Not only did the Lord choose
a psalm for us, but He chose that hymn that we sang. I'd marked
another one, so I must have made a mistake. But it's wonderful,
isn't it? Delightful mistakes and delightful things come along.
His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. Jesus,
my Lord. He is the mighty King, Master
of everything. His name is wonderful. Jesus,
my Lord. He is the great Shepherd, the
Rock of all ages. Almighty God is He. Bow down
before Him, love and adore Him. His name is wonderful. Jesus,
my Lord. I don't know how all that happened,
but thank you. Thank you. It is good to be reminded that
we are looking at Ananas and Sapphira this morning, so if
you turn in your scriptures to Acts chapter 4, it is good to be reminded that
our God does all things well. And these acts that we here see
before us laid out reveal two things, don't they? They reveal
the heart of man, but in wonderful ways they reveal the glory of
God. They reveal that our God is a
jealous God and His care and watch over His church. is the
thing that we find ourselves at rest in always. We must and
will be led to be at rest in His sovereign hand in all things,
and to rest in His great work of redemption, in His dear and
precious Son. But these are solemn words before
us, so I thought I'd begin. in verse 34. We read and saw
last week the great grace and great power to witness came upon
the Church. Verse 34, neither was there any
among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of land
or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that
were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution
was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who
was by the apostles' surname Barnabas, which being interpreted
means son of consolation, son of comfort. He was to be a preacher,
of course, and preach the comfort of God's people in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. a Levite, and of the country
of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and
laid it at the apostles' feet. But a certain man named Ananias,
with Sapphira his wife, sold the position, and kept back part
of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain
part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananais,
why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and
to keep back part of the price of the land? Whilst it remained,
was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it
not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this
thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men,
but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words,
fell down and gave up the ghost. And great fear came upon all
them that heard these things. And the young man arose, wound
him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about
the space Three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what
was done, came in, Peter answered unto her, Tell me, whether ye
sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How
is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them which
have buried thy husband. are at the door, and shall carry
thee out.' Then she fell down straightway at his feet, and
yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in and
found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her
husband. And great fear came upon all
the church, and upon as many as heard these things." It is It is an extraordinary
passage of scripture. There is obviously a great contrast.
I want to spend most of my time looking at Ananias and Sapphira,
but there is a great contrast here between Barnabas who goes
on to being someone used very much of the Lord, someone who
came with great grace and great power and preached and went on
that first missionary journey with the Apostle Paul. But there
is in Ananias and Sapphira a lesson, there is a solemnity that is
required when we come to these passages of scripture which I
pray the Lord might cause us to approach this with this morning. It is an extraordinary thing,
isn't it? It's a fearsome thing, a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Our God is
a consuming fire. And this activity, this event,
is a reflection of the greatness of God, but it's also a reflection
of the wickedness of the human heart. And it's there before us and laid
out in these early days of the Church as a warning. A warning
and then there is a great blessing in it. And the great blessing
is that fear came upon. All the people have heard it
said several times, isn't it? Great fear, verse 11, great fear
came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. It is a remarkable blessing,
isn't it, that we actually now sit here and have time to contemplate
the things of eternity. Multitudes, multitudes go through
this life without giving serious thought to the fact that they
will meet God, they will meet God in judgement. And this of
course, in this picture of Ananas and Sapphara is particularly
a picture of religious people. These were people who looked
as if they were the genuine article and they were in the church.
So it is a blessing to have time, isn't it? When the Lord's voice
is heard, it is that final, final voice, isn't it? Those words
in Matthew chapter 7 are the final words of the Lord Jesus
Christ that these people will ever hear, isn't it? In Matthew 7, 21, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord who was friend of sinners, The Lord, who walked
this earth as one of us, the Lord, who came with love for
his own and love for the fallen and the brokenhearted, says these
words, is it not? Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, and to do
the will of my Father is to believe. That is the will of the Father.
He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, many,
many, says our Lord, in promise, many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And
then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you. depart from
me ye that work iniquity." They are solemn words, aren't they? The last words these people will
hear. There is obviously set before
us by that word but in chapter 5 verse 1. There is meant for
us to see the starkness of this contrast and it is, as I trust
the Lord might help us to see, it's a contrast between works
religion and law religion and between the true grace of God
that works in the hearts of people and works in the hearts of people
by faith. And that's exactly what happens,
isn't it, in the preaching of the Gospel The Lord will meet
with his people. Ananias and Sapphira are said
to have tested God. Why do you test him? They were
testing his holiness and his justice. because they hadn't
heard his words. They hadn't heard. They heard
words with their ears aflesh and they hadn't been pricked
in the heart. They hadn't been wounded in their heart. Barnabas
reflects that attitude of grace, isn't it? Believing hearts and
the rest of the church joined with him in so many ways. Believing
hearts are gracious hearts and there was this extraordinary
outpouring of generosity on the part of the church. Those who
have met the Lord Jesus don't hold the things of this world
with passion any longer. They are no longer selfish, self-centred
and self-seeking. They are moved by God to be generous. And there is a sense in which
they die to this world and it's an ongoing dying, this world
and its attractions and this world and the things that we
can collect become less and less, less and less something that
we hold in any way at all. We hold the things of this world
in open hands, aren't they? The Lord takes them away. We
haven't lost anything if we have Him. And all God's people are united,
aren't they? They are united in love for Him. There is, there is in this extraordinary
act of generosity of Barnabas, and Barnabas is raised here before
us as one of many, but he's raised here before us because Barnabas
goes on to have such a significant role in the early church. And
the Lord was preparing Barnabas, wasn't He? To prepare someone
for ministry in the Lord's service as Barnabas did. You have to
get rid of the things of this world. The Lord will take them
away from us. I love the picture, a picture
of Elisha when he was called of the Lord. I don't know if
you remember it but anyway it's a lovely story. He was called
of the Lord and what did he do? He slew his oxen that he was
ploughing with and he burnt and sacrificed the oxen with the
plough that he had. and he went off and served the
Lord. Oh, that the Lord would grant that to us, that we would be so willing to
give up the things of this flesh for the glory of God. But it
is a work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people. This
is a time when the Holy Spirit is poured out with great power
and there is great grace that comes upon all of these people.
But here amongst this church, it may well be that Ananias was
one of the leaders, seeming to be one of the leaders, a certain
man. There are always certain men.
God deals with people as individuals and certain certain man named
Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, and as you probably gather, Sapphira
is the word that we get the word sapphire from. It means to be
beautiful. They both had names which reflected
things that should have been in their hearts, but maybe were
seen only on the outside. They sold the possession and
kept back, kept back, part of the price They both did it together,
his wife also being privy to it, and Bert bought a certain
part. They bought a certain part and
they laid it at the Apostle's feet. There's other people like
Barnabas that have been laying things at the Apostle's feet,
just giving what they had to the Church. Kept back is to steal. That's what it means. Okay. He
saw that that lovely Babylonian garment and the 200 shekels of
silver and the wedge of 50 shekels in weight and he coveted them
and he took them. It's the same word. Ananias and Sapphira were really stealing,
weren't they? Who owned it all? Who owned all
that land? Who owned all that money? It
was God's, wasn't it? To hold something to yourself
in that sort of way, as Akan did, is to steal from God. And people often, and I have
been struck often by the solemnity and the seriousness of the judgment
upon Akan, Akan and everything he had. was killed that day before
the Lord. And you think, dear oh dear,
what did his wife and his children have to do with it all? You've
got to remember, when they went to attack Ai, 32 Israelite men
died in that battle. 32 of them died. 32 families
without a son, without a husband, without a father. You see, the
sins The sins are multiplied, aren't they? Sin is never an
alone thing. Sin comes with all of its extra
entanglements. And one of the reasons for this
story being here, this picture being laid out before us, is
that we might be caused to be mindful of the seriousness of
sin and that we might be mindful of the fact that people can presume
upon things and they can give themselves peace and comfort.
As I probably said last week, Ananias and Sapphira were no
doubt esteemed and no doubt for a time they basked in all of
the affirmation that the people of the church gave them, because
they were seen by the eyes of all others to be exactly the
same, weren't they? You see, what makes the difference?
What makes the difference? What exposes this? What makes
the difference? It's God who makes a difference
in the hearts of people. It's God who makes a difference.
It is here God who exposes these people. It is not the job of
the church to go around examining people. I remember someone came
to one of our services years and years ago. We were meeting
out on the farm and after I'm not sure who it was, it was preaching
anyway. The Gospel was clearly preached
and the first thing he came up to me afterwards and said, and
what do you do about church discipline? In a little rabble like this,
what do you do about church discipline? I thought, why don't you talk
to me about something serious? Something more serious than church
discipline. God will discipline His people. That's why I add to Lord Suffer
you to examine yourselves. I can't examine people. I haven't
got the wherewithal, neither do I have the interest to go
around examining people. God calls on us to examine ourselves. And that's why in verse 3, Peter
has had this revealed to him, hasn't he? He's had it revealed
to him by divine revelation. Why has Satan filled thine heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price? Satan, why has Satan... It's very interesting, isn't
it, that Peter asks questions. Peter asked questions of Ananias
and Sapphira, and Ananias and Sapphira don't have anything
to answer, ever. See, when it comes to the serious
matter of judgment, God will ask the questions. We need to
be reminded on that great day, there won't be these atheists
going to heaven and having a debate with God. It'll be God who asks
the questions, and men will be silent before His holiness. before the majesty of His glory."
The Holy Spirit. Why did he lie to the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost is a person and
He is God. So Peter has had this revealed
to him by divine revelation, this spirit that Simon spoke
to about, that Elisha had, and he prayed that the servant open
his eyes so he might see. Elisha couldn't open his eyes.
But God can open the eyes of people and give Peter this divine
revelation. Why has Satan filled thine heart? Why has Satan taken possession
of thine heart? That's what that word filled
means. It is in contrast to the people of God, isn't it? They
are filled with all the fullness of God in Ephesians 3.9. Why
has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and
to keep back part of the price of the land? So the reality is
that Satan here is revealed as the one who filled the heart
of Ananias and Sapphira. And Satan might fill the hearts
of people to lie, but there is never a sense in which we can
use, or the scriptures allow, the activities of Satan as an
excuse for the wicked sinfulness of men. Satan has all the ammunition
he needs. All he has to do is light a spark
and the hearts of men will conceive and continue in sin. See, Satan
is a liar and a murderer. He murders because he lies, and
he murders because his lies are being acted on. It is a shocking thing, isn't it,
to think that Satan filled the heart of these people who seemed
externally to be the genuine Christian article. They were
remarkably generous, weren't they? They actually did something. They weren't just giving lip
service. They really did want the esteem
of the church and they did for a little while have it. What
a shocking thing, isn't it? To have the esteem of men for
a little while and not to have the esteem of God forever. Why has Satan filled thy heart? And Peter goes on to explain
in verse 4. And while it remained, was it
not thine own? And after it was sold, was it
not in thine own power? You see, their sin was unnecessary.
There were in the church poor. That's why this giving was done,
wasn't it? There were in the church poor people who gave nothing,
but simply were receivers, weren't they? And there was no commandment
to give. Peter didn't get up and give
a message about giving, about tithing, or any of that nonsense.
People gave because their hearts were moved. Their hearts were
moved by God. They were pricked in the heart.
So they weren't really giving at all, were they? That's why
it's said that they were stealing, effectively. They weren't really
giving, they were actually buying favour. They were buying the
favour of men with their money. See, true giving expects nothing
in return. True giving is a delightful giving,
isn't it? True service is a delightful
service. The fact that the Lord would
allow us to contribute to the spread of the Gospel around the
world by using some stuff which ultimately only ever otherwise
buys rubbish in this world. It might be nice tasty rubbish.
It's a remarkable gift of God, isn't it? to be allowed to give,
to be allowed of the Lord to serve. To be allowed to give
and to really give is to give to expect nothing in return. To give for its own sake. You are not, according to Isaiah,
you're not to come and barter with God. And you come, you come
and you have no money. You get what you can get from
God without money and without price. You can't barter with
God. Come and buy without money and
without price. Why hast thou conceived this
thing in thine heart? See that's why the issue here
is the heart issue, isn't it? Which is why It's not for the
preachers to go around examining people because we can't see into
the hearts of people. God the Holy Spirit sees your
heart and He sees my heart and He sees them in absolute clarity
all of the time, which is why I encourage people just to go
before the Lord and lay out your life before Him. You're not surprising
Him by what's there, ever. He's seen it long before you
even know about it. There's no arithmetic that can
sort of count sins, so there's no point in trying to sort of
weigh them all up. That's why we cry out to the Lord, don't
we? That's what I trust a passage
like this causes us to do, to say, Lord, save me. Lord, save
me again. Save me from the wickedness that's
in my heart. Save me from what Ananias and
Sapphira reveal of what is in my heart. We don't have the opportunity
or the time to look to others. If you actually see what's in
your own heart, you'll be saying, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Lord, I want to trust, but you
have to make me trust. Lord, if you are willing, if
you're willing, you can make me clean. These are the cries
of God's people, aren't they? This was in their hearts, wasn't
it? So they weren't pricked in the hearts. Their heart of flesh
was not wounded with that mortal blow that comes when God brings
and puts a new heart into the hearts of men. That new creation,
that new creation that begins that war, they had none of that. and they were personally responsible.
Why have you conceived it? Why have you concocted it? There
is a very big difference between falling into sin, which is what
happens. In Galatians 6 you might remember
that if anyone is If any man be overtaken in a
thought, if you stumble into something, don't worry, you'll
sin. And sometimes the sins will be deep and grievous and you
need to deal with them very, very quickly and deal with them
before God. But people stumble into sins. There is, in this
act here, there's something where it was contrived, wasn't it? You can't blame Satan and you
cannot blame God for sin. Just never do it. As soon as
the thought enters your head, get rid of it. Sin is always
a personal act. So people will not be judged
for not performing things which were impossible for them, but
they will be for the sins that they knowingly and willingly
commit. And sins exposed and sins revealed,
send the Lord Jesus Christ's people back to himself again
and again. So that's what David cried, didn't
he? Psalm 51 is such a great, great prayer, isn't it? David
acknowledges He acknowledges his transgression and he says,
my sin is ever before me. And then he says in verse 4 of
Psalm 51, against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight. He'd done evil to Uriah, he'd
done evil to Bathsheba, he had done evil to his family, he'd
done evil to his nation. In fact, he'd done evil to God. because he had given opportunity
for the enemies of God to blaspheme. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done what was evil in my heart." So he acknowledges
that the sin was there in his Adam flesh, wasn't it? Behold,
I was shaped in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. But he cries, doesn't he? A sinner is someone who cries
to God. These people came to manipulate
God and to test Him and to lie to Him, but David came, came. to plead with God on the basis
of the character of God, isn't it? Purge me with hyssop and
I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. I am filthy and dirty in my Adam
flesh and in this horrible sin. God's people cry out to him,
make me hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast
broken. You see, that's that wounding
in the heart. God breaks the bones of his people. God causes
his people, as Simon reminded us out of Song of Solomon, God
causes his people to no longer walk with pride. They come out
of the wilderness leaning on their beloved, their broken bones.
don't have the power and strength to continue doing their own things,
that the bones that you have broken may rejoice, that heart
that you have wounded can now rejoice." So they conceived this
thing in their hearts and they have lied. They have lied not
just to me, but unto God. It's one of the shocking things,
one of the shocking lessons of Ananias and Sapphira, isn't it,
is that when God works amongst His people and causes them to
respond to the Gospel, any outward activity can be copied by the
reprobate. Any outward activity. Judas was
a preacher. Judas was a healer. Ananias and
Sapphira, Ananias and Sapphira were generous and esteemed. But they are a picture before
us. They are a picture before us of many, many things, aren't
they? They are a picture of hypocrisy.
They carried a mask around. They wanted to be esteemed of
men. What is highly esteemed among
men is abomination to God. We have just one righteousness
and we have just one plea, and that is about the Lord Jesus
Christ. We don't need children of God. We don't need to be esteemed
men. And our flesh wants to be patted
on the back all the time. Probably the greatest preacher
of the 20th century was Henry Mahan. And I love what he said
one day because I've experienced it as well. He said almost as
soon as he got down from preaching, he wanted someone to pat him
on the back and tell him what a good job he'd done. It's awful
isn't it? John Newton I think it was who
relayed the story of having preached a sermon and someone came up
to him and said to him, that is the most wonderful sermon
I have ever heard and I was just so amazingly blessed by it. And
Newton turned around to him and said, don't worry brother, Satan
told me that just a few seconds ago as well. God's people are
made humble. They have a different heart.
They have a heart issue that wants the glory of God because
they see no glory in anything of their flesh. They know what
that heart is that's in them. So their sin was this sin of
hypocrisy, the sin of works religion. They do, they do in the context
of Acts, they do represent two things, they represent works
religion, but most particularly they represent law, righteousness
under the law. Lord willing we might see that
in a little while. So Barnabas gave to God. Barnabas
gave to God. He said, this is yours, you do
with it as you see fit. Barnabas gave because the Lord
Jesus Christ had conquered his heart. Barnabas gave because
it was a delightful opportunity when there was need in the church.
It was a delightful opportunity to serve God by giving to his
people. Barnabas was moved by gratitude
to the Lord Jesus and love for his people. Ananias and Sapphira
thought that they could buy what God alone gives to whom he chooses. We'll see Simon Magnus thought
that he could buy the gift of God as well. So their sin is
multitudinous sin, isn't it? Satan, has filled their hearts. What a shocking thing to be sitting
amongst the people of God and to be esteemed by them and yet
have a heart that's filled by Satan. The reality is that in their
one sin, as I said earlier, there are many sins. There was greed.
There was this pride of wanting to be seen as spiritual. There
was, as we'll see in a little while, there was a contempt of
God. a contempt of the character of
God. And there was just this vanity. Ultimately it's all wrapped up
in unbelief. They just simply didn't believe
God. When you think of the extraordinary character of God that we had
revealed before us in the sermons of Peter, not one, one tiny skerrick
of that had entered into Ananias and Sapphira's heart. Peter had
presented to them, the Holy Spirit had presented to the Church,
a God who is absolutely sovereign over all things and who foreordained
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ with a determinate counsel. He
knows all things. He moved the hearts of all of
those Jews and He allowed their hearts to move by just taking
His hand of restraint off them. But they did exactly according
to His determinate counsel and foreknowledge. See, flesh, as
the Lord Jesus Christ reminds us, flesh gives birth to flesh. Ultimately, they just hadn't
met Him. They hadn't met Him, they'd heard
the words, and they hadn't met the Saviour. They'd heard the
words of promise, they'd heard the words of prophecy, and they
hadn't met Him, but they pretended to. Verse 5. And Ananias, hearing
these words, fell down and gave up the ghost. And this is God's purpose in
it, brothers and sisters. Please don't mistake this and
treat it lightly. And great fear came on all them
that heard these things. The purpose of God in the execution,
the summary judicial execution of Ananias and Sapphira is that
great fear would come upon the children of God. And young men
arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him. So these
are days of laying foundations in the Church. And Peter, you
must remember Peter didn't pronounce a sentence of death upon Ananias
and Sapphira. All he did was, led by the Holy
Spirit, he confronted him with what he is. May God give us soft
hearts when the Lord confronts us with what we are, that we
would be found, like a prodigal, running back to Him. Just run
back to Him. Don't run away from him, run
back to him. See Peter, the Church doesn't
ever need to fight battles using calm means. The Church of God,
as Simon so wonderfully showed us out of Psalm 125, the Church
of God is perfectly secure. It's always been secure. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is always victorious. We mustn't ever think that the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is failing or waxing poorly in
this world. There is a sense in which we
grieve over the falseness that's around and we would long for
the Church to be bigger and stronger. But this is all according to
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. The Church of Jesus Christ
was secure in the Eternal Covenant. The Church of Jesus Christ is
perfectly secure in the hands of a sovereign God. So we don't
need ever to fight battles with carnal means. Our weapons are
spiritual weapons, isn't it? You see, Ananias died under the
hand of God. It was God who took his life. And so will God take the lives
of everyone who comes into God's presence with something of their
own merits, seen of men. All our righteousnesses, brothers
and sisters, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags And our great
God is a jealous God, isn't He? He's jealous for His glory. He's
jealous for the purity of His bride. He's the one who acts,
sovereignly acts. to show the Church and to show
the world that He will deal with justice and He will have His
Church a pure Church. Ultimately there will be no Canaanite
dwelling in the land. God will have His Church before
Him pure. And we need to be reminded that
this activity and this wickedness that is laid very clearly and
appropriately at the feet of Adonais and Sapphira as their
responsibility, has done the church no harm. The Lord Jesus' parable in Matthew
13 is just so profound, isn't it? The Lord sows good wheat,
good seed, and Satan comes along and sows tares. And the natural
response of anyone who's a piece of wheat is to say, well, let's
get rid of the tares, let's get rid of the tares. The Lord Jesus
had a serious word, doesn't he? He says, let both grow together. Let both grow together. The presence of the tares in
the church, even unseen tares, does no harm to the children
of God. So we can't separate them. You
don't know what the tares look like, brothers and sisters. And
I don't know and I don't pretend to know. We have a simple task,
don't we? We simply proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ as He is
revealed in the scriptures and as He has been revealed in the
hearts of His people. And we simply declare Him and
leave God to do the sifting and the sorting because He alone
has that ability. It was God who did this shifting,
wasn't it? It was God who revealed to Peter
that they had lied. It was God who revealed what
was going on in their hearts. This was a supernatural activity
of God and He's jealous for His glory and He's jealous for His
bride. In Ananias and Sapphira, as do
Korah, Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Aaron and others, they
remind us that there is something much, much worse than physical
death. There is something much, much worse. To die in your sins. To die as a hypocrite. To die and spend eternity is
not worth all the treasures of this world. reminds us, don't we, that there
is a now. There is a now, isn't there?
There's a now which is an imperative, isn't it? Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time when God has
opened these scriptures before us. Now is the time for us to
lay our lives, if the Lord will allow it, before Him as we really
are. There is just such a terrible
delusion, isn't it, to think that somehow you can get yourself
right in the future. We have spoken over the past
to a number of people involved in religion and you ask them,
how are you going to fare? Are you ready to meet God in
judgement? And they say, no, no way in the
world do I want to meet Him. Now I haven't got myself polished
enough. Do you think that your salvation and your righteousness
before God has got anything to do with anything that you have
done or will do or can do in the future? You are lost. It's good to be reminded. It
is a blessing, it is a blessing to know that we're lost. It is
a blessing of God, isn't it, to reveal our hearts. It is a
blessing of God that there is a day which is a day of salvation. And he is a great saviour. Ananias
and Sapphira had that one craving which is in all of the human
hearts, isn't it? It's all of us, isn't it? Me.
Gratify me. Satisfy me. even if it means
taking from others, even if it means using others as pawns,
even if it means acting self-sacrificially but to be seen of men, even if
it looks like humility that others might see us as humble, God is
killing the Ananias and Sapphires of today, and He will do until
the end. Verse 7, and it was about the
space of three hours after when his wife, in this
extraordinary situation, she had been buried in this whole
great fear that had come upon the whole church, and she somehow
had been kept from even knowing about it. When his wife, not
knowing what was done, came in, Peter answered unto her, Tell
me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for
so much. Then Peter said unto her, How
is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them that
have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee
out. Then she fell down straightway
at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came
in and found her dead, and carried her forth, and buried her by
her husband." They buried them face to face. They were there
together. Why have you agreed together
to test the Spirit of God? That word, to test, is to try
him for the purpose of ascertaining his quality. What an extraordinary
thing, to test God, to tempt God. Just so you know what the picture
is before us of these two, just turn over to Acts chapter 15
and you'll see the same word used. This is the first Sovereign Grace
Conference in the Church's history, Acts Chapter 15. The Sovereign
Grace is proclaimed. But let's just have a look at
the context of it. You know something of the context
from our time in Galatians, and we looked at this passage of
Scripture several times on that account, that they are there
in Jerusalem because of the problems in those churches in Galatia
and up in Turkey. Let's look at verse 5 of chapter
15. But there arose a certain sect of the Pharisees which believed.
So there they are, looking like they're believers, saying that
it is needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the
law of Moses. I don't know that there is a
denomination in this country that I know of that doesn't put
people back under the law of Moses. You come to Christ and
then Christ sends you back to Moses. What a terrible, terrible
denial of the great work of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a terrible
thing to think that you can add some righteousness to his righteousness,
you can add to his finished work. And the apostles and elders came
together to consider this matter. And when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren,
ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us,
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us, and put no difference between us and thee. purifying
their hearts by faith. And this is what Peter is saying. Now therefore why tempt ye God? To put people back under the
law is to do exactly what Ananias and Sapphira are doing. It's
exactly the same word in Greek. Why do you tempt God? Why do
you strive to get through? Why do you try to get through
to God with something in your hands, some works you've done?
Why do you test Him for the purpose of ascertaining His quality when
He has revealed His quality in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why tempt
ye God to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as they." It's a great word, isn't it, from God. What a word
that would astound every proud Jew. We believe that through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they
are. If you're going to be saved,
you're going to be saved like a Gentile, you Jews. God will
purify the hearts of his people by faith. You see, God is showing at this
foundational time in the Church what will happen to anyone who
comes to Him on the basis of works, on the basis of law works. She fell down straight away,
kneeled up to the Ghost. is revealing so many remarkable
things here, isn't it? It's He who separates the precious
from the vile. He does actually do the separating.
He does, as John the Baptist thought, said of the Lord Jesus
Christ, He has His winnowing. He has His winnowing fan in His
hand and He will gather the wheat into the barn and He'll separate
the wheat from the chaff. Wherever there are tares, wherever
there are goats, wherever there are wolves, they'll always be
there amongst the Lord's sheep. in every group of sincere believers
there is going to be these others. They are just notorious, aren't
they? Ananias and Sapphira, their situation
sends a chill down my spine when I contemplate them. When you
think of Judas and Demas who had loved this present evil world,
Simon Magnus, Hymenaeus, Philetus, Deocrates, they are all there. They're all there as stark, stark,
stark warnings to us. Cora, Dathan and Abiram, others. The earth just opened up underneath. There were 250. sons of Levi. They and their
families went down alive to the pit. Ananias and Sapphira were
killed by the hand of the sovereign God in holy justice. We are reminded, aren't we? God's
people need to be reminded again and again, as Peter declared
so wonderfully there in Acts chapter 15. The salvation is
by sovereign grace. And God in sovereign grace will
send his Gospel, and God in sovereign grace will cause that wounded
heart, and God in sovereign grace will cause his people to gladly
receive the Word that they, their hands are wicked, So how can
you come with wicked hands, with something in those wicked hands,
and somehow think that God is going to esteem you because of
your activities? God is pleased with the Lord
Jesus Christ. In fact, He's very, very pleased
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's very pleased with everyone
who's in Him. And you cannot add to it, and
you cannot take from it, because He said it's finished. And it
was finished from the foundation of the world and it stands before
God now. Our righteousness is there in
the heavens. Perfectly acceptable into the
very throne room of God. And all of us believers, all
of his church is there seated with him right now. Perfectly fit. And one of the things that we
need to be reminded of is that the Church is perfectly secure.
So what was the end result of this? Did it hinder the Church's
activity? Did it hinder their fellowship?
Did it hinder the spread of the Gospel? These things cause God's people
to be drawn closer together rather than thrust apart. Trials draw people closer to
God. Testing times draw God's people
closer into union with Him. They draw people to look away
from themselves and to be reminded that in my flesh dwells no good
thing, that I am just in my flesh a wretched man and who shall
deliver me? You go to the Deliverer. You don't go to anything in yourself.
You are driven back to the scriptures and you are driven back by the
trials and the falls of others into the arms of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You want to be there, don't you?
Like the Shulamite. You want to just be there and
have him, and lie, have him lie with you, that he might take
you into his banqueting house and remind you that his banner
over his people is love. And he sovereignly will sort
out all of these things. His purpose of grace shall not
fail. and his church is perfectly secure. There is, as I said earlier,
there is the Lord's purpose in this, and the Lord's purpose
in this it seemed to be very evidently that the fear of the
Lord would come upon people. They had great power to witness. They had great grace that came
upon them. They had a great outpouring of wisdom that the Lord had given
Peter to see what was going on in the hearts of these people.
And then great fear came upon them. Great fear. It is a blessing
of God. It is promised in the everlasting
covenant that he would cause his people to fear him. You can
read about it in Jeremiah 32 and in other places. The fear of the Lord is with
those and He will show them His covenant. It's with His people.
This is one grace which cannot be communicated except by God
Himself. And it's one grace that can't
be copied by natural man to genuinely fear God. I can't make you fear
God. You can dangle people over the
pit of hell until the hairs on their head are singed and they
won't fear God. But there is a genuineness about
the fear of God that He works in the hearts of His people.
And in all the people that we have borne witness to and all
the people that we are troubled about and all the people that
we see in religion who are clinging to their works and clinging to
their gospel, The one thing that characterises all of the people
that stand in opposition to the Gospel and God's Church is that
there is no fear of God before their eyes. Great fear came upon
all of them. Great fear came upon all the
Church. Great fear. when we see the hand
of our Sovereign God in justice working in the hearts of His
people. Look what happens, look at the
end result of all this. And by the hands of the apostles
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and they were
all with one accord in Solomon's porch." So they weren't disturbed,
they were gathered together even more strongly by this. And the
rest of them, verse 9, man joined himself to them, but the people
magnified them. There was a sense in which the
people outside looked upon with some sort of superstition, but
the people of the Church of God was magnified in the eyes of
people. This is serious now. You don't join this Church on
a whim. This Church is serious. And believers,
the more were added to the Lord. The Lord wasn't hindered by this
activity of Adonais and Sapphira. Look at the rest of that verse.
Multitudes, so there were 8,000 at this stage at least, and now
there are multitudes. both of men and women, insomuch
that they brought forth the sick into the street and laid them
on beds and couches, that the least shadow of Peter passing
by might overshadow some of them. And there came also a multitude
out of the cities round about, unto Jerusalem. So now the word
had gone out from Jerusalem. And what's the result of the
word going out from Jerusalem? They bring in sick folks and
them which were vexed with unclean spirit and they healed everyone. So the word spread out. The believers,
I love the verse 14's description of what the Lord does, isn't
it? The believers were the more added to the Lord. The true believers
are added to the Lord and to his people. The word spread out,
people were brought in, and God was magnified. God was magnified
in his character. He is righteous, He is holy and
He is wonderfully successful and His Church is triumphant
in this world, no matter what the opposition on the outside
is and no matter what the opposition from the inside is. Our God reigns
and all of God's people are perfectly secure in Him and all of God's
people All of the true believers will be horrified at the thought
that they might come into the presence of God with something
of their own, rather than just simply resting in who the Lord
Jesus Christ is and what He has done. If the fear of the Lord
causes us to turn away from our works and to steam them as filthy
rags and rubbish and dung and chuck them away as far from us
as we possibly can and just hold on to one thing, hold on to one
person and one person alone, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
pray.