In the Old Testament, the law said, “You shall not make false vows but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord,” and, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” In today’s terms, a vow is like swearing something under oath. People put their hand on a Bible and say that they will speak the truth. What they really mean is, “Most of the time I tell lies, but now I'm going to speak the truth.” That’s what the meaning of a vow is when someone puts their hand on a Bible and swears by it. However, in James it says you should be speaking the truth all the time (James 5:12), and that’s what Jesus said here.

The sum and substance of Matthew 5:33-37 is that we should always be truthful. We must not be ingenious and clever and subtle with our words, and claim to speak the truth legally as if it were in a court of law. We must be known as truthful people and not tell lies in anything. Our “yes” must be “yes” and our “no” must be “no.” Anything other than that is evil. If I have to say “yes” in a devious way, there is something wrong and that will ultimately lead to hypocrisy.

If you read the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, it did not say, “You shall not tell lies.” The ninth commandment was, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” That was basically referring to a court of law, and that in a court of law you must not tell a lie. In other words, if you swear to something you must speak the truth. That was the standard in the Old Testament because God knew that nobody could keep a command to not tell lies. Similarly, there was no commandment in the Old Testament saying, “You shall not lose your temper,” because God knew nobody could keep such a commandment. Back then, the commandment was “You shall not murder.” Similarly, there was no commandment in the Old Testament that said, “Don't lust after a woman,” because God knew nobody could keep it. So the commandment was, “Don't commit physical adultery.”

But now in the new covenant, the gift of the Holy Spirit comes within, and makes it possible to live such a life. When the Holy Spirit comes in power, He comes in like electricity that lights up a light or runs a fan or runs our gadgets. Then we can do certain things that we could not do without the power of the Holy Spirit. Now it's possible to overcome the lust of the eyes, it's possible to overcome anger, it's possible to stop shouting at your spouse, it’s possible to speak the truth all the time, and it’s possible to let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no.”

To use a more up-to-date illustration: if you signed a sale deed or any other agreement in a court of law with witnesses, you were very careful to read that agreement before you signed it because you know that it will be enforced by the court of law. For a Christian, his word should be as good as that signed agreement. Would you say that is true in your life?

I remember once when in my own life I had agreed with someone who wanted to buy something that I was selling in my house. It was fairly expensive and we agreed for a price, but he didn't come back to take it for many months. By then the value of that thing had gone up and I could have said to him, “Hey, the value of this has gone up and you didn’t take it then.” Though I didn't sign an agreement, I had verbally agreed to give it to him for that particular price, and the Lord said to me, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’” He was a brother in crisis and that was all the more reason why I wanted to keep my word to him. I said, “Sure you can have it for that price,” and of course he was delighted. What did I suffer? Maybe I suffered a certain loss financially. Perhaps I could have made a few thousand more rupees by giving it to him at a higher price, but then I would have had a bad conscience because my ‘yes’ was not ‘yes.’

It's worth losing a little bit of money to be upright and to be Christ-like in our conduct. Many times we are tested in the area of money to see whether we're willing to let our yes be yes and our no be no.

God tests us in this area before He can lead us higher. I found in my life many, many times that God tested me in places where I may have had to lose something or sacrifice something. He tests me with these commandments to see whether I will live according to them. Then I discover whether I really believe it or not. There are many situations today where speaking the truth costs us nothing. There is no test there, but when speaking the truth could cost you your job, for example - it’s then that you're tested by God to see whether He can lead you to a higher ministry. I believe many of these areas are where God tests us. And many, many people young people have failed God’s test.

God doesn't force anybody to be His faithful servant. I believe He wants you and me to be faithful servants of His, but whether you're going to be faithful or not, whether you are going to stick to the standards of God's Word, and whether you are going to compromise Him to please people will determine whether you ever become true servant of God or not.

Think of a situation for example, if you're working in an office and maybe there's an expensive machine there that you accidentally misused and spoiled, but nobody saw you doing it. Many people use that machine and a little later on somebody discovers the machine is not working, and the authorities come to investigate. The boss comes by and asks who spoiled the machine. You know it was you but you keep quiet because there's no way they can find out, since a lot of people were using it. You think you didn’t lie because you didn’t open your mouth, but actually you did tell a lie. You told a lie without opening your mouth! So that you would keep your job, you did not admit that you were the one who used it last and spoiled it in some way. Maybe if you had confessed it they would have sacked you from the job because it is an expensive machine.

Which is more important in that moment? The devil comes to you and says a lie is almighty; that if you tell a lie you can preserve your job. At the same time the Holy Spirit whispers to your heart that it is a lie. Is not God almighty? If you trust God in this situation and speak the truth, maybe you will lose your job, but God will give you a better one. Do you have that faith? It is in such situations that we are tested.

I'm not speaking in theory. Many, many times God has tested me in different things in this area, not to see whether I'm clever or ingenious to find my way out of some situation, but to see whether I'm honest and willing to pay a price for speaking the truth.

This is how He anointed me and gave me a ministry to speak the truth from the pulpit irrespective of the cost. I believe God wants many, many prophets of God in the pulpits in Christendom today who will speak the truth, irrespective of the cost - even if they get thrown out and become despised, rejected, misunderstood, criticized, or falsely accused. The way that God will prepare you for that ministry is by testing you in the ordinary circumstances of life to see whether you will speak the truth, even if you have to pay a price for it and lose your job, or if you have to lose money for it because you stand for the truth. This is a very important area.