An Evil Heart of Unbelief - By Wayne Weaver

In Luke 18, Jesus asks, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" In Hebrews 3 we are exhorted to "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."

The sin of unbelief may not sound as bad as lying or fornication, but it's the sin that more than any other will keep people out of heaven. It's the sin of the Israelites in the wilderness, about whom God says in this Hebrews passage, "They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest." Later the chapter says, "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

We are told not to harden our hearts as the Israelites did. We know a lot about Jesus and speak of his eternal goodness and love, but Hebrews says in our hearts we really don't know his ways. We question his ways because we don't fully believe him. We believe he is somewhere out there, but he isn't very real to our own lives. We do what we have been taught at home or church but not what we have been taught by God.

This is what an evil heart of unbelief is all about. We are "departing from the living God," Hebrews says. The word "living" is significant. A heart of unbelief takes the God of today and makes him a God of the past, a God who has no effect on our lives. There is action in serving a living God; his power fills our lives.

God says in the Hebrews passage that the Israelites couldn't enter the promised land because of unbelief. Think about that. Israel had already committed many sins. They fell into adultery when they worshiped the golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain. Yet God didn't say they couldn't enter Canaan because of their adultery but because of their unbelief, because they had departed from the God who wants to be active in our hearts, the God we must know daily, who delivers and heals daily.

We know in our hearts whether or not we are drawing closer to God. Some of you reading this may be struggling, but at least you are moving closer to God, believing what he says and stepping toward him in faith. Others have lived a pretty decent life but you are moving away from God; you have ceased to depend on him in faith.

Matthew 12:20 says this: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." When Jesus sees a smoking flax or broken reed, he will not destroy it. His mercy reaches down to the wounded and struggling, and he will not crush them. Today your tender heart might only be a little smoking flax or broken reed, but as you lean on God, believing, you will find healing.

If, on the other hand, your heart grows cold toward God and your belief falters, you will fall under judgment.

We find in the scriptures that faith and miracles go hand in hand. When we depend on God in impossible situations, he honors that belief with his outstretched, powerful hand.

When the Israelites, enslaved in Egypt, cried out to God, he sent Moses and the miraculous plagues. He told the Israelites to put blood around their doors if they wanted to be delivered, and in faith they did. Then he sent his angel to kill the oldest sons, but those with the blood applied were saved. And because this final plague was so great, Pharoah finally allowed the Israelites to leave.

The people were happy. They believed God and he had given them a great deliverance. But then they came to the Red Sea and looked back and saw Pharoahs army. All looked hopeless. But Moses, again believing God, stepped into the sea and God worked another miracle, parting the waters. The Israelites walked across on dry ground, while the pursuing armies were drowned.

We know the history of the Israelites follows an up-and-down pattern. When they trusted in God and followed him in obedience, he granted them victory over their enemies. When they wandered from the faith, God let them fall to their enemies.

At one point the prophet Elijah was sent to call the Israelites to repentance. During a famine Elijah depended on God in faith, and God sent ravens to feed him. Later he went to a widow and asked for bread. The widow was using her last bit of meal and oil, but she believed Elijah, gave away what she had, and was rewarded with a supply of meal and oil that wouldn't run out.

Elisha inherited Elijah's faith, and when Elisha was surrounded by a great host of his enemies he remained calm. "What shall we do?" asked his fearful servant, and Elisha answered, "Don't be afraid. Those that are with us are many more than those with our enemies." Then he prayed for God to open the servant's eyes, and when the servant looked up he saw defending them a great number of horses and chariots of fire.

When Jesus began his ministry, he time and time again rewarded faith with miracles. "Your faith has made you whole," he would tell those he healed. The woman in Matthew 9 simply reached out and touched his garment and was healed. A few verses later two blind men followed him, crying out, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." Jesus said, "Do you believe I am able to do this?" And they answered, "Yea, Lord." So he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith be it unto you." And they were healed.

Yet he was unable to do many miracles in his hometown of Nazareth because of their unbelief.

In that day people knew the reality of demons, and much of Jesus' ministry was delivering the demon-possessed. Here is a key area of unbelief today. I'm convinced a church going woman in our area is possessed with demons, but her preacher wrote a tract saying there are no more demons today. They have tried psychiatry, psychology, mental hospitals, and even a hospital in California, but she remains uncontrollable. Instead of taking her to Jesus who has dealt with demons before, they are taking her to the educated world to try to soothe the spirits.

It's sad that their lack of belief has taken them away from the living God who can help them. We are so intellectual today we can't believe something we don't see.

The Pharisees and others with unbelief in their hearts took great offense at the miracles Jesus performed. It's no different today. Many take offense at the thought of an active God performing active miracles among his people. This unbelief is the worst form of sin, because people continue in their churches and in their good works thinking everything is great, while in their hearts they have departed from the living God and are headed for destruction.

People are so scared of anything that looks like a miracle, but when we have a lost child we ask for a miracle. We know that child must be saved. Why do we want miracles in the spiritual realm but not the physical?

I was holding revival meetings one night, and the Lord convicted me that a person in the audience was sick and needed healing. So I opened up the meeting with an invitation to come for prayer for healing. A woman sitting in the back was deeply offended. "Oh no, no no," she said. "I can't believe you're praying for the sick."

I tell you, friends, the healing of the sick should happen on a regular basis. Somehow we have lost our belief in this area. We would rather go to a doctor and pay a big fee than turn to the Great Physician.

In Matthew 11, John the Baptist's disciples came asking Jesus if he was the one that should come. Jesus answered, "Go and show John those things you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up. And blessed is he who shall not be offended in me." Blessed is the man who is not offended in these healings. The same is true today. Will we be offended like the Pharisees, or will we believe in the miracles of God and realize the blessings he has for us?

The day of miracles is not past. It's only our evil heart of unbelief that has made it past for many of us. There are more doctors in this world today than there has ever been before, and they are prospering, prospering, prospering. We live on doctors, lawyers, and aspirin tablets. We need a healer. And we have one. He is Jesus.

Many years ago the Lord made it clear that I should trust in him and not in health insurance. But one day a salesman came with a great offer, and I ended up buying health insurance. I thought, "This isn't a whole lot," so I went ahead and paid for it without asking God. The next week as I got on my knees to pray, I realized something was wrong. The Lord said, "Wayne, what have I done that you can't trust me anymore? You are not sick. Your family is not sick. What have I done?" I got the message: I was departing from the living God.

So I renewed my faith in this area.

Then about a year ago I felt myself getting sick. Many very bad symptoms began appearing. Treatment could cost thousands and thousands of dollars, I knew, and I wished for insurance. But I prayed, very simply, "Lord Jesus, you have always kept me from sickness. You are my insurance. However you want to provide is up to you, but I ask you to heal me. I know my time to die is not yet come, and I ask you to heal me." He healed me.

That is the healing power of Jesus. I am not anybody special. It was Jesus, not me. He is the one we place our faith in.

I do believe there are times when the Lord allows sickness to come. And I'm not telling you not to go to doctors. You walk with God and get your directions from Him, not from me. If God is a living God in your heart, he will show you.

In Matthew 8, the disciples were battling a great storm, and they woke up Jesus, who was asleep in the boat. "Lord, save us: we perish," they said. Jesus said, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Maybe you are going through the storms of life. You need to wake him up. Maybe you have squelched his power in your life to such a degree he is hardly noticeable anymore. Stop it! Ask him to use his power in your life.

When Jesus went to the grave of Lazarus, he told the people to roll away the stone. He could have called Lazarus out of that grave without removing the stone, but he used the faith of man. Sure enough, there were some protests. "He's been dead four days. It won't smell good," sister Martha said. But Jesus answered, "Didn't I say that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So the people exercised faith and removed the stone, and Jesus called out in a loud voice and brought Lazarus back from the dead.

Are you facing things in your life, and Jesus is asking you to roll away the stone? Will you have faith in God and roll it away, even if the people around you don't think it's a good idea?

I will tell you this: if the faith you are depending on to take you to heaven is not enough faith to do a miracle in your life or not enough faith to give you victory over sin, then you are in a desperate situation. I don't believe you will get to heaven. You don't have enough faith. We say we have faith in God, but we exercise it in such a leisurely way it's obvious we aren't serious.

The greatest miracle is the miracle of the changed heart, when an old doomed sinner comes walking in and God goes into that heart and does his surgery. One woman came to the altar and confessed her tremendous bitterness toward her husband, who was now dead. She repented, and God changed her life. The next day she went back with twelve roses and put them on that grave.

How is it that we expect God to do such a miracle, changing a heart from hatred to love, but we can't trust him for the lesser miracles? It's because we have departed from the living, day-to-day God and have grown cold in our hearts. It's time to ask God to rid ourselves of the evil heart of unbelief.