Falling Into Unbelief

There is a thread that runs through my Bible in lives after lives that are recorded there, and that is the thread of unbelief. It kept the Jews out of the promised land, and their unbelief was manifested in their worship of idols. It was unbelief that made Peter deny his love for his master, and it was unbelief that caused Abraham to turn away from the promises of God to hager and self-effort.

Unbelief always manifests itself in sin. Disobedience is sin. Not trusting in the promises of God is sin.

There are some truths regarding faith I want us to explore today, friends, because unbelief is a lack of faith. How many times did Jesus reprimand his disciples for their little faith, their lack of faith? He kept asking them, where is your faith? They had taken their eyes off of God and, instead, looked at the circumstances in their world. Turning your Bibles, friends, to the book of Genesis, we will camp out in chapter 16.

Here now is the word of God, and may the spirit of the Lord attend the reading of his holy word. Now Sarah, Abram's wife, bear him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.

And Sarah said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her.

And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarah. That last line, friends, can be rewritten to read. And Abram, in his old age foolishness, listened to his wife Sarah rather than trusting in the promises of God.

There are many things a man does in his old age that are foolish and sinful. We don't have the physical strength we once had. We no longer hold the position of authority of a career we once had now that we are retired.

And it's easy to lose one's identity in old age. But more grievous than that, it is easier to fall into unbelief because time has passed and the sun has set in our life, so to speak, and the promises of God as a reality in our life become mere black ink on white paper. Here in our text, Abraham acts foolishly through impatience with God and pressure from the world which is manifested in his controlling wife.

The title of my message today, friends, is Falling into Unbelief. And there are several aspects I would like to draw out from our text today. I want us to see the time factor, the trust factor, the weight factor, and the faith factor.

Well, let's look at the first of these, the time factor. Time passes on and God has still not shown up. Your loved ones are still unsaved.

Your hopes are not realized. The promises of God to you have mothballs on them, so to speak, like a mothball is placed up in a dark attic. It collects dust as it sits motionless there.

The reality of God in your life has lessened with time instead of strengthened with time because of unfulfilled promises. The time factor. Perhaps God has promised you, brother pastor, a thing in your life and ministry and so far it hasn't come to reality and you've gotten out your shovel and have dug your own trench by self-effort and it's just made matters worse for you.

The time factor got to you where you stopped believing in the promises of God and you act foolishly by cutting out your own path through self-effort and the sin of unbelief and you make your own way in an attempt to achieve the same ends, but it's always less than the best God has intended for you. For when He moves, He does things exceedingly abundantly, so you settle for second best or third best or fourth place, whatever the case may be. Next, we see the trust factor.

Because of the seepage of time, you gradually cease to trust in the promises of God and thereby you gradually cease to trust in Him. You take matters in your own hands and you end up with your own Ishmael staring you in the face as a constant reminder of your mistake and disobedience. Next, we see the weight factor.

Time and time again in scripture, we are told to wait upon God. Go through your Bible, friends, with a word search on the word weight and see how often it occurs. Psalm 27, 14.

Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Isaiah 40, 31.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 40. I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. The key word there alongside weight is patiently.

But some of us have run out of patience. Unbelief is when we run out of patience, we give up on the promises of God. Lastly, we see the faith factor.

Jesus kept after His disciples on the faith factor. You of little faith, where is your faith? And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you. We see the faith factor answered in Genesis 18, 14.

Is anything too hard for the Lord? And the answer is no. And then the text goes on to say, At the time appointed, I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. The key sentence there, friends, is at the time appointed.

For God knows the end of all things, and His promises will play out in your life on His appointed timetable, not yours. The deliverance of God's chosen people out of bondage in Egypt was done because of God's promise made to Abraham. But the fulfillment of that promise was played out in the phrase, The selfsame day.

Noting that God was bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt at the precise time that He had said. The faith factor is comprised of all the aforementioned. The time factor, the trust factor, and the weight factor.

My own prayer lately has been short and to the point. Great God, forgive me for my unbelief. Lord, strengthen my faith in your promises.

I pray in the strong name of the dear son Jesus. Amen.