 Is faith a gift, meaning did you believe on your own or did God cause you to believe? A pretty interesting and at the same time debatable and controversial topic is this issue of faith. The faith that we have that's required for salvation. Is that a gift from God or did you believe and then salvation itself becomes a gift? Or are they both a gift? And so what I want to do is I want to go to the passage, look at a look at a few more other passages to see what actually is the truth. And so let's go to Ephesians two first eight says for my grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Not as a result of works so that no one can boast. So the question is, is this saying that faith is a gift or that salvation is a gift? And then it says verse nine, not as a result of works or what you've done ergon your workings so that no man may boast. Now the question is, is he saying that faith is a work? Then he says, for we are his workmanship verse 10 created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk and then walk and walk in these particular works. Now I don't want to get too much in it, but it seems to indicate that there was something that God was doing that God has a purpose for us being in him that goes back to this question. Is the faith, the very faith that we have, is it from us or is it from him? Well, to answer this question, we're going to have to deal with a couple of things first. We're going to come back to this passage a second. But the question is, is it possible for someone to believe outside of God working in them? Is it possible someone can believe, believe that this is true? Because what faith is believing? I trust that what you say is true about Jesus that I'm a sinner, that he died on the cross because that's what was required for him to shed blood. I trust that that happened. I believe that that happened, that he died on the third day of rose and now he has since ascended to the right hand of the Father. Is it possible that a person can believe that and that not be done or initiated by God? Well, the fact of the matter is that it's true. You can have that kind of faith that kind of belief that's not initiated by God. Now I want to put a big ashram beside that because we see that happening throughout scripture. We see all throughout the Old Testament people having a belief. However, something about that belief isn't the same sort of belief that saves. It's not faith that is saving faith. Now before I make my point and try to prove this, let's go to Luke 8. Jesus is talking about the parable of the sores and he says this is the seed. The seed is obviously the word of God which he tells us and then keep in mind though he's going to reiterate this that the heart, that is the soil, that's the ground in which the word is sown in. Now I need you to make that understand that point because that is vitally important to understand this issue of faith being a work of God whether it is or whether it's not. But let's continue. He says those beside the road are those who have heard then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart. So the word is in their heart and it says that and that's Jesus speaking. So we don't have to figure out if maybe a particular speaker is missaying this or something like that. This is Jesus saying this. The word is taken from their heart by the devil so that they will not believe and be saved. Now it seems to say that they will not believe meaning that they didn't believe at all. But the word that's used here is this Greek word pistosantes which is a heiress active participle that means that they would not be believing. That's a big difference. Voice, tense, mood, those matter when we're looking at especially in this case words. So he takes the word from their heart so that they would not be believing. Those on the rocky soil are those who when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no firm root. No firm root in terms of the soil which is the heart. They believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. So it also says they believe for a while and so that means their belief was obviously according to the passage temporary. This belief can happen by anybody. Anybody can have a temporary belief. Would we state that this belief that they have is something that's initiated by God? No, it's not. As a matter of fact let's keep reading. The seed which fell among the thorns these are the ones that have heard and as they go on their way they are choked with the words and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity. Now here's the good one. But the seed in the good soil in where we say the soil is the heart. He's going to say that in a second. These are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and hold it fast and bear fruit with repentance. Now that belief that was the one that I would say is the one that is initiated by God. The word is the seed. The word of God is the seed and it's planted where? In good soil or a good heart. The question is where does this good heart come from? This is what keeps a person in this saving faith, this ability to keep believing. And I'm using this word keep believing which is very important vital understand. It is important to distinguish between the person that has a temporal belief. They believe for the moment versus someone that has the ability or someone that's believing continuously. In the Bible people that continuously believe always needed God's presence. Whether in the Old Testament either by miracles by the leading of a prophet by his presence being there or in the new with these hearts being regenerated. Again if your heart is not regenerated well then you would be like the first set of seeds that he's talking about those people who that heard the word and then it resulted in nothing future. It resulted in no fruit being born. It results in them still walking away because the cares of the world of different things that are happening at them. That kind of faith is not received in a good heart. Well where does a good heart come from? A good heart is what Jesus describes as being born again, being born from above. And remember Ezekiel talks about that God is going to take our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, put his spirit in us and watch as he speaks out about Israel. But then John 1 lets us know that all of us that are born of God are born that way. And Jesus says that in order to be in the kingdom of God you first must be born from above. Again if they know them born from above, born again, born of spirit, born of water and spirit. That's his point and we know that this being born is not an act of our own self. We don't cause ourselves to be born. Matter of fact Peter says that it is God who caused us to be born. 1 Peter 1 3 he says this he says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his great mercy has caused us. He caused us to be born again. So it should be clear that the being born again part, that's not us doing it. We don't cause ourselves to be born again. He does that. So the faith that we have that keeps us going, this continual faith, that seems to be a result of God. Paul tells in Titus 3 5 that he saved us that is God did this not on the basis of these on our deeds, but we did, but he saved us on the basis of his own rights according to his own mercy, have so by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And this word this used here by this regeneration, this is the word pala palen genomai means again being born, which is the same term that's being used in John 3 5, John 3, I'm sorry, where he talks about that we must be born again. The same thing that Peter says that he caused us to be born. It's not us that did it, but him, which is why he can also say Paul can save this confidence that he has in Philippians 1 6. He says for I am confident this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ. He will perfect it. So one as a promise that he will perfect it. And then it's also there that he is the one that started us. Well, how do we know that he could be perfected? He's the one that started us. Well, this this confidence is based on the fact that he has worked in our heart, is working in our heart. But the but more to the point, he's the one that began it. So let's go back to Ephesians 2. And I want you to notice something there's a little it might get a little bit complicated or complex, but I want to show you something in the Greek as well. It says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not for yourself. It is the gift of God. So the question is, again, what is the gift of God? Well, in Greek, there's this word tutta. And let's go to it. Here it is. It's highlighted for you on the screen. This word tutta, that is of God, not that it's of God, not of you, but of God. So what is the tutta referring to? Now, how we can figure this out is in Greek, you've got masculine, feminine, and neuter. If this in this case is neuter, if the word that is referring to is neuter, well, then we'll know which word is referring to. So let's go look at faith. And then let's go look at salvation. And so if we go to salvation, well, salvation is in the masculine. Well, this tutta is in the neuter. So is it possible that this tutta is referring to the salvation? If the this is being saved or the this gift is referring to the salvation? Well, we've got a neuter and a masculine. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're not referring to each other, but they're not the same, at least right now. One is neuter, one is masculine. Well, what about faith? Let's go to faith and let's see that. Faith is this word right here, pisteos, which is also not neuter. This happens to be in the feminine. So now we've got a problem. Well, truth be told, we actually have a solution because when you have a masculine noun and a feminine noun, how can you encompass both of them? Well, you cannot use a masculine demonstrative, which is what this is. This is a demonstrative that those they those what we call demonstrative. And so if it was in the masculine, then it would refer to the masculine noun. If it were in the feminine, the demonstrative, the this was in the feminine, then it would refer to the feminine noun. But in this case, it's in the neuter. And so the Greek of this would dictate that it encompasses all of it. It encompasses both being saved and faith. So both salvation and by way of the salvation comes through faith, both of those are a gift from God. This part should not be overstated. Yes, I understand that we want to be able to say that it was our faith that did so. But the faith that we have, the our faith really, really began in him. That's why it says he who began to get a good work in us. So the very faith that we have is a product of what God is doing, and not this temporary faith. Again, anyone can have the ability, anyone can understand and mentally stipulate or send to the fact that this happened and trust that it happens. But this trust, this faith that we're speaking of this saving faith causes us to relax, not to try to find other ways to keep ourselves safe. This sort of faith is an assurance, this continual assurance that comes as a result of what God has done. Remember, the Bible tells us in Romans 829 that we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Well, how does that happen? Well, if it's predestined, that means he destined us prior. He predetermined that we would be conformed to the image of his son. This is his whole issue. I know people have a problem with this and that they'll espouse it as being a Calvinistic doctrine. Well, I'm not a Calvinist and so even though folks might want to argue this point, this is not a Calvinistic doctrine. This is a biblical doctrine. The fact that God does choosing because he knows that people are going to believe have this temporal faith, but it's not a lasting faith. Why? Because their heart won't allow it to last. So what must God do in order for you to have this faith, this continual faith? He has to first work in you. He has to cause your heart to be born again, which is what Peter stated, which is what Jesus stated, which is what Paul has stated, which is what John has stated. All throughout the New Testament, we're going to see, even if we go back and look at the Old Testament, the prophecy that he is going to do so, it actually happens. This is a work of the Holy Spirit and the good news is, it's a work of the Holy Spirit, not a work of us. It's something that we should take joy in. We should be happy about. We should just praise and thank him even more. The fact that he would do that, not that he saw that we were worthy because there's nobody worthy, but the fact that he would do such a thing to us in us so that we can be safe. I don't think we should ever have a problem with that, that we should look for a problem, a fault in God in doing so, but we should look at him because of his love, his grace, his mercy that he showed on us and thank him even more. And so yes, faith, the very faith that you have, this lasting faith, that is a gift of God. Amen.