It’s serious to tell a lie to a friend; it’s more serious to tell a lie to a judge. If you’re in a courtroom and you’ve sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and then you lie to a judge, you’re in trouble and arrested for perjury.

Even as serious as that is, it is unspeakably serious to lie to the Holy Spirit as we saw in Acts 5. You’re not going to fool Him. I read about a man who stole an alarm clock. He put it in his coat and tried to walk out but it went off before he got outside the door, and he was arrested because the alarm clock was ringing right in his chest. The enemy doesn’t want you to know God’s alarm clock is right there in your chest. How foolish to think that you can escape detection from the Holy Spirit of God. It was so serious and foolish for Ananias and Saphira to try to lie to God, who knows all things. It is serious for us as well. He convicts our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and He will expose our wickedness when we resist confessing our sin to Him.

• • • What are some ways we might try and lie to the Holy Spirit?

  When have you felt conviction in your heart for something you had done against God?