The sin of unbelief

"So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Heb. 3:19

Let's look at and truly examine what this unbelief was.

"Unbelief," doesn't mean believing in nothing. That is impossible because we all believe in something. So it is not a lack of "belief" but believing in and embracing something else than God's truth. So then "unbelief" doesn't mean believing nothing, but believing the wrong thing. In contrast to true belief, which means believing God's truth, unbelief means believing something that is not God's truth. Jesus said knowing the truth will set you free. But free from what? From everything that hinders your ability to enjoy Him and His ability to live through you. God's goal is for us to grow up into Christ. Why? Because it is in our union with Him in which we find everything that the world - and we, in general - need. The world does not need our dedication, determination, and willpower for Jesus; it needs Jesus! He wants to give Himself to it through His body. Only He knows how to live His life in each person.

We all know the story of the 12 spies who were sent out to check the Promised Land - Numbers 13.

Ten of them came back with an "EVIL REPORT". What made this report "EVIL"? They reported that "The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature." Numbers 13:32

This was NOT God's truth for them. So they rejected God's truth and exchanged it for a lie - which had come from the devil who is the father of all lies. Their "unbelief" was that they believed the wrong and evil thing - not that they just lacked to believe. Now look what happened to them after they believed and embraced this lie. This is the SIN OF UNBELIEF.

"And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Numbers 13:33

They became in bondage and became prisoners of THEIR OWN MISBELIEF. At this point in time, this bondage was the result of them believing and embracing the lie. This was not an act of God's judgment on them. It just was a consequence of their "UNBELIEF". They were living after the flesh which is nothing more than basing your understanding of life on worldly experience or on what you see, hear, and feel. Mortifying the deeds of the body through spirit refers specifically to the change of behavior, which comes from changing our minds about the lies we believe and choosing to believe God's truth. That change occurs because of what Paul calls the law of faith, which says that we automatically live what we really believe.

Very simply, the law of faith says that beliefs have as much effect over behavior as the law of gravity has over an object that is dropped from a tree. Nothing with mass escapes the pull of gravity. Likewise, believing the truth always produces behavior consistent with truth. Of course, the opposite law is also true. The law of unbelief says that believing a lie always produces behavior consistent with lies. Now, if you find thoughts, behaviors, or emotions in your life that are inconsistent with what you think you believe, it is evidence that you may intellectually agree with God's truth in an area, but in actuality, you are embracing some lie. The only way to get to the bottom of this is by the power of the Holy Spirit. His love for you is so great that He yearns to shine His light of truth in your heart and forever rid you of the cause of your trouble. We all will be faced with many situations daily that will appear to be completely contrary to God's truth but we can always count on the fact that God's truth is unchangeable and forever fixed.

Now the Children of Israel chose to believe that what these 10 spies said was true, thus they chose dependence on their own understanding. The result of this is that they fell short and could not enter the Promised Land. Jesus came to restore to us everything we lost in the rebellion in the garden as well as everything else God had planned for us. As new creatures in union with God, we are now one with Him and capable of living like Him because we now have His faith and live with His life. Remember Paul's statement: "Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." The source of Paul's life was God's Spirit by means of the faith of Jesus Christ, Jesus's beliefs. For those of you who have grown up hearing the phrase live by faith in the Son of God, it is mistranslations like that, which have made understanding the Bible more difficult. The literal Greek says, "within faith I live, that of the Son of the God." Paul was actually saying, "I live by believing what Jesus believes because my faith is His faith and comes from Him."

We no longer have to be locked in a struggle to find significance through performance because Christ already did the work. How arrogant and prideful would we have to be to think we could improve on it? We are now loved with perfect love and acceptance, independent of our performance. We are loved by God, the Creator of the universe. You can have no greater significance. It is possible for everyone to live as great a life as Christ did on earth because, if you are a believer, it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. You are a distinct and unique individual and, at the same time, united with all believers in Christ. You can now trust God to be everything He is to you, in you, for you, and through you.

Do not forget what Jesus Christ said concerning the blind and those in bondage. Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

Now ask your self this question - "Is what I believe about God really true"?

Over the past years I have found that many things about God and His Gospel that I had truly believed in and embraced where not true at all. I thank God for the Holy Spirit which is my constant teacher. He is guiding ne into all truth and taking the things of Christ and showing them to me. He does this 24 hours a day - 7 days a week. He is always ever present with me and dwells, abides, and lives inside of me. "The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells in me". Rom 8:11

Trust in God can be defined as resting in the confidence that what God says about Himself and what He has done and will do for us is true. Many believe God is able but don't believe that His willingness to do so reaches to them. Many think, "Of course, God is able. But there is something about me that makes Him unwilling." This is not a problem with God, but a problem with your belief. Deep down, you believe something that results in you putting up a barrier to God's love. His desire is to expose the lies you believe so that the truth can take their place.

If you find it difficult to trust God and if His rest does not seem real within you, it is because you believe something about Him, yourself, or your situation that is not true. This is simple for the Holy Spirit to fix. We just have to be patient, which may involve a degree of emotional suffering, but that suffering is not from God. Rather, it is just a result of living in a corrupted world. It is what Paul was referring to when He said, "I die daily". Flesh can scream loudly that God's truth isn't true. That can be painful as we resist the devil by "holding fast our confession of faith." This suffering is one of the things Paul was referring to in Colossians: "Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness ." But the longsuffering doesn't mean misery. Paul says it can be with joy.

While we have a choice to believe, neither we nor God can force ourselves to do so. Belief is a gift from God, yet someone can refuse the gift. In addition, we can want to take the gift yet have previously believed lies that oppose the gift thus, creating conflict in our hearts and confusion in our minds. So it is possible for someone to have trouble believing something they know is truth. That's okay. Their turmoil is a sign that their believing is going in the right direction and they are already in the fight of faith, which I have just spoken about. The fact that you even care about whether or not you believe the truth is a sign that the Holy Spirit is working in your life. Take this as an opportunity to rest in God's love and talk to yourself about what being unconditionally and limitlessly loved by God means. One thing it means is that He likes you. Period. You can tell yourself that God likes you because He does. You can't change that. Give it time, and the confusion will be gone. Our lives are already open to God's eyes. He sees everything so it is safe to admit that we believe things that are not true, that we are not living like the God in whose image we have been created. It serves no purpose to try and hide. God loves us, which means, we can come boldly to the Throne of Grace. He is eager to help us.

How do you begin enjoying the life and power of Christ in your mortal body? You need to allow the Holy Spirit to uncover the lies that you are believing because then He can help you exchange them for the truth. It is the things that you believe are true that aren't, which are inhibiting your growth. This process does not begin with trying to figure out what you believe that is wrong. You can't. It is totally up to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You are utterly dependent on Him. He alone knows the secrets of your heart. Only He can reveal them to you. Any time you discover a wrong belief in your heart, it is because the Holy Spirit showed it to you. Cooperating with this work of the Spirit provides the first means of realizing your intimacy with Him and thus, with God. Maybe you can remember the day you finally said, "Jesus is Lord" and meant it. Even if you didn't realize it, before that you had believed you were lord and responsible for everything. The weight under which you had lived was suddenly lifted because the Holy Spirit had come to live in you and had taken your burdens.

I suggest you read Hebrews Chapter 3 and 4.

Heb. 3:12-12, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin"

Heb. 4:10-12, "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Let us now examine some of the things that God in Christ has already accomplished for and in us.

We have been crucified with Christ and have been raised with Him. We have been made holy, perfect, and are now without blame. We have been made one with God and Christ. It was only by God's doing that we are placed in union with Christ. We were fully justified and born again by Christ's resurrection. Christ now is our life, our sanctification and our wisdom. Christ is our only hope of glory. We are a new creation and we are partaker of His divine nature. We have been set free from the power of sin. Sin is now longer our master. We have received a new heart and a new Spirit and we are careful to obey God. We have been totally forgiven and God no longer remembers our sins or iniquities. We can glorify God daily because it is God who is actually dwelling within us both to do and to will of HIS pleasure. We have taken and delivered out from the kingdom of darkness and placed in Christ's Kingdom of Love and light. We have been made to sit in the heavenly places on the right hand side of God. God has circumcised our heart in order that we can love Him correctly and live. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us. God has justified the ungodly and the heathens.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. We are dead to the law and set totally free from the law. We have no relationship with the 1st Adam and have been totally set free from the consequences of his disobedience. Now our life is in Christ, the last Adam and as result of His obedience we are forever righteous and free from all condemnation. All guilt has been fully removed. All the works of the Holy Spirit are redemptive and to bring us out from laws and to set us free. The Holy Spirit never brings judgment or punishment to shame us. The Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the blind and sets the captive free. If you have been held captive by sin, He will LOVINGLY open your eyes to the FREEDOM in Christ to lead you and guide you into ALL truth. Every second of every day He is with us as He takes the things of Christ and then reveals them to our mind.

It is extremely essential that you see all this was by God's doing and plan before you were born. This is HIS work for you and in you. This is a fact and an existing present reality. These facts are UNCHANGEABLE. This is a done and FINISHED work of Christ. These facts exist even if someone does not believe them. We are just the beneficiaries and participants in HIS accomplished work.

This is the ONLY True Gospel message to us that has the power contained in it that supplies you with the necessary faith to respond. Look at God's commitment to you and His faithfulness toward you. Christ died for us WHILE we were sinners and when we were without ANY STRENGTH to do anything about it. God in Christ has fully done and accomplished what we or the law could NEVER DO!

As you see this, you can then place your total confidence and trust in HIM with full and complete assurance that God, Himself who begun this good work in you WILL totally finish and complete it.

We are ONLY saved by what God has already done and accomplished in Christ. Christ, Himself is now living and abiding in us. He is now working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Any repentance, belief, trust and confidence we have MUST rest in this FACT ALONE. Our repentance, belief, trust and confidence does NOT save us by itself. That is IMPOSSIBLE. Christ alone has saved us and as we see that we can respond and be an active participant in HIS accomplished work.

It Is ONLY as we lay hold of HIS HOLD on us that we can truly enjoy His finished Salvation. Any attempt to work up our faith, belief, and confidence in something that we do will always FAIL because we are only saved by His faithfulness towards us. His salvation is His GIFT to us that has NOTHING to do with our own efforts lest we will boast.

Eph. 2:8-9, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Look at these quotes from Charles Spurgeon.

"Now I will give the poor sinner a means of detecting Satan, so he may know whether his convictions are from the Holy Spirit, or merely the bellowing of hell in his ears. In the first place, you may always be sure that that which comes from the devil will make you look at yourselves and not at Christ. The Holy Spirit's work is to turn our eyes from ourselves to Jesus Christ, but the enemy's work is the very opposite. Nine out of ten of the insinuations of the devil have to do with ourselves… "You do not repent enough"" that is self. "You have got such a wavering hold of Christ" that is self. Thus the devil begins picking holes in us; whereas the Holy Spirit takes self entirely away, and tells us that we are "nothing at all, - but that "Jesus Christ is all in all."

"Nothing is to be trusted to but the finished work of Jesus Christ upon Calvary's bloody tree! No feelings, no emotion, no believing, no conversion, even, must ever be put into the place of that one eternal Rock of refuge””the blood and merit of Jesus Christ! Fly there, poor Soul! Whatever you are, or are not, fly there! Cast your guilty self on Christ and rest there, for there alone can you find salvation! Learn this lesson - not to trust Christ because you repent, but trust Christ to make you repent””not to come to Christ because you have a broken heart, but to come to Him that He may give you a broken heart - not to come to Him because you are fit to come, but to come to Him because you are unfit to come! Your fitness is your unfitness. Your qualification is your lack of qualification. You are to be nothing, in fact, and to come to Christ as nothing - and when you so come, then will repentance come!"

Now look to Christ who is the author and finisher of your faith. Ask Him to open your eyes to this existing reality. See His everlasting love embrace and hold on you and respond to that.

God no longer remembers our sins or trespasses any more, we can glorify God daily because it is God who is actually dwelling within us both to do and to will of HIS pleasure.. WE have taken and and delivered out from the kingdom of darkness and placed in Christ's Kingdom of Love and light. We have be made to sit in the the heavily places on the right hand side of God. God has circumcised our heart in order that we can love Him correctly and live. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. We are dead to the law and set totally free from the law. We have no relationship with the 1st Adam and have been totally set free from the consequences of his disobedience. Now Christ is our life, the last Adam.

All Scriptures are from the Amplified Version.

Romans 3:24
All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:11
Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1
Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 12:5
So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another].

1 Corinthians 1:2
To the church (assembly) of God which is in Corinth, to those consecrated and purified and made holy in Christ Jesus, [who are] selected and called to be saints (God's people), together with all those who in any place call upon and give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.

1 Corinthians 1:30
But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin].

1 Corinthians 15:22
For just as [because of their union of nature] in Adam all people die, so also [by virtue of their union of nature] shall all in Christ be made alive.

2 Corinthians 1:21
But it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us [in joint fellowship] with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us [enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit].

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.

2 Corinthians 3:14
In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:19
It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).

Galatians 2:4
[My precaution was] because of false brethren who had been secretly smuggled in [to the Christian brotherhood]; they had slipped in to spy on our liberty and the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might again bring us into bondage [under the Law of Moses].

Galatians 2:16
Yet we know that a man is justified or reckoned righteous and in right standing with God not by works of the Law, but [only] through faith and [absolute] reliance on and adherence to and trust in Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). [Therefore] even we [ourselves] have believed on Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law [for we cannot be justified by any observance of the ritual of the Law given by Moses], because by keeping legal rituals and by works no human being can ever be justified (declared righteous and put in right standing with God).

Galatians 3:26
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.

Galatians 3:28
There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 5:6
For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.

Galatians 6:15
For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in Christ Jesus, the Messiah].

Ephesians 1:3
May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!

Ephesians 1:4
Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

Ephesians 1:10
[He planned] for the maturity of the times and the climax of the ages to unify all things and head them up and consummate them in Christ, [both] things in heaven and things on the earth.

Ephesians 1:12
So that we who first hoped in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to] live for the praise of His glory!

Ephesians 2:6
And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Ephesians 2:7
He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

Ephesians 2:13
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were [so] far away, through (by, in) the blood of Christ have been brought near.

Ephesians 3:6
[It is this:] that the Gentiles are now to be fellow heirs [with the Jews], members of the same body and joint partakers [sharing] in the same divine promise in Christ through [their acceptance of] the glad tidings (the Gospel).

Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

Philippians 4:7
And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:13
I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

Philippians 4:19
And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:28
Him we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing everyone and instructing everyone in all wisdom comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), that we may present every person mature (full-grown, fully initiated, complete, and perfect) in Christ (the Anointed One).

1 Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

1 Timothy 1:14
And the grace (unmerited favor and blessing) of our Lord [actually] flowed out superabundantly and beyond measure for me, accompanied by faith and love that are [to be realized] in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:1
Paul, an apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 1:9
[For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago].

2 Timothy 1:13
Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, in [all] the faith and love which are [for us] in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:1
So you, my son, be strong (strengthened inwardly) in the grace (spiritual blessing) that is [to be found only] in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 2:10
Therefore I [am ready to] persevere and stand my ground with patience and endure everything for the sake of the elect [God's chosen], so that they too may obtain [the] salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with [the reward of] eternal glory.

2 Timothy 3:15
And how from your childhood you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted with the sacred Writings, which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus [through the leaning of the entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].

Philemon 1:6
[And I pray] that the participation in and sharing of your faith may produce and promote full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus [and unto His glory].

1 Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.

Ask God to open your eyes and see the existing reality of your union with Him, your justification, holiness, righteousness and Christ Himself living in you now and choose to be an active participant in his ACCOMPLISHED WORK!!