The Anatomy of Belief (in God) - Part 2

Christ Covenant Church

1. Relevance of this study

1.1. Unbelief wb at an all-time high at the return of Christ (Luk 18:8).

1.2. Without sustaining belief (or faith) in God, His Person and Words (1Ti 1:5 [“love” = For God and others – loyalty/equity]; Heb 10:37-39 [w/Heb 11:6]; 1Jo 5:4-5; 1Pe 1:5-7), it is impossible to sustain faithfulness to God and others (the other necessary instrument of salvation and to receiving divine blessings) (Jam 2:14-24; Luk 17:3-10; hence 2Pe 1:5-11; our examples – Heb 11:33 and 12:2).

1.3. Transformation from a foolish, spiritually darkened, deceived person led by their flesh/feelings to a person who is wise, discerning, enlightened and led by the Spirit, is also impossible without sustained belief (or faith) in God (Psa 119:66; 2Co 4:4; Eph 6:16; 1Th 2:13, 3:5-7, 5:8; 1Pe 5:9).

1.4. Un-sustained belief (or faith) in God will eventually lead to apostasy (Heb 3:12-14; Rom 11:20-23).

1.5. Every weapon in Satan’s arsenal has this as its goal: the destruction of belief in God, His Person and Words (Gen 3:1-5; Satan continues to operate from the original playbook. Hence the reason Paul can say “we are not ignorant of his schemes – 2Co 2:6-11 [w/2Sa 24:1 w/2Sa 7:8-16 – most eps. vv14-16]).

2. Definition of belief (or faith) in God (the action not the object or religion – e.g., Jud 1:3)

2.1. What belief in God is not: mere mental ascent or agreement to His existence or the Bible as His words.

2.2. What belief in God is (the biblical definition): The choice (Mar 16:11 “refused to believe” = Made a choice not to believe) to give unquestioned trust and allegiance exclusively to God, His Person and Words as eternally and infinitely perfect in truth, beauty, righteousness, justice, mercy, love, power, wisdom and knowledge (versus self, others or anything in Creation – e.g., Rom 1:18-25 “honor…give thanks” = Acts demonstrating allegiance; “worshipped” = Acts demonstrating where – or w/whom, we place our highest trust/allegiance; Heb 11:1; belief = Trust/Allegiance – Exo 19:9; Num 14:11, 20:12; Deu 1:30-35 w/Heb 3:19; Deu 9:23, 32:51; 2Ki 17:14; Psa 27:13, 78:22 w/32, 106:12 w/24; Psa 146:6 “keeps faith” = Allegiance; Joh 1:12 [“believe in His name”] = Trust/Allegiance to that person and their word]//unquestioned trust and allegiance - Act 8:37 “believe with all your heart” = No division in your heart [in your trust/allegiance]).

2.3. Our choice to believe in God (to give unquestioned trust and allegiance exclusively to Him) is an operation of the will that must not be governed by: 1) earthly thinking (Luk 24:11; Joh 3:12 “earthly things” versus “heavenly things” = Belief in only what can be seen or is common/comfortable to the natural world/way of thinking [materialism or naturalism] versus belief also in the unseen or what is uncommon/uncomfortable to the natural world/way of thinking [belief in the immaterial and supernatural]; Isa 53:1; 1Co 1:21; hence 2Co 5:7 and 1Pe 1:8; [Lam 3:65; Eph 4:18; Mar 16:14 “hardness of heart”] = Refusal to believe in the unseen/unrealized – Pro 22:3; e.g. From an ability perspective, this is the brain function of animals. We however possess the higher faculties and function [ability] of foresight, forecasting and faith – belief in what is yet to be seen or realized. Our failure to use such faculties/function is therefore not due to ability but our will. We refuse -or choose not to do so for immoral reasons – Mat 16:1-4; hence Luk 16:31), 2) emotions (Rom 4:18-20; Mat 17:17 “sign” = emotional experience). To say that our choice is not governed by natural thinking is not the same as saying there is no evidence to support what we believe. There is enough to leave every person w/o excuse on Judgment Day (Rom 1:19-20; Consider also Joh 2:22 w/Joh 20:27-31). To say that the trust/allegiance we give to God must be unquestioned is not the same as saying God expects blind trust. IOW: God does not expect us to trust Him if He fails to be or do what He has promised in His Word (the Bible) (e.g., Mal 3:10).

3. How we sustain/strengthen our belief in God.

(Luk 8:15) “hold it fast” = Belief in God will be met w/challenges and therefore requires the constant and consistent practice of certain things to preserve it: 1) removal of all stumbling blocks/overcompensation (Mat 13:44-48, 18:7-9; Luk 19:8; 2Co 7:1 w/11; Col 2:5 w/8; 1Ti 4:1, 6:20-21; Heb 12:1), 2) apologetics (1Pe 3:15; 2Ti 2:15-18; Jud 20),

3) spending time receiving spiritual bread from others (Rom 1:11-12; 1Th 3:2 w/10; Eph 4:11-13),

4) sharing our spiritual bread w/others (Heb 3:12-14), 5) self-discipline (body and mind) (1Co 9:27; 1Ti 4:6-10),

6) being doers of God’s Word (Jam 1:22-25 “prove yourself doers [“one who looks intently at the perfect law…and abides by it”] versus “hearers who delude themselves” [who deceive themselves into thinking they believe but instead are “like a man who looks…in a mirror…and…immediately [forgets] what kind of person he was [a person who used to trust but not anymore]”) = Sustain that trust/allegiance [true belief in God] through obedience. It goes both ways: we need to sustain our belief to obey and we need to obey to sustain our belief - i.e., there exists a symbiotic and synergistic relationship between belief and obedience), 7) right attitude in trials (Jam 1:1-3).

4. Signs/Causes of unbelief (What to keep in mind: the choice of unbelief is sin – Joh 16:8-9).

Given that the belief in God refers to two things: His Person and His Word means that there are essentially two types of unbelief related to this subject: 1) unbelief as it relates to God’s Person (trust in His existence and/or attributes – e.g., His love, justice, wisdom) and 2) unbelief in His Word (trust that what He says is true and accurate; trust that I need to place the same level of seriousness He places on certain subjects or issues – e.g., repentance/change/faithful obedience/getting to heaven/the requirement urgency, overcompensation and living for the whole, etc.).

What then are the causes and/or signs of these two sins of unbelief?

4.1. (S/C) hardness of heart (Lam 3:65; Eph 4:18; Mar 16:14 “hardness of heart” = Refusal to believe in the unseen/unrealized – Pro 22:3; e.g. From an ability perspective, this is the brain function of animals. We however possess the higher faculties and function [ability] of foresight, forecasting and faith – belief in what is yet to be seen or realized. Our failure to use such faculties/function is therefore not due to ability but our will. We refuse -or choose not to do so. IOW: the problem is moral not intellectual).

4.2. (S/C) ignorance/folly/bad influence or intel in re: to God, His Person and Word or even other religions (Eph 4:18 “ignorance”; 1Co 15:32-34; hence Col 2:8; 1Ti 6:20) (e.g.,): 1) As it re: to the spiritual books of other religions: Hinduism’s Bhagavad Gita = Never claims to be written by a personal God Who has spoken to humanity; Mormonism’s Book of Mormon, Islam’s Qur’an = Both rely on and are counterfeit versions or distortions of Christianity (Mormonism started almost 2000 years after Christianity’s inception, Islam almost 600 years after). Each claim that the Bible is corrupted and their books are the fix. 2) As it re: to morality – or those who claim there is no such thing as good and bad or morality = Everybody has a moral point of view – including those who say there is no morality since that is a moral point of view or position - they are being moral about no morals— which also means that everyone is religious since this is at the heart of what defines religion (a system of morality). Now, knowing this is true and inescapable, which do you think is the wise choice, a religion or morality determined by a perfect God or one driven by the sinful desires and agendas of imperfect men? 3) As it re: to General Revelation – or the impression one gets from observing nature. The flowers are growing, the sun’s shining, people are laughing and having a good time while we are torturing ourselves over the little stuff. Maybe we got it all wrong? God’s there but there is no test, so just go with the flow (live and let live). Or it’s a test and “go with the flow” is the test. Vetted: a) what one observes in the present is not always a reliable indicator of reality (Mat 24:37-39 [2Pe 3:1-7]), b) if no test, then why so much suffering (i.e., there is more to the world than just the sun shining and flowers growing – there is also disease, death and destruction)? God is a monster. c) if this is the test, can you establish equity from this “go with the flow mindset”? What if the flow is kill all babies like it was for the Jews in Egypt? Or you need to worship the Emperor [president] like it was in Rome? Or kill all those retired, retarded or crippled like it was in Nazi Germany? d) change all of that to “everybody needs to just love and accept everyone for who they desire to be” and the problems still persist since a large part of those you need to love and accept are pedophiles, rapists and serial killers. At some point you are prohibiting and condemning certain groups of people and the question of who decides who those groups are becomes immediately relevant: perfect God or imperfect sinful men?

4.3. (C) the failure of other Christians or the church (Mat 18:6-7; Rom 2:24; 2Co 2:7 w/11 w/2Sa 24:1 w/1Ch 21:1).

4.4. (S/C) inconvenience or uncomfortableness/cowardliness/wimpiness/lack of self-control/emotion-driven [feelings = facts] (Pro 14:12; Mat 13:20-21, 53-58; Luk 8:13, 22:31-34; 1Co 16:13 “stand firm in your faith, act like men”; Cancer is also inconvenient and uncomfortable but we don’t act like it doesn’t exist as a means to escaping it).

4.5. (S/C) unrealistic expectations (Mat 16:1-3 w/4 = Linear thought and deductive reasoning is enough to make the right choice in relation to God. That choice however often requires change that causes pain. As a result, people can [sinfully] expect an experience to accompany their belief which will alleviate - or make easy, the painful changes necessary to live for Him. Such expectations are unrealistic – and rebellious given this life is meant to be painful since it is a test. Hence why 1Pe 1:6 “distressed with various trials” w/13 and 4:12-18; Act 14:22). The unbelief that results from unrealistic expectations is therefore nothing more than that person pouting and an attempt to manipulate God/hold Him hostage (e.g., child who says to his parents, “I hate you” when they don’t give them what they want).

4.6. (S) inability to think properly about spiritual things or morality (Rom 1:21, 28).

4.7. (C/S) apathy/lack of zeal or urgency to spiritual things/arrogance (don’t need God) (Amo 6:1-3; Luk 18:1-8; Joh 3:36 “obey” [Grk., apatheo = apathetic – is viewed by John as the opposite of belief or essentially synonymous w/unbelief]; Hos 13:6; Hab 2:4 w/3:18-19 = Those who live by faith are those who believe God’s warnings and responds w/urgency [in this case the coming judgment of the Assyrians and the need to flee to the mtns for safety] versus the person who thinks he knows better or doesn’t believe things to be so serious or dangerous —the arrogant person who makes God’s 10s into 2s).

4.8. (S/C) insecurity (need the praise of men) (Joh 5:44, 12:42-43).

4.9. (S/C) infatuation w/the things of the world/FOMO (Mat 13:22 versus Joh 6:35; Rom 9:33 w/10:11).

4.10. (S/C) pleasure in wickedness or rebellion/exercising the authority of our free will (2Th 2:11-12; Important not confuse the need to exercise our free will w/what it means to be truly free [Satan’s biggest and beginning lie – Gen 3]; e.g., the Montrose Mouse – “the last great act of defiance”; Ad Seg).

4.11. (S) little or no spiritual fruit/spiritual immaturity (Luk 8:14 [Grk., ou telesphereo] = Not bringing to completion/maturity – not fulfilling your full potential for God] versus v15).