In order to understand what happens when someone believes in Jesus Christ, we must first understand that, before someone believes in Jesus Christ, they stand condemned, as we read in John 3 (KJV):18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

All our righteous deeds are as filthy rags, as we read in Isaiah 64 (KJV):6 But 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.

A man or a woman in this state is also dead in trespasses and sins, as we read in Ephesians 2 (KJV):1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. There is a sin issue. Before believing in Jesus Christ, we had no contact with God because of our sin. We had no awareness of His presence. Now in order to understand what this spiritual death of the unbeliever entails, we must first look at how man is made.

Man is composed of body, soul, and spirit as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5 (KJV):23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That there is a division between soul and spirit is proven in Hebrews 4 (KJV):12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

That we have a spirit of our own is proven in Romans 8 (KJV):16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Our spirit is where we have contact or fellowship with God. In our unregenerate state, we are dead to God, and have no relationship with Him. We are just in the flesh. And so we cannot please God, as we read in Romans 8 (KJV):8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

The soul of man is composed of our mind or intellect, our will or ability to choose, our heart which is the center of our emotions, and our conscience. That our mind is in our soul is mentioned in Psalm 139 (KJV):14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Our will, or ability to choose, is mentioned in Job 6 (KJV):7 The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. And in Job 7 (KJV):15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

Our heart in the unregenerate state is mentioned in Jeremiah 17 (KJV):9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The Hebrew word for heart is leb, and the root meaning of this word relates to the center of anything, in this case, the center of our emotions.

Our emotions are hinted at in Job 7 (KJV):11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

The "bitterness of my soul" relates to the emotions of my soul. Our soul is the intermediary between the realm of the spirit and the physical realm.

In this state of unbelief, the man or woman is unregenerated. That is, we are dead in our trespasses and sins as we read again in Ephesians 2 (KJV):1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

As a result of walking according to the course of this world, and according to the prince of the power of the air, and having our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, we built up a lot of baggage in our soul which must be dealt with after we believe in Jesus Christ, and we are born again. We will discuss how we deal with this baggage later on in this study.

Now this spiritual death all happened as a result of Adam's sin in Genesis 2 (KJV):16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The sin of Adam plunged the whole human race into sin and death as we see in 1 Corinthians 15 (KJV):22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. And in Romans 5 (KJV):12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

As a result of Adam's sin, our body of flesh is mortal. That is, it is doomed to die. Not only so, but in our flesh is a nature to sin, for we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, as we read above in Ephesians 2:3. In this state of unbelief, this sin nature in our flesh has defiled our mind and conscience as we read in Titus 1 (KJV):15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

As a result, in our unsaved state we no longer have the right standards in our conscience by which to judge by. For our conscience to be made pure we must be born again. In order to be born again, we must repent.

Click on Next below to see how we must repent.