10.02.2006
Introduction
Background – three days of prayer, fasting and repentance for the church in Perth (8-10 December 2005). Prayer continuing Friday 5-8 am, format-praying through the Word, someone starts off with question concerning problems in the church today, we pray into it expecting to be led through the Bible to find an answer . A few weeks ago people were praying things like “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hos 4:6); we decided our praying and what God was showing us should be opened up to the whole church.
Strong conviction for years that “revival without reformation leads to chaos” i.e. movement of the Holy Spirit on a sinful church eventually leads to division, heresy and immorality.
This series is therefore about preparation for the work of the Lord. We have called it a prophetic teaching series because the essential role of the prophet (e.g. John the Baptist, Revelation) is to prepare God’s people for the coming of the King (Mal 3:1-2; Mark 1:1 – 7).
Isaiah 59:1,10 (NIV) Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.
Although His arm is not too short to save, “we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.”
Jude 12 (NIV) These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
So many people are left rootless and fruitless.
Jude 15-17 (NIV) to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These men are grumblers and fault-finders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
A call to persevere
Psalm 22:1 (NIV) 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? 24 For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
Psalm 22:23 (NIV) You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honour him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you (or in Hebrew him) will I fulfil my vows.
Jesus experienced Holy fear rather than human fear
Jude 12 (NIV) These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
Today’s church is feasting with the Lord without a holy fear
Jude 22 (NIV) Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
God hears us in our dealings with others. Importance of having a Holy fear. Luther: “The cross is the test of all things” Jesus had holy fear, but he was not permitted to know that God heard him.
John 17:1 (NIV) After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, tht your Son may glorify you.”
In general there is prayerless in the Church and an absence of the Holy Spirit. Holy fear is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3:11 (NIV) 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Luke 3:16,17 (NIV) 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Good news includes fire.
Jude 7 (NIV) 7 In a similar way,Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
We have lost the fire – not of human passion – but the fire which comes from an understanding of God’s fire which burns up sin.
Isaiah 33:14,15 (NIV) 14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?” 5 He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil—
Malachi 4:1 (NIV) “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
God only destroys the fruitless with fire. Who can endure the everlasting burning? Picture the three Hebrew children walking with the Son of Man in the flames. The reason they were not consumed was their fear of God rather than a fear of the earthly king. For Christians in the midst of fire, the fire is one’s own person or conscience. God’s wrath is a fire which is not directed toward us but to the sin out in the world. The simplicity of God is that one cannot separate His righteousness from his holiness. God destroys evil with a consuming fire. We need to have our eyes opened to the everlasting fire. We lack this awareness.
Jude 22,23 (NIV) 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Don’t be polluted by the arrogant in Malachi 4 but hate even the clothing which is stained by corrupted flesh.
1 Corinthians 3:13-15 (NIV) 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
It is the work, not the person, that is tested by fire.
Hebrews 12:28 (NIV) 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
Isaiah 59:17 (NIV) 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
God’s fury is put on as in a mantle
Ephesians 6:14 (NIV) 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
Whatever God puts on, we put on. Therefore, put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 104:2 (NIV) 2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent
God clothes himself in light
1 Timothy 6:13-16 (NIV) 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
God also lives in unapproachable light
Romans 13:11-14 (NIV) 11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
We must therefore put on the armour of light
Romans 6:9-11 (NIV) 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
We must live as dead to sin but alive to God in Jesus’ immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:53,54 (NIV) 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
Revelation 1:17,18 (NIV) 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades”
Jesus lives in a deathless state but only the second death is endless.
Revelation 20:11-15 (NIV) 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
1 John 5:18 (NIV) 18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
Hebrews 2:9 (NIV) 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Jesus tasted death. Taste is temporary. Death is only tasted by those who clothe themselves in Christ. The evil one cannot touch us or take us. He is powerless but the Church of God is riddled with a fear of death. Prosperity; addictions etc all indicate a fear of the loss of privilege, recognition or status. We need men and women who will put a holy fear of God into people.
Hebrews 5:7,8 (NIV) 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.
Jesus had a Godly fear because he knew his Father would hear him.
Proverbs 9:10 (NIV) 10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The fear of God means a knowledge of the Holy One. To fear Him is to know Him as a Holy person. No man feared as Jesus feared in the garden of Gethsemane. Holy and immortal he now has mercy on us. The key to fearing God is realising Jesus is deathless and immortal.
1 Corinthians 8:1-6 (NIV) Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God. 4So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Psalm 82:7 (NIV) 7 But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.”
Revelation 14:15 (NIV) 15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
Although we will die like mere men it is death and hell which are cast into the lake of fire, not believers.
1 Corinthians 10:14-22 (NIV) 14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Matthew 25:31-33 (NIV) When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Satan and demons have the second death in common. In the Church, false doctrine, sensuality and materialism consoles those who have a fear of fear and death. It creates a fellowship with demons.
Mark 5:7 (NIV) 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”
Jesus is not localised now, but he is focused on the Church. False doctrine leads to sharing with demons in the knowledge of their fate – torture and everlasting fire.
Revelation 12:7-12 (NIV) 7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
There are two types of opposing parallelism; synthetic and antithetical. Satan accuses to keep alive a fear of death so that people stay addicted to temporary and sensual things. He knows his time is short.
Colossians 2:15 (NIV) 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Because Satan knows his time is short his fury is stirred up and more people are succumbing to his deceptions. In the same way more people died after D-Day because the Nazis were so furious over their knowledge that they were beaten that they threw caution to the wind and slaughtered people wildly.
Hebrews 2:14 (NIV) 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
It is the devil who has the power of death and he exercises it in idolatry. People used to go to the temple to join in guild feasts where they would offer gifts to idols to appease them and win their favour. Today we see believers tithing in order to receive benefits which equates to a participation in the demonic in an attempt to avoid suffering. Likewise, prayer meetings can be a substitute for obedience. The more we have fellowship with demons, knowingly or unknowingly, the more a fear of death intensifies.
2 Timothy 1:10 (NIV) 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Pagan practices of materialism, addictions, sensuality etc which are rooted in a fear of death have replaced the gospel. Fear can only be dealt with through the gospel.
Proverbs 31:4,7 (NIV) 4 “It is not for kings, O Lemuel— not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, 7 let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said “Beer proves that God loves us and wants us to be happy”!
Micah 2:11 (NIV) 11 If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for this people!
1 Corinthians 15:32 (NIV) 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
People are addicted to all sorts of substances and consumerism in a bid to avoid death, but they can’t because of their consciences. The people in authority drink and forget about righteousness and justice for the oppressed. Today, pastors are being paid to be dealers. Leaders are addicted to a state of denial. Hence people are running away from the cross. Look up Psalm 84 by comparison;
Proverbs 15:8 (NIV) 8 The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
Proverbs 16:29 (NIV) 29 A violent man entices his neighbour and leads him down a path that is not good.
Isaiah 11:3 (NIV) 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;
Psalm 34:17 (NIV) 17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
Mark 15:34 (NIV)34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi Sabachthani” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
When Jesus cries out, he is not feeling good but he is delighting in the fear of the Lord
Isaiah 6:5 (NIV) 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Again, Isaiah did not feel good but he understood the sense of moral rightness in the judgment of God. Our culture dictates that we must feel good all the time in order to prove we “know” God.
Hebrews 12:5,11,12 (NIV) 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
Hebrews Chs.7-9 A true fear of God is a revealed knowledge of God as our Father. He is holy and if we lack a holy fear, we cannot know him as our Father or that he is holy. He cannot be bribed or coerced into favouritism toward us because he is holy. The prosperity doctrine has people living as illegitimate children trying to bribe God. They don’t know who they are in Christ. We need to be cured of thinking of God as we think of ourselves or our own fathers.
Romans 1:16,17 (NIV) 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 3:21,22,25,26 (NIV) 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
The righteousness of the cross has been revealed whereas the unrighteousness of idols is concealed. They are inscrutable and one cannot work out what they are thinking.
Psalm 135:15-18 (NIV) 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. 16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; 17 they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. 18 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
Jeremiah 2:26-32 (NIV) 26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. 27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ 28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah. 29 “Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the Lord. 30 “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravening lion. 31 “You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’? 32 Does a maiden forget her jewellery, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.
Romans 2:3-8 (NIV) 3 So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
People are storing up wrath against themselves. Those who are in wrath can never see wrath as justice but only as hardness. They see God’s anger as they experience their own ,rather than as his mercy in bringing them to repentance. God’s wrath should only be seen as just. For the righteous, wrath is holiness.
Romans 1:18,24,26,28 (NIV) 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
God’s wrath against mankind is to give people over to themselves in their sin. Absolute wrath means to be left absolutely with only oneself, or, in the case of Jesus, for Him to be left with us and our sin.
Isaiah 53:6 (NIV) 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Jesus entered into our condition. He was not an idol who does not listen. In His agony, the righteousness of God was in Him. Empty of glory or light, we only have death and we bear the consequences of sin.
Hebrews 2:9 (NIV) 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Jesus only tasted death, he was not consumed by it.
Revelation 20:6 (NIV) 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Ephesians 1:19-20 (NIV)19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
Ephesians 2:6,15-18 (NIV)
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
John 11:25,26 (NIV) 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die”
Hebrews 12:23 (NIV) 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect,
Romans 8:11 (NIV) 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Galatians 4:6 (NIV) 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
God is the Father of our spirit and bears witness to our spirit. If we focus on the flesh and pamper it (sensory and material), we keep ourselves in the knowledge of death and we will die.
Romans 8:17 (NIV) 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
A focus on the suffering of the body communicates the reality of the resurrection. To the unregenerate suffering communicates wrath and death but the fear of God in the regenerate means no experience of separation for them between the state of the second death and the resurrection. Jesus has immortality because he actually experienced the second death.
Mark 15:34 (NIV) 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi Sabachthani” which means, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus was experiencing a sense of separation, the second death and the resurrected life on the cross.
1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV) 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We can know God’s judgment and salvation are equally the righteousness of God when we are secure in the knowledge of the resurrection
1 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) 16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
The fullness of Jesus’ justification.
Romans 4:25 (NIV) 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
As we share in Jesus’ resurrected life we do not have to fear the second death.
2 Corinthians 1:8 (NIV) 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV) 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
A fellowship of suffering is needed to more understand the power of the resurrection. Jesus was baptised in both the Holy Spirit and fire. He took the fire of God’s wrath on the cross as his security in the Father, whereas our fear, whilst it may appear to give us worldly security, only has to do with a sense of punishment.