Christ had a sinful nature! Yes! His nature was just as vile and filthy as yours! Had you ever realized that? Most people think He was some "special" being, endowed with special powers and abilities that we don't have... But Christ had the SAME passions, the SAME lusts, and the same EVIL, MURDEROUS SPIRIT THAT YOU HAVE!!

Shocking isn't it! But it's TRUE - Christ didn't get special treatment! Christ is worthy of worship, and a fit sacrifice, because He was made JUST LIKE MEN, and yet didn't sin!

Hebrews 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED like as we are, yet without sin.

He was tempted like you are! In ALL points! Do you have any idea what that means?

Who do you think your biggest enemy is? Satan? The world? Your neighbour? Not even close! Your biggest enemy is YOUR OWN HEART!

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

This is the heart of man – ALL men who have ever lived!

James 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Elijah's heart was the same as yours... but when Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain... it didn't rain. When YOU pray, do YOU get answers like that?? No?  Then what is the difference between you and Elijah?

The difference is that Elijah had a carnal spirit, but he RULED that spirit! He had the same impulses to sin that you do... but when he had an impulse, a lust to sin, he said "No!"

Christ had THAT SAME SPIRIT!

Hebrews 2:14-16 Forasmuch then as the children [YOU and I] are partakers of flesh and blood, he [Christ] also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Or as Murdoch translates it "he assumed a nature from the seed of Abraham." - Christ took upon Himself the nature of Abraham! The same heart Abraham had, the same SPIRIT YOU have, Christ took... to show you that it CAN be ruled... you just don't WANT TO badly enough!

Verses 17-18  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Christ took this nature, and this evil spirit of man. And then He was tempted. WHERE DID THAT TEMPTATION COME FROM?

Where does YOUR temptation come from? From the world, or from your spouse? No... YOUR OWN SPIRIT does most of your tempting!

James 1:13-14  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

You are tempted when you are drawn away of YOUR OWN lust! Christ was TEMPTED in all points like as you are – was He different? No! He took upon Himself the nature of Abraham! HE CHOSE to adopt that DESPERATELY wicked heart to show YOU that it CAN BE RULED WITHOUT SINNING! And it is that HEART that needs the grace of God to cover it!

God had to overlook the WICKED HEART OF MAN that Christ adopted, in order to work with Christ! That GRACE that God gave Him was to overlook His fleshly heart!

Luke 2:40 And the child [Christ] grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Christ had grace! Why did He need it? Because in Him dwelt a human spirit!

James 4:5-6 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace...

The spirit that dwells in you – and the one that dwelt in Christ when He was a man – LUSTS towards envy! Yes! Christ felt lust! He felt the temptation to sin! He had that HEART that loves to do wickedness in Him all the time! And God gave Him GRACE to cover that!

Verse 6 ...Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

And what a person DOES with that grace that God gives them determines whether or not they get MORE grace, and GROW in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). Christ took that grace God gave him, and by never sinning, he GREW in GRACE with God and man! (Luke 2:52)

If you take that grace you received when God begins to open your mind and OBEY God, and HUMBLE yourself, you will get much more grace! If you are proud, and stubbornly REFUSE to do what is right, He will take  away some, or all, of your grace!

And Christ, who had adopted a HEART which is unclean by nature REQUIRED THE GRACE OF GOD! That spirit that caused Him to LUST TO ENVY needed grace!

James 1:14-15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

But that heart, while evil, doesn't have to lead to sin! Lust when it has CONCEIVED brings forth sin! In other words, when you give IN to that lust, it IS sin! Christ never did that! Your spirit CAN be ruled!

Proving that was one of the primary purposes of Christ's coming! Christ was tempted in ALL points like as you are. Christ LUSTED, just like you do! But CHRIST DIDN'T SIN! He RULED His own spirit, and PUT DOWN that lust!

Now, I suppose you'll call all this blasphemous. I suppose you'll reject clear scriptures that show that Christ WAS tempted – the scriptures that show that Christ was a WORTHY sacrifice, you dare not think about. But CHRIST HIMSELF ADMITTED THIS FACT!! WHY, then, CAN'T YOU ACCEPT IT!

Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Jesus – who had lived a PERFECT, SINLESS life – who was beyond reproach of even Satan the Devil – THIS SAME JESUS said, in effect, "I AM NOT GOOD! ONLY GOD IS GOOD!"

Now, WHY would He say that? A mock modesty? A false humility? If you, and your church, is right, then He MUST have been saying that He wasn't good, when in fact He WAS good. But that would have been a LIE, which would have been SIN!

No, JESUS CHRIST said He was NOT good – that no man, NOT EVEN THE SON OF GOD, was good – BECAUSE IN HIM DWELT THE CARNAL NATURE OF ABRAHAM! In Christ, that is, in Christ's FLESH, dwelt no good thing, nothing but a spirit that LUSTED TO DO EVIL, which He battled, day and night for 30-some years, and yet NEVER GAVE IN TO!

You see, He played by the same rules as you do, and with no special treatment, to leave you an EXAMPLE by RULING that evil heart, and REFUSING to give in to that lust, and commit SIN!

Proverbs 16:32  He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

You must RULE your spirit, and CONTROL your lusts and your human heart, if you ever intend to be in first resurrection! Christ came to show you that it IS possible!

Even though you ARE made with a  heart that is inherently evil, Christ left you no excuse for not ruling that heart! YOU decide what you will do, and whether or not you will GIVE in to that lust, and sin!