INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• Doubt can be so destructive in our lives. For Mr. Templeton, it pretty much ruined his life.
• As we continue on with our series “Equip, The Essential Tools For Spiritual Living”, my prayer is that we can learn how devastating doubt can be if left unchecked.
• Doubt not only can ruin our relationship with Jesus, but it can also destroy relationships around us.
• As we explore the issue of doubt, we are not on a crusade to condemn asking questions about your faith or asking questions about God. In the case of Mr. Templeton it seems as though because he did not get the answers HE wanted, he decided to forsake his faith and go on to live a troubled life.
• The bottom line with some of the questions we have is this, in this life we will NEVER have all the answers and secondly, we will not always LIKE the answers we do receive.
• The issue we need to deal with is what do we do when we do not understand or get the answers we like?
• In the context of the passage we will examine today, James is talking to his readers about how to deal with trials that come with life along with an explanation of some of the blessing that comes through trials.
• James goes on to further say in verse 5 that if we lack wisdom, we can ask God and He will generously give it to us.
• But then James puts a condition on receiving wisdom from God and I would expand that condition to anything we ask of God.
• Turn with me to James 1:6-8
• SLIDE #2
• James 1:6-8(ESV) 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
• The best way to drill holes in our doubt is to understand that…
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Faith displaces doubt.
• Verse 6 tells us is that if we are going to ask (for wisdom in the context) things of God that we need to ask in faith.
• As the folks are reading this, their faith was being tested by the trials many of them were facing.
• The way they were going to be able to endure the trials was to rely on their faith in Jesus.
• Faith boils down to having continual confidence in God despite the circumstances.
• SLIDE #4
• Hebrews 11:6(ESV) 6And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
• If we go to God in faith, confident in who He is and what He can do. If we lack faith in God, then why ask?
• God is not in the business of answering the “just in case there is a God prayers.”
• Faith is connected with the granting of prayer requests in many New Testament passages.
• The word “faith” in verse 6 is not the general term for Christian belief but it refers to the certainty that the request will be fulfilled.
• Faith will dispel doubt even if we do not understand what is going on around us.
• In John 6:68 when Jesus said some things that were hard to understand many of His followers lift Him. Jesus turns to His disciples and asks them if they too are going to leave Him. Peter answers
• SLIDE #5
• John 6:68(ESV) 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
• Peter knew that although he may not have understood what was going on, that his doubt and possible insecurities could not lead him away from Jesus.
• When I think of the possibilities with God, I think of the story of David and Goliath.
• The whole time the Israelite Army was being challenged by Goliath to go one on one with anyone from the Israelite army, not one single person, including the king had enough faith in God to take Goliath on.
• All the army could see each day as Goliath taunted them was a giant that could not be defeated.
• David, whom had seen God work in his life previous to Goliath had no doubt that God would deliver Goliath into his hand. What others saw as a problem, young David saw as an opportunity for God to shine!
• Before we move on, we need to know the phrase “with no doubting” is not honest intellectual doubt or lack of clarity about the solution. It is not confusion over whether it is right to ask. It is divided loyalty. It is doubting that God cares, that he is powerful, that he is good.
• This leads to our next observation. Another reason we need ot drill holes on our doubts is…
• SLIDE #6
II. Doubt displaces stability.
• Verse 6 and 8 explain to us…
• …for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
• When we live in faith our life has a stability to it, we know whom we are anchored to, who we can turn to in times of trouble.
• To be unstable in our ways deals with the path of life we walk.
• SLIDE #7
• Matthew 7:24-25(ESV) 24“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
• Doubt means “a divided mind” it describes a person “divided” between being self-centered and being God-centered.
• The word doubt means to be at odds with one’s self.
• When we are filled with doubt we are double-minded. We cannot decide if we are going to go all in with God or if we are going to still rely on self to get things done.
• The behavior of sea waves is unsettled, going back and forth, driven by the varying winds, like the doubter’s mind. Such a person wavers between choices and may, in the end, make no decision at all.
• Circumstances become the decision makers in that person’s life. When God’s promises and commands are given equal authority with our feelings, desires, and the world’s ideas, the result is an unsettled sea of indecision and chaos. (Life Application Commentary)
• Once we allow ourselves to be driven by the wind and the waves of life, our doubt will affect what we believe.
• SLIDE #8
• Ephesians 4:14(ESV) 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
• A double-minded person as described in verse 8 has no foundation, they cannot seem to trust God. It is almost like trying to serve two Gods. The God of heaven and the god you eventually decide to rely on.
• It is like the scene in the movie “The Mummy”. One of the characters has a necklace for every religion known to man hoping one would save him in his time of need.
• A final reason we need to drill hole in our doubt is…
• SLIDE #9
III. Doubt displaces blessings.
• . 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord
• God wants to bless us, but if we are double-minded and unstable in our ways, then what we do is shut off the blessings of God.
• We do not think God can, will, or is even capable of doing what we need, He will not, and then we will say, I TOLD YOU SO, when we are the cause of the blessings being shut off.
• Such an indecisive and fickle person cannot be trusted to be consistent in anything he does. His instability is in stark contrast to the perseverance or strong consistency produced by enduring trial (v. 4).
• The person who asks trustingly does not determine how God will answer, but he or she can be confident in knowing that God will answer. The person who asks doubtfully has no right to expect anything.
• His or her request was not genuine. When it seems as if God hasn’t answered our prayers, we need to begin the search for a solution by asking ourselves whether we were trusting when we prayed. (Life Application Commentary)
• We need to realize that doubt can destroy blessings not only from God but it can destroy the blessings we have in our relationships if we allow it.
• What did Satan do with Eve in the garden? He got her to doubt and that doubt led her down a path she knew better than to walk.
CONCLUSION
• When we go to God we can go doubting or we can go in faith. If we cannot go in faith we are really going through an exercise in futility because we will for sure not receive anything from the Lord.
• Going in faith does not guarantee we will get the answer WE want or the WAY we want it, but we can rest assure that God is in control!
• Do you want to enjoy peace, joy, stability ad blessings?
• Those things are found through Jesus!
