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.