John 8:23 Short Sermon

And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. - John 8: 23. KJV

Jesus answered, "you belong to this world here below, but I come from above. You are from this world, but I am not from this world. GNB

Jesus was talking to the Jewish authorities here, he said that they are from beneath(this world). He said further in verse 24(GNB) that

that is why I told you that you will die in your sin.

Jesus is not being unfair when he spoke these words neither is he attacking or condemning them. He was just saying the truth, the reality, which is one of the reasons why many Jews hated Jesus because he always speaks the truth and the truth hurts most times. We are now in a generation whereby the absolute truth is no longer welcomed because people prefer preachers with sugar coated mouth than those that tell them the truth. If you are guilty of criticizing preachers that said something that hurts you just because he spoke the truth, please repent.

Now, back to what I'm saying before. When Jesus said that "you belong to this world here below", it doesn't mean that your mother gave birth to you in this world, they are far different from each other. When the bible talks about being from/of this world or belonging to this world, it means that you are being CONFORMED to the things and systems of this world instead of being CONFORMED to the image of Christ. Paul said in the book of romans that "and be not conformed to this world.... "

How can you know that you are starting to be conformed to this world?
You should know that you are starting to be conformed to this world when you value material/worldly things more than Spiritual things/God, no matter how good that thing might seems to be. But being conformed to the image of Christ is when God and Spiritual things becomes your NUMBER 1 priority and pursuit. If you want to be from above and not from this world just like Jesus, then you 'must' be conformed to the image of Christ and it is a very simple task. All you need is to make Jesus Christ your role model and study everything about him very well through the Bible and with the help of the Holy Spirit. By doing this, you will no longer die in your sin because you are now a new creature from heaven, you are no longer of this world but you are from HEAVEN!!. Glory!