The Faith of God

This message is about the faith of God, but what it will lead us to is an understanding of what unbelief is.

In Christianity, there are certain frameworks of thoughts and beliefs that we have about things, which vary from one denomination to another.

But one thing that most believers seem to have in common is a belief that God is out there somewhere and if we can just get His attention, He might give us some help. Or, then again, He might not.

In other words, we believe that God can do anything, but it may not be all that easy to get Him to do something for us.

We say things like, I'm going to pray real hard about that. Does hard praying work better than easy praying? Does loud praying work better than soft prayer?

Or, someone might say, I'm going to fast and pray until I move the hand of God. In other words, I'm going to force His hand. Or, I'm going to storm the gates of heaven. After all, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Right?

We seem to believe it takes some serious effort to get God to do something for us.

All Things that Pertain to Life

But as we study the Bible, there seems to be a suggestion that God has already done everything He's going to do for us.

It says that He has already (past tense) given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

John chapter 1 says that of His fullness HAVE WE all received. We've already received His fullness. And the Bible says in another place that as He is, SO ARE WE in this world. We are evidently already like Jesus. Here's another one.

Another verse says that He HAS GIVEN US all things richly to enjoy, and on and on.

He HAS given us all these things; He HAS blessed us with every blessing. One verse says that by His stripes you WERE healed. All these things are written in the PAST TENSE.

Reserved for the Future?

But in our traditional Christian worldview, all these things are in the future. God will bless me someday, God will heal me eventually, God will give me all these things at some point. Maybe our worldview is wrong. Is that possible?

Already Done in the Past

Here's another example. We were saved long before we ever came into this world. It happened in the past. But brother, I wasn't born again until 1993. No, that's when you received God's salvation by faith. But the work was done long before that. It was finished the day Christ went to Calvary.

Notice. It happened long ago. But when did it happen for us? When we received by faith what God had already done. We received it by His grace through faith.

Wow! Could that be how the kingdom of God works for everything we need? Yes, I believe that's a distinct possibility.

Does that change the way we view things? It probably should.

Now, we're talking about salvation, and it says in Ephesians 2:8 . . .

What's the gift of God? Is it salvation, is it grace? Yes, it's salvation, and it's grace, but it's also faith.

God gave us the faith to be saved; it was the gift of God to us, so everyone who's been saved also has God's faith.

Paul said that this new life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Not faith in the Son of God, but BY the faith OF the Son of God. We live by His faith.

The Measure of Faith

God has dealt to every believer THE measure of faith. You've got the same measure of faith that I have, the same measure that Paul had, or Peter. And Peter's shadow healed the sick.

Why am I saying this? Because we all want to participate in receiving the blessings of the kingdom, but we know we have to receive those blessings by faith, and the devil is quick to point out that we don't seem to have any faith, or we don't have enough.

We Already Have Faith

Well, that's a lie. We do have faith. God gave it to each of us. It's His faith. And we have more than enough. We all have the same measure. And, not only that, Jesus said it only takes a little bit of faith to move a mountain.

You don't need a whole lot of faith. Just use whatever amount you have. And so, we don't have a problem with faith. We have faith. But we may have a knowledge problem if we don't know what God has given us. What should we have faith for? We can find out about those things from His Word.

What am I saying? Don't ask God to give you more faith, because He won't. He has already given you His faith. It's already inside of you. Just use it.

Now, the Bible does say that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So, reading the Bible will activate our faith, for sure, but the faith is already in us.

By the Knowledge of God

Now, we read a scripture earlier where Peter said that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him, or that is, the knowledge of God. And he goes on to say . . .

Whereby what? By the knowledge of God. By that knowledge we get the promises of God given to us through His word.

You see, God has already promised everything we will ever need, but we have to receive those things by faith. Faith in what? Faith in His promises, faith that He will give us what He said He would.

Remember, it says that Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to do and He would do it. And it was counted to him for righteousness.

Now, again, as I said earlier, this message is about the faith of God but it will lead us to an understanding of what unbelief is. But I wanted to first establish that we all have faith. We are believers, and we all have the faith of God working in us.

And having said all that, let's look at the other side of the coin. Let's talk about unbelief.