We read together this evening
in the 5th chapter of the Acts the account of Ananias and Sapphira,
which is a very striking and a very solemn case in consideration. And just to understand the picture,
it was only previously that we read what had occurred just before
this, when there was that wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
when they prayed and the place was shaken, where they were assembled
together and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and they
spoke the Word of God with boldness. And then we read, and the multitude
of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither
said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed
were his own, but they had all things common. And that was a
general situation. And finally in the last chapter
we read about Barnabas and Joses who by the apostles was surnamed
Barnabas which is being interpreted the son of consolation and Levites
and the country of Cyprus having land sold it and bought the money
and laid it at the apostles feet so that was the picture that
we had and then we come to this very sad situation this husband
and wife Ananias and Sapphira And the solemn picture is that
these two were obviously very aware of what had occurred. And they had witnessed the gracious
work of the Holy Spirit. And they had seen the effect
it had had on those people. And the effect had been that
many of them sold their possessions and brought them to the apostles'
feet. And likewise Barnabas, he sold the land And we see here
Ananias and Sapphira following that suggestion, or at least
that way. But there was a very vast difference. And the very vast difference
was a separating difference, because the previous page we
read of those who were moved by the Holy Spirit, And they
did that which the Holy Spirit directed them to do, which was
good and right and God-honouring. And now we come to Ananias and
Sapphira, who on the surface appeared to be doing the same
thing. And the picture, the very solemn
picture we have really is here, if we think of it as churches
and congregations, There are people who witness the blessings
and in some ways desire to be part of that blessing and therefore
they follow, if you like, the pattern. that was set before
them but there was a lack now the lack here was a number of
things first of all they were half-hearted what does it mean
by being half-hearted the fact was that they were not willing
to be whole-hearted and to therefore give all the land they wanted
to keep back some for themselves so they might benefit from it.
Now of course secondly they were being deceitful and the problem
was they were not only being deceitful to the disciples but
they were also appearing to deceive God. Now we know of course that
they were not able to deceive God but they thought that God
would not notice perhaps and they were able to do this. So
there were these evil things and God of course looks upon
the heart and he knows exactly what we're really doing and whether
we're pretending to do things which are not true and so clearly
here was a situation with Ananias he wasn't honest he was deceitful
and the Lord dealt with him in a very terrible way now then
Peter by the Spirit of God was informed of the situation. See,
God knows everything, and God can inform people of situations
which we may be surprised to know that people observe. And so we have this statement
here. The Apostle said, "...and asked, Why hath Satan filled
thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" Terrible state, isn't
it? That Satan, who is very powerful,
and we should be very aware of his skill put into Ananias' mind
to lie and of course as I've said he lied to the Holy Ghost
and therefore he kept that part of the land and the Apostle Peter
says while 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 Well, the warning there is for all of us to be very aware
that we should not be found lying unto God. It was pretending to
do that for God. In actual fact, they were not
doing it for God, they were only doing part of it. It was just
to satisfy their own ego, so that they might be praised for
bringing the price of the land, and in fact, they'd only brought
part of it. Now what was the sad effect upon Ananias? Well,
he fell down. He fell down dead. And he gave
up the ghost, and great fear came upon all them that heard
these things. Well it is indeed solemn to know
and to see anybody die, but to see somebody die in a dire situation
like this, who was completely dishonest and God struck him
down we should realise we have a God today who doesn't change
and God is still able today to strike us down and then we read
young man arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried
him well that was the sad end of Ananias now what's going to
happen to his wife well it was just three hours later that his
wife not knowing what was done and that's interesting itself
because it was a relatively small community and you would have
thought that news of that terrible situation would have travelled
very fast but no the Holy Spirit didn't allow and didn't allow
Sapphira to know what had happened she came in to Peter and Peter
spoke to her very clearly, tell me whether ye sold the land for
so much and she said yea for so much and 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 the door and shall carry thee out she wasn't allowed to
speak she wasn't allowed to say anything no but the Lord at the
heart and there was a clear agreement with Ananias to deceive the people
and to lie to the Holy Spirit of God. And so what was the effect
upon her? Exactly the same as Ananias.
She fell down straight away 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. So we see here a very very sad
situation these two people pretending to be believers and by pretending
in that way they offered a part of their land their pretense
was they wanted it to be believed they were bringing the whole
price of the land but the Lord saw what was in their hearts
and they tried to deceive the people and sad was the result
and then we read and great fear came upon all the church and
upon as many as heard these things a solemn warning to the people
then a solemn warning to us today in our lives in the details of
our lives to be concerned that we don't appear to defraud people
to do that which is wrong just to appear to do that which is
good so that we might receive that merit from people and it
will be vain it will be wrong it will have been inspired by
the devil and the solemn result was here these people lost their
lives and we may not lose our life but God will mark it and
God is aware of it and so we need to take this account this
solemn account to heart and the desire to do those things which
are God honouring, for His honour and for His glory, and to not
be found lying unto the Holy Ghost.