And the first sin. His Sin was unbelief. He doubted the promise of God. In this particular case unbelief took the form of a doubt of the divine veracity, or a mistrust of God's power. Either he doubted whether God really meant what he said, or whether it was within the range of possibility that God should fulfill his promise. Unbelief hath more phases than the moon, and more colors than the chameleon. Common people say of the devil, that he is seen sometimes in one shape, and sometimes in another. I am sure this is true of Satan's first born child, unbelief, for its forms are legion. At one time I see unbelief dressed out as an angel of light. It calls itself humility, and it saith, "I would not be presumptuous; I dare not think that God would pardon me; I am too great a sinner." We call that humility, and thank God for any such delusion. It is the devil dressed as an angel of light; it is unbelief after all. At other times we detect unbelief in the shape of a doubt of God's immutability: "The Lord has loved me, but perhaps he will cast me off tomorrow. He helped me yesterday, and under the shadow of his wings I trust; but perhaps I shall receive no help in the next affliction. He may cast me off; he may be unmindful of his covenant, and forget to be gracious." Sometimes this infidelity is embodied in a doubt of God's power. We see every day new straits; we are involved in a net of difficulties, and we think, "Surely the Lord can not deliver us." We strive to get rid of our burden, and finding that we can not do it, we think God's arm is as short as ours, and his power as little as human might. A fearful form of unbelief is that doubt which keeps men from coming to Christ; which leads the sinner to distrust the ability of Christ to save him; to doubt the willingness of Jesus to accept so great a transgressor. But the most hideous of all is the traitor, in its true colors, blaspheming God, and madly denying his existence. Infidelity, deism, and atheism, are the ripe fruits of this pernicious tree; they are the most terrific eruptions of the volcano of unbelief. Unbelief hath become of a full stature, when quiting the mask and laying aside disguise, it profanely stalks the earth, uttering the rebellious cry, "No God," striving in vane to shake the throne of divinity by lifting up its arms against Jehovah, and in its arrogance would
Snatch from his hand the balance of the rod,
Re-judge his justice- be the god of God.
Then truly unbelief has come to its full perfection; and then you see what it really is; for the least unbelief is of the same nature as the greatest.
I am astonished, and I am sure you will be when I tell you that there are some strange people in the world who do not believe that unbelief is a sin. Strange people I must call them, because they are sound in their faith in every other respect; only, to make the articles of their creed consistent, as they imagine, they deny that unbelief is sinful. I remember a young man going into a circle of friends and ministers, who were disputing whether it was a sin in men that they did not believe the gospel. While they were discussing it, he said, "Gentlemen, am I in the presence of Christians? Are you believers in the Bible, or are you not?" They said, "We are Christians, of course." "Then," said he, "does not the Scripture say, "of sin, because they believed not on me?' And is it not the damning of sin of the sinners, that they do not believe on Christ?"
It could not have thought that persons should be so fool hardy as to venture to assert, that "It is no sin for a sinner not to believe on Christ." I thought that, however far they might wish to push their sentiments, they would not tell a lie to uphold the truth; and, in my opinion, that is what such men are really doing. Truth is a strong tower, and never requires to be buttressed with error. God's word will stand against all man's devices. I would never invent a sophism to prove that it is no sin on the part of the ungodly not to believe; for I am sure it is, when I am taught in the Scriptures that, "this the the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light;" and when I read, "he that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on the Son of God." I affirm, and the word declares it, unbelief is a sin. Surely, with rational and un-prejudiced persons, it can not require any reasoning to prove it. Is it not a sin for a creature to doubt the word of its Maker? Is it not a crime and an insult to the divinity, for me, an atom, a particle of dust, to dare to deny His words? Is it not the very summit of arrogance and extremity of pride, for a son of Adam to say, even in his heart, "God, I doubt thy grace; God I doubt thy love; God, I doubt thy power?" Oh! sirs, believe me, could you roll all sins into one mass; could you take murder, and blasphemy, and lust, and adultery, and fornication, and every thing that is vile, and unite them all into one vast globe of black corruption, they would not equal even then the sin of unbelief. This is the monarch of sin, the quintessence of guilt; the mixture of the venom of all crimes; the dregs of the wine of Gomorrah: it is the A 1 sin; the master-piece of Satan; the cheif work of the devil.
C.H Spurgeon, taken from the sermon 'The Sin Of Unbelief' preached from the text, 2 Kings 7:19 "An that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord shold make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof"
