UNBELIEF
Throughout
eternity the lost soul will be testifying to this truth: “God is holy; I was a
sinner; I rejected His salvation, I turned my back upon His gospel, I despised
His Son, I hated God Himself, I lived in my sins, I loved my sins, I died in my
sins, and now I am lost to all eternity! And God is righteous in my
condemnation!”
Doubt is
natural within faith. It comes because of our human weakness and frailty…
Unbelief is the decision to live your life as if there is no God. It is a
deliberate decision to reject Jesus Christ and all that he stands for. But
doubt is something quite different. Doubt arises within the context the faith.
It is a wistful longing to be sure of the things in which we trust. But it is
not and need not be a problem.
Alister
McGrath
When Doubt Becomes Unbelief,
Tabletalk, 16, No.1, January 1992, p. 8-10.
Unbelief is
not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored. Is sinfulness lies in the fact that it
contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to Him.
John Stott
The Epistles of John, TNT, Eerdmans, 1964, p.
182.
We took our
sins and drove them like nails through his hands and feet. We lifted him high
up on the cross of our transgressions, and then we pierced his heart through
with the spear of our unbelief.
C.H. Spurgeon
Unbelief – a
spirit of discouragement in times of pressure and opposition; lack of quietness
and confidence in God; lack of faith and trust in God; a disposition to worry
and complain in the midst of pain, poverty, or at the dispensations of Divine
Providence; an overanxious feeling whether everything will come out all right.
Author Unknown
Not I, but Christ.
Unbelief is
not the cause of sin; sin is the cause of unbelief.
Author Unknown
Unbelief is
the shied of every sin.
William Jenkyn
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 301.
For no sin
whereof men can be guilty in this world is of so horrible a nature, and so
dreadful an aspect, as is this unbelief, where a clear view of it is obtained
in evangelical light.
John Owen
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 301.
There are no
sins God’s people are more subject to than unbelief and impatience. They are
ready either to faint through unbelief, or to fret through impatience.
Thomas Watson
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 275.
Who can tell
the misery that unbelief has brought on the world? Unbelief made Eve eat the forbidden fruit – she doubted the truth of God's
word: “You will surely die.” Unbelief made the old world reject Noah's warning,
and so perish in their sin. Unbelief kept Israel in
the wilderness – it was the barricade that kept them from entering the Promised
Land. Unbelief made the Jews crucify the Lord of glory – they did not believe
the voice of Moses and the prophets, even though they were read to them every
day. And unbelief is the reigning sin of man’s heart down to this very hour –
unbelief in God’s promises – unbelief in God's wrath and discipline – unbelief
in our own sinfulness – unbelief in our own danger – unbelief in everything
that runs counter to the pride and worldliness of our evil hearts.
J.C. Ryle
The Duties of Parents.
The ultimate
cause of all spiritual depression is unbelief. For if it were not for unbelief
even the devil could do nothing. It is because we listen to the devil instead
of listening to God that we go down before him and fall before his attacks.
That is why this psalmist keeps on saying to himself: “Hope thou in God for I
shall yet praise Him…” He reminds himself of God. Why? Because
he was depressed and had forgotten God, so that his faith and his unbelief in
God and in God’s power, and in his relationship to God, were not what they
ought to be. We can indeed sum it all up by saying that the final and
ultimate cause is just sheer unbelief.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 20,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
Unbelief, and
a thousand evils, are still in our hearts: though
their reign and dominion is at an end, they are not slain or eradicated; their
efforts will be felt more or less sensibly, as the Lord is pleased more or less
to afford or abate His gracious influence.
A.W. Pink
There is nothing so hardening as
unbelief; and one great reason for this is, that there is nothing so deceitful.
It does not look a great sin; nay, sometimes not like sin at all, but like modesty
and humility. It pretends to be jealous for God, to be conscious of personal
unworthiness, to be unfit to venture on a hope of acceptance. Thus, it deceives…
It actually hides itself, lessens its own wickedness, veils
its hatefulness under the name of humility. In all these ways, it contrives to
destroy faith, to cherish itself, and so to harden the heart.
Horatius Bonar
Light
and Truth, v. 4, The Lesser Epistles 1870.
There
is a vast difference between a struggling faith (Mk. 9:24)…and (a) stubborn
unbelief (Mk. 3:3-6).
Jerry Bridges
Jesus’
Healing Ministry, Tabletalk, April, 2008. Used by Permission.
Failure to
believe stems from moral failure to recognize the truth, not from want of
evidence, but from willful neglect or distortion of the evidence.
D.A.
Carson
Matthew, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Zondervan,
1984, p. 391.
Christ never
failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can’t believe.
Unbelief is won’t believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is
looking for light. Unbelief is content with darkness.
Henry Drummond