Bill Johnson - Unbelief Is Not a Lack of Faith
Unbelief is not the absence of faith; it’s the presence of unbelief. There is a difference. Later, he says, «I believe; help me in my unbelief.» The problem is that you can have more than one seed growing in your garden. The longer I walk with Jesus, the more I find that He thinks differently than I do, and He isn’t going to change; I am the one who needs to change. So that’s the journey I’m on. What I’m going to do, though, is take a story from Mark 9, but I will read a verse from Matthew 13, from the parable of the seed and the sower. I know that it is sometimes dangerous to take elements from one parable or story and mix them with another because they don’t always translate well from story to story, and you can sometimes end up with false information. I know that’s true, so I’m just warning you ahead of time that I’m going to do that, and you’ll have to figure it out.
For example, the fire of God is always the judgment of God, except for that one time in Acts 2 when the fire of God was the tongues of fire, and tongues are a language of praise and edification, so it’s far from judgment. The snake is always the devil, except for that one time when it was Jesus on the cross who became sin on our behalf. Earthquakes were always judgment, except for that one time in Acts 4 when, during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the entire place shook because of the presence of God. So, what you don’t want to do is become too rigid, and I’m going to ask you to approach these two stories loosely because I think one will actually give us the insight we need for the next one.
Alright, so we’re going to start with the parable of the seed and the sower. Because we’re not doing the whole story, I’m just going to read one verse. I want to remind you, if you’re unfamiliar with the story of the parable of the seed and the sower, that the seed in this parable is the word of God, and the soil is the condition of the heart. This is a very important lesson: the productivity or fruitfulness of a word that God spoke does not validate whether or not it was from God, because that parable actually gives us four different kinds of soil; three were no good. The word was authentic, but it just didn’t bear fruit. The fault wasn’t what God said.
See, many people make the mistake of saying, «Well, we will judge a tree by its fruit,» and that’s absolutely right, but they will say, «Well, we know whether this was a work of God or not by the fruit.» Not always. Jesus talked about healing ten lepers; only one had a character change enough to return and give thanks. Does that mean the other nine were falsely healed? No. God’s word’s validity is not validated by what we do with it; in other words, it’s not proven by what we do with it. God is not on trial by what I do; I am.
In this particular illustration, we have in verse 22, «He who receives seed among thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.» So, here’s the picture: my wife is the master gardener, but she has not been gardening because she’s been too sick. We have a garden, though—the pepper plants are not this tall; it’s the weeds that are this tall. We have been invaded by weeds in this garden, and it’s because we planted certain seeds, but not being able to care for and tend the garden, we have other seeds that have competed for the nutrients, absorbed the moisture, and have outgrown and cast shade over the plants that were supposed to be prolific and grow and provide food.
The word of the Lord is the same way. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Say that with me: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Say it again: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It does not say faith comes from hearing the word of God; if it did, then all of us could go home, put on YouTube where they’re quoting scripture for the next 24 hours, and have it playing 24/7 while we sleep, thinking we’ll have Wigglesworth kind of faith by Friday. It just doesn’t work that way. Faith comes from hearing; it’s your connection to the voice of God, but the voice of God is activated by your exposure to the word.
It’s the word that enhances and trains the hearing. Now, here’s the challenge: I’ve got a word that God spoke to me, but I have another idea, I have a disappointment, I have criticism, and I have complaints—all these seeds are vying for the same nutrients. What does the Bible say happens? It says the cares of this world—the other interests, the other burdens, busyness, artificial significance—the enemy works to expand our busyness to increase our cares. The enemy works to expand our activity to increase our cares because if it can increase our cares, he plants seeds that compete with the word of God.
In Mark chapter 9, verse 17, we’re going to read quite a few verses, so please do follow along in your Bible or your neighbor’s as much as you can. Verse 17: «One of the crowd answered and said, 'Teacher, I brought you my son who has a mute spirit, and whenever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not.'» He answered him and said, «O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.»
Then they brought him to Him, and when He saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. Why would he do that in front of Jesus? Because I think it worked in front of the disciples. If you can create enough disturbance with what you see in the natural, it can interfere with what you see in the spirit. The enemy was working to create a disturbance that made them focus on what they saw in the natural, causing them to no longer see what they should see in the spirit, which was what God had already willed to happen. Faith doesn’t deny a problem’s existence; it just denies the problem a place of influence.
They brought him to Him; he threw him on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth. Verse 21: «So He asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him? ' And he said, 'From childhood. Often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.'» It’s interesting; it’s the smallest measure of faith I can find in the entire Bible. If there’s a smaller one, please show it to me. This one barely moved the needle. When you come to God and say, «If you can, God, if you have the ability to do this big problem,» the Lord turned the table on him and said, «If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.» Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, «Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.» I’ve got more than one plant growing in my garden.
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, «Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him, and enter him no more.» When the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him, he became as one dead, so that many said, «He is dead.» Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose. When He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, «Why could we not cast it out?» And He said, «This kind comes out by nothing but prayer and fasting.»