Jesus Christ himself was tried. When Pilate asked a few questions, Jesus Christ's response was simply this, "My Kingdom is not of your world. He made no defense. He didn't say, "Yeah, I'm subverting the nation," or "No, I'm not"; or "No, I didn't say anything about rendering to Caesar." He didn't get involved with what he did down at the church, with his whip and the money changers. He didn't get involved in what he said on the Sermon on the Mount. No. All he said was, "My Kingdom is not of your world." In other words, "Pilate and Herod, it's none of your business." But I thought he said it very diplomatically, "My kingdom is not of your world." I claim we should also have similar words. My kingdom is not of your world might be sufficient, but we have a few other things going for us, we actually have His government. His government has been established. Here, it is known as the Embassy of Heaven Church.
The Embassy of Heaven is an embassy sent into the world from Heaven. Jesus is the King, where our heart and hope lies because we will be returning to Him. When our work and our mission is done here, we will go back to Heaven and be with Jesus. But while we're here, we're on a mission. We're His ambassadors sent into the world to preach Heaven's message.
An ambassador never goes into a foreign country and becomes responsible or liable or under the laws of the foreign governments. They never have been and never will be. He is subject to the laws of the homeland. For us it is simply this: to love God and give our allegiance to His Son, staying true to Him, never giving our allegiance to anyone else. "When I send you out into the world, don't be tempted to give your allegiance to the foreign governments."
Our God is very jealous. If He sends you out, He wants you to go out, do His work and then come back. He doesn't want you to go out into the world and join the world. He won't know you then. In fact, if you join the world, do you know what you've committed? You've committed adultery with the world. You've fornicated, you've committed idolatry. Christ is your husband. He sends you into a world where there are many other husbands known as the State of This or the State of That. If you join that world, have you not committed adultery? Have you not forgotten who your husband is? These other husbands or other gods say, "Come, do this!" or "Come, take our privileges!" or "Come, get our licenses." If you come when they call, have you not committed adultery with the world? Yes, you have. Therefore, we must remain separate. Come out and be ye separate. Be not partakers with them.
It's like having a wife and going on a trip. There are many other women out there. If I go to bed with any number of them, have I not committed adultery? Just because I leave my home and my wife for a short trip, do I also have the freedom to have intercourse with other women? No! I'm barred from that. It's the same way with Christ. If Christ sends us here into the world, He expects us to stay true to Him, and to Him alone. And if we involve ourselves with any other gods, how do you think he's going to feel about us? He wants us to stay unspotted, to stay true and faithful to Him.
Let's take a look at hard-core realities. What are we going to do? We have a number of things that happen in the world. What we don't realize is that when these things happen, we have communed. In other words, the scripture I'm going to rely upon is, "What communion hath light with darkness?" If we are of the light and we are not under the law, then darkness would be those who are under the law. For if they were not of darkness they would not need the law would they? So those who are in the light don't need the law. They have fulfilled the law. But there are people who are very jealous of our liberty that we have in the light. They want to bring us into darkness.
Now let's take a look at hard-core facts. A policeman, as an example, has been trained to bring you into the darkness. And he does it by posing a single question. By the response that you make to that question, you will most likely have communed with darkness. You will have committed adultery - right then and there. And it was done by words. It was spoken words.
Let's say you're going down the highway. The police officer turns on his siren and his lights and you pull over. He approaches your car and says, "May I see your driver's license?" How are you going to respond? "May I see your driver's license?" If you say, "Yes," he's expecting to see your driver's license. If you say, "No," he's going to say, "Are you refusing to show your driver's license?"
Here's the situation. One leg is labeled "yes," the other leg is labeled "no." There is a trap in front of you, and the trap is inviting you to put a leg in it. If you respond to the trap by putting the "yes" leg in it, it will snap. If you put the leg labeled "no" in it, it will snap. Either way you've been snared. You have to overcome the officer's question.
Before we can overcome the question, we have to realize that the reason the question cannot be answered is because it is not a foundational question. "May I see your driver's license?" does not establish foundations. It assumes you are one required to have a driver's license. What I'll call it is a question that is way up in the trees. To answer the question you have to see the same thing the officer sees. You have to be up there sitting in the tree with him. He must see that you are under the law and you must also see that you are under the law. When you see that, you can answer his question.
To make that clearer, I will use my daughter Brooke as an example. I ask her, "Brooke, have you finished the dishes today?" That's not a foundational question. I'm assuming that since she is part of this household, she is required to wash the dishes. And when I ask the question, "Have you washed the dishes?" I'm expecting a "yes" or a "no" answer. Her mind set should be that "Yes, I am one required to wash the dishes and either I did or did not wash them." If she says, "No," then I say, "You didn't! Go sit in the corner for half an hour."
But if I say, "Art, have you finished washing the dishes today?" I'm assuming he's one required. If he says, "No," he would have jumped up in the tree believing he is one required to wash the dishes. Then I'd say, "Art, you haven't finished the dishes, go sit in the corner for a half hour." But he knows he can't answer the question. The reason he knows he can't answer the question is because he is not part of this household. There has been no established foundations that he is one required to wash dishes. How should he respond? He would say, "Well I am not one required to do the dishes, unless by my good heart I would ask you and see if it would be all right if I did them for you." But other than that Art's not under the law of washing the dishes.
The same thing goes with the governments of the world. When the police officer asks, "May I see your driver's license?" he is looking for a "yes" or "no" response. And he is assuming you are one required to have a driver's license, since almost everybody that he stops is supposed to have one. What would be a possible response? We suggest, "Hi. I'm an ambassador sent on a mission by the Embassy of Heaven Church. I have diplomatic immunities. In other words, I'm not under your law. Therefore, I'm not one required to have any State driver's license and am unable to answer your question. Is there anything else I can help you with?" In other words, by answering their question, you have to assume an understanding. If you don't have that same assumption or understanding, you cannot respond to it.
Let's say he blows the whistle. He doesn't understand because he's never been approached this way. All he knows is that if he doesn't see a driver's license, he's hauling you to jail. Let's assume you go off to jail and you're there overnight.