Nuggets from An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith by Dave Hunt - Flesh against Spirit

At first, the Spirit of God indwelt the spirits of Adam and Eve. Their focus was toward God. The enjoyment of bodily pleasures and sense of their own identities was more wonderful than we can imagine because it was all to the glory of God rather than for self-gratification. When they sinned, the Spirit of God departed from their spirits and their orientation turned from God to self. Thus we, their descendants, are by nature sensual, selfish, and materialistic. Instead of the joy of fellowship with God, man finds his joy in this world’s “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John:2:16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
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These three lusts are all that Satan and the world have to offer. We see them in Eve’s sin: the forbidden fruit’s delicious taste, its enticing visual appeal, and the wisdom with which it would endow her (Genesis:3:1-6 [1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. [6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
See All...). We see them in Satan’s tempting of Christ: to turn stones into bread to satisfy His bodily hunger; to succumb to the appealing panorama of “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”; and to cast Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, causing the angels to catch Him in midair and the watching Jews to worship Him (Matthew:4:1-11 [1] Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. [2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. [3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. [4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. [5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, [6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. [7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. [8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; [9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. [10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. [11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
See All...). Unlike the first man and first Adam, the Second Man and Last Adam refused Satan’s offer.

In everyone else except Christ, the unique God-Man, the battle rages between the flesh and God’s Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians:5:17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
See All...). Even Paul acknowledged, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” (Romans:7:19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
See All...). Man’s spirit has become a slave to his soul and body. He can never be right – even his morality and uprightness can never be anything but the “filthy rags” (Isaiah:64:6But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
See All...) of self-righteousness – until the Spirit of God indwells and rules in man’s spirit once again. Only Christ, in whose person God and man have been united, can bring this reconciliation within man’s heart. Paul, who said, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” declared in triumph, “I thank God [that there is a deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans:7:24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
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