The Truth About Temptation
And the Kingdom Mind
By
Lee
Monday, January 9, 2012

KJV James 1:2-4
 2.  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
 3.  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
 4.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Why should we view falling into temptations as a joy?  Temptations try or prove our faith because in order to resist giving in to the temptation we must use the Holy Spirit and exercise our faith in what God promised.

KJV 1 Corinthians 10:13
 13.  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Gods Spirit in us will help us to not give in to the temptation and provides a way to escape Satans efforts to get us to think about the evil and consider in our minds, think in our thoughts of the evil.  As I have explained in other articles, sin is our thoughts, the words and deeds are the manifestation of those thoughts and that we do not have to commit the act only think of it and this is what sin is.  Jesus confirms that it is our evil thoughts that defile us and are sin. There is no such thing as “potential sin” if we are born sinners, sin is what we are.

KJV Matthew 15:19-20
 19.  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
 20.  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

The temptation then is not sin, it is not a sin to be tempted, but sin is the entertaining of the evil idea, considering it in our minds. James describes this.

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

The temptation, if it involves being drawn into lust and entices us is what sin is and sin brings death. Lusting is breaking the 10th commandment and all manner of sin involves lust because we must think about the sin in our mind and that causes a desire in us to manifest the sin outwardly using our members, our body, as a servant of sin.  This is what defiles us and as Jesus said it is our evil thoughts.  In reality, what we need saved from is our evil thoughts, our evil nature that we acquired by being servants of the Devil.

KJV John 8:34
 34.  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

KJV 1 John 3:8
 8.  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Jesus was manifested to destroy this work of the Devil in us.  Since sin is our evil thoughts this means that our minds must begin a process of change so that we no longer think evil and if we do not think evil we will not do evil. It is no wonder then that the law could never give salvation. God through Jesus transforms our way of thinking and is purifying our minds.  It is the mind, the spirit of man, that God is working with.  Below are  scriptures that tell us this.

KJV Isaiah 26:3
 3.  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

KJV Romans 7:25
25.  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

KJV Romans 12:2
 2.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Our minds must be renewed, changed, so that we no longer even think of doing evil.  This is the kingdom mind being developed in us now and will be completed when we enter the kingdom.

KJV Ephesians 2:3
 3.  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

KJV Ephesians 4:22-24
 22.  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
 23.  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
 24.  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Who is this new man we are to put on that God created in righteousness and true holiness?

KJV Galatians 3:27
27.  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

KJV Ephesians 2:15
 15.  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

KJV Colossians 3:10
 10.  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The new man is Jesus.  We put on Jesus at baptism.  Jesus was in the image of him who created Jesus, Jesus was in the image of God and we are being transformed to be in the image of Jesus.
Who had the perfect mind, the kingdom mind that we should want in us?

KJV Philippians 2:5
 5.  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Jesus already had a mind of the kingdom and he is our example of the mind we are to develop. We are being transformed of mind to be like Jesus was when on this Earth.

KJV Philippians 4:7
 7.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

KJV Colossians 1:21-22
 21.  And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
 22.  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

In the body of Jesus, in his flesh and by his death, God made it possible for us to be of the kingdom mind as Jesus was when in the flesh.

KJV 2 Timothy 1:7
7.  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The reason Jesus never sinned is because he had the mind we hope to be given when born into the kingdom of God and the kingdom mind is unable to sin therefore Jesus was unable to sin.  How can the temptation of Jesus be a farce if it is overcome by a kingdom mind?  Jesus was our example of the kingdom mind. Jesus was tempted but he could not be tempted with evil as we so often are. The saints are yet capable of sin and will be as long as we are in the flesh.  The saints are a work in progress.

A good work is being done in us and will be completed in the day of Christ Jesus but as a man Jesus was the demonstration to us of that completed work.  Haven’t you ever asked, how did Jesus ever live 33 years and never sin?  It was not just a matter of making good choices, it was because God created Jesus righteous.

KJV Isaiah 53:11
11.  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

You and I were not righteous until God imputed righteousness to us because of our faith in this man Jesus. Jesus was born of God and had no human father, God was his Father.  Gabriel told Mary that her child would be born by the power of the Highest, the power of the Father.  Jesus was born of God.

KJV 1 John 3:9
 9.  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

In order to believe Jesus could have sinned you would have to believe that Jesus was not born of God and that Jesus was not righteous.  If we are to develop the mind of Christ then it is the kingdom mind in Christ that we must be transformed into.

In order to be the first born of many to follow, to be the object of our salvation by the will of God, it was necessary that the mind of Jesus be kingdom quality in a fleshly body. Jesus was a human being in the sense that he was a soul but he was a soul of a much higher level and we are all souls.  The soul of Jesus was accepted by God as the sacrifice for the sins of the world and therefore was of far greater value than all other souls and this because his human spirit was as ours will become when we enter the kingdom of God. 

KJV Isaiah 53:10
10.  Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

For the saints to have the hope in the kingdom to be unable to sin, this man Jesus had to have a mind or spirit that was unable to sin. If while in the flesh Jesus was the king of the kingdom of God then would not the king have a kingdom mind?

KJV Luke 22:29
 29.  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

KJV John 18:37
 37.  Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

KJV John 1:49
49.  Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.

KJV John 12:15
 15.  Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

The kingdom mind is a mind that cannot sin because it was born of God and even if tempted by the Devil will not respond to evil, it cannot be tempted with evil. If this type of mind would be placed into a human body and become a soul then this soul would be a far different soul than all other souls.  Due to a total absolute and complete sinlessness and possessing his flesh in righteousness when he died his body would not decay as other men.  The life of this soul, this man, would be priceless in the eyes of God so much so that if others would have faith in him God would forgive their sins and begin a process in them to transform them into the same mind.  This perfect man would be as perfect as his Father and God because he told us that we would have to be also.  This perfect, righteous and impeccable man would be of the same love as his Father and God, a love that cannot think evil and therefore cannot sin.  The saints would have confidence and hope in this man that they can be delivered from the bondage of sin and in a future kingdom where they will be made unable to sin as this man was unable to sin and also being made immortal as this man was.