The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said, “The Spirit of Truth will guide you into all the truth, He will not speak on his own initiative. He will disclose to you what is to come, and He will lead you into all the truth” (John 16:13).
I want my life to be totally truthful from head to foot because that's what it means to follow Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” So often even Christian preachers are diplomatic in the way they speak to others. They say, “If I say it like this, well, that could cause some problems so let me be diplomatic.” Jesus was never diplomatic. He always spoke the truth plainly and directly. I don't mean that He was rude and I don't believe we should be rude, but Jesus was not diplomatic for any personal gain. I believe we should be gracious and considerate in speaking the truth (not rude) -- we're always to be gracious when we speak to other people -- but I'm talking about speaking the truth where it's going to affect you. We must be truthful when it comes to ourselves.
Did you know that the Holy Spirit leads us into all the truth? The first sin that was judged in the early church was the sin of dishonesty, not the sin of covetousness. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira saw many people selling their lands and bringing the money to the Apostles’ feet (many people were doing that in Acts 4:34). Ananias and Sapphira also wanted a reputation in the church of being wholehearted and surrendered to God completely, so they also sold a bit of their land, but didn't give the full amount of money to lay at the Apostles’ feet like the others were doing. Let's assume they sold the land for a 100,000 rupees and kept back 50,000 rupees, thus giving 50% to the church. If somebody sold their property today and brought 50% of their proceeds to God, you would call that person a wholehearted Christian! But Ananias was killed, not because of what he gave or didn't give, but because he told a lie.
He stood in the line with others and kept his mouth shut as the people were leaving their money at the Apostles’ feet. He also left his money and moved on. As he moved on Peter said, “Ananias, come back here.” God gave Peter discernment that this guy was a liar. Peter told him in Acts 5:4, “When this land was yours, it was your own. Nobody asked you to sell it. God doesn’t want your money or your land. Everybody is giving voluntarily and after you sold it, the money was still yours. Nobody has asked you to give 50% or 10% or even 1% -- why have you thought of this? You have told a lie to God.” Ananias could have said, “I never opened my mouth! I never said a word,” but do you know you can tell a lie to God without opening your mouth? Ananias just stood in line, put the money at the Apostles’ feet, and moved on. He never opened his mouth, but in that action, it was a lie. This is hypocrisy - to pretend.
You can come to the fellowship in a church and pretend to be wholehearted like all the others, and yet be a liar. If you sit with people pretending to be wholehearted like the others and you are not wholehearted, you are a liar even if you don't open your mouth. You can sing to Jesus “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold,” because you're singing along with all the others and the tune and the words are nice, but you may be an absolute liar because you don't mean it. Many Christians tell more lies to God on Sunday than any other day of the week because of the songs they sing! If you sing “All to Jesus I surrender,” but you haven't surrendered all, then you're a liar. You may not hear a preacher tell you the truth, but you need to hear it because it is the truth. If you have surrendered all to Christ then say it, otherwise keep your mouth shut, or say, “Lord I want to surrender all, but I haven't done it all.” That’s more honest. It doesn't matter if it doesn't fit in with the tune that others are singing. You be honest with God.
What is the consequence of this? In 2 Thessalonians 2:10 it speaks of those who don't receive the love of the truth. Loving the truth is more than speaking the truth.I can speak the truth but a higher level than that is to love the truth. I have such a tremendous longing to speak the truth that I love it and I don't ever want to have any lie in me. If we don't receive the love of the truth to be saved from all lying, then 2 Thessalonians 2:11 tells us the consequence: that God Himself will deceive us. That's one of the most fearful verses in the New Testament.
If you don't love the truth dear friend, let me tell you straight: Almighty God will deceive you. Satan is a deceiver. Your lusts deceive you. Your heart is deceitful. On top of that, if Almighty God, Who is your only hope of protection from deception, decides to deceive you, there is no hope for you. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 says that God will make you believe what is false. He will make you believe that you're born again when you're not born again. He will make you believe that you are filled with the Holy Spirit when you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. Why? Because of one reason: you don't receive the love of the truth.
Do you know the first sin mentioned in the Bible? It was a lie, when Satan told a lie to Eve saying, “You shall not die” (Genesis 3:4). That’s the first sin mentioned in the Bible - a lie.
What is the last sin mentioned in the Bible? If you turn to the very last chapter of the Bible, you see that lying is also the last sin mentioned. In Revelation 22:15 it says that those who practice lying are outside the holy city. So the first sin and the last sin mentioned in the Bible is lying. The first sin judged in the early church was lying. The people whom God deceives are those who don’t love the truth.
It's very important for us to take this seriously. “Let your yes be yes and your no be no” (Mathew 5:37). This protects us from deception. Jesus said, “I am the Way.” We all appreciate that. We acknowledge that Jesus is the Way and the Life. But He also said, “I am the Truth - I am reality” (John 14:6).
They couldn't have this in the Old Testament. David says in Psalm 51:6 where He makes his confession after sinning with Bathsheba, “Lord I realize You decide truth in the innermost being, I don't have it.I've been a hypocrite. I could kill Goliath, I could defeat the Philistines, but I was a hypocrite in my heart. I sinned with Bathsheba and tried to cover it up by first of all getting her husband to go to her bed that day. I didn't succeed there. Then I got rid of her husband and married her. Lord I realize You desire truth in the innermost being. I don't have it.” But truth in the innermost being is one of the wonderful things we can have today because of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Truth will make us truthful all the way to the innermost being of our life, and heart.
Revelation 14 speaks about certain people who are standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Revelation 14:4 tells of a group of overcomers who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. One characteristic about them is, “No lie was found in their mouth” (Revelation 14:5). Children of men are liars from the time they are born. We read that in Psalm 58:3. But here's a group of people who are completely delivered from lying so that there is no lie is found in their whole system. They have become like Jesus: full of truth! I want to encourage you: we need to cleanse ourselves from every type of lie.
Even if you have to pay a price for speaking the truth, if you stand for the truth and decide that you are going to eliminate lying from your life, then 100% your life will be clean. You'll be able to see God. You will never be deceived by any of the deceptions going around in Christendom today. You will know the truth because God Himself will show you the truth, and you will never be deceived about your spiritual condition.
