The key to the spiritual life is staying in the spirit.  If we walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  If we live in the spirit as Paul says, let us also walk in the spirit.  Man is a spirit. He has a soul and he lives in the body.  When we are born again, when through preaching we repent, the spirit separates from the soul and we become spiritual beings.  The task then becomes to feed the spirit which we do through abiding in the word, keeping it and obeying it.  Sanctification occurs when the word so gets into our spirit that we are no longer slaves to sin, to our carnal nature, but we live in the spirit. The devil tries through many different ways to get us to yield to the flesh and not stay in the spirit and Jesus was tempted in all ways we are yet without sin.

            When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  He received the gifts and the fruit as the Spirit drove him into the desert to be tried and tested.  He experienced physical temptations due to fasting and privations and spiritual temptations where the devil tried to make him yield to pride and self-realization and not stay in the spirit.  These are the general ways that men of God have talked about the temptations of Christ.  Yet in his ministry Jesus was challenged by satan to sin in a different way, by not operating in the fruit of the spirit: by not operating in love, joy, peace, long suffering or patience, goodness, faith, meekness, gentleness, and self-control or temperance.  If satan could do this, then Jesus would not be the perfect sacrifice for sin.  For example, when Jesus entered the temple and saw the moneychangers, he was challenged to lose his self-control.  When Jesus was confronted by the women caught in adultery, he was challenged to lose his goodness.  When Jesus was in Gethsemane, he was challenged to give up his faith.  When Jesus was on the cross, he was challenged to give up his love by not forgiving those who put him there.