Overcoming Fear

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | Welcome back on this Friday.

00:00:07.080 | On Wednesday, last time we met in APJ 1925,

00:00:12.000 | we looked at the cloud of anxiety

00:00:15.560 | that can encroach into our lives,

00:00:18.000 | a feeling you sometimes get,

00:00:19.680 | but can't quite put your finger on,

00:00:22.520 | one that makes you just feel tense and anxious

00:00:25.480 | that something is going to go bad today.

00:00:30.260 | Christians can find themselves inside such a fog of anxiety.

00:00:33.660 | In fact, some Christians struggle a lot with daily anxiety,

00:00:38.260 | but should we?

00:00:39.200 | Hasn't the Holy Spirit delivered us

00:00:41.020 | from anxiety altogether?

00:00:43.580 | As we saw on Wednesday, the Apostle Paul claims that,

00:00:45.780 | quote, "God gave us a spirit, not of fear,

00:00:49.460 | but of power and love and self-control," unquote.

00:00:53.540 | That's 2 Timothy 1:7.

00:00:55.300 | So why would any spirit-indwelt Christian

00:00:57.660 | still struggle with anxiousness?

00:01:00.740 | That's Eric's question, a listener to the podcast.

00:01:03.340 | Pastor John, hello.

00:01:04.180 | If God does not give us a spirit of fear,

00:01:06.540 | but of power and love and self-control,

00:01:08.860 | 2 Timothy 1:7 again,

00:01:10.820 | then why am I, as a believer,

00:01:13.520 | still struggling to overcome fear?

00:01:16.540 | Shouldn't the Spirit's presence in me

00:01:19.400 | be the end of all my fearing?

00:01:22.940 | - One of the reasons I'm eager to tackle this question

00:01:26.060 | is because even though it is specifically

00:01:29.460 | about fear or anxiety,

00:01:32.060 | the principle that it's wrestling with

00:01:36.180 | relates to almost every area of Christian ethics

00:01:41.180 | or Christian virtue or sanctification.

00:01:44.220 | The principle, namely,

00:01:46.220 | of being made decisively new in Christ

00:01:51.020 | because of God's legal act of justification by faith

00:01:55.580 | and because of God's transformative act in the new birth

00:02:00.580 | and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,

00:02:02.300 | and yet, in our actual daily lives,

00:02:07.300 | realizing that we are not yet completely new,

00:02:10.660 | not completely transformed.

00:02:13.820 | That's the tension that we all live with.

00:02:17.420 | That's the reality of Christian living.

00:02:20.780 | And even though we have addressed this, Tony,

00:02:25.020 | many times in this podcast,

00:02:27.740 | it is so basic and so important for every area of life

00:02:32.740 | that it's hard to address it too often or too many times.

00:02:36.660 | All of us, not just Eric,

00:02:38.940 | deal with this both and in our Christian lives every day,

00:02:43.940 | both decisively new, that's who we are,

00:02:47.900 | we are decisively new creatures in Christ,

00:02:51.800 | and not yet completely new.

00:02:54.580 | That's the reality, and learning how to live that way

00:02:57.980 | is the key to the Christian life.

00:03:00.000 | What I mean by decisive, I like that word,

00:03:04.780 | it's really helpful, here's what I mean by it.

00:03:07.500 | What I mean by decisive is that

00:03:09.740 | God has done something for us, for Christians.

00:03:15.280 | He's done something for us, and he's done something in us

00:03:19.460 | that will never be taken away, ever.

00:03:22.320 | God has done it, it's decided.

00:03:24.460 | The saving work, he starts, he completes, Philippians 1, 6.

00:03:28.980 | That's what I mean by decisive.

00:03:31.500 | And yet, some of that saving work in us,

00:03:36.060 | that newness, is not yet complete.

00:03:41.060 | It is crucial that we understand

00:03:44.140 | what God has done for us in justification,

00:03:49.500 | what he has done in us in the new birth,

00:03:53.060 | what he's doing in us now by the Spirit,

00:03:55.820 | what he will finally do for us

00:03:58.580 | as our newness becomes complete at the resurrection.

00:04:02.540 | That's really crucial,

00:04:04.140 | and that's what the question is ultimately about.

00:04:07.180 | And what I'm trying to show is that Eric's experience

00:04:09.860 | of both, both of those,

00:04:13.240 | having God's Spirit of fearlessness within him,

00:04:16.260 | and fighting to overcome fear daily in his life

00:04:19.980 | by depending on the Spirit,

00:04:21.700 | that's what normal Christian life looks like.

00:04:25.240 | So, let's get clear,

00:04:28.340 | 'cause I think it's this basic structure of salvation

00:04:30.820 | that people, if they have a handle on this,

00:04:33.020 | I think they can sort out what their experience is.

00:04:37.080 | So let's get clear that salvation,

00:04:39.740 | which God gives us from guilt and sin and wrath

00:04:44.900 | and death and pain and hell,

00:04:48.340 | that full salvation into everlasting joy

00:04:52.820 | happens in stages, not all at once.

00:04:57.820 | It has happened in some senses,

00:05:01.300 | it is happening in some senses,

00:05:03.620 | it will happen in the future in some senses,

00:05:07.660 | and there are texts that say each of those.

00:05:11.700 | Ephesians 2.8, "For by grace you have been saved

00:05:16.820 | through faith."

00:05:18.060 | This is not your own doing, it's the gift of God,

00:05:20.080 | that's done, you have been saved.

00:05:22.940 | 1 Corinthians 1.18, "The word of the cross is folly

00:05:27.940 | to those who are perishing,

00:05:30.760 | but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."

00:05:35.760 | Romans 13.11, "The hour has come for you to wake from sleep

00:05:42.380 | for salvation is nearer to us now,"

00:05:46.900 | like it's not here yet,

00:05:47.740 | but it's nearer than when we first believed.

00:05:51.740 | Amazing.

00:05:52.940 | You can fasten rich biblical words to God's work

00:05:57.940 | in each of those three stages of salvation.

00:06:01.740 | It's done, it's happening,

00:06:03.220 | it's going to happen in the future.

00:06:05.380 | You can fasten rich biblical words to those.

00:06:08.620 | For example, what's already done?

00:06:11.460 | What's decisive?

00:06:13.420 | God's act of justification is already done.

00:06:17.460 | It's past and complete.

00:06:19.700 | There's no process to it

00:06:22.060 | because it's a legal declaration that happens all at once

00:06:27.060 | at the point of our conversion,

00:06:28.500 | when we embrace Christ as our treasured Savior and Lord,

00:06:33.260 | God declares us righteous in his sight.

00:06:37.540 | Romans 5,1, "Having been justified by faith,

00:06:42.540 | we have peace with God."

00:06:44.460 | It's done, no process.

00:06:46.260 | The court proceeding is over.

00:06:48.860 | No double jeopardy.

00:06:49.700 | You don't have to go back to court ever again on that issue.

00:06:54.540 | Corresponding to this once for all legal act

00:06:59.540 | is the once for all transformative act

00:07:03.940 | called the new birth or regeneration.

00:07:07.620 | That too has no process.

00:07:09.580 | Unlike justification, it doesn't happen legally

00:07:15.380 | as in a courtroom, it happens inside us, but only once.

00:07:20.380 | Babies are only born once.

00:07:24.660 | 1 Peter 1,23, "You have been born again,

00:07:30.100 | not of perishable seed,

00:07:31.500 | but of imperishable through the living

00:07:33.980 | and abiding word of God."

00:07:35.180 | It's done only once.

00:07:38.220 | Doesn't happen again.

00:07:39.340 | It's not a process.

00:07:40.780 | So justification, being counted righteous in Christ

00:07:45.700 | and regeneration, being born again,

00:07:48.660 | are acts of salvation that are totally complete.

00:07:53.660 | Once for all, decisive, unchangeable.

00:07:58.340 | God never reverses them.

00:08:00.980 | Those whom he predestined, he called,

00:08:04.020 | and those whom he called, he justified,

00:08:05.980 | and those whom he justified, he glorified.

00:08:08.900 | No failures, no dropouts, no reversals.

00:08:12.620 | Justification and regeneration, once for all, decisive.

00:08:17.620 | And the reason I stress it is because

00:08:20.620 | that's the ground we stand on.

00:08:24.940 | When we're fighting to overcome anxiety,

00:08:27.740 | that's where we're standing.

00:08:29.740 | Then there's the saving act of God in process.

00:08:36.500 | And the key word here is being sanctified.

00:08:40.660 | Hebrews 10,14, "By a single offering,

00:08:44.300 | he has perfected for all time

00:08:47.220 | those who are being sanctified."

00:08:51.100 | So we are being saved by the present work

00:08:55.900 | of the Holy Spirit in our lives,

00:08:57.740 | helping us to put sin to death

00:09:00.380 | and walk in paths of righteousness.

00:09:03.500 | And then finally, there's this future completion

00:09:07.340 | of salvation.

00:09:09.020 | Peter says in 1 Peter 1,5, "By God's power,

00:09:14.020 | we are being guarded through faith

00:09:17.020 | for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

00:09:24.420 | So one aspect of that future salvation is rescue

00:09:29.020 | from the final wrath of God.

00:09:31.940 | Romans 5,9, "Since therefore we have now been justified

00:09:36.420 | by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him

00:09:41.420 | from the wrath of God."

00:09:44.660 | That's coming in the future.

00:09:46.020 | Another aspect is our complete glorification.

00:09:52.340 | Those whom he justified, he also glorified.

00:09:55.820 | It's as good as done.

00:09:57.940 | Complete and final bodily resurrection

00:10:01.900 | into sinless glory.

00:10:04.340 | That's not here yet.

00:10:05.980 | That's coming.

00:10:06.820 | Now, what Eric's question draws our attention to

00:10:11.620 | is that between decisive justification and regeneration

00:10:17.540 | at the beginning of our Christian life

00:10:21.220 | and sinless glorification at the end of this age,

00:10:24.860 | this present life of being sanctified

00:10:30.620 | is not one of sinless perfection,

00:10:35.100 | but of warfare against sin in the power of the Holy Spirit.

00:10:40.100 | God has his reasons.

00:10:42.780 | This is one of the things I've wondered about all my life.

00:10:46.380 | God has his reasons for why he does not perfect us

00:10:51.340 | instantaneously at the point of our conversion

00:10:55.820 | so that we never sin again.

00:10:57.300 | He's gonna do that at the resurrection.

00:10:59.100 | We'll never sin again.

00:11:00.860 | Why doesn't he do it now?

00:11:02.580 | He doesn't do it in that way.

00:11:04.540 | Why?

00:11:05.780 | He has chosen to save us by enabling us through the Spirit

00:11:11.700 | by faith in his promises to fight sin

00:11:15.580 | as justified children of God.

00:11:17.740 | Maybe one reason God has done it this way

00:11:22.740 | is that every time we kill a sinful temptation in our lives,

00:11:28.140 | like the temptation to fear,

00:11:33.260 | every time we put to death a sin

00:11:36.420 | by trusting in God's promises,

00:11:41.500 | we show the devil and the world and our own consciences

00:11:46.020 | that Jesus is more precious

00:11:49.260 | than any promise sin could make to us.

00:11:53.260 | That's what God is after in the world,

00:11:55.620 | the open demonstration that Christ is glorious.

00:11:59.940 | He's more to be desired than anything else.

00:12:03.980 | So my final word to Eric is,

00:12:06.940 | yes, you have not been given a spirit of fear,

00:12:11.940 | but rather of courage, of self-control.

00:12:18.220 | That does not mean you won't be tempted to fear.

00:12:21.340 | It does not mean you won't wake up

00:12:24.500 | in the middle of the night like I did recently

00:12:28.180 | with anxiety about five things

00:12:31.300 | that have to be done tomorrow

00:12:33.100 | and you wonder how you can do them.

00:12:35.660 | You're not even sure how to do some of them.

00:12:38.100 | What it means is that God has given you

00:12:42.020 | the resources to fight that fear.

00:12:44.740 | He has justified you.

00:12:46.920 | You're forgiven, accepted, loved.

00:12:49.500 | He has regenerated you and you are a new creature,

00:12:54.060 | new person in Christ, a child of God.

00:12:57.260 | He has given you his sanctifying spirit.

00:12:59.580 | He has given you promises like Hebrews 13, five and six.

00:13:04.260 | I'll never leave you, Eric.

00:13:05.620 | I'll never forsake you.

00:13:07.620 | So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper.

00:13:10.020 | I will not fear.

00:13:11.300 | I will not fear.

00:13:14.140 | What can man do to me?

00:13:15.460 | And he has given you the promise

00:13:18.100 | that you are going to make it home to glory.

00:13:21.400 | So keep fighting so you can say with Paul

00:13:26.640 | at the end of your life,

00:13:27.840 | I have fought the good fight.

00:13:31.060 | I have finished the race.

00:13:32.460 | I have kept the faith.

00:13:35.260 | Saved to sin no more.

00:13:37.140 | I look forward to that day.

00:13:38.660 | - Hasten the day.

00:13:39.700 | - Amen.

00:13:40.900 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:13:41.940 | And thank you for joining us today.

00:13:43.420 | Ask a question of your own like Eric did.

00:13:46.100 | Search our growing archive

00:13:47.140 | or subscribe to the podcast all at askpastorjohn.com.

00:13:51.460 | Well, we break now for the weekend

00:13:54.500 | and return on Monday to talk about

00:13:56.140 | what kinds of sin in our past

00:13:58.500 | could potentially disqualify us

00:14:00.020 | from pastoral ministry in the future.

00:14:03.220 | One listener lived a life of fornication

00:14:05.500 | before he was saved.

00:14:07.380 | Does that history mean that he cannot pastor today?

00:14:11.220 | It's a great question.

00:14:12.440 | And we will ask Pastor John next time.

00:14:15.380 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.

00:14:16.500 | We'll see you Monday.

00:14:17.540 | (upbeat music)

00:14:20.120 | (upbeat music)

00:14:22.700 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Overcoming Fear

Chapters