Recently, we have been sharing together on the book of Proverbs. We used a verse in Proverbs which says, “Wisdom hath builded her house; she hath hewn out her seven pillars.”
We take wisdom as our Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus is the wisdom of God, and God has made Him our wisdom. The Lord Jesus, as wisdom, is building His house—the house of God. The house that He builds is a house with seven pillars: a very solid, very good house.
We take the seven pillars as the sevenfold character of the Lord Himself. We are living stones. As we come to Him, we are as living stones, to be built up together as a spiritual house. But for these living stones to be built up together, He has to build in us certain characteristics of Himself.
It is only with His own character built first in us that He is able to build us together to be a holy habitation of God, for Him to dwell in the Spirit.
In the past few Lord’s Days, we have mentioned six of these seven pillars:
This morning we will come to the seventh one, which is truthfulness: being true, or simply real.
Let us read some of the passages in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 10:9
He that walketh uprightly walketh surely;
But he that perverteth his ways shall be known.
Proverbs 11:9
With his mouth the godless man destroyeth his neighbor;
But through knowledge shall the righteous be delivered.
Proverbs 12:17, 19-20, 22
He that uttereth truth showeth forth righteousness;
But a false witness, deceit.The lip of truth shall be established for ever;
But a lying tongue is but for a moment.Deceit is in the heart of them that devise evil;
But to the counsellors of peace is joy.Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord;
But they that deal truly are His delight.
Proverbs 14:22, 25
Do they not err that devise evil?
But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.A true witness delivereth souls;
But he that uttereth lies causeth deceit.
Proverbs 16:6, 11, 28
By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for;
And by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.A just balance and scales are the Lord’s;
All the weights of the bag are His work.A perverse man scattereth abroad strife;
And a whisperer separateth chief friends.
Proverbs 17:4
An evildoer giveth heed to wicked lips;
And a liar giveth ear to a mischievous tongue.
Proverbs 19:5, 9
A false witness shall not be unpunished;
And he that uttereth lies shall not escape.A false witness shall not be unpunished;
And he that uttereth lies shall perish.
Proverbs 20:17, 23, 28
Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man;
But afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel.Diverse weights are an abomination to the Lord;
And a false balance is not good.Mercy and truth preserve the king;
And his throne is upholden by mercy.
Proverbs 21:28
A false witness shall perish;
But the man that heareth shall speak so as to endure.
Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth, and sell it not;
Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Our Father, we have read Thy words. Now we ask Thy Holy Spirit to quicken Thy words to us, that we may hear Thy voice and may be transformed by the power of Thy Spirit. Oh, that Christ may be formed in us, and He may be glorified. In Thy precious name we ask. Amen.
Our God is a God of truth. He is the true God, and there is none else.
We remember the prayer of our Lord Jesus, as recorded in John 17:3:
And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.
What is eternal life? Eternal life is to know God, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent.
Also, in 1 John 5:20:
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
We have been given understanding to know Him that is true. Thank God, we know Him that is true—the true God. Not only do we know Him that is true, but we are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Our Lord Jesus is called “the holy, the true” in Revelation 3. He is the Amen, the faithful and true Witness. Our brother has mentioned that verse before: the Lord Jesus said, “I am the truth.”
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, you remember once the Pharisees and the Herodians came together to our Lord Jesus, trying to ensnare Him by His words. They asked Him different questions. Do you know how they began their question?
In Matthew 22, they said:
Teacher, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for anyone; for Thou regardest not the person of men.
Even His enemies acknowledged that our Lord Jesus is true, and that He teaches the way of God in truth. He does not care for anyone’s approval, for He does not regard man’s person.
In other words, the whole life of our Lord Jesus manifested to those around Him—to His foes as well as His friends—that here is a true Man. There is no pretense in Him. There is no falsehood in Him.
He does not put up a front. He is not someone trying to court popularity. He is a true Man. What He is within is what He manifests without. What He is before God in secret is what He is before man in public.
He plays no politics. He does not maneuver. He is the true Man—the real One. That is the impression He gives to the world.
Because He is so real, because He is so true, He had to suffer for it. As a matter of fact, He was put to death because He was so real.
When He was asked, “Art Thou the Son of God?” He spoke the truth: He is. Because of that, He was condemned to death by the high priest. When He was asked, “Art Thou the King?” He said, “To this end have I been born; but My kingdom is not of this world.” On that account, He was put to death.
Our Lord Jesus is true from within and without. There is no untruth in our Lord Jesus. He is so true, so real.
Of course, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and He is to lead us into all the truth. Outside of the Holy Spirit, there is no truth; that is to say, there is no reality. If you want to get into spiritual reality, you have to be led into it by the Spirit of truth.
So you see, our God is the God of truth. This is the very character of our God. Because this is His character, He requires of us that we be true, that we be real, as He is true and real.
But the problem is, brothers and sisters, we are not true. We are not real. Truthfulness is something unknown to our natural man.
Before man sinned, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, how real, how true they were. There was no pretense. There was no covering, because there was no need to cover.
Yet immediately after sin entered into the world by man, you know what happened. First, they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. Second, when they heard the voice of the Lord coming into the garden, they hid themselves among the trees. Third, when God said, “What hast thou done?” immediately Adam began to blame Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
They all tried to cover themselves. Since that day, untruthfulness has been the nature of the old man.
Do not think, dear brothers and sisters, that you are very true and very real. No one is real. We live in an unreal world. The whole world is a big lie. The whole world is under a great liar, even Satan.
Satan is the ruler of this world, and he is a liar. He rules this world with lies. Everything is just covering up. Pretense is the rule of this universe.
We think we are real. We think we are true. We are not. We live under great deception. We deceive others, and we deceive ourselves without knowing it.
Truth is not in the natural man. There is no truth in the old man.
When do we begin to realize this? It is when the Spirit of truth begins to convict us.
Brothers and sisters, before the Spirit of God convicts us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, how do we consider ourselves? We consider ourselves pretty good.
We often try to compare ourselves with other people and say, “Well, even though I am not perfect, I am better than so-and-so.” Are we true to ourselves? Are we true to God? Are we true to other people? No, we deceive ourselves. We do not know ourselves. Why? Because we live under a big lie. We are part of this world system.
But when the Spirit of God begins to convict us of our sins, this is the first time we begin to face ourselves in reality. We begin to see that we are not as perfect or as good as we think.
We begin to see all our falsehood, all our lies, all our pretenses, all the counterfeits, all our coverings. The Spirit of God begins to tear off all our coverings, and we appear naked before God.
As we appear naked before God, for the first time we see what sinners we are. It is a great revelation, and when that revelation comes, it humbles us. We do not know that we are that bad. We think we are much better.
But thank God, only when the Spirit of God has brought us to reality, to show us our real situation before God and to tear us naked before God, is this the first time we know what truth is.
You know, a hypocrite can never be saved. It is not a question of how great a sinner you are. God is able to save the greatest sinner in the world. Paul said he was the chief of sinners, and yet he was saved by grace.
But there is one kind of man that God cannot save and will not save, and that is a hypocrite. If a person is not honest with himself, if a person is not honest before God, if a person is not brought to honesty and truthfulness, if he continues to be a hypocrite and act hypocritically, even God cannot save that person, because He will not save that hypocrite.
Why is it that so many people are not saved? So many have heard the gospel. So many have been brought up and educated in a Christian environment. They profess to be believers, and yet they are not saved. Why? Because they play the hypocrite.
But one day, when you are really broken down before God and begin to be honest and say, “Lord, I am a sinner. You save me,” then you can be saved.
You remember that one day two persons entered into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. As he entered into the temple to pray, he said, “O God, I thank Thee because I am such a good person. I am not like that poor sinner, that tax collector. I tithe my earnings. I fast twice a week. O God, I thank Thee, and Thou needest to thank me too. I am so good.”
Even before God, he was playing the hypocrite. He went away unjustified. God did not hear his prayer.
But that publican, when he entered into the temple, could not go forward. He stood far back, and there he beat his breast and said, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Permit me to be atoned for.”
As he looked at the sacrifice on the altar, he said, “Lord, allow me to be atoned for by that sacrifice, because I am a great sinner.” He was honest, and he went back justified.
So, dear brothers and sisters, remember one thing: in our own nature, there is no such thing as being true or being real. We have been acting all our lives, and we do not know it.
What does it mean that after we are regenerated, born again, after we are saved, now we are true? On the one hand, it is true.
We have been given understanding of Him Who is true, and we are in Him Who is true. We who have believed in the Lord Jesus are in Him. We are in Christ, Who is true, and He Who is true is in us.
In other words, now there is truth in us. In our spirit, He dwells, and we are in Him. Thank God for the potentiality. In other words, we now, for the first time, possess a life that is true. For the first time, we are able to live a true life.
But this is only a potential. This is not yet the ultimate.
Let us read Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 20:
But ye did not so learn Christ;
If so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus:
That ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
And that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
And put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
Here you find that we who have believed in the Lord Jesus, we who have been born again by the Spirit, we who are redeemed by His precious blood, and we who have His life of truth in us, still need to learn.
“But ye did not so learn Christ; if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus.” In other words, we have the life of Christ in us. There is now the potential of being true, of being real. But in order to have that potential developed, we need to learn of Christ. We need to be instructed according to the truth that is in Jesus.
This is just what the Lord said: “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” We have the life of Christ in us, and now we need to learn of Him.
What is it that we need to learn of Him? Where do we start? It starts from a new position: having put off, according to the former manner of life, the old man which corrupts itself according to deceitful lusts.
Before we came to the Lord Jesus, we were clothed with the old man. We were clothed with our old garment, and this old garment is the old man. This old man is corrupted through deceitful lusts.
These lusts are very deceitful because they seem to offer you satisfaction, pleasure, fullness, and fulfillment. Yet they are deceitful. What they really offer you is corruption. You find that you are completely corrupted.
This old garment has become old and dirty and torn and shabby. It is corrupted.
But thank God, when we come to the Lord Jesus, He has not only given us His own life, but He has put off from us that old man, that old garment. Knowing that our old man was crucified with Him, when Christ was crucified, our old man was crucified with Him.
That is to say, He took away from us that old garment and nailed it to the cross. Instead, He has put on us a new garment: the new man. This new man is created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
The old man is deceitful and false. The new man is truthful, very true. This new man is created in righteousness and holiness of truth, and we know Who this new man is: it is Christ.
God has taken off Adam from us, and He has put on us Christ. He has taken off the old man from us, and He has put the new man on us, so far as our conduct, our behavior, and our daily living are concerned.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to see that when Christ was crucified, our old man was taken away. Now it is the new man. No, it is Christ Who lives in us. Not only does Christ live in us, but He is put on us. We are clothed with Christ.
Knowing this, knowing that this is now our new position, therefore put off falsehood. Speak truth, everyone with his neighbor, because we are members one of another.
First, we receive Him into us as the truth. Then we acknowledge by faith that our old man has already been put off and that we have now put on the new man, Christ.
As we take that ground, the Holy Spirit begins to make it real in our daily life. That is to say, whenever there is any falsehood in us, the Holy Spirit begins to deal with and search that area.
Brothers and sisters, how do we enter into that realness, that trueness? How do we become a true man, real before God and man? We have pretended so long.
Is it left for us to try to discover where the falsehood is and how we can be true? Is it left for us to strive to be true? Brothers and sisters, we are not able to do that.
We will just fall back into the same old rut. We think we are true, and yet we are acting. But thank God, this is not something that is left for us to do.
This is something that the Spirit of truth takes upon Himself the responsibility of working out in our lives. All we need to do is say, “Lord, Thou art in me, and I am in Thee. This is my new position. I refuse to be unreal anymore. I desire to be true, and this is my stand.”
“Because this is what Thou hast brought me to, now by Thy grace I do desire to be real. I do desire to be true, and I am in Thy hand.” This is all we need to declare before God.
As we take that stand, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. He will search different areas of our life. He will search our emotions, our thoughts, our minds, our wills, our volition, and our relationships with other people.
He will search every area of our life, and one by one He will tell us where there is falsehood. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. The anointing that is within you shall teach you in all things, and whatever He says is true and is not a lie.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how often, when we are speaking, thinking, acting, deciding, or having some kind of relationship with other people—acting or reacting—the Holy Spirit, in that still small voice within us, begins to speak: “This is not true. This has to go. Be real.”
Has the Holy Spirit dealt with you in this way? He is trying to take off all the falsehood from you, and He is trying to work in you truthfulness, which is the character of Christ.
Christ cannot be developed in you if you still linger in falsehood. You have to be true. You have to be true before God, true with yourself, and true with your brothers and sisters.
It is very difficult to be true. Why? Because it is costly.
Look at Paul, especially in 2 Corinthians. Second Corinthians is a letter that reveals and exposes Paul in a very large measure.
Paul was writing to the believers in Corinth, and some of them were fighting him, rejecting him, and speaking evil of him. When you are writing a letter to people who reject you and misunderstand you, dare you expose yourself to them?
You would put your best and strongest appearance before them. Yet, if you read the second letter to the Corinthians, what do you find there?
It is true that Paul said for fourteen years he had never shared with other people the great revelation he received when he was caught up into the third heaven. When you have an experience of the second heaven, the whole world will know the next moment. You cannot wait to tell. But Paul had experienced the third heaven, and he hid that for fourteen years. Nobody knew about his experience in the third heaven until fourteen years later, when he shared it with the Corinthian believers. He was forced to do that.
Yet, on the other hand, when he wrote a letter to the Corinthians, he revealed to them how restless he was. Think of that: writing to a church that questioned his authority.
He told them that when he was in Troas, he found no rest. Even though the Lord gave him a great opportunity for the gospel, he found no rest in his spirit, so he left Troas. People would say, “Look, that is Paul—so weak. Because he could not find Titus, he got so restless that he left a great opportunity of preaching the gospel.”
That was Paul. Again, he said he was restless in Macedonia. Why? Because he was waiting for the news to come as to whether the Corinthian believers had really accepted his advice or not. He was restless.
He was not afraid to let them think lowly of him. He even said that he did not want people to think above what he really was by what they heard of him. He wanted to be real and true with them.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, can we afford to be true, to be real? We all put on a front and try to appear so pious, so godly, so spiritual, and we are afraid people may find out. We try to cover ourselves.
This untruthfulness becomes such a habit that we not only try to cover ourselves before man; even when we come before God, it becomes natural to us. No wonder many prayers are not answered, because we are not honest with God.
In order that we may really be led into a life that is true, that is real, the Spirit of God has to deal with us. He has to deal with our falsehood. He has to put His finger on many things in our life and say, “This is not true. Be real.”
Look at Peter. Peter thought he loved the Lord very much. He thought that he was real, that his love for the Lord was real.
When the Lord said, “I am going to be crucified,” Peter said, “I will go with Thee. If all the other disciples flee, certainly I will die with Thee. I love Thee so much.” He thought he was real with himself and with the Lord.
But before a slave girl, he denied the Lord, and three times. His pretense, his deception, was shattered.
After the Lord was resurrected, you remember that incident one morning. The Lord asked him, “Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me?” What did Peter say?
Peter said, “Lord, Thou knowest that I am attached to Thee. I cannot say that I love Thee with absolute love. I have been found out that I do not have that love. I thought I did, but I did not. Thou knowest better than I do. I am attached to Thee.”
At that point, Peter was real. When he inflated himself as a spiritual giant—“Lord, I love Thee. I am willing to die for Thee”—he was false, under deception.
But when he was reduced to such a dwarf, and said, “Lord, Thou knowest I am attached to Thee,” here was spirituality. He was real.
Because there was reality, the Lord said, “Feed My lambs.” The Lord was able to commit His work to Peter. Why? Because there was truthfulness.
Dear brothers and sisters, one of the characteristics that God has to build in us is truthfulness. We have to be real before God and before man. Be true. Be real.
Well, what is being true? What is being real? Some people say, “I am just being real. Therefore, I will pour out everything.”
To be true is not to be naïve.
When the people came to question the Lord, they said, “We know that Thou art true. Thou dost not regard any person. Thou dost not pretend. Thou playest no politics.” Did the Lord play politics with them? Not at all. But the Lord was very tactful.
Instead of answering directly, “All right, give to Caesar,” for then the Pharisees would say, “Thou art an apostate. We acknowledge only one thing: our God.” And if the Lord said, “Do not give to Caesar,” then the Herodians would say, “Now Thou art a rebel.”
Being true does not mean that you have to speak out right away. The Lord was very tactful. He said, “Give Me a coin. Whose is this image?” They said, “Caesar’s.” The Lord said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
We need to be harmless as doves, but wise as serpents. Some people think they are very real, but they are foolish.
To be real does not mean that you are very rough, blunt, or rude. That is not being real at all. God wants us to be gentle and courteous.
To be real means that you live as before God all the time. Even when you live before man, you know that you live before God. There is no difference.
What you are before God, you are before man. What is within you is what will be without. You do not try to make yourself bigger or smaller; you just be yourself before God. That is to be real.
What is it to be real? There is only one way to be real, and that is to abide in Christ. It is only when you abide in Christ that you are real.
How can we be real? It is only when we walk in the Spirit, because only the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. When we are not walking in the Spirit, we are walking in the flesh, and we are unreal.
Not only are what we do or say unreal; we ourselves are unreal. Our very being is not real. But if we walk in the Spirit, the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. It is in that realm that we can be real to God, to ourselves, and to people.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is something that God has to build in us. It is with truthfulness that He is able to build His house.
That is the reason Paul said, “Speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” We cannot be real with God, and there can be no growth, if we cannot be real with one another.
If we cannot be real with one another, there can be no building together. If we cannot be real in this world, there can be no testimony to the world. So may God have mercy upon us.
Again, we will say it is costly. It is costly. It cost our Lord His life, and it may cost you your life too. But falsehood is only for a moment; truth is eternal.
I remember there is a hymn. Unfortunately, I do not know how to translate it into English. I am not poetical, but there is a chorus which is very beautiful, and it runs like this:
Truth is often like ascending a guillotine;
Falsehood is frequently like ascending the throne.
But the dead shall fashion the future,
And the glorified shall soon disappear.
Furthermore, we have God the Father, Who cares for us in secret. Therefore, we ought to be true and faithful in all things.
Brothers and sisters, it is true: oftentimes falsehood seems to be on the throne. Why? Because the world is a big lie. Whoever lies has all the backing of this world.
To be true is like going to a guillotine, to have your head cut off. But the dead shall fashion the future, not the temporarily glorified. We have God the Father, Who is looking after us in secret. We need to be true and faithful.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee. Thou art the true God. Thou art the truth.
How we praise and thank Thee that Thy very life in us is the true life. There is no falsehood in it. Lord, we do desire to live by Thy life.
May Thy Holy Spirit deal with us. Take off all the falsehood that belongs to the old man, and build up the truth that is in Thee.
O Lord, we offer ourselves to Thee. We are Thy workmanship, and we invite Thee to perfect Thy work in us, that we may be built up together as a habitation for Thee, the true God. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.