That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord.For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord;
3 sermons cite this verse
… and it will be given to him but let him ask in faith with no doubting he who doubts is like the wave of the sea driven and tossed by wind let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Verse 12, blessed is the man who endures temptation. For when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Verse 18, of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Look at verse 18 again. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Let me stop here for this verse just a moment. We'll read a couple more and then we'll go back to the beginning and talk. the one who spoke the worlds into being spoke you into life and literally spoke his truth to you and caused you to be born again by the spirit of the resurrected Christ that took up residence in you. But it was the declared word of God. He declared his will over you. He declared his nature over you. His word is actually the seed of his own nature. And he declared the seed of his own nature, and he planted it into your soul, into mine. And it helps to bring about …
… driven and tossed by the wind. But let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now, I want you to get the context of what James is saying here before we come to this matter of wavering faith because it all fits together. And so here's what he's saying. As these who were probably responding to him and talking to him about the difficulty and hardship, talking about the trials, he's writing to encourage them. And so he says, now, count it all joy when you fall into divers or various temptations and trials. doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Why should I get rejoicing over pain and hurt and things I can't change and things I can't alter in my life? Yeah, that's exactly what he says. And so he says, if you'll notice, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, he says, now here's what I want you to do. He says, I want you to rejoice, count it a joy when you fall into these testings and trials and temptations. Now, in the King James says temptation, the word really a better word is the word here means those periods of testing which have a purpose in them. …
… driven and tossed by the wind. But let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Every single one of us has had the problem with wavering faith because there's some things that hit us blindsided or hit us right in the front. There's some things that you and I know that we need and we come to ask God for and we waffle in our faith. We say, well, now, here's what he said. Here's what I ask. I'm going to trust God. Hallelujah. Amen. About a half hour later, we say, oh, God, I hope you will. I hope you will. And so, what happens? We go back and forth. You know what he says? He says, don't expect to get it. That's a pretty strong statement. I want us to examine for a few moments what causes us to wave in our faith. We have been saved by the grace of God. We have the Bible. We have the promises of God. We know what he says. We know he's an unconditional loving God. We would agree that he's absolutely faithful. He's what in the world makes us weave and wobble and to and fro and wave in our faith? …