How To Die a Spiritual Death (Part 3)

If you want to die a spiritual death, it is simpler than you might realize. We have been looking at John 8:21-30 the last few days, and have learned to die a spiritual death you abide in self righteousness (vs. 21-22) and idolize the world (vs. 23-24a). For part 3 of our series, we will consider another way to die a spiritual death.

3. Subside in unbelief – “” (vs. 24b).

The issue comes down to one thing: unbelief. Anyone who lives in unbelief dies a spiritual death. Lack of belief is equal to rejecting Christ. It boggles my mind that the religious leaders from Jesus day – after hearing all the facts – still deny Christ as the Messiah. In fact, their unbelief was really being fueled here by pride. They simply would not believe regardless of the clear evidence.

Let me give you an example of this misguided disbelief. C.K. Johnson, president of the International Flat Earth Research Society (disbanded in 2001 after his death), suggests that all that stuff about the earth being round and the sun being the center of the universe is a big joke. His organization, has approximately 1400 members. The Flat Earthers dismiss modern science as a club for sun worshippers and write off the American and Russian space programs as multi-billion dollar hoaxes. When asked about man walking on the moon, he said, “The moon walk was done in a Hollywood set. All fake.” Furthermore, he and his followers insist the sun is not stationary and does not set. They figure it to be a gigantic spotlight, 32 miles across, that moves in an ellipse just 3000 miles above the center of the earth. The other stars are just a lot of tiny holes poked in a huge canopy covering this planet. Their code: “We believe the Earth is flat. Everything else is pure conjecture.”

We hear that example of unbelief and laugh because it is ridiculous. The world has been proven throughout history and scientifically to be round and, yet, at least 1,400 people in our world deny that obvious reality. More evidence has been given that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the same ridiculous notion of unbelief has been received.

In John 8, the religious leaders were living in unbelief, which is another way to die a spiritual death. The only way to escape hell is to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior; the religious leaders were not doing that. But all these don’t compare to the 4^th and final life-principle for dying a spiritual death. And we will look at that one tomorrow.