Lack of Faith Leads to Sin

Articles From Our Bulletins

Philip Strong
12/04/16 - Bulletin Articles

We know that the “wages of sin” is eternal death, Rom.6:23; and that all of an accountable age have and do sin, cf. Rom.3:23 and 1John 1:8. So, the question simply becomes, “Why?” From Hebrews 11:6, we see that true, biblical “faith” is constituted of 3 essential elements:

Knowledge in the mind- we must mentally conclude, accept, and “believe that He is;”
Trust in the heart- we must trust that He will reward our faith eternally; and,
Obedience with the body- and therefore in the life.

Without this kind of “faith,” we can neither “please Him,” nor will He reward us with eternal life instead of the eternal death we deserve. These things unmistakably demonstrate the essentiality of true “faith” in our lives, cf. 2Corinthians 5:7ff. But, we are also forced to another conclusion regarding the link between faith and sin…

We sin because we lack faith. The deficiency is manifested in several ways:

Lack of knowledge (of God and/or His Word), Acts 17:22-23.The Athenians “worshipped” false gods because their “faith” lacked knowledge of the one true God, His nature, His ways, and His requirements.
We know, but choose to ignore, Rom.1:18-23.Even though they “knew God,” those described chose to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” or “honor Him as God.” This is nothing more than stubborn rebellion.
We know and believe, but doubt and fear, Eve, Gen.3:1-13; and Peter, Matt.14:28-31.Eve knew and correctly restated God’s requirements, but allowed Satan to get her to question God’s character and motives.This doubt damaged her faith, and caused her to sin.Peter’s walking on the water was going fine until he looked at the wind instead of keeping his eyes on Jesus- the source of his strength! Then he began to doubt and be afraid, and started to sink.
We know, believe, but lack desire, John 12:42.Many of the Jewish leaders believed in Jesus, but their desire to please men was greater than their desire to please God- and they, therefore, were unwilling to confess their faith in, and live for, Him.
We know, believe, and desire, but lack strength, Mark 9:24.The father of boy who was violently oppressed by an evil spirit confessed a measure of belief/faith in Jesus, but also admitted that his faith lacked strength necessary to overcome the trials of his present situation.His plea for Jesus to “help me in my unbelief” is not contradictory to his faith, but does acknowledge the sad reality of the presence of detracting and debilitating unbelief!

If we’re really honest when looking into the mirror of God’s word (cf. James 1:22-25), we can see ourselves in all of the examples above…. at least at various times of our lives. There are times when our own faith’s power to overcome sin is hampered, if not crippled, by: not knowing what God expects and desires, or how to accomplish it; our own stubborn refusal to accept, believe, and do what God says instead of what we want; doubts and fears when faced with extremely challenging situations; and weakness that prevents our faith from enabling us to overcome temptation to be all that God expects and requires. Basically, when it comes to our own faith in comparison to these examples, we’ve all been there and done that in similar situations, and for the same reasons!

Faith, like so many other things, grows incrementally and progressively. Obstacles, and failures to overcome them, are at least a reality if not an essential part of the process for us. A lack of knowledge, a spirit of rebellion, doubts and fears, or a lack of desire or knowledge challenges our faith, and we stumble and fall into sin. But the issue, at that point, is not what our faith lacks, but what it contains, and what we are will to add to it (see 2Peter 1:5-11). After falling, are willing to abandon our faith completely, or will we get busy strengthening it with knowledge, rooting out our rebellion by completely submitting to His will, and adding necessary zeal to our desire to please God? Consider carefully Luke 15:11-24. Think about it, please, and then do the right thing(s)!