«　WEEK 9　DAY 4　»

　　1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness also, and sin is lawlessness.

　　Titus 2:14 Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a particular people as His unique possession, zealous of good works.

　　A man sins when he walks according to his self-will and rebels against God’s authority….Those who do good according to their own flesh do not please God. Even if a man’s conduct is approved, his very person is condemned as long as he acts according to the flesh….Man is condemned for doing good because this good is not performed under God’s authority. Sin means to act presumptuously. If a man does not come under authority, he sins even when his conduct is good. In God’s eyes all goodness performed by self-will is lawlessness. God is not concerned with the number of sheep and cattle and the amount of fat that man offers to Him….Obedience and submission are man’s responses to authority. (CWWN, vol. 59, p. 110)

　　In Matthew 7:21-23 the Lord rebuked those who prophesied, cast out demons, and did works of power in His name…. They were rebuked because they were doing these things out of themselves, not out of obedience to God’s will. This is the reason the Lord said that only “he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens” [v. 21] can enter the kingdom of the heavens. The present age is full of lawlessness and rebellion….Sin is lawlessness and rebellion according to 1 John 3:4. Being lawless is being without the law, and being without the law is sin. Satan sinned by trespassing against authority. Man breaks the law when the law is present and acts irresponsibly when no law is present…. Breaking the law is a matter of conduct, and it is sin. Being lawless is a matter of motive, and it is sin as well. In lawlessness one not only rebels against authority but acts as if there is no law. In the end times the presence of the lawless one will result in fallen man overturning all forms of authority. He will act according to his self-will and lawlessness will reign…. From the time of Satan’s fall, throughout man’s history of transgression to the end of this age, Satan is continually fighting against God’s authority. Man is also standing against God’s authority…. Rebellion constitutes the underlying principle of this world. In order to serve God, we have to experience authority. We have to free ourselves from these two worldly principles—lawlessness and rebellion.

　　We must realize that there are two principles in this universe. One is the principle of God’s authority, and the other is the principle of Satan’s rebellion. We cannot serve God on the one hand and take the way of rebellion on the other hand…. A rebellious man can give a message, but Satan will laugh at such a man because he is operating under Satan’s principle. Service is directly linked to authority. If we do not settle the matter of authority, we will have problems in all areas of our service and living. We have to ask ourselves if we are under God’s authority. As servants of God we have to have a fundamental revelation, a revelation of His authority….We have to know that any kind of rebellion is from Satan. Those who have not seen authority are destroying their own work. We may say that we are destroying Satan’s work, but actually we are working according to Satan’s principle. This will lead us nowhere. Unless we touch authority and its underlying root, God will not be able to have any work in China, in other places, and in the entire world. If we do not remove the root of rebellion, we will have no future and no work. May the Lord be merciful to us and grant us a real touch with authority. May we turn away from the principle of rebellion and reject the way of rebellion. May the Lord preserve our service in the principle of submission. (CWWN, vol. 59, pp. 106-108)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament,” chs. 2,6; CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Kingdom and the Church,” chs. 4, 6-7