on men’s inner being.
Overcoming Christians feed on a higher table of spiritual understanding than the dusty minds of carnal minded men who are deceived by the lying food of the serpent spirit:
"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shall thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life;" Genesis 3:14
To the man, God said:
"…for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return." Genesis 3:19
Every human has desires of one kind or another. When we see the word “lust” in the King James Bible, most often Christians think exclusively in a negative, sensual, and sexual context. The word “lust” simply means desire, and a person’s desires are not always evil. The Greek word EPITHUMIA is translated primarily as “lust” in the King James Bible, but the same word is also translated “desire” in Luke 22:15 where our Lord Himself told His disciples how much He longed (desired, lusted) to eat the Passover with them.
A related Greek word, EPITHUMEO, is often rendered “desire” and is used in several places in a positive context, as:
"For verily I am saying to you that many prophets and just men yearn (desire, lust) to perceive what you are observing," Matthew 13:17 concordant
In order to be led of the Spirit, one must be keenly discerning between his own fleshly desires and the desire of the Spirit. The scripture states that after fasting for forty days, Jesus hungered. When you’re hungry, what kind of desire do you have? You desire to eat! In that crucial moment the tempter came to Him with a temptation that began His sonship ministry. The tempter's thought occurred before Him to make bread to satisfy His hunger. Jesus was tempted by that reasoning mind with the idea to make something to eat.
The thought “I’m hungry,” was a temptation as He knew within that He was able to turn these stones into bread. A voice cunningly suggested to His mind, “If you are indeed the Son of God, go ahead make bread from stones! Go ahead, use your sonship power to fill your hungry belly! Use it to satisfy your own desire!” But Jesus was always quick to discern wily devilish thoughts and knew just how to nip those ideas in the bud before they had time to blossom. He foreknew the will of the Father and spoke the Father’s word and will.
The way to the Father’s will was His primary purpose and would be lost in catering to His own appetite. So He dismissed lustful thoughts before they could conceive sin, before those thoughts started forming any power over Him. Jesus answered from out of the center of His being:
“It is written — man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4
He drew from God’s mouth what was proceeding in His spiritual consciousness. He also knew that even if He had no natural bread for His body, HE DID NOT LACK. His inner being was connected to THE WORD PROCEEDING FROM HIS FATHER! The truths hidden in that statement ended those temptations successfully.
It will do the same for us when we learn not to abuse power by accepting thoughts and things outside of God’s revealed directions. Abuse of power was something Jesus was tempted with when tempted to turn a stone into bread to eat. The devil’s voice suggested to His mind ideas that reached for His physical need and human emotions. Satan’s suggestions delivered satisfying reasoned answers that played well with Jesus’s natural human hunger. Yet God was revealing HIS WORD to Jesus's inner spirit, therefore He rebuked that devilish voice, stating what God was revealing to Him:
"Be not loving the world, neither that which is in the world. If ever anyone is loving the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for everything that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ostentation of living, is not of the Father, but is of the world." I John 2:15-16 concordant
There are three areas of life in this vast human experience that tempt men, and only three: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Briefly, these are human appetite, human avarice (desire for wealth), and human ambition. These are the areas satan crawls into and around in men’s lives. I have concluded that all the worldly inventions, the creations of conveniences of humans are in existence to cater to these three things.
It was with these three things that Eve was tempted in the garden. She saw a tree that was good for food (the lust of the eyes), a tree to be desired (the lust of the flesh), a tree to make one wise (the pride of life), and that temptation worked on something inside her that wanted to be like God. How remarkably the temptations of Jesus parallel these three elements. Every devilish temptation comes to us through the lust (desire) of the eyes, the lust (desire) of the flesh, and the pride in our own life. There are no other temptations, not for Adam and Eve, not for Jesus, and not for us.
Once again, a temptation came to Jesus to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, literally, on the Sabbath when a great crowd would be present to be astonished by the feat. No harm would come to Him, even the devil knew it, for God had promised to send His angels to care for Him. If He would just do it, the multitudes, being amazed, would follow Him with no better proof of His sonship needed, and He would launch into a “successful” ministry.
This tempting idea had a seductive grandeur about it. It was tempting, for it challenged the Son of God to indulge in worldly methods of publicity, promotion, and sensationalism. Sadly, many of today’s popular preachers and televangelists have been deceived completely into using worldly methods to build, succumbing to wiles and promotional schemes for financial gain.
Jesus quite consciously passed up the great promotional moments for public attention in His life. When He had spoken to great crowds and could have taken advantage of the wildest ovations of enthusiastic hearers, instead, He slipped through their midst. He went away to be about God's business, ministering privately to poor, sick people with burdened consciences. He continually turned from the CROWDS to the INDIVIDUALS lacking any influence to make something great of Him.
Again, the tempting devil took Jesus up on an exceedingly high mountain — to the very heights of men’s achievements— and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Jesus knew violence, cheating and stealing gave men their power and were what had made them great in the world. He saw this fame and fortune could be His for the seizing of this powerful opportunity. And satan said to Him:
“All these will I give thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Matthew 4:9
When the tempter comes thus to us, he comes as a messenger offering suggestions on how worship is to be conducted, so new messianic missions might be quickly and effectively implemented and realized in the world. Do not doubt for one moment that the tempter has MASTERFUL THOUGHTS that outline what seems to fulfill the success of rapid and effectual establishment in worldly power, fame and fortune.
The devil offered the kingdoms on the earth to Jesus if He would bow, submitting to a shrewd worldly concept the adversary outlined for worship of God. Jesus could use this power to conquer the Jews’ religion, the nation of Israel, and the might of the Roman empire, as the devil offered all the kingdoms of earth to Jesus. Jesus would not bow to these shrewd ideas of worshiping the adversary. His outlined plan was not deceiving Jesus, but moved Him to overcome that temptation like all others, at every point to be perfected.
Through seeing how God Fathered Jesus, we too can be drawn near to overcome the temptable points of our life to worship God in new levels of spirit and truth. We too are not deceived to bow down to the serpent’s methods for success among the kingdoms men presently enjoy on this planet. God grants us accessible understanding of the spiritual truths that cause us to overcome EVERY temptation as in these verses:
“Let this same attitude and purpose and mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus — Who, although being...one with God and in the form of God, possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God, did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained; but stripped Himself of all privileges and rightful dignity so as to assume the guise of a servant, in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form He abused and humbled Himself (still further) and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!
Therefore (because He stooped so low) God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue (frankly and openly) confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed (my suggestions), so now, not only (with the enthusiasm you would show) in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out, cultivate, carry out to the goal and fully complete your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, that is, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation: timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).
(Not in your own strength) for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you, energizing and creating in you the power and desire, both to will and work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” Philippians 2:5-13, Amplified