How Much of Faith is Ours?

Hebrews 12 and the Question of Whether Faith Is Ours

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn to Hebrews 12. Last week in the midst of the sermon which I preached last week on Hebrews 12 verses 1 -3, in the midst of the sermon we came across a short phrase in the text that I said that I might choose to dedicate more time to this week.

Well, as I often do Sunday afternoons and Monday, I sit and prepare what I'm going to be preaching the next week and I think about what I want to do as I was sitting thinking about moving ahead to verse 4.

I kept going back to this phrase and I felt like it would be important to stop and give it just a little bit more attention. Sometimes it's hard to flesh out everything in only one sermon. The phrase that we're going to be concerning ourselves with this morning, if you're looking at the English Standard Version, the phrase is the founder and perfecter of our faith.

If you're looking at a New American Standard Bible, it is the author and perfecter of faith. And if you're looking at a King James Version of the Bible, it's the author and finisher of our faith. Now, last week we focused on the overarching context of these three verses.

We focused on how they fit together and how they fit into the overall thrust of the book. But this week we're going to look at this little short phrase as sort of an aside and we're going to look at the meanings of these words along with some other times that these same phrases are used in the New Testament describing our relationship to faith.

And we're going to ask this question. It is the question of the morning. How much of faith is ours? How much of faith is ours? So let's open the text, stand together and read it and pray that God opens our hearts at the same time to our understanding.

So Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2 begins with looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Our Father and our God, we thank You for this opportunity to be about the business of studying the Word. We praise You, Lord, for what You've given us. That You have miraculously maintained it, sustained it and preserved it down through the ages to today so that we might have the Word to study and to know.

And Father, I do pray that You will keep me from error as I preach. I pray that You will keep my mind focused on the text and the truth of it. And I pray, Lord, that You would open up hearts to understand it.

And all these things, Lord, we ask according to Jesus' name. Amen. One of the teachings for which Reformed theology is known is called the doctrine of total depravity. If you've been here more than a year or two, I'm sure you've heard me use the phrase total depravity multiple times.

You've probably heard me preach on the subject. But just in case you haven't, and just because we always need to be reminded of important doctrines, particularly doctrines about the nature of man, I wanted this morning to begin by simply reiterating it for our edification.

Total depravity is the teaching that man, because of his fall and being born in sin and spiritually dead, has a moral inability to come to faith on his own volition. Now, it's important that we make that distinction immediately because you'll notice I said a moral inability.

I did not say a physical inability. It's not as if we have physical chains that hold us back from believing. It's not as if there's some chemical in our brain that just hasn't been released. You know, an extra bit of this or an extra bit of that that needs to be released for us to believe in Jesus.

No, the problem with us is that morally, apart from grace, we have no desire to come to Christ. That is to say that while there is not a physical limitation within the brain, there is a spiritual limitation because the Bible says that apart from faith, apart from Christ, apart from grace, we are in fact dead in sin.

Not sick, as I've often heard people say. People are sick in their sins and they just need the medicine of the gospel. No, no, no. We don't need the medicine of the gospel. We're dead in sin and we need the life-altering resurrection power of the gospel is what we need.

It's not just an antibiotic. It's an entire resurrection power that the gospel brings with it. And as such, we will not, apart from grace, choose to accept that which is only discerned spiritually. The Bible says so very clearly.

This is not a doctrine which is made up by theologians. It is not something that was invented by Martin Luther or John Calvin or George Lingly. It is something that has been believed since the very earliest part of the church.

In fact, it's written in the scripture itself. It was believed even as early as Augustine who fought against Pelagius about this particular teaching that man by his own nature will not by his own volition come to God, but he must be enabled by God's grace.

This is very clear. In fact, the Bible says in Romans chapter three, as it is written, none is righteous. No, not one. We remember this passage. It's very easy for us to remember, but it goes on to say, no one understands, no one seeks for God.

I have friends in the ministry. Obviously, I have friends who are pastors and I have friends who are not reformed. And it always makes me have an internal little just moment when I hear them say, we are a seeker sensitive church.

We're here to service God seekers. And I say, no one understands, no one seeks for God. I say we're a seeker sensitive church, too, but we're actually sensitive to the only one who seeks. God is the one who seeks us.

We don't seek him. So we're actually sensitive to his wants, his needs, his desires, rather than the needs and desires of unbelievers, because guess what? They're not seeking for God anyway. All we can do is preach the gospel and pray God changes their hearts.

No rock show that we put on, no hot dog party that we produce, no pizza party we have is going to change their hearts. Only the gospel will change their hearts. I know we don't amen much, but that would have been a real good time to throw one in there.

Thank you. I was I was really aching for one right there. No, no. But that's the truth, though, isn't it? We see these churches, they call themselves seeker sensitive. And really what they do is they appeal to the flesh of unbelievers.

That's what they did there. They appeal to the flesh, hoping that someone will seek after God when the Bible says clearly that apart from grace, no one does. The text goes on to say all have turned aside together.

They become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood and their paths are ruined in misery. And the way of peace they have not known. And then verse 18 is the is the the precipice of the entire argument is there is no fear of God before their eyes.

This is the statement of the Apostle Paul in regard to the state of man apart from grace. Man apart from grace does not fear God. He said, wait a minute. Grace causes us fear. We just sang a song. We affirmed it in tune.

It was grace that taught my heart to fear. Right. Because it is grace that opens our heart to who God truly is and helps us understand how small we are, how large he is. And Jesus affirms this. This is not something that was invented by the Apostle Paul.

This doctrine is very clear in Scripture. The Apostle Paul teaches it. But so did Jesus. The rich young ruler came running to Jesus and said, good teacher, what must I do to be saved? And Jesus said, why do you call me good?

See, Jesus immediately made an assault against his assumption.

Why do you assume I'm good?

No one is good save God alone. And Jesus was not saying he wasn't good. He was saying you don't know that I'm God. Why are you saying I'm good? All you see is a man. How would you think I'm good knowing that there is no one good except God?

So Jesus makes the affirmation that on our own, in our natural state, none of us is good. There is none who seeks after God. You see, we are all in a natural state of rebellion against God. And here's the thing.

Our natural state of rebellion does not change as a result of our own will. I think Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 23 makes this very clear. Jeremiah 13, 23 asks the question, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?

And the obvious answer is no. And then he goes on to say, then also you can do good who are accustomed to doing evil. You see the result. He's saying you've got an Ethiopian, which is how they would have understood someone with dark colored skin.

They said, can the Ethiopian change his skin to light color? No. Can a leopard change the spots? No. And you who are by nature sinful, can you change yourself? And the answer, of course, is no. The Bible teaches that man is dead in his trespasses and sins.

And the dead do not bring about their own resurrection. You see, we don't just need spiritual encouragement. We need spiritual resurrection. The dead must be acted upon by an outside force to be made alive.

Just as God brings physical resurrection, so also does he have to bring spiritual resurrection. You remember the story of Lazarus. Lazarus came out of the grave upon the command of Christ. Lazarus did not just get up and walk out of the grave on his own volition.

He didn't decide to be alive. He had to be given life by Christ. So too, we who are dead in sin do not decide to give ourselves spiritual life. It is God who opens up our heart. It is God who gives us spiritual life.

Based upon this, we can be confident that faith itself, true, living, genuine faith, is not something that is mustered up by sinful men. In fact, the Bible is very clear about the fact that the carnal mind is actually at war with God.

It is at enmity with God and doesn't want to do what God wants it to do until it is changed. Romans 8, verse 7,. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Notice it doesn't say there it will not. It speaks here of the absolute moral inability of the unbeliever, the one whose heart is set on the flesh, and it must be because it is dead spiritually. The heart which is set on the flesh, the mind which is set on the flesh, cannot submit to God's law.

It cannot. And if there be any contention, if there be any debate, as I've said, many people have said, wait a minute now, you're quoting an awful lot from the Apostle Paul. And you know, Peter said Paul is difficult to understand.

Even Peter himself said some of Paul's writings are just a little heavy and, you know, they can be misunderstood. All right, let's break it down. Jesus said, John 6 and 44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

No one can. That's what we call, and you've all heard this, I know you're probably saying, Pastor, I've heard you preach this before. I want you to remember this. So I'm saying it again. No one can is a universal negative.

If I said no one can ride a unicycle, and then you see someone riding a unicycle, I am a liar or I'm mistaken. Because no one can is a universal negative. Right? So when Jesus says no one can come to me, he could have stopped right there and we would all have been in a lot of trouble.

Because that's a universal negative. But then Christ adds the caveat, unless my Father who sent me does something prior to the coming, which is the drawing. And lest you be confused to think that that drawing is simply a universal wooing of the Spirit, where God's saying, come on, come on, come on.

The word draw in the Greek is very clear. It does not mean to woo. It means to drag. The same word is used over in the Gospel or the book of Acts. And it's used, Paul was drawn into prison. Now I'm pretty sure they didn't stand in prison and go, Come on, Paul.

Pretty sure? Yes, no, he was dragged. Now you say, now wait a minute. Does that mean God drags us? Well, here's the picture I want you to paint. You're dead in sin. Is God going to woo your dead spirit?

Or is He going to reach down into that dead grave of your soul and give you life and pull you out? The same picture is used of a bucket going down into a well and being pulled up. That's where this word comes from.

So you paint the picture yourself. And again, in case that one isn't enough, if you jump over to verse 65 of the same chapter, thus the same context, it says this. This is why I told you no one can come to me, universal negative, unless it is granted to him by my Father.

What is the it in that sentence? The it refers to the actual coming. The action of coming is the it. This is why I told you no one can come unless it, it is the coming, the act of coming, is granted to him by my Father.

So, grace is what gives a dead, rebellious, sinful soul the ability to take the spiritual step of faith. Apart from grace, no one would come. This is why we believe that faith itself is not something which we muster up on our own as that would be impossible.

Even repentance itself would be impossible without the mercy of God. In fact, Acts 11 and verse 18 says that. It says, when they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life.

God grants repentance. And my favorite one is 2 Timothy 2 and verse 24 because it talks about how the pastor ought to behave in the church. It says, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness, because God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. That's why we are supposed to behave as Christians towards unbelievers because we are in prayer and hope that God will open their hearts to repent.

Not that my words will break someone's heart, but that my words would be the tool that God would use when He opens their heart to believe. As such, all of that was the foundation for the sermon. That was all introduction, so here we go.

Now, that was laying the foundation because we haven't even looked at chapter 12 of Hebrews yet. All that was simply to say that the doctrine of total depravity is supported in Scripture. We know what it teaches.

It teaches that man by nature does not come to God on his own, but must be granted grace to come. So, now we go to chapter 12 of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews has already spent 11 chapters describing Jesus in some of the most magnificent passages of all of the New Testament.

He's already described Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God. He's already described Jesus as being the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies. He's already described Jesus as being the founder of our salvation.

So, when he comes to chapter 12 in verse 2, here he is talking what we talked about last week. He's talking about the encouragement to move forward. The encouragement to continue on with our faith. And he says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.

And he goes on to talk about Christ. Now, that little statement does not have to be in the text for the sentence to be a complete sentence. If he simply said, looking to Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, that would make a complete sentence.

So what we understand is he has taken this part of the sentence and he has added in a title for Christ. He says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. And then he goes on. And again, he could have adequately described Jesus without using that phrase, but he used that phrase specifically.

He chose that phrase specifically to give us one of the most powerful descriptions of Christ that we have in the New Testament, particularly in regards to Christ's relationship to our faith. He uses two phrases to describe Him.

He uses the phrase, the founder of faith and the perfecter of faith. Now, I want to admit something, and I normally don't admit this, but this is one of those times where I personally prefer the King James rendering.

I really do like the way the King James renders this particular passage, only because I appreciate the words that are used there, especially after having examined them as I have. The first word that we have here, the word that the English Standard Version uses, the founder of our faith, is the Greek word archigon, and it simply, as the King James renders it, it means author, originator, one who establishes, one who begins, one who starts.

And some have had a problem with that. Some have read the King James Version and they see the word author and they say, well, we don't like the idea that Jesus is the author of faith, especially those who are opposed to Reformed theology, because they'll say, well, I don't like the idea that Jesus actually begins faith.

I like to think about it as Jesus is the captain or the pioneer, and that's why some of the newer versions actually use the word captain, pioneer, something like that, something to sort of draw away from the fact that he actually starts it and sort of moves into the fact that he's sort of the first, the captain, the head, but not really the author.

So, just for our edification, I decided to look that word up, the word that is archagon, the Greek word, and how it's used in other passages of Scripture. If you go to Acts chapter 3 and verse 15, it reads this, it says, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead, to this we are witnesses.

Now, obviously, the word is here capitalized, easy for us to understand which word in the sentence it is. Notice the phrase here is author of life. Now, could we say Jesus is the captain of life? Well, we could.

Could we say Jesus is the pioneer of life? Well, possibly. But, ultimately, he is the originator. The Bible says in the Gospel of John chapter 1, By him all things were made, and nothing was made without him.

Very clearly, he is the author, originator of life. Now, come back to chapter 12 of Hebrews, when it says he is the author of faith. Same word. In fact, similar construction. Acts chapter 5 uses the word, and it's translated as leader, and that, and there is a time where archagon can mean first in line, or leader.

So, yes, we see it here. It says, God exalted him to the right hand as leader and Savior. So, we do see it used that way there. But then, in Hebrews chapter 2, we see it again, and remember, when you're looking at context, it's often good to look at how the same writer uses the same word in different places in the book.

This is the same writer, the same writer who wrote chapter 2 that wrote chapter 12, and he uses it in saying the founder of our salvation. And, again, I like the word founder, but not as much as I like the word author.

Originator. One who establishes. Christ is not just the leader of life. He's the originator of life. So too is He not just the leader of our faith. He established it. One writer put it this way, From this we can deduce that Christ is the originator of our faith and that He begins it, as well as the captain and prince of our faith.

This indicates that Jesus controls our faith, steers it as a captain steers a ship, and presides over it and cares for it as a monarch presides over and cares for His people. Christ is the originator, the founder, and He is, in fact, also the captain.

So He is the founder of our faith. He is the author of it. And the second word we look at is the word in the ESV, perfector. But, again, I like the King James because it's the word finisher. In the Greek it's teleontane.

And it simply means one who brings something to a conclusion. So you have author is one who causes something to begin. And then you have finisher, one who brings something to a conclusion. And what's interesting is, you know how I showed you all those places where that same Greek word was used for author?

Well, the problem with this word is it's only used one time in the entire King James. And guess where? Well, it has to be here, right? That's it, yeah. It's only here used in the King James. And that makes it sort of difficult to do a word study because you've only got one word to see.

But the thing is, the word is not hard to interpret. The root is used in other places. And the root is usually, the times that I've looked it up and found it, it's used to describe some form of death, bringing something to a conclusion.

So, again, the idea that we're seeing here, Christ is the author and finisher. If you wanted to break it down to Southern language, He's the beginner and the ender. I mean, I'm Southern, so I can do that.

He's the one that started it. He's the one that ends it. He is the one who is responsible for it. It starts and ends with Jesus. But there's one other point that's important to point out. How many of your Bibles say that He is the author and finisher or the founder and perfecter, whatever words it uses.

We now know the Greek words, so we know what it originally said. How many of your Bibles say that He is the founder and perfecter of our faith? If you've got an ESV, it does. I know that. If you've got an NIV, it does.

Our faith. Here's a neat little thing you can find out. The word our is not in the Greek. In fact, in a lot of King James versions, it's in italics to let you know that it's not in the original. The text does not literally say that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

The text literally says Jesus is the author and finisher of faith. In fact, if you have an NAS, that's exactly what it says, which is another time where the NAS trumps the rest because it is most accurate to the original.

The NAS actually says He's the author and finisher of faith. That is not to say that our faith is not in view, but it is to say that it's not part of the original context. And perhaps the writer here is saying more specifically that faith itself has its beginning and its ending in Christ.

That is why I think this passage is so vitally important. It points to Jesus as being the very origin of saving faith, the very reason why it exists. And we need to understand that we do not simply believe upon whim or upon having been intellectually convinced faith does not come from within us.

Faith is from God through Christ who established it and completes it. Faith is a gift from God, which is why the Bible says, for by grace have you been saved through faith and that is not of yourself.

It is the gift of God and not of works. Furthermore, not only is faith something that God through Christ provides, faith is also something that God through Christ sustains. How many of you know this verse?

He who began a good work in you will do what? Will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1, verse 6. Almost everybody I know, particularly my friends, I went to a Baptist seminary. Baptists are very, very good at quoting that particular verse because they believe in eternal security.

They believe that once you're saved that God will maintain your salvation and that you will not lose it. I believe it too, but for an entirely different reason. But be that as it may, the point of the matter is this verse does support the idea that that which began in us was began by God and the reason why it sustains to completion is because of the work of God and grace and not us.

He who began the good work will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. I like the way Jude puts it. How often do we quote Jude? Here's a quote from Jude. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

Amen. I love the first part. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling. You see, the reason why I believe that we're saved is that I believe God is the One who sustains us, that we do not sustain ourselves.

So we understand that faith is not from within. Faith is from above. It comes not from our sinful hearts, but from the gracious hand of God. So this leads me back to my original question. All of this was to bring you back to a question which I want you to ponder in your hearts and I want you to think about.

How much of faith is ours? It begins with Christ. It ends with Christ. He is the author and finisher of it. But yet at the same time, the Bible uses personal pronouns to describe faith. The Bible talks about your faith.

My faith. Jesus commended people for their great faith. And He condemned people for their lack thereof. In fact, Jesus said, and we talked about this this morning, one person got sick and Jesus healed them.

And He said, thy faith has made thee well. And at one time, one person sinned and Christ forgave their sin. And He says, thy faith has saved thee. We've heard these phrases. It's your faith. But if Christ is responsible for starting our faith and Christ is responsible for bringing it to its conclusion, can it then be genuinely called our faith?

The answer is yes. And here's the reason. The reason is that while it is God who opens our heart to believe, and it is God who sustains our ability to be faithful, God is not believing for us. I truly do believe in Jesus.

You who are saved this morning truly do believe in Jesus. It is not as if God is inside of you believing for you, though He is inside of you as the Holy Spirit and the person of the Holy Spirit empowering you to believe.

A believer in Jesus is just that, a person who believes in Christ. And from that perspective, we can talk about our faith because it is our faith. But within the broader spectrum of reality, we must also understand that we would not possess that faith had God not opened our hearts to believe.

And we would not persevere in that faith if God were not there to sustain us. God opens our heart and God preserves us and God sustains us to believe from our heart. As such, I can talk about my faith, but I should always realize that my faith comes not from my own intelligence, not from my own understanding of the world, not because I was brought up in a Christian home or because I had a Christian stepmother or because I had a Christian father or because I had a Christian mother or because I had Christian friends.

The reason my heart opened to the Gospel was because God opened it to the Gospel. I know many people who grew up in a home that was not Christian, and today they are the strongest believers I know. And I know many people who grew up in Christian homes and their hearts are far from God.

It is God who enables us to believe. And I will not persevere in my faith because of any spiritual strength in myself, but rather because God will sustain that which He began in me. The words of Paul ring out to us this morning.

I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father God, we thank You for this opportunity to have been in the study of Your Word.

And we do pray, Lord, that this time of study has been encouraging to Your people, that it has instructed them about the nature of genuine faith, and that it has reminded them of Christ as both author and finisher of our faith.

We pray, Lord, now that as we come to this conclusion in our service, we pray, Lord, that You would encourage the believers, that You would convict the unbelievers, and that You would move among us and bring about Your will which only You can do.

We thank You, Lord, for the Gospel that we proclaim. We pray that You would just continue to strengthen us to proclaim it. In Jesus' name we pray, and for His sake. Amen. Stand with us now as we sing our song of benediction.

And if you have a need, please come as we sing.