Intro: the devil is the exact opposite of God in every way. God is Light, the devil is darkness. God is love, Satan is hate. God is Holy, the devil is evil. God is just, fair, righteous, Satan is deceptive, a liar and wrong. In every area of life you need to know that the devil will try to have you operate in the exact opposite of what God has called you to do. God has called us to live by faith, walk by faith, stand in faith, so it is only natural that the devil will try to move us from faith into the areas that are the exact opposites of faith. I call these the antonyms of faith.
THE ANTONYMS OF FAITH
I. DOUBT¡XMatthew 14:31¡Xo ye of little faith, why did you doubt? Peter had stepped out with God, walked on the water, but when he started looking around at the wind and the waves, his faith dissolved and disappeared, and he doubted.
„[ He doubted even though he was walking on the water -this is how Satan attacks us, when we are really doing good in our faith, when we are walking on the waters of life, he gets us distracted by some waves or a little wind. Doubt robs us of faith.
„[ Doubt blinds us of truth---Peter asked if he could walk on the water and Jesus told him he could, that is truth. v.29 Satan is a liar and loves to come against truth. Jesus tells us we can do things, have things, accomplish great things in our lives, but Satan always comes with doubt of God¡¦s Word.
„[ Doubt moves us from where our faith is: Jesus Christ. When Peter was in the boat I am sure he didn¡¦t have much faith in himself that he could walk on water, so his faith was totally on Jesus Christ. As long as he kept the eye of faith on Jesus he was all right. But when he thought, this is dangerous out here, or what am I doing out here, or why didn¡¦t I stay in the boat, his faith disappeared.
II. Fear-Matthew 8:26-here is another time where we see Jesus using the phrase o ye of little faith. But this time it isn’t doubt he rebukes but fear. Fear is another antonym of faith, because perfect love cast out all fear. The disciples are at sea and while Jesus is napping a great storm comes against them but it doesn’t wake Jesus up. So they struggle for a while then when they feel they are going down, they get Jesus up. He says, why are you afraid, I am on board, as long as I go with you in life, everything will turn out right.
„[ God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7. When we operate in faith, it overcomes fear. The disciples learned some valuable lessons on this trip.
a. When Jesus is silent, Jesus is still there. Jesus doesn¡¦t react to every crisis in our lives, because He sees the end results and allows us to operate in faith until we get to our destination.
b. v.28 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, it says when he was come to the other side. Faith is believing that Jesus will get you to the other side of any storm, battle or mountain that you face. Jesus isn¡¦t in the ministry of drowning people, so if Jesus is with you, don¡¦t fear.
c. fear has torment, faith is rest. While Jesus is resting in faith, the disciples are struggling in fear. Just imagine what was running through their minds, we are going down, what a way to end our ministry, Momma told me I should never have left home. But it was all useless fear because fear is wasted energy, and faith is useful energy. In the last days many hearts will fail with fear. There is a rest for the people of God, it is called the walk of faith.
III. Unbelief-Matthew 13:58, Romans 4:20, Hebrews 3:19
I believe unbelief is even a stronger force than doubt, because doubt says I don¡¦t know if you can do it, but unbelief says I know it can never be done. In the three verses we have the word unbelief and there are great lessons to be learn in these stories.
„[ Matthew 13:58¡XJesus had done so many wonderful miracles but in his own hometown he was limited to a very few miracles because of their unbelief. Even Jesus cannot operate in an atmosphere of unbelief. If you get a church that doesn¡¦t believe anything good is going to happen, even Jesus showing up will give small results.
„[ Romans 4:20-he staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Once God gave the promise to Abraham, he believed it, he received it, he claimed it, and wouldn’t let unbelief rob him of his blessing. So many people get a promise from God only to move from faith to unbelief, and that unbelief robs them of their victory.
„[ Hebrews 3:19¡Xthey could not enter in because of unbelief. If you realize the story: it wasn¡¦t the giants, the vast armies that would have to be defeated, the walled cities that kept them from receiving the promise land, it was their unbelief in God¡¦s abilities that kept them out of God¡¦s blessings. Today it is the same, unbelief keeps people bound to their past, defeated by their giants, and living on the other side of their blessings.
Close: the blessings we have seen at Bethel Worship Center in the last 12 years are because we haven¡¦t given in to doubt, fear and unbelief. I remember my first Wednesday night preaching to 12 people back in a neighborhood in a little brick building that seated 120. 12 years later we are on the main highway in a 17,000 square foot building, with Missions giving going from 5000 a year to 80,000 a year and the annual budget going from 60,000 a year to 400,000 a year. There were so many times the devil would say, it won¡¦t happen, it can¡¦t be done, but we believed the report of the Lord. And as we face our future and destiny, we are confident because of our history in God.
