Welcome back on this Friday. On Wednesday, last time we met, in APJ 1925, we looked at the “cloud of anxiety” that can encroach into our lives. It’s a feeling you sometimes get, but “cannot put your finger on” — one that makes you “just feel tense and anxious” that “something is going to go bad today.” Christians can find themselves inside such a fog of anxiety. In fact, some Christians struggle a lot with daily anxiety. But should we? Hasn’t the Holy Spirit delivered us from anxiety altogether?
As we saw on Wednesday, the apostle Paul claims that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). So why would any Spirit-indwelt Christian still struggle with anxiousness? That’s Eric’s question, a listener to this podcast. “Pastor John, hello. If God does not give us a spirt of fear, but of power and love and self-control” — 2 Timothy 1:7 again — “then why am I, as a believer, still struggling to overcome fear? Shouldn’t the Spirit’s presence in me be the end of all my fearing?”
One of the reasons I’m eager to tackle this question is because even though it is specifically about fear or anxiety, the principle that it’s wrestling with relates to almost every area of Christian ethics, or Christian virtue, or sanctification. It’s the principle, namely, of being made decisively new in Christ because of God’s legal act of justification by faith, and because of God’s transformative act in the new birth and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and yet in our actual daily lives realizing that we are not yet completely new, not completely transformed. That’s the tension that we all live with. That’s the reality of Christian living.
And even though we have addressed this, Tony, many times in this podcast, it is so basic and so important for every area of life that it’s hard to address it too often or too many times.
New and Not Yet New
All of us, not just Eric, deal with this both-and in our Christian lives every day: both decisively new — that’s who we are; we are decisively new creatures in Christ — and not yet completely new. That’s the reality. And learning how to live that way is the key to the Christian life.
What I mean by decisive — I like that word; it’s really helpful — is that God has done something for us (for Christians) and he’s done something in us that will never be taken away, ever. God has done it; it’s decided. The saving work he starts, he completes (Philippians 1:6). That’s what I mean by decisive. And yet some of that saving work in us, that newness, is not yet complete. It is crucial that we understand what God has done for us in justification, what he has done in us in the new birth, what he’s doing in us now by the Spirit, and what he will finally do for us as our newness becomes complete at the resurrection. That’s really crucial, and that’s what the question is ultimately about.
And what I’m trying to show is that Eric’s experience of both of those — having God’s Spirit of fearlessness within him and fighting to overcome fear daily in his life by depending on the Spirit — is what the normal Christian life looks like. So let’s get this clear because I think it’s through this basic structure of salvation that people, if they have a handle on this, can sort out what their experience is.
Salvation in Three Tenses
Let’s get clear that salvation, which God gives us, from guilt and sin and wrath and death and pain and hell — that full salvation into everlasting joy happens in stages, not all at once. It has happened in some senses. It is happening in some senses. It will happen in the future in some senses. There are texts that say each of those.
Ephesians 2:8: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” That’s done. You have been saved.
1 Corinthians 1:18: “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
Romans 13:11: “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now” — like it’s not here yet — “than when we first believed.”
Amazing. You can fasten rich biblical words to God’s work in each of those three stages of salvation. It’s done; it’s happening; it’s going to happen in the future. You can fasten rich biblical words to those.
Past
For example, what’s already done, what’s decisive? God’s act of justification is already done. It’s past and complete. There’s no process to it because it’s a legal declaration that happens all at once at the point of our conversion when we embrace Christ as our treasured Savior and Lord. God declares us righteous in his sight. Romans 5:1: “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.” It’s done — no process. The court proceeding is over. No double jeopardy. You don’t have to go back to court ever again on that issue.
Corresponding to this once-for-all legal act is the once-for-all transformative act called the new birth or regeneration. That, too, has no process. Unlike justification, it doesn’t happen legally as in a courtroom; it happens inside us, but only once. Babies are born only once. First Peter 1:23: “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” It’s done only once. It doesn’t happen again. It’s not a process.
So justification (being counted righteous in Christ) and regeneration (being born again) are acts of salvation that are totally complete — once-for-all, decisive, unchangeable. God never reverses them. “Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). No failures, no dropouts, no reversals — justification and regeneration once for all, decisive. And the reason I stress it is because that’s the ground we stand on. When we’re fighting to overcome anxiety, that’s where we’re standing.
Present
Then there’s the saving act of God in process. And the key word here is being sanctified. Hebrews 10:14: “By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” So we are being saved by the present work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, who is helping us to put sin to death and walk in paths of righteousness.
Future
And then, finally, there’s this future completion of salvation. Peter says in 1 Peter 1:5, “By God’s power we are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” So one aspect of that future salvation is rescue from the final wrath of God. Romans 5:9: “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” That’s coming in the future.
Another aspect is our complete glorification. “Those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). It’s as good as done, complete and final bodily resurrection into sinless glory. That’s not here yet; that’s coming.
Life in the Tension
Now what Eric’s question draws our attention to is that, between decisive justification and regeneration (at the beginning of our Christian life) and sinless glorification (at the end of this age), this present life of being sanctified is not one of sinless perfection, but of warfare against sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. God has his reasons. This is one of the things I’ve wondered about all my life. God has his reasons for why he does not perfect us instantaneously at the point of our conversion so that we never sin again. He’s going to do that at the resurrection — we’ll never sin again. Why doesn’t he do it now? He doesn’t do it in that way. Why? He has chosen to save us by enabling us through the Spirit, by faith in his promises, to fight sin as justified children of God.
Maybe one reason God has done it this way is that every time we kill a sinful temptation in our lives (like the temptation to fear), every time we put to death a sin by trusting in God’s promises, we show the devil and the world and our own consciences that Jesus is more precious than any promise sin could make to us. That’s what God is after in the world: the open demonstration that Christ is glorious. He’s more to be desired than anything else.
So my final word to Eric is yes, you have not been given a spirit of fear, but rather of courage, of self-control. That does not mean you won’t be tempted to fear. It does not mean you won’t wake up in the middle of the night as I did recently, with anxiety about five things that have to be done tomorrow, and you wonder how you could do them. You’re not even sure how to do some of them. What it means is that God has given you the resources to fight that fear.
He has justified you: you’re forgiven, accepted, loved. He has regenerated you and you are a new creature, a new person in Christ, a child of God. He has given you his sanctifying Spirit. He has given you promises like Hebrews 13:5–6: “‘I’ll never leave you, Eric. I’ll never forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” And he has given you the promise that you are going to make it home to glory. Keep fighting so you can say with Paul at the end of your life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy.
link:https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/overcoming-fear
欢迎回到这个星期五。上次我们在APJ 1925星期三见面时，我们讨论了可能侵入我们生活的“焦虑云”。这是一种你有时会有但“说不清”的感觉——它让你“感到紧张和焦虑”，担心“今天会有不好的事情发生”。基督徒可能会发现自己身处这种焦虑的迷雾之中。事实上，一些基督徒每天都在与焦虑作斗争。但我们应该这样做吗？圣灵不是已经把我们从焦虑中解救出来了吗？
正如我们在周三看到的，使徒保罗声称“神赐给我们不是胆怯的心，乃是刚强、仁爱、谨守的心”（提摩太后书 1:7）。那么，为什么任何有圣灵居住的基督徒仍然会与焦虑作斗争呢？这是本播客听众埃里克提出的问题。“约翰牧师，你好。如果神赐给我们不是胆怯的心，而是刚强、仁爱、谨守的心”——再次引用提摩太后书 1:7—— “那么为什么我作为一个信徒，仍然在努力克服恐惧？圣灵在我里面的存在难道不应该是我所有恐惧的终结吗？”
我急于解决这个问题的原因之一是，尽管它具体是关于恐惧或焦虑，但它所要解决的原则几乎与基督教伦理、基督教美德或神圣化的每个领域都有关。这个原则就是，由于上帝通过信仰的合法行为，以及上帝在新生和圣灵内住中的变革行为，我们在基督里被彻底更新，然而在实际的日常生活中，我们意识到我们还没有完全更新，还没有完全改变。这就是我们所有人生活的紧张局势。这就是基督徒生活的现实。
托尼，尽管我们已经在这个播客中多次讨论过这个问题，但它对于生活的每个领域来说都如此基础、如此重要，因此很难过于频繁或多次地讨论它。
新品与尚非新品
我们所有人，不仅仅是埃里克，每天都在基督徒生活中面对这个问题：既是全新的——这就是我们；我们是基督里全新的造物——但还不是全新的。这就是现实。学习如何以这种方式生活是基督徒生活的关键。
我所说的“决定性” ——我喜欢这个词；它真的很有帮助——是指上帝为我们（为基督徒）做了一些事情，而且他在我们身上做了一些永远不会被夺走的事情。上帝已经做了；这是决定性的。他开始的救赎工作，他完成了（腓立比书 1:6）。这就是我所说的“决定性”。然而，我们身上的一些救赎工作，那种新生，尚未完成。我们必须了解上帝在称义中为我们做了什么，他在我们重生时在我们身上做了什么，他现在通过圣灵在我们身上做了什么，以及当我们的新生在复活时变得完整时，他最终会为我们做什么。这真的很重要，这就是问题的最终意义所在。
我想展示的是，埃里克的这两种经历——拥有上帝无畏的精神，依靠圣灵在日常生活中战胜恐惧——是正常的基督徒生活。所以让我们把这一点弄清楚，因为我认为，通过这种基本的救赎结构，人们如果能理解这一点，就能理清自己的经历。
三种时态的救赎
让我们弄清楚，上帝给予我们的救赎，使我们摆脱罪恶、愤怒、死亡、痛苦和地狱，完全获得永恒的欢乐，是分阶段进行的，而不是一次性完成的。从某种意义上说，它已经发生了。从某种意义上说，它正在发生。从某种意义上说，它将在未来发生。有经文对这几种情况都进行了阐述。
以弗所书 2:8：“你们得救是本乎恩，也因着信。这并不是出于自己，乃是神所赐的。”完成了。你已经得救了。
哥林多前书 1:18：“因为十字架的道理，在那灭亡的人为愚拙；在我们得救的人，却为神的大能。”
罗马书 13:11：“现在是你们睡醒的时候了。因为救恩如今离我们更近了”——好像还没有到来——“比我们初信的时候更近了。”
太神奇了。你可以用丰富的圣经话语来描述上帝在救赎的三个阶段所做的工作。这已经完成了；这正在发生；这在未来还会发生。你可以用丰富的圣经话语来描述这些工作。
过去的
例如，什么已经完成，什么具有决定性？上帝的正义行为已经完成。它已经过去并且完成了。它不需要任何程序，因为它是一个法律宣言，在我们皈依时，当我们接受基督作为我们珍贵的救世主和主时，它就立即发生了。上帝在他眼中宣告我们是义人。罗马书 5:1：“我们既因信称义，就与神和好了。”它已经完成了——不需要任何程序。法庭诉讼已经结束。没有双重危险。你不必再就这个问题回到法庭。
与这一一次性法律行为相对应的是被称为新生或再生的一次性变革行为。那也没有任何过程。与称义不同，它不是在法庭上合法发生的；它发生在我们内心，但只发生一次。婴儿只出生一次。彼得前书 1:23：“你们蒙了重生，不是由于能坏的种子，乃是由于不能坏的种子，是借着神活泼常存的道。”它只发生一次。它不会再发生。它不是一个过程。
因此，称义（在基督里被算为义）和再生（重生）是完全完整的救赎行为——一劳永逸、果断、不可改变。上帝从不逆转它们。“预先所定下的人又召他们来；所召来的人又称他们为义；所称为义的人又叫他们得荣耀”（罗马书 8:30）。没有失败，没有辍学，没有逆转——称义和再生是一劳永逸、果断的。我之所以强调这一点，是因为这是我们的立足点。当我们努力克服焦虑时，这就是我们的立足点。
展示
接下来是上帝正在进行的拯救行动。这里的关键词是成圣。希伯来书 10:14：“因为他只一次献祭，便叫那得以成圣的人永远完全。”因此，我们因圣灵在我们生命中的工作而得救，圣灵帮助我们将罪置于死地，走在公义的道路上。
未来
最后，救赎将在未来完成。彼得在彼得前书 1:5中说：“我们因信蒙神能力保守，必能得着所预备、到末世要显现的救恩。”因此，未来救赎的一个方面就是从上帝最后的愤怒中拯救出来。罗马书 5:9：“现在我们既靠着他的血称义，就更要靠他免去上帝的愤怒。”这是未来的事情。
另一个方面是我们完全得荣耀。“所称为义的人又叫他们得荣耀”（罗马书 8:30）。这几乎是完成了，完全和最终的身体复活进入无罪的荣耀。这还没有到来；这即将到来。
紧张的生活
现在，埃里克的问题引起了我们的注意，在决定性的称义和重生（在我们基督徒生活的开始）和无罪的荣耀（在这个时代的结束）之间，现在的圣化生活并不是无罪的完美生活，而是在圣灵的力量下与罪恶作战的生活。上帝有他的理由。这是我一生都在思考的事情之一。上帝有他的理由，为什么他不在我们皈依时立即使我们完美，以便我们永远不会再犯罪。他会在复活时做到这一点——我们永远不会再犯罪。他为什么不现在就这么做？他不那样做。为什么？他选择通过圣灵赋予我们力量，让我们对他的承诺充满信心，作为上帝称义的孩子与罪恶作斗争，从而拯救我们。
也许上帝这样做的原因之一是，每当我们消除生活中的罪恶诱惑（如恐惧的诱惑），每当我们通过相信上帝的承诺来消除罪恶时，我们就会向魔鬼、世界和我们自己的良心表明，耶稣比罪恶对我们的任何承诺都更宝贵。这就是上帝在世上所追求的：公开展示基督的荣耀。他比其他任何东西都更值得渴望。
因此，我对埃里克说的最后一句话是，是的，你没有被赋予恐惧的精神，而是勇气和自我控制。这并不意味着你不会被诱惑去恐惧。这并不意味着你不会像我最近那样半夜醒来，为明天要做的五件事而焦虑，你不知道该怎么做。你甚至不确定如何去做其中的一些事情。这意味着上帝已经给了你对抗恐惧的资源。
他已称你为义：你被宽恕、接纳、爱。他已重生你，你是一个新造的人，一个基督里的新人，一个神的孩子。他已赐给你圣洁的灵。他已赐给你像希伯来书 13:5-6这样的应许：“‘埃里克，我总不撇下你，总不丢弃你。’所以我们可以放胆说：‘主是帮助我的，我必不惧怕，人能把我怎么样呢？’”他已赐给你应许，你将回到荣耀的家。继续奋斗，这样你就可以在生命的尽头和保罗一起说：“那美好的仗我已经打过了，当跑的路我已经跑尽了，所信的道我已经守住了。”（提摩太后书 4:7）
约翰·派博（@JohnPiper）是“渴慕神”的创始人和教师，也是伯利恒学院和神学院的校长。33 年来，他一直担任明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市伯利恒浸信会的牧师。他著有50 多本书，包括《渴慕神：一位基督教享乐主义者的沉思》和最近的《终身学习的基础：严肃快乐的教育》。
google翻译自：https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/overcoming-fear
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