SPIRITUAL DISEASES

INTRODUCTION-- Exodus 15:25b-26

1. The diseases of Egypt were real, but the Children of Israel could escape them by obedience to God's will. (Compare Deuteronomy 28:15, 27-28
   
2. There is a suggestion of a tie between physical and spiritual ills in Psalm 103:1-3.
   
3. An even closer tie is seen in Isaiah 53:4-6 (Compare Matthew 8:14-17.)

LESSON--

1. Some spiritual diseases are diagnosed in the Bible.
   
   1. False teaching will "eat as a gangrene." 2 Timothy 2:14-18
      
   2. We suffer from "blindness," if we will not grow. 2 Peter 1:5-9
      
      1. God causes some cases of spiritual blindness. John 12:36b-40
         
      2. Satan is the first cause, however. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
         
      3. Sometimes we are responsible for our own blindness. 1 John 2:10-11
         
   3. "Itching ears" are also a symptom of spiritual disease. 2 Timothy 4:1-4
      
      
2. Some spiritual disorders can be discovered in allusions from Scripture.
   
   1. Some people have spiritual "dyslexia."
      
      1. They have perception problems when they hear Jesus's words. Matthew 16:5-12 and John 8:21-30.
         
      2. Some are "ever learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." 2 Timothy 3:7
         
      3. We can be afraid to be cured (see Mark 9:30-32), but we are commanded to understand. Ephesians 5:17 (We can perceive what we read. 3:1-4,)
         
         1. I understand that dyslexic people switch words in a sentence, like those who perceive salvation by faith before, or without baptism.
            
         2. I also understand that dyslexics fail to see certain words in a sentence, like those who see "by faith only," instead of "NOT by faith only," in James 2:24.
            
   2. Some people have "hoof in mouth" disease. John 13:3-9, 36-38
      
   3. Some have diseases that are "communicable." 1 Corinthians 5:1-8
      
   4. Some have a spiritual disease comparable to AIDS (Anti Immune Deficiency Syndrome). They lack immunity to spiritual disease.
      
      1. Like some children who "catch everything going around," they are "tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine." Ephesians 4:11-16
         
      2. They get to such a point of non-resistance that they "cannot cease from sin." 2 Peter 2:9-19
         
      3. They are like the persistently unrepentant sinners of Revelation 9:20-21, and 16:8-11

APPLICATION--

1. We can see that spiritual diseases have tragic consequences.
   
2. The diseases of this sort are either sins, or they lead to sin.
   
3. The one who suffers from physical AIDS can repent, what about the person with Spiritual AIDS? Hebrews 6:4-8

APPEAL--- Jesus is the Great Physician (Malachi 4:1-2, 1 Peter 2:21-24), and Jesus said, "They that are in health have no need of a physician; but they that are sick." Luke 5:31