Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5 HCSB
What did David mean when He said, I was sinful when my mother conceived me? Some versions say, I was brought forth in sin or iniquity. This does not mean that the act of conception or giving birth is sinful. It means that we are all born with a sinful nature.
For example, you don’t have to teach a child to lie or to take something that doesn’t belong to them. It’s in their nature. You actually have to teach them not to do these things. The Bible often refers to this sinful nature as being in the flesh. It is a fleshly desire that causes us to sin. We are born with these fleshly desires intact.
Of course, this is a huge problem. But no worries, God has already provided a solution to this problem.
I find that children ask some very well thought out questions about the Bible. One young man in children’s church has been keeping me on my toes lately with his questions. Which is great because it tells me he is putting a lot of thought into his Bible study.
Last week in children’s church this young man asked, “If Jesus was fully man and fully God, and we are born with a sinful nature how is it that Jesus never sinned?”
Jesus came to earth to set an example for us and show us how we should live as Christians. He never sinned; He provided the perfect sacrifice being the lamb without blemish. How is it that being fully man He never sinned?
We know Jesus faced temptation. This is found in Matthew 4:1-11. Jesus had fasted for 40 days when the devil tempted Jesus three different times. The devil himself even used Scripture from Psalm 91 to tempt Jesus. Jesus responded with Scripture. He used the Sword of the Spirit mentioned in Ephesians 6:17. After the third time Jesus refuted the devil with Scripture, Matthew 4:11 says the devil left Him and the angels came and began to minister to Him.
This is a beautiful picture of two of my favorite verses. One being James 4:7 which tells us to submit ourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us. This is exactly what Jesus did. He was surrendered to do God’s will. He resisted the devil and the devil left him.
Another verse is 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says, “No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” This verse is often mis-quoted by saying, “Well, the good Lord never gives us more than we can handle.”
It doesn’t say we will not experience hard times beyond what we can bear. It says God, who controls what the devil can and cannot do (Job 1-2), will not allow the devil to tempt us beyond what we can handle. We handle hard times by relying on God who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13). It goes on to say that with each temptation we face God also gives us a way out so we can endure it. Now, going back to James 4:7 we must be surrendered to do God’s will in order to resist temptation.
It was God’s will that Jesus be like a lamb without a blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18). He conquered sin and death so all who receive Him could have eternal life.
We are born with a sinful nature. We are in need of a Savior. God provided His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior (John 3:16). He is the only way for us to get to God the Father and spend eternity in heaven and have eternal life (John 14:6).
He lived a life without sin so He could take on our sin on the cross. His blood will wash our sins away. Trust in Him today. We will face temptation just as He did, but we can rest assured, knowing He always provides a way out.
Have a great day!