Little Faith — Keith Malcomson

Hebrews 11:6 and the Message’s Theme

Please turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, we're not going to preach from there, we're not going to spend time there. I just want to read the scripture and move on fast to my subject.

We're next going to go to Matthew chapter 6 and I'm going to spend a bit of time in Matthew, various chapters in Matthew and then to the book of Luke last of all. But I just want to read this if we can together.

My message and we've been dealing with the little things of scripture. The first night I laid the foundation. The second night we dealt with the little foxes. The third night, last week, I laid out from scripture that it's a principle.

We're laying out principles. And that's what I love about this weekend with my brother, you know, it's the principles. And I go, here's a pastor who has discovered the principles of scripture. And to me they're obvious.

And I'm laughing, I've listened to a few of his messages and I'm laughing because I go, I so believe this but nobody preaches it. And I've always believed this and this is what I preach and everyone knows that.

But I'm laughing at this preacher because he's coming out with his most elementary things. But I'm going, there's principles. Why is it all the other pastors and preachers aren't dealing with these things when they're so obvious?

And so with all of these little things, this is a principle of scripture. Last week we dealt with that God chooses little things. It's a principle. It's his character. If you learn this, you know the ways of God.

You know how God operates. You'll think differently just because you're small or little or insignificant or powerless or unable or don't have a reputation or no contacts. You'll say that's got nothing to do with it.

It's about being in a place of prayer. Here are my fourth message here tonight and this is my title. It's a biblical statement made specifically by Christ. Little faith. Just earlier I said to Candice, I said to Pastor Dennis as well earlier, I'm preaching to myself tonight more than any other person.

This has kept me sane this afternoon. I want to tell you that. This message is for me because it'll deal with my heart, keep my mind right to walk through a trial. I need this message. I don't know how it's going to come out.

I said if anyone else was preaching it, I may not come to the meeting, but I need this. It deals with me more than anyone else sitting here. Hebrews 11, verse 6, it says,. But without faith, the essential nature of faith, but without faith it is impossible to please him or please God.

For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word tonight. Lord God, we come with this faith knowing it's impossible to please you tonight without faith, a faith that believes that you are, you are the eternal God.

You are the God of the Bible. You are here right now. We believe this, O God. We could not please you tonight if we did not believe that you are. But more than that, that you are a rewarder to those that diligently seek you.

And my God, our faith is manifest tonight, even in weakness, even in littleness. My God, our faith is manifest because we know you reward those that diligently seek you in prayer. I know that you reward those that seek your face.

And Lord God, bless your word tonight. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. My message, little faith, we're dealing with all of these littles. And these are tumbling over me, I want to tell you. I'm having to pray, Lord, when do I preach what?

Little Faith in the Gospels

But I want to preach tonight on little faith, a statement made in Matthew 6, verse 30, by the Lord Jesus Christ. He mentions little faith. As you study the Bible, you're going to find that little terms defining or describing faith are mentioned.

And so we have a description of faith being little. There's a thing called little faith. Also in Matthew chapter 15, verse 28, there's a thing called great faith. And in fact, Jesus spoke about the Canaanite woman who came to him, she's a pagan, she's a Gentile, she's outside the covenant of God.

And she's a Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus and it says that her daughter was grievously, that means badly, vexed with a devil, a demonic power that was not natural. Her daughter's life is being destroyed.

What does she do? She comes to Jesus and she says, please heal my daughter. You know what Jesus calls her? A dog. You know what he's doing? He's looking at her heart, oh, to have someone who's going to seek after me.

Does she have faith to seek after me and know I'm a rewarder? Well, you know the story, I'm not going into it, but it says that as her faith persisted, the Lord, I can see him laughing. In no other place do I see the Lord Jesus laughing, but I can hear her going mad.

This woman, I'm going to answer her prayer. She is so determined. Well, even dogs get crumbs off the table. He goes, how can I deny such faith? That faith is called great faith. Then remember as well in Matthew 8, verse 10, the Roman centurion at Capernaum.

Remember how he wouldn't even let Jesus come under his roof? He said, just send the word. I understand these principles of authority and submission. I know how they work. Send the word, my servant's going to get healed.

What did Jesus say again? I haven't found such great faith, such unusual faith, mega faith, larger than life faith, anywhere in Israel. I have to go to a Roman centurion of an invading army. This little lady, she had great faith.

So we have little faith, we have great faith. Then in Romans chapter 4, verse 9, there's two things mentioned in relation to Abraham. It says concerning Abraham being not weak in faith. So you can have faith, but it's weak.

It's very fragile. You could blow it over. You can push it over with a finger. So faith can be little, it can be great, it can be weak. Then in Romans chapter 4, verse 20, it says concerning Abraham, he staggered not at the promises of God, threw on belief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

So not only little faith, great faith, weak faith, we have strong faith. And what is strong faith? It does not stagger at the promises of God. Now, the Bible says two very interesting opposite things about faith in the Bible.

In 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and 2, it says all men do not have faith. They don't. Don't let anyone tell you that everyone generally has a portion of faith. They don't, sinners do not. And that's what it said.

Unreasonable and wicked men, deliver me from them, pray for me. Why? Because all men do not have faith. If they're acting like this, it's because they do not have faith. So all men do not have faith. It's not a natural commodity that everyone has.

It's only real Christians. But in Romans chapter 12, verse 3, it says that God has dealt or given or ministered to every man the measure of faith. Now, there's no contradiction to say that all men do not have faith.

And then on the other hand, to say that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. There's no contradiction. What's he saying? All sinners do not have faith, all Christians do. Every single born again Christian, God shares out a measure of faith.

And it's not always the same size. And it's not always for the same thing. You see, if you try to believe maybe for the things God's given me faith for, you're going to have trouble to do ministry in a certain way.

What if God hasn't called you to ministry? And you say, I don't have any ministry or any faith for that. Well, I wonder why. I wonder why. You see, God gives a measure or a portion of faith to every single born again believer.

So when you come to the New Testament, you see, every real Christian has real faith. Real faith, even if it's little, even if it's weak, even if it's great, even if it's strong. Every real Christian has a portion of faith.

If you say, I've got no faith, then you're not born again. You're lost, you're going to hell. If you have at least little faith, you're saved, you're on your way to heaven. Now, look at this statement, little faith.

Little faith is mentioned four times by Jesus in the book of Matthew. It's mentioned once in the book of Luke by Jesus. So five times we have the Lord talking about little faith. And this is what I'm concentrating on tonight, our message, little faith.

And so we see that Jesus, He points the finger at little faith. When He says the thing five times, little faith, little faith, He's making a point. He exposes it. He rebukes it. He identifies it. He puts a finger on it.

He sets it out and He preaches concerning it. Do you know what little faith means? It means in the Greek, puny faith, lacking confidence. It is a Christian, and I'm dealing with a believer. It is someone lacking confidence, full persuasion, or having a strong foundation.

To have little faith doesn't mean that you have no faith. It means your faith is so little, you can hardly see it or notice it. Your persuasion and confidence in God is so weak that I go, aren't they trusting God?

And so this is what defines little faith. And I've got three points for you here tonight. I'm just preaching on the text that the Holy Spirit has given me these messages. That's why I love just discovering, finding the messages that He's preached.

So I'm a postal boy. I'm not giving opinions. I'm not designing messages. I don't have good insight. I'm just giving you the Word of God. My first point, little faith and financial provision. Little faith and financial provision.

Little Faith and Financial Provision

Go into Matthew 6 and 30. You can listen. You don't need to look, but you can follow if you so desire. Matthew 6, verse 30. It says, Which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven. Shall he not much more clothe you?

Then what does he say? O ye of little faith. That's why I call this first point, little faith and financial provision. He says a bit earlier, beginning in verse 25 of Matthew 6. This is part of the message.

Let me give you the context. Matthew 6, verse 25 is the beginning of this portion on little faith and financial provision. So this statement, when he calls someone, O ye of little faith, or you bunch of little faith, he's speaking to a certain clear group of people about a certain subject.

What is this subject he's dealing with? Well, look at verse 25. If you want to know what is this little faith connected to, go to verse 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on.

Is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment or clothes? So the context of this statement, O you of little faith, is in the context of worrying about the basics of life, about your clothes, about the house over your head, about your food, about providing for all that you need.

This is the context. And as he deals with these things, what does he say? Take no thought. He uses this term thought all through these verses in the context of you of little faith. What's wrong with you that you have little faith?

Do you know the word thought here, what it means? It doesn't mean just thinking about these things or planning ahead or saying, no, what am I going to do in making sure money comes in in the week ahead?

The word thought doesn't mean that here. The word thought means to be anxious, burdened down with worry and frustration, deeply concerned. In other words, very anxious. Have you ever known a worrier? That's what it's talking about.

It means to wring your hands fretting about worrying, staying up all night with these cares. You see, worry strangles faith. Do you hear me? Worrying about the basics of life and house and finance and home and money.

And, you know, we're getting those emails from New Zealand and Australia and Canada of good, genuine believers who love the Lord. They're losing jobs and finance and business and home and they're worrying.

Do you know what? In this hour, we need to hear about little faith. It's not good to have little faith. It's not good to have little faith. Do you know what it's saying here? Something strangled your faith.

If your faith is little, believing in financial provision and how you're going to be taking care, you've got little faith. If your faith is being strangled by worry and fears, it's a bad thing. You're commanded not to do that.

You shouldn't be strangling your faith. Do you see how when you're a worrier and you're anxious and you're getting ulcers in your stomach because you're worrying, do you realize you have little faith?

Oh, I'm a born again Christian. I know that. Begin to act like it. And so you get this Christian of little faith. He has strangled the faith. And look what the Lord says to him. This is not an easy message.

And there's a message from me. I told you, more than for you, this is for me. Keeps my mind and my heart. Midst trials, this message, I've got to hear what the Lord says. You see, there's a danger of little faith coming in, in every area of life.

And so Jesus deals with it. He exposes it. He said, you cannot say that you've got great faith, and yet you're worrying about food for the coming year. You see, you can go from great faith to little faith.

And it's not a good thing. He's rebuking it every time he mentions it. It's a bad thing. He's rebuking it. He's saying, this isn't good. This should not be. Stop worrying. Do you hear me? Stop worrying about the basics of life.

You know, most things you worry about never happen. And yet there's lots of things which we ought to worry about. Sometimes we don't worry about. What does Jesus say? Verse 26. Behold the fowls of the air.

And so he's dealing with little faith. What does he point to? A little animal. The fowls, the birds of the air. For they sow not, neither do they reap, nor do they gather in the barns. Has anyone seen a bird build in a barn recently?

I don't think so. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Do you realize God the Father cares about birds? You may not care about the birds. You may not provide for the birds. But if only you seen this tonight, you go, are you more important than the birds of the air?

Do you think your personal basic needs in your home are more important than the bird flying about the sky? Yet this Jesus teaching about his heavenly Father. He says, my heavenly Father provides for the birds.

It's not just nature. It's not just circumstance. It's not just that they find something. Or the nice guy down the road leaves out bird food during winter. He says, my heavenly Father looks after the birds.

You know what he's trying to deal with? Little faith. You have killed faith. You brought faith down to almost you can hardly see it. It isn't operating. When it comes to issues like this, where is your faith?

Don't you know your heavenly Father loves you and cares about you? Especially when you stand for righteousness. Verse 27. What of you, which of you by taking thought, being anxious, worrying, can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Have you ever tried growing? I know when we're young, we're probably, uh, are done things. Try to pull ourselves up and stretch ourselves. Just wanting to grow a little bit.

But you know what? Did it work? No, absolutely not. You cannot with worrying make your body grow. And he says, neither are you going to get raiment or clothed by worrying. That is not the way. I tell you what, faith will do that.

Faith will produce something. Faith will provide for you. What if in the coming year, your boss rings you up and says, you've just lost your job. You've got your mortgage. You've got your house. You've got your children.

You've got your bills. What are you going to do? You look this message up and go, where did that message go on little faith? I need it. Do you know also he says, listen to this. He says, consider the lilies of the field.

How they grow. They toil not. Neither do they spin and work to get their clothing and their beautiful colors. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed or clothed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is here and tomorrow is cast in the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? O you of little faith. Are you getting the message tonight?

This is the first thing about little faith. Little faith and financial provision. Are you not going to put your trust in your heavenly father? Christ is teaching little faith is an enemy to your faith in the provision of your heavenly father.

God the father says he looks after the sparrow. He looks after the birds of the air. He looks after the lilies, all the different lilies of the field. Don't you know? Don't you believe that he'll, or does your faith not stretch that far?

You see, little faith is marked by, you cannot believe that your heavenly father is concerned about those things. About work and house and job and clothes and food. You think he doesn't care. But he does care.

Look at the verses following the statement, O ye of little faith. Verse 31. Therefore take no thought. It's a command. It's a teaching of Jesus. Do not worry. Do not be anxious. Now I'm telling you, if you're stupid with your money, if you squander it and waste it and destroy it, you better worry.

Because you've got a principle in your life that's negligent on what you sow you're going to reap. If you abuse what God gives you, if you don't give to him first, you're in trouble. So you better give thought to that.

But he's talking about those worrying about basic needs. Saying, what shall we eat? Do you know it could be a bigger curse to you to have all your needs met. And you've never, have you ever been put in a situation where you've got no finance.

And you don't open up your mouth to make it known. And you're going to be in a crisis point. I've been there many times. Not tonight, not now. Just so no one thinks. It's lovely to say it when there's nothing going on.

But I can give you numerous testimonies. I've been in a place, if that doesn't come right now. I've driven to the ferry before, early in the morning. And I don't have the money. I pack my car, say goodbye to everyone.

I'm going to the ferry. I make one stop at a prayer meeting. And I get an envelope and it's the exact amount for the ferry. Not more, not less. The exact amount. And I get into Scotland and I go, what am I going to do for fuel?

And the devil starts to burden. You see, if you haven't been put in that situation, you don't know what you're doing in that situation yet. You could say, I trust the Lord, I believe. Okay, let's remove all the provision.

Go to a place where you go, I don't know what I'm going to eat tomorrow. I've been in that situation. I don't know how we're going to pay the next bills. And you're going to find out, do you have little faith?

Listen to me, I'm talking about real situations. All your resources removed, what is your faith going to look like? You're not going to know until this happens. And don't experiment with it. And don't play games with it.

You don't want this unless God is in it. But if it happens because you're walking with God, then you can say, you know what, in Matthew chapter 6, he warned me not to be of little faith, not to worry.

Heavenly Father, I've got nowhere else to go. I've got no provision. I've got no one to meet my needs. You're the only one who knows my needs. The Bible says, he will provide. It says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Do you believe it? If you don't seek first the kingdom of God, these won't be added. If that has not been the habit of your life of sin, God first, not money, not house, not family. God first, seeking righteousness first.

If you do that, you'll never have to worry about food. Do you hear me tonight? I'm telling you a radical statement. If you seek first the kingdom of God, you'll never have to worry about food or clothes or water or a roof over your head.

Never, never. All these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Don't carry the burdens of other days.

Just deal with today. Don't be worrying about things in a year's time or five years' time or what's going to happen next. Just walk today. That's my first point. Little faith in financial provision. Christ points out that little faith could be a great enemy when you're tested financially and in your possessions.

Little Faith in Life’s Crises

Number two, little faith in the crises of life. The impossibilities, the sudden troubles, sickness, persecution. When things happen you've never seen coming and never imagined and you've got no way to handle with them.

Little faith in the crises of life. You see, often crises show up what your faith looks like. You think you're strong in faith. You think you have great faith. You think you have remarkable faith. I can believe for anything.

I can believe for God to heal the sick. Okay, wait until you get sick or your wife gets sick and now let's see where you are. When you're in that situation, we are going to find out what kind of faith.

It's okay to say something. Hey, if Jesus told me to walk on the water, I could do it. If he told me, Master, if you say I could do that, well, none of us know until it happens, do we? You could talk about it, I could preach about it, but until that comes, no one knows.

You could say, I know. No, you don't. You think, but you do not know until that day. You've got to step out of the boat. You do not know. So little faith in the crises of life. Matthew 8, verse 26. And he, that is Jesus, said unto them, the disciples, they're in a boat.

Why are ye so fearful? What? O ye of little faith. Why? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm instantly. What's the context of him saying, ye of little faith? Talking to his disciples, the 12, his chosen, his closest, his best, his preachers, his apostles.

He's now accusing the 12 apostles of having little faith. Your faith isn't great. It's not strong. It's little, puny, tiny. Do you know at times when I've read the Bible, I have cringed with how he's spoken to the disciples.

I go, you know, people say, I wish I would have lived in that day. Really? You would want Christ publicly saying exactly what your faith is like in front of everyone else, pinpointing and saying, do you know what you've just done?

O ye, why are you scared? Why are you afraid? Sometimes I've almost wanted to duck as I've read the Bible in the morning. I've wanted to go down. I went, Lord, you didn't spare those disciples. I mean, you're rough on those men.

You really deal with them and expose them. Boy, and so he says, you of little faith, where were they? Previous to this in verse 24, it says, they got into the boat, and there arose a great tempest, a great storm in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with waves.

Look at this in your mind's eye. The ship is literally covered. The waves are so high, they cover the boat. Have you ever been in a boat like that? I've never been in a boat to that extent. Rocked about in a storm, but waves literally covering it.

That was the situation. But where was Jesus? He is asleep. He's fast asleep. Do you think he knew about this? Yes. Do you think he knows what's going on? Yes, but he's fast asleep in the boat. Little faith in the crisis of life.

And so the disciples are in a boat. Jesus is in their boat, thank God. But he's asleep in their boat. That's what the message here, asleep in Christ. The disciples have little faith because Christ is asleep.

They're fully convinced. I mean, look at it. He is asleep. He's in their boat, but that's not a big issue to them. They are saying, he is sleeping, and there's a storm going on, and we're actually going to die here.

In verse 25, it says, they awoke him, saying, Lord, save us. We perish. Over in Luke, it says about this, Christ turns and says, where is your faith? Where is it? Mark in chapter 4, verse 40 says, why are ye so fearful?

Why? How is it that you have no faith? But here in Matthew 8, he says, O ye of little faith. So he's looking at them in the storm. Christ is asleep, and they think they're justified. They're terrified.

They're scared of dying. He's asleep, and they're going, why are you asleep in the boat when we're in such trouble? Do you know how little faith manifests? You look at Christ, and you go, you are asleep when I'm in the storm.

Have you ever done it in a trial and trouble? And you go, Lord, you're not speaking to me. You're not communing. Your eyes aren't open. Do you even know what I'm going through? Christ is asleep. Oh, I know I'm born again, but Christ must be asleep.

Do you know what that's a sign of and a symptom of? We so easily do it. We go, where's God? Do you know what he's revealing here? He's actually exposing little faith, what it looks like, how it acts. It's terrified in the storm.

I know this isn't easy for any one of us. If you get terrified in the storm, yet you know Christ is in the boat, and he is real, and you're saved, then it reveals something. Why are you terrified? You go, it's natural and human.

I know, I know. Would I have acted differently here? I don't think so. Maybe you have great faith, but I think my little faith would have been exposed in the storm. You see, little here is being defined.

You can't see it. When Luke says, where is your faith? I can't see it. Oh, I know you're born again. I know you have faith, because it's little faith. It's minute faith. It's small faith. But do you know what?

That little faith is not operating. There is no sign of it. It's not being expressed. It's not being used. It's terrible to have muscles and not use them. Legs, and you don't use them. You lounge about all day long.

You've got two legs. Why not use them? You've got a voice. Why not sing? I hate people singing quiet in church. Yous have got beautiful voices in this church. Use them. A day may come when you can't. Not using it.

Not exercising it. Do you know what this tells me about the disciples? They could only trust or have faith in Christ when they heard His voice, and seen Him active, and seen Him acting, and seen Him rebuke in the wind.

Until they hear that, Him asleep in the boat isn't sufficient. To have seen what He'd done before isn't sufficient. To know His promises isn't sufficient. They've got to see Him actually speaking, stopping the storm before they have faith.

You know what that is? That is little faith. Here in this situation, the wind was going to affect their bodies. They were going to die. But it affected much more than that. It affected their minds. It affected their hearts.

This situation, the crisis of life, made their faith to dissolve. You see, faith can often dissolve under pressure. You could go from great faith before you stepped on the boat. But as soon as that storm hits, now you've got little faith.

The storm, the crisis, actually pressurizes your faith. You could move from great faith to little faith because of circumstance. Christ hasn't changed. You're still the same person. The Word of God is still the same.

But because of the change in your circumstance, the crisis of life, you see this in life. People are faced with this situation. It's like their God died. And you say, but of course. I mean, look, these are real.

I know. I know. Hey, I'm just telling you what Christ said. I'm being dealt with tonight, so don't you stone the preacher tonight. What about Matthew? Here's another incidence of Christ using little faith.

Matthew 1431. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Do you know who he's speaking to? Peter, who's just started to sink into the water.

And think about it. He doesn't wait to get in the boat. He hasn't even pulled him right about. He's actually in the midst of the water, amidst the trial, amidst the sinking. He's saying, O you of little faith, talk about rubbing salt in the wound.

You say, don't mention. The Lord would never discourage me or condemn me or point out. What Jesus do you talk about? What Bible are you reading? He does love you. He does care about you. But I'm telling you, little faith in your life is not a friend.

It really isn't. And so he exposes it. What do we see here in these verses? We see Peter from the boat till that point. We see a fluctuating faith. If you think your faith as a Christian is the same in every situation all the time, year in, year out, you know nothing of this walk of faith.

In looking at Peter, in the same situation, with the same Christ, with the same surroundings, same period of time, I see his faith fluctuate, change moment by moment. Do you know what it said just before this?

Remember when he was in the boat, he said, Lord, if it be you. Do you see faith wasn't sure, could not identify Christ. It looks like Christ. It seems to be Christ, but I'm not sure. That is an issue of faith.

Is the Lord in the storm or is he not? Is he here or is he not? Then he goes further. And he says unto the Lord, if it is you, bid me come walk in the water. Now faith is moving in a direction. It's not obscure going, is this the Lord?

No, it's very definite saying, if that is you, then bid me to come. I want you to actually ask. I need your word for it. I can't be stupid or presumptuous or do something brave. But I want you. You see how faith is operating here.

Fluctuating faith. His faith, his move in saying, if this is the Lord, there's nothing impossible. He can actually call me to walk in the water, to come to him. I can do it. That is a stirring of faith within his very heart.

It's a remarkable thing. You see, initially his faith was fine. In the boat, his faith looked good. It sounded good. Master, call me to come. That is faith. This is real faith and Christ doesn't rebuke him.

He never condemns the faith in the boat because it's real faith. It's strong faith. It's great faith. It's real faith. It's a faith in the word of Christ. It was a faith that got him to step out of the boat.

It was a faith that actually got him to ask Christ to ask him to come on the water. That is real faith. That wasn't weak faith. That isn't puny faith. That is remarkable faith and a miracle came out of it.

A really unusual testimony arises out of this. Christ didn't rebuke that faith because it was strong faith. It was good faith. It was right faith, not presumptuous. And it was not just a faith that got you out of the boat.