Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

Romans 13:1-3 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.” A just government has the moral authority from God to punish an unjust government. However, the passage can be confusing. I write from Nepal, where it is illegal to become a Christian, illegal to baptize, and illegal to preach. This Scripture passage was used by the Communists for years to manipulate Christians to come under their absolute authority via subjection. Rebellion against communism was said to be rebellion against God. As I have mentioned before, we Christians stand and fall on our definitions. What exactly is a “governing authority” that gets its authority from God? I have been in numerous countries where the “government” is nothing more than a mob imposing its wicked will upon the people. “Laws” are passed that are nothing more than excuses to steal from the poor. “Taxes” are imposed to take even more. Every angle is worked to take and take and take. In some distorted way these crooks seek to decriminalize their behavior by seizing power and naming themselves “elected” officials. The role of government in the Bible is to protect the people through laws that are of benefit to all, not to support a band of immoral thieves. Solomon is the greatest example of a governing authority that was established by God; he sought wisdom to help and guide the people. Punishment was meted out in the light of this wisdom. I do not think a criminal can demand subjection on the basis of having biblical authority to do so, when he does not fit the definition of a governing authority. Well, amen, I know many have had to suffer under such criminals. Though they are not true government and we are not bound as Christians to be in subjection to them, we are bound to love, pray for, and bless our enemies, as well as bless the criminal, give to them that ask, and go the second mile. However, the action taken is not out of compulsion from the belief that they are a government. Rather, it is out of something much higher, the life of Christ within.

Simply let the peace of God rule in your heart.

Matthew 5:27, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

If the message that you get from what I am about to say is that I am somehow justifying immorality, please reread the article. Immorality is sin. However, I would like to make one small point concerning the passage quoted: It is written to those who are married. A single person can commit fornication but not adultery. Fornication is prohibited for the single just as adultery is for the married. Why make a distinction? It is simply in order to recognize the fact of the hormones of youth. God has created men and women with a sex drive for attracting the opposite sex, for procreation. When the hormones are raging in a young man, it is impossible, in the power of self, not to look on a girl with lust, so the Lord can use the sex drive to reveal the weakness in a young person’s flesh. I have seen so many young men under condemnation because they had sexual thoughts about a young woman and applied the verse above to themselves. I don’t believe that is realistic, and it leads to condemnation. Is there any person dating or engaged that has not thought about the day, when married, they could be in bed together? Is this adultery? Are these thoughts fornication? I don’t believe so. Can such thoughts go too far and be sinful? Yes! How to tell the difference? Simply let the peace of God rule in your heart. He will tell you when you have moved out of the natural into the unnatural. However, remember, condemnation will not help you.

“Why didn’t Jesus tell me?”

Over the years I have had similar experiences to yours of people walking up to me and telling me that they had a word from Jesus for me. The words have been as varied as the people. Some have told me I was out of God’s will to be traveling to minister and needed to return home immediately. Others have told me that the Lord was telling me to go out. Go out or come in, which is it? All purport to be speaking on God’s behalf. How do we know the difference? There is no doubt that genuine words from Jesus can come through the conduit of another believer, but His word will not be an attempt to create something in us, but to witness to what is already there. God is a very intimate God and doesn’t tell our secrets to others; He is far too confidential for that. Therefore, someone’s telling me about a “hidden sin” or a “dark heart” is not received. When a word does come that could be construed to be negative, it will–if it is truly from the Lord–lift the spirit, for with the word will come the power and the truth to set me free. There is another problem with some so-called “words of the Lord.” The carnal will use them as a method of manipulation, invoking the Lord’s name and our love for Him to move us in their direction. Saying, “The Lord said . . .” really means, “Keep off the grass and don’t question me.” A sure sign that this is happening is that the one speaking refuses to be questioned. The carnal want theirs to be the last word. Probably the most pertinent question when judging if something is from God or man is simply, “Why didn’t Jesus tell me?” Any parent will tell you that when one child is representing the parent to another sibling, something isn’t right. If I want to tell my child something, I simply tell him, I don’t send another to speak for me. If God wants to tell us something, and we know His sheep hear His voice, why would He send someone else? There are examples of His doing that in the Old Testament, and the people knew exactly what the prophet was talking about; it wasn’t something vague or something that they couldn’t see was wrong. This brings us to one other point, which is that the carnal make things vague to protect themselves. It reminds me of the Indian fortuneteller standing on the corner and saying to each person passing by, “You seem happy, but something is wrong deep inside!” On any given day, he would be spot on for at least half of the people. God has no need to be vague, and the “words of the Lord” calculated to appeal to the flesh are. “You are going to have an expanded ministry!” “You are going to have all your riches returned to you!” “You are going to have healing!” It is all so appealing to the flesh. I would rather hear, “You are in Him, and so being in Him, He will bring the revelation of Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Carnal men want to give a word that is spectacular. Again, always question the motive behind what is being said to you. Is the motive to move you toward Jesus? The “word” should bring neither condemnation nor exaltation; it should be about Him. Now, I have received tremendous encouragement from the words of believers that were not from them but from Him. Therefore, don’t let all the phony words deter you when a blessing is to be had. Simply judge what is being said.

If we do not invite Him today to live His life through us, we will discover that we have not changed, and God will use the ensuing failure to bring the point home.

Romans 7:18, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

Because of how religion infiltrates the Church, so few have a doctrine of failure. There is one very big problem with this: We all will fail! Most are emphasizing a one-time fix, meaning that some understanding or some conference will free a person from all future conflict. It is not so with us. Our system not only allows for failure but plans for it. The Epistles are written because Christians are failing, they are not getting it, but most importantly they have moved away from their focus on Jesus. Without their failures we would not have those books. We have all learned as they did through their failures. If they learned through theirs, is it not true that we will learn from ours? Do any believe that the early Church didn’t have failures? Paul uses the occurrence of believers’ going to temple prostitutes to explain the principle of oneness. He didn’t tell them they were hopeless; he told them why they should not be doing it and to stop. Peter was a tremendous failure after being taught by Jesus for three-and-one-half years. What do we learn about soul strength in our attempts to serve God from his example? What did he learn? If you are prepared for failure, when it comes (and it will) you will not have to enter into condemnation, unbelief, and become a Galatian. The flesh doesn’t change, but that really is a beautiful thing, because if I don’t want to walk with Jesus, I will be the same mess I was before . . . well, actually worse. With Adam’s life in me, wearing sin was natural. With Christ’s life in me, wearing sin is very abnormal and miserable. The hardest thing to get across is that we are not improving, but only abiding longer. I know a man that was in a mental institution, came to see Christ as his life, and as Christ flowed from him, people could see Jesus. However, he believes in a one-time fix, and now when he isn’t abiding he still acts very psychotic, but now it is more of a Christian psychosis and more “acceptable.” Well, amen. An elephant can live up to 100 years, and the reason it dies is this: It has six set of teeth. As it wears out one set of teeth, the next set comes in, and so on until it has no teeth, can no longer eat, and it dies. We, like the elephant, have many sets of spiritual teeth for eating at different stages of our life. There are teeth for the milk of the early things and teeth for the later things, and one day we will leave this body. Until then there is always something to chew, and if we chew long enough we need a new set of teeth. We have chewed long enough on heaven vs. hell. It is time to chew on the fact that Christ is in us. As we by choice invite Him to live through us, He will today, but for today only. I am not saying He is coming and going; I am saying we must choose to relate to Him in a certain way. If we do not invite Him today to live His life through us, we will discover that we have not changed, and God will use the ensuing failure to bring the point home.

No one can be born again by the will of the flesh, insidious in its ability to take the eyes off of Jesus.

Job 34:15, “All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.” John 1:13, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
No one will be born of the will of the flesh. It is impossible. For in the flesh are the senses of man that constantly need feeding. One may think of them as instinct gone amuck. Senses in the body are given attention either by pain or reward, feeding or starving, or consciously avoiding or obsessing on. Either way it is in being activated that they are kept alive and in charge. The greater truth is that the senses want to be activated; the lesser truth is how they are activated, which is by eating from the tree of good and evil. The desire for food (wish fulfillment or fantasy) will keep senses alive just as much as condemnation from eating too much. Look at the anorexic or observe the obese, and both scream “flesh in control.” An overwhelming desire for sex or the condemnation of looking at porno both scream that the flesh has regained control. Thinking of oneself as intelligent or stupid are both still flesh. Again, flesh is simply the senses in control. The east denies the flesh in an attempt to appease it and the west feeds it in an attempt to appease it. Of course, the west doesn’t have a choice in that nothing is enough to satisfy it, nor does the east really choose, since there is ultimately no way to withhold from the flesh. Nevertheless, the flesh is flesh and is hostile to God. Now, why does flesh desire to be in control? It is because flesh desires man to be flesh-centered. If man becomes Christ-centered, the senses of flesh would not be fed but would be sublimated to Christ. The flesh can never be more than a slave, and a rebellious one at that, for by the works of the flesh will no flesh be justified. No one can be born again by the will of the flesh, insidious in its ability to take the eyes off of Jesus. The flesh constantly screams for attention and has a thousand methods at its disposal to get it. Believers and non-believers alike have flesh. The saddest thing is to witness someone who has abandoned his will to flesh. Like a tick, flesh will feed until it explodes and destroys itself. I meet many Christians that struggle with the sin of homosexuality but are not homosexual, and if you were to meet them, you would never guess what their particular deed of the flesh is. However, meet someone who has, by choice, yielded to that area of the flesh, and it is evident in his or her body. Just a few minutes with that person reveal to what they have yielded their flesh. Now, why would God put us in flesh? I am not talking about a physical body, but the desires of the senses that reside in the physical body. Well, it has been said that the greatness of a man is not determined by what he does but rather by what he refuses to do. The man who feeds his flesh through adventure and the procession of praise for victory or the mockery for defeat is not as great a man as he who says, “Not my will but Thy will be done.” Having flesh and its senses allows man the unique opportunity of choice, of living on the earth but not being of the earth, of living to God and not to senses, and the discovery of something higher in this life, spiritual fulfillment. Flesh, or rather the call of the senses to stay alive, is a constant reminder that we must move our eyes to Jesus. It is another stronghold allowing us to stay focused. If God is for us, then who can be against us? Again, the flesh is never a friend; you may buffet it and make it a slave, but it will never be a friend. The flesh is a strange thing in that it cannot live on its own but must live on something that is living. It adapts to resemble the thing on which it lives, but it isn’t really a living thing. When man dies, the fleshly condition of the man dies. It is weird.

The decision was Jesus

9As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.”
There were many questioning Jesus and seeking for something that they really didn’t want: a miracle. Once they saw one, they were forced to a place of making a decision for which they were not ready. The decision was Jesus. Since they were not ready for the decision that a miracle brought, they next had to rid themselves of the decision the miracle forced upon them. They had played a clever game in their minds and emotions; as long as they could ask Jesus questions, they could be unbelieving without condemnation. However, once seeing, they had to choose. The problem was that they couldn’t choose, and the only thing left to do was rid themselves of the One who performed the miracle and forced the decision. The miracle was actually a curse. Believer, do you really want a miracle before God is ready to give it to you? It will demand a response and call for an action of faith on your part. Has your faith come to the place where you can so act? If not, the miracle will be a curse. To simplify things, seek Christ and not the miracle, so when the miracle comes, He will have prepared you for it.

Often I get the feeling that people are angry, believing that God owes them something. Does God owe you something? There is an easy way to tell. Condemnation! If you are waiting for punishment, conversely, you are also waiting for a reward. If you are fearful over a coming punishment, then you are anxious over some reward you believe you deserve.

As believers we are in Christ; unbelievers are out of Christ. If we are in Christ, then He has received our punishment and gives us our rewards based not on what we do, but on what we allow Him to do through us.

When I first started traveling around the world, there were many instances where the atrocities of the white man, specifically Americans, were brought to my attention. I really didn’t care, for I was there to preach Christ. However, as the accusations and condemnation continued, I would eventually find myself defending white people. What a stupid thing it is to defend the flesh of another man!

One day I came away saying to the Lord, “Jesus, I came to preach You, not defend man. I know it is stupid to get drawn in to that discussion. Why do I let myself?” He was gracious to whisper the answer, “Pride.”

I have been in hundreds of homes around the world. Every family worries about the same things: their relationship with God, their marriage, their children, and finances. We are not different. The answer is Jesus. And there, in that place, with so much in common with the folks around me, I find myself talking about something that couldn’t matter a bit: white people! How could you believe yourself better than another if not for pride? Why would you try to prove yourself as good as another if not for pride? Pride makes us live to man in one way or another. Pride keeps the Liberal from inviting the teenager who is a skinhead to his home. If he were invited, it might be discovered that the boy’s home is a wreck, he has never been loved, he only knows how to hate, and he is full of pride. Would you have done better growing up in his home?

A black man’s son wants to marry a beautiful Christian who is white. At the family reunion, out of earshot, she is judged and condemned by the other women. Why? Pride!

An elderly man in England often verbally abused me. One day, after a few years, he came to me. “I just hated you because you were an American. The Americans came to the war late.” Pride!

The root of racism is not so much believing that your color is better than another color; the root is believing that you are better than another, any other!

The root of racism is not so much believing that your color is better than another color; the root is believing that you are better than another, any other! Are you? Are you better because of your understanding, your politics, your wealth, your education, your color, your anti-racist stand, where you grew up, your national heritage, your family history, or your “open mindedness”? People really don’t want equality. Everyone in some shape or form wants to be better than and believe they are better than someone else. This attitude of pride is all the justification that carnal man needs to abuse another.

There is no need beating a dead horse; history is replete with examples, i.e., results of pride. I don’t believe that it is possible to educate people out of pride. It is interesting that we feed pride in people and then wonder why they think they are better than others. Well, Jesus comes and equalizes all men, but not in the way we think He should bring equality! He makes all men equal in two ways. First, Rom. 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Oh yes, all men are EXACTLY the same. All in their pride have sinned! More than anything else you have this in common with every person of every race. You are sinners. It is a greater title that includes the lesser. If you can accept this, you have accepted your pride, and you are ready for entrance into the second category of equality. “For He Himself is our peace, who made both {groups into} one.” He has made us one! We are equal in Him, all sons, all gifted, all accepted, all holy, all righteous, and all humble.

You must admit where you are to leave where you are. Are you willing to admit that you are a racist? To be a racist you need only have the attitude that you are better than just one other person. Are you willing to admit to pride? If so, start preaching Christ; He is the cure for the cause.

One last thing, if you have been on the receiving end of racism, do not develop a victim mentality. Becoming a victim makes the victimizer your god, the one that ultimately controls your thought life, your happiness, and your future. Refuse to live that way and see God in it. John 19:11, “Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has {the} greater sin.’” Bless those that curse you. God is not fighting wicked people but using them in your life. You will have your reward in heaven when your oneness is revealed to all!

What does this passage mean to you? Many are beating themselves up over their sin, so much so that I assume they live under the Law. It is obvious that they believe they are justified by behavior. Abraham understood the secret: without faith, the Law cannot be birthed.

Without first believing in God, Abraham would never have received the commands of God. I wouldn’t listen to any of the commands of the Hindu gods simply because I don’t believe they exist. Law without faith gives birth to sin. For example, if I believe in the love of God, knowing full well that all He tells me is for my good, I will easily and readily keep the command to bless those who curse me. It is simple. However, if I don’t believe in the love of God, I will read the command to bless those who curse, realize that I don’t do that, and not believing that it is for my good, I will find a way around the command. “I don’t have to love them, for they have gone too far.” The Law that was to bless me (if birthed in faith, in the love of God) now becomes the thing by which I am condemned; the Law, without faith, will always give birth to sin.

It is easy to see how Abraham was walking in the greater way of faith; even without the Law he was justified. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Sweeter words were never spoken. I determined long ago to spend my time in the love of God and not in the Law. As I have discovered the love of God, the command has been found to be easy. In fact, I refuse to listen to the Law unless it is in the context of faith in Him and His love.

The Law is good if birthed in faith, and moving deeply into the faith of Jesus brings a higher life than living in the Law, for faith in Jesus will lead to an expression of exactly Jesus. Amazing! Without the Law, sin is dead (Rm. 7:8). Sin counts on man’s boastful pride attempting to keep the Law without faith. This accounts for so much immorality in legalistic churches, where the emphasis is on performance and little or nothing is said of faith. A dating couple comes to the office, they have been sleeping together, and they are under great condemnation. Is the solution to have them stop? If they stop because of the command without believing in the Love of God that gave the command, they will continue to struggle and “slip up.” If they see the Love of God in the command and believe in Him who gives the command, the struggle will cease.

If a child is told that by working he will obtain a bicycle, and the child believes the parent, the work will be a great joy. But what if the child does not believe the parent? Will the work be done grudgingly or with joy? And working grudgingly is sin. If the child were never given the promise, the child wouldn’t be working grudgingly, and there would be no sin. In the end, that child would be better if he had never heard the promise. The problem is simple: the Law was given to men of faith, and men of unbelief have attempted to keep it–which they cannot do, for Law is birthed in faith—and the result is sin and condemnation. Now, Romans 7 becomes quite clear; the battle described is not the battle of the old man against the new man, nor a battle that exists before conversion or after conversion. It is describing an absolute battle between faith and Law, a battle that includes the unbeliever (going to hell) and the unbelieving believer (going to heaven.)

Security only comes in faith

At any time, either the unbeliever or the unbelieving believer can perceive, with the mind, the Law of God and want to keep it, for they know that it is good. Yet, because of lack of belief in God, the entire being cannot keep the Law, the person is divided, and the end result is sin and condemnation. Don’t think that the way out is recommitment, harder work, rededication, vows, knowledge, or strength; the way out is faith in Jesus. “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” The Gentiles have pursued the promise by faith and gotten it, but the Jews sought by Law and lost it. “For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Where do you begin in your struggle? Stop fighting the Law and start confessing Jesus with your mouth each day. Before you go to sleep, do not let your thoughts end at the Law you have not kept. Instead, let your thoughts end at Jesus, in whom you believe. This brings us to the final “hiccup!”

Security only comes in faith. Regardless of whether you are a Calvinist or an Armenian, to attempt to find security in works will only bring about insecurity. These two camps become one under the Law. Read Romans 7 and think of it differently. Paul is talking about living in the Law and how impossible it is to live so. The Law reveals what I didn’t know was sin, and then it doesn’t give me the power to obey. After the knowledge, I find myself doing the very thing I don’t want to do. This passage applies to all that live by the Law.