I'm going to read in Acts 5 verses
1 through 11 just as a refresher and then we will take up according
to our outline. You should have a new outline
as I said and we will begin to work verse by verse in this portion
of scripture. The text says in verse 1, But
a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession
and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to
it or aware of it and brought a certain part and laid it at
the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why
hath Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and
keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained,
was it not in your own power? And after it was sold, was it
not in your own power? Why have you conceived this thing
in your heart? You have not lied unto men, but
unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words,
fell down and gave up the ghost. And great fear came on all them
that heard these things. The young men arose, wound him
up, carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space
of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done,
came in. And Peter answered unto her,
tell me whether you 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 which have buried your husband are
at the door and shall carry you out. Then fell she down straightway
at his feet and yielded up the ghost. And the young man 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." And thus is the reading of God's
Word. In your outline, the title of this portion of Scripture
in the book of Acts is Ananias and Sapphira, a picture of the
false church. A picture of the false church. Now as I make my case for Ananias
and Sapphira serving as a model of false Christendom and false
religion and a form of godliness which denies the power thereof
will still make the application to ourselves. But I am certain
that God is using this account to teach us about models of Christian
conduct that are not acceptable with God. This is what occurs
wherever God does very unusual judgments and manifests His holiness
in the life of people in an unusual way. Many scholars have stated
and many persons have stated, if God were to be this severe
on an everyday basis, none of us would survive. And that would
be a truth in part. It would be true in part that
if God were to punish sin immediately, just to eradicate it from the
presence His glory all of us would be consumed Simply because
of the presence of sin that does not however change the reality
of the message Inherent in these verses and the lessons that you
and I are to derive from them We are in the book of Acts and
the book of Acts is a wonderful unfolding of God's covenant purpose
in Jesus Christ as he had given it to Abraham and And as we were
contemplating last week's outline, the covenant blessings of Abraham,
you and I have seen throughout the course of the fourth chapter,
the blessing of the preaching of Peter and John in the temple,
the healing of the lame man, the conversion of more than 7,000
brothers and sisters combined, maybe 15,000 people have come
to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorious reality. as the
risen Lord and Savior of the church. And so the New Testament
church is now being established in the heart of Judaism as I
have been trying to press to you. The location is critical.
We are in the heart of Judaism. We are in the temple. We are
at the Citadel of the authority of the earthly Representation
of the Old Testament Church as Jesus said go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel and start in where? So Jerusalem
is where we are and we don't want to miss what's happening
God is bearing record to the sovereignty and rule of his son
Jesus Christ in the midst of that Old Testament system And
in the midst of that Old Testament system, while it's fading away,
while it's disintegrating, while it's waxing old, as Hebrews 8,
13 puts it, while the rulers of the church are being confronted
and being challenged by the notable miracles that are taking place,
while the rulers are being challenged with the power and presence of
the Spirit of God in the midst of their own system, They're
also having to struggle with a growing number of common people
embracing the gospel and receiving the apostles and thus establishing
a sort of noise, a sort of a volume of presence. It's a concern for
the leaders what's taking place. The spirit of God, however, has
called your attention and mine to the beautiful work In response
of the church in the previous verses of chapter 4 verses 32
through 36 Where we see this magnanimous unity this oneness
of heart and soul verse 32 and the multitude of them that believed
were of one heart and of one soul of one heart and one soul
this is Luke talking now and Luke is describing not the mere
externality of the formation of the church under the gospel.
He's speaking of the substance of the believer's heart as a
consequence of the gospel. He's not speaking merely to what
you and I get trapped by so frequently, the mere form and externality
of the church. He's speaking to the heart of
the men and women in the church. And he's describing the work
of the spirit of God, which lands upon the heart and changes the
heart and converts the soul and brings men and women into unity
with Jesus Christ. And what he's describing in chapter
four is the efficacious nature of the spirit of God to make
the people of God one in heart. They are one because they are
one in Christ. Now that emphasis is critical
as we begin to deal with the contrasting conjunction, opening
chapter five, verse one, true unity, substantive unity, heart
unity, the kind of unity that Luke is describing in verse 32
can only be the work of the spirit of God. And he goes on to talk
about great power gave the apostles to witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. This is the
kind of commendation that you and I would want from God concerning
our fellowship. We would want God to speak to
more than the mere numbers in the church, more than the mere
form and structure of the church. We would want God to have done
what God does do. He tries the hearts. God searches
the heart and the reins and gives unto every man according as his
work shall be. We would want God to be able
to pass through our soul and say that we are one in heart
and one in spirit and that we had all things in common because
that would be the true grace of God in the life of the people
of God. So Luke notes in verse 33, the last clause, listen to
it. And great grace, was upon them
all. Do you guys see that? And great
grace was upon them all. We would all want great grace.
We would all want the kind of grace that would manifest itself
demonstratively in the life of the believer individually and
corporately. Is that true? This is what makes
the lessons that we're about to deal with now so critically
important. The people of God were so committed
to the cause of the gospel. that they were willing to share
everything that they had for the advancement of the gospel
and for the welfare of everyone who began to publicly call upon
the name of the Lord Jesus. They were committed to it. They
were committed to the unity of the faith of the son of God.
And so we read verse 35, verse 34, neither was there any that
lacked among them for as many as were possessors of lands or
of houses sold them and bought the prices of the things that
were sold, And this, the language here speaking in what we would
call the present tense, this is what they were commonly doing.
They were meeting each other's needs, verse 35, and laid them
down at the apostles' feet. And we're going to talk about
that when we get to chapter five, because two other times will it be stated,
and they laid it down at the apostles' feet. We're going to
see how important biblical authority in the church is. He laid it
down at the apostles' feet and distribution was made unto every
man according as he had need. And then there was a certain
brother, Josie, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which
is being, by interpretation, the son of consolation or the
son of comfort or the son of help. It means that he was noted
for being gracious. He was noted for being a giver.
He was noted for being a helper, bringing people up out of straits.
That's what he was known for. Now we come to the but. Notice
what it says in verse one of chapter five. But in my King
James Bible, I have the word but in capital letters. How about
you? Big B-U-T, but. And what that means is the author
is saying, I want you to stop because we're getting ready to
make a hard halt in another direction. And in fact, in terms of the
idea, what we are about to do is establish a contrast between
what you read earlier to what you are about to read now. Everyone
is walking in harmony. Everyone is walking in unity.
Great grace is upon everyone. People are giving as a consequence
of the power of grace upon their life. But, and then he names
two people, a certain man named Ananias, With Sapphira, his wife
sold a possession. Now, when God makes mention of
your name in proper form, you are either highly favored or
in great trouble. And he says, but a certain man
named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and
kept that part of the price. His wife also being privy to
it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's
feet. Point number one in your outline
under the contemplation, the rubric, the adumbration, the
title, Ananias and Sapphira, a picture of the false church,
a false show of giving. Is that a legitimate first premise?
A false show of giving. because what we're really dealing
with here is a contrast between the true and the sincere and
the earnest giving of what took place in chapter 4 verses 32
through 36. These two persons wanted to actually
either appear to be equal to that which was given in the prior
verses, equal to our dear brother Barnabas. And as a consequence,
in an external fashion, they appeared to be giving with the
same kind of integrity and character and substance that Barnabas did.
And they are exposed for being a false show. False show of giving
in your outline you have but the contrast is between Ananias
Sapphira's and who Barnabas are you guys following your outline?
The contrast is between Ananias Sapphira and Barnabas. Let me
put this up Like this, I'll put it up like this This is Ananias
and I just want you to think it through as we work it through.
I'll prove this tonight Ananias and Sapphira the the contrast
will be between these two and this man Barnabas. And you're
gonna see at the end that there is a connection between the three.
I think God is calling our attention to this conflict that's taking
place that also takes place in the church, a false show of giving. Barnabas was obviously authentic
in his giving. But Ananias and Sapphira were
not authentic for the text tells us they kept back part of the
price, didn't they? Look at what it says, and they
kept back part of the price, his wife also privy to it, and
brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet. In other
words, what they did, just in case you didn't get it, hubby
and wife together said that we're going to mimic Barnabas. I'm
going to tell you what that means in a little while. We're going
to mimic Barnabas. We're going to do what he did
because now he's noted for being a son of consolation. And we
want folks to believe that we have the same reputation too.
So we're gonna go and sell some property that we have and we're
gonna lay it at the Apostles feet like everyone else does
So this is what we would call a form of godliness an external
manifestation of godliness We want people to look at us and
we want people to derive from us a certain assessment about
us That really is not true. But that's not our point. Our
point is to appear a certain way to people Appear a certain
way to people and we're going to get into the implications
of that kind of thinking because that's bad thinking You are thinking
really bad when you are thinking that you can actually operate
out of a kind of hypocrisy in the church and not know that
God won't ultimately spy you out You are thinking really flawed
when you think that you can actually operate on a kind of bait and
switch mentality and philosophy in the church and not understand
the true nature of the kingdom of God. You are really in a bad
way. And here in our outline, we would see that there was a
contrast between Barnabas and these two. Barnabas sold it all
and gave it all. These two kept back part of the
price. Point number three in your outline, there was real
submission on Barnabas' part. There was a show of submission
on the part of Ananias and Sapphira. The real submission was this.
I want you to get this now because we're going to be headed here.
Barnabas took his goods. He sold them because he saw a
need and he didn't go to the people who had need. He went
to the apostles and he laid down before the apostles the necessary
funds for the apostles to do what they needed to do. He demonstrated
submission to biblical leadership. Are you guys following me now?
This is going to be a lesson out of this coming down the line.
I know people, I promise you, I've been doing this long enough.
I know people who do everything they possibly can to pretend
to really be concerned about the things of God so much so
that they will help people in the church, but they will go
around leadership to do it. because they will want to demonstrate
that they can actually operate out of a kind of autonomy, sort
of a self-willed and self-determined and a self-discerning mode of
operation that does not really depend upon them asking leadership,
what's the best way of going about this? And that kind of
mode of operation simply is a sign of a lack of submission, which
is also a sign of a lack of faith. I want you to hear what I'm saying.
For certain persons who are not persuaded of the biblical model
of how the church truly works, I'm talking, today we're talking
about the difference between a true church and a false church. A false church will go around
the authority that God has established. And that authority is scripture. The false church will circumvent
the authority that God has established. and that authority is scripture.
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? The scriptures in this
context are represented, are personified in the leadership
of the church, which are whom? The apostles. And so some people
will go about to do the same things and function in the same
way that the church does in terms of being philanthropic and in
terms of being helpful and in terms of being giving, but they
will not submit to the process and structure and leadership
that God has set up, primarily the word of God, the leadership
in the church, et cetera, et cetera. I'm going to make this
even more clear as we go. So what I see with regards to
Ananias and Sapphira is they had no respect for the apostles.
You're going to see this too, because Peter is about to make
this very clearly known. In other words, they're putting
the money down at the feet of the apostles was a scam. It was a farce. But ladies and
gentlemen, it was also a test. Your outline point, number one,
a false show of giving a contrast between Barnabas and these two
Barnabas gave it all they kept back. Barnabas was truly submissive.
They had a show of submission and the show of hypocrisy, of
which our master says in Matthew chapter six, verse five, Matthew
six, one through five, where he says to his disciples, now,
when you go about to do your religious duties and responsibilities,
do not do anything with the priority of it being to be seen of men. Now, I want this to be driven
home because you're going to see that God is so serious about
this that he executes a mortal judgment to demonstrate the danger
of being caught up in what people think about what you are doing
before you be concerned about what God thinks about what you're
doing. When Jesus said in Matthew chapter
six, verse one, take heed that you do not your arms, you know
what arms are giving. When you gather your finances
and you pull them together and you give them to help people
financially, see to it that you don't do it before men. Do you
guys see that? Now, to be seen of them, the emphasis is do not
exercise an act of sacrifice voluntarily or compulsory. We're
going to talk about voluntary when we get to Peter's response.
in a fashion that says I am doing this and I want somebody to notice
what I'm doing. I am doing this and I want somebody
to reward me for what I'm doing. I am doing this and I want a
plaque for what I'm doing. I am doing this and I want a
certificate for what I'm doing. I'm doing this and I want a day
when the whole church acknowledges how much I gave to the church.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? There's a massive fallacy of
perception and priority in the part of the person who has fallen
prey to what our master would call, uh, a massive level and
a fatal, fatal level of hypocrisies. Otherwise you have no reward
of your what, which is where I'll before that text goes away. Here's what I want to say again,
as I am nurturing this concept, which is critical, haven't I
already been stating it and emphasizing it? It's impossible. for you
to do anything for God, for which God will not reward you. It's
impossible. And therefore, when you go through
the scriptures and you understand this law of reciprocity, please
understand that the law of reciprocity in terms of your relationship
with God is not about you giving to get. It's about God demonstrating
a faithfulness of character because of your yielding to and submitting
to and wanting to work with God in a world in which God knows
the world does not believe him. The world does not acknowledge
him. The world does not trust him. The world hates him and
despises him. And the world hates everyone
that's on God's side. And what God knows is whenever
God's people are authentic and genuine and real with him, they
got to pay a price down here for being real with God. And
God always rewards that. He lets his servants know you
will not lose your reward. If a man gives a brother a cup
of cold water in my name, I guarantee you he'll get paid back. This
is how serious God is about our doing things unto the Lord. Whatever
you do in word or in deed, do it all to the what? Now, see,
I want that to come home in our heart because when once we have
experienced or discovered in our soul that we are operating
Coram Dale, that we are really genuinely walking before the
Lord, then we can know that our reward comes from him. And then
we can also know that that kind of disposition of soul will keep
you and me from being a manipulator and a hypocrite. It'll keep you
and me from tricking people, from being tempted to trick people. from being inclined to want people
to notice us. See, we all have a fundamental
narcissistic nature, don't we? Come on now, tell the truth.
We all have a fundamentally narcissistic nature, and that nature has to
be checked all the time. And even in the church where
the church becomes utterly lost to its identity, In every office
of the church, from the backside to the front side, we have to
beat down and check the motive and notion that an individual
wants to be noticed for what they do. We have to check it,
don't we? We have to check it. You can
actually have a person in the church, give them the job of
emptying the garbage, and they can have such a misaligned notion
about that job. They would want somebody to actually
put it in the bulletin, how well such and such empties the garbage
every week. It's very important for you to
know the danger of that kind of vacuum and need. The devil
is right there whenever we are operating with that kind of vacuum
and need for attention. Are you hearing me? This is very
important, very important what I'm talking about. We're getting
ready to move into some more serious stuff. But our master
says never ever do anything to be seen of men merely. Otherwise you lose your reward
in heaven. Thirdly, in our outline, the
real point here is as we open up the text more fully, is God
requires from every believer a true heart. You guys got that? So we were in Hebrews chapter
10 verses 19 through 22 remember where in Hebrews chapter 10 verse
19 it talked about Christ making a new and living way through
the veil By the holiest of all notice what it says having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood
of Jesus Christ verse 20 listen to this verse 20 by a new and
living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil that
is to say his flesh we have access to God right do we have access
Verse 21, listen to what it says. Verse 21, and having a high priest
over the house of God, I'm going to talk about that in a minute
because the high priest is here. He's in our text. The high priest
is in our text. Verse 22, listen to what it says.
Let us do what? Draw near with a what? True heart
and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Those last
participles, those last clauses, Describe the believer who has
been initiated into the church through the preaching of the
gospel Through the atoning work of Jesus Christ to shed blood
purging his conscience by the Holy Ghost and then his body
being washed in pure water That's baptism. That means you are an
initiated believer into the local church. Are you guys hearing
me? So you are fundamentally one who has said I am drawing
near to God by faith through the open arms and atoning work
of Jesus Christ I'm coming and God calls us to come and but
he calls us to come on the grounds of a what kind of heart, true
heart. Now I want you to mark this. Now true is different than
perfect, but with God is perfect because what is needed for man
or woman to be true to God is for them to see the truth about
God's mercy, which is able to overcome every human impediment
that would cause us to draw back from God. are to pretend with
God, which is as the text going to teach. We will pretend with
God if we don't see God in the truth of his mercy and his grace
in Jesus Christ. And these two here are functioning
that way. We can hear you up there. We
these two here can hear these two here are functioning in that
mode where they are not operating out of a true heart. Is that
right? Now I want you to mark something now. Listen to verse
three and four of our text. Here's what Peter does in response.
Cause we're getting ready to get into some really amazing
stuff now. But Peter, here's the other conjunction
that contrasting, but Peter said, Ananias, why have Satan filled
thine heart to lie to the Holy ghost? Where in is Peter responding
to Ananias? Has Ananias openly said something
in our text by which Peter would be provoked to actually respond
this way? No. At least the way Luke is
establishing the narrative. Here's what Luke is doing. Luke
is saying, the act is what I want you to pay attention to. Maybe
in the historical context, there were some words said. But in
the literature that's before us, in the sacred text, what
you and I are to consider is the fact that Ananias and Sapphira
are perpetrating a fraud. And that external act is saying
one thing and Peter has seen through it to respond directly
to him to let him know Ananias what appears to us to be one
thing is something else altogether. Now there's a reason for which
Luke does this. He's exalting apostolic authority
for once. He's demonstrating to us that
it's very important for us to recognize and understand the
giftedness of apostolic authority. That for the professing people
of God, our religious folk, our church folk, to think that they
can perpetrate a fraud on the leadership is really perpetrating
a fraud on God. Are you guys hearing me? To think
that you can perpetrate a fraud on leadership is really perpetrating
a fraud on God. We'll see the inferences of this
in a moment here. Peter says in verse three and
four, these words, Ananias, why have Satan filled your heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost and keep back part of the price of
the land while it remained? Was it not your own? And after
it was sold, was it not in your own power? Why have you conceived
this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto men, but
unto God. So now let's elaborate on the
account. Let's say Ananias and Sapphira
do what lots of people do when they do things to be shown of
men or seen of men. Let's say that Ananias and Sapphira
said, you know what? Barnabas is cool. Letting everybody
in the church know we like Barnabas. Barnabas is cool. Boy, you know
what? We can do what he does and go
around kind of telling people that they have the power and
the ability and the resources and the finances. And you know
how people who want you to know what they have, know how to let
you know what they have? And then next thing you know,
everybody in the church knows they've got this, that or the
other thing. Under the assumption that if people know what you
have, then people will somehow respect you. You and I are a
sad case scenario when you and I are the sum total of what we
have, rather than who we are in Christ. But there are lots
of people like that, right? And so Ananias and Sapphira could
have already been playing their cards with everybody in the church
by telling them, you know what, we're going to go sell all that
we have too. And we're going to lay it down at the apostles
feet so that when they actually did it, everybody was under the
assumption that it was done. They lied not only to a man,
they lied unto men. Are you hearing me? Let me grapple
with this a little bit more before we continue to look at our outline
and unpack it. What they were doing was seeking
to persuade the masses of something that was not true. And they wanted
to see if they could get away with it. Are you hearing me? See, because when you lie to
people, You are not only trying to pull the wool over their eyes,
you are trying to see how vulnerable they are and how limited they
are in their capacity to actually overcome your manipulation. This
here was a power play. If you will, prior to Acts chapter
five, the church was struggling with the external inquisition
and the trials of the leadership of Israel, of the high priests
in the Sanhedrin. They weren't really struggling
with any kind of internal battles. Now we're at the point where
this is an internal struggle. Folks are in the church now starting
to have issues and conflicts. So the devil works from the outside
persecuting and taunting the church, but he certainly also
works from the inside. And at this point, we have people
who profess to be believers now challenging, watch this now,
challenging the authenticity of the church. challenging the
authenticity. Ladies and gentlemen, do you
understand what occurs when it starts being nosed abroad, noise
abroad, that you can actually deceive leadership. You can deceive
the masses. You can perpetrate a fraud and
then find yourself in a position of authority in the church because
of that deception. And everybody in the church has
been deceived. Well, the implications of that
is is that the church is full of gullible people. Secondly,
there is no divinely ordained leadership. Thirdly, Christ is
not present. Fourthly, the Holy Ghost is not
present. Fifthly, God is not on his throne. Are you guys hearing
me? See, the implications are far
reaching. And here's the other thing that I would say, if I'm
meditating on what Ananias and Sapphira did, this great contrast
between Barnabas and the unity and the harmony of the church
in the fourth chapter, and these crooked, wicked men and women
who are now trying to actually penetrate the system and corrupt
it with a leaven of hypocrisy. Barnabas, I mean, not Barnabas,
but Ananias and Sapphira are really trying to see if in fact
the church It's truly holy. Is it a separate institution
ordained by God, the habitation of God through the spirit by
which God himself works to sanctify the people in the church? Is
the church a holy institution or is the church like every other
secular institution that can be penetrated by crooks, controlled
by crooks and ruled by crooks? And watch this. People who live
in the dark pagan world, in the dark sinful world, they know
institutions that are run by crooks. Everybody knows that
politics is filled with wicked men, don't we? Everybody knows
the criminal behavior and hypocrisy of our politicians. Mr. Leland
Lee just got caught in something that I know that all of his colleagues
do. All of his colleagues do what
he does. Those guys are crooks up there in Sacramento, crooks
in Washington. Only Leland got caught Are you
guys hearing me now watch this but no? rational Christian or
believer thinks that Sacramento is a holy institution where the
presence of God is where the Spirit of God is where the Mediatorial
work of Christ is and where those that are appointed are truly
born of God We don't believe that for a minute. Do we we know
the devil infiltrates those systems? We know the devil sits on the
throne of government. He is the beast of politics. We expect the leadership in the
carnal secular institutions to lie to us. But when the world
and the populace at large succumbs to the notion that, ah, yeah,
the nature of the church is that it's filled with wicked, ungodly,
unprincipled men and women who can be duped every day by your
average con, even all the way up to the leadership. When once
they start thinking like that, the church is no longer the distinct
entity that God has called it to be. Are you guys hearing what
I'm saying? And do we know churches like
that? Of course we do. I'm talking about abominable
institutions pretending to be churches of Christ, where from
the leadership on down, the kind of heinous, vile practices that
we here see intimated by Ananias and Sapphira. I mean, if they
can lie to the highest authority on earth in the New Testament
church, that is the apostles, they can get away with everybody
else. What God has to deal with in this text, is a reputation
that he will not stand for. What God has to deal with in
our text is a reputation that he will not stand for. He will
not stand for the world believing that you can come up into the
church, a pure bonafide wolf and pull the wolves over everybody's
eyes in the church. Now I'm talking about true churches.
That's why my title today is Ananias and Sapphires a picture
of the false church. Had Peter not been operating
out of his apostolic calling and allow this to pass, the church
would have been going downhill from here. A little leaven leavens
the whole lump. The other thing is this, as we
are meditating on the fallacy of doing things to be seen of
men, Which is a major major corruption of the soul What god promises
in matthews 5 verse 8 This is part of the beatitudes. Are you
ready? The pure in heart shall see god The pure in heart Shall
see god Are you with me right now? So i'm going to help you
understand something. This is not merely an eschatological
verse. It's true that it's eschatological
It's true that it's talking about one day you and I will stand
in the presence of God and we will see him face to face as
the scriptures promise in the book of Revelation. But this
is also a very soteriological passage that speaks to the sanctifying
work of the Holy Ghost that when men and women are truly born
again and walking in the humility of the grace of God, we comprehend
God. We sense his presence. We are
able to interpret whether God is in the house or not because
we are new creatures in Christ. because God has taken out the
stony heart, put in a heart of flesh, because he has given us
the grace of discernment to be able to read his word, determine
the characteristics of godliness, and be able to discern whether
or not godliness reigns in a place or not. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? With Ananias and Sapphira, it's very clear
that they did not see God. Are you hearing me? They did
not see God. This is what Peter is about to
state. I want you to grasp it now. When a man or woman is given
over to their covetousness, over to their lust, over to their
wickedness, over to their evil, they do not see God. In your
outline, in the front of your outline, it is both demonic and
fleshly to try to do God without God. To try to do the things
of God without the things of God. To try to produce the fruit
of the Spirit without the Spirit. This would be the devil's relentless
and unending parody. When he says in Isaiah 14, 14,
I will be like the most high God. Do you guys hear me? He is completely settled with
a facsimile, a knockoff, a fraud of the true. That's how diabolically
deceived he is. And that's the battle you and
I will fight every day of our life, determining whether we
are operating out of authenticity or levels of hypocrisy that actually
denote the system of the wicked one. The pure in heart shall
see God. When all you see are men, and
this is the groveling, shameful nature of much of our show religion
today. When all you see are men, your
religion is false and your labors are carnal. These two persons,
Ananias and Sapphira sought to impress the apostles, not God. Did you hear that? They sought
to impress the apostles not God now wicked leadership given over
to covetousness would have been impressed and they would have
never detected a distinguishing difference between the grace
given to Barnabas and the false giving of these two who only
wanted to be seen of men God gave Peter the discernment to
know the difference between the authenticity of Barnabas and
the wickedness of these two The matter was so pressing upon Peter.
He didn't have a long standing conversation with those two.
He immediately started speaking to the issue. Ananias, why have Satan filled your heart? That's amazing. The indictment
is awful because you know what that states for us who understand
what true salvation is? Ananias was not saved. He was
not even close to say. He had absolutely no sense of
the reality of God or the nearness of God. You cannot be a true
believer and your heart be filled with Satan. Are you hearing me? Why has Satan filled thine heart? The why, the interrogative means
that it was Ananias's responsibility to be real with God. Why has
Satan filled your heart? Ananias, how could this be? Ananias,
how could, how could you allow this thing to occur? I mean,
Jesus could ask the same thing of Judas. The book of Luke chapter
22 says, and Satan entered into him and he went out that night
and did what he did. See the sinner standing before
the true and the living God and the church of the living God
and the institution of the living God now is in a crossroads because
the devil is always coming with his knockoffs. That's why we
have false religion everywhere. And the question will be, will
one submit to the reality of the true gospel versus the false
gospel? And the answer is the only way
that you can do that is if you see God. Am I being clear? The only way that you and I can
actually operate in true submission to God. true submission to his
word, true submission to apostolic doctrine. It's for God to have
opened our eyes so that we behold his glory in the face of Jesus
Christ. And there is such a vivid clarity
and comprehension of the nearness and the reality of the true and
the living God in Christ made manifest through the word that
we know we're dealing with God. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? So you have to walk in darkness to do dark deeds. This man and this woman did not
ever see God in the preaching of Peter or John. They never
saw God in the providence of the preaching of Peter and John,
in the healing of the lame men, in the conversion of those 15,000,
in the love and the charity and the unity that came out of the
ministry of the Holy Ghost present in the church. They never saw
God. Are you guys hearing me? It's critically important for
me to unpack as we work through the era of Ananias and Sapphira
because God killed them. So let me make a very clear statement
as we work through our text. As I was saying earlier, when
we opened up, people asked the question, why was God so severe?
Because God's reputation is at stake. God's glory is at stake. The truth that God had deposited
by the apostles to the early church was at stake. The character
of the people of God was at stake. The nature of the church was
at stake as I had unfolded a little while before you, you and I actually
today are miserably having to contemplate the fact that much
of the church world is just like the political world filled with
hypocrites, hooksters and crooks and cons. Am I telling it true?
And that's a sad state of affairs. And what true believers have
to say is this, that's not the true church. Ladies and gentlemen
of the world, you have not seen the true church because you have
not had your eyes open to the true and the living God. If you
ever see the true and the living God, you will see Christ. Christ
is a revelation of the true and the living God. If you ever see
Christ, you will know the spirit. It's the spirit that reveals
Christ. If you ever know the spirit is because you will have
heard the gospel preached in power. by the Holy Ghost which
reveals Christ to you. If you ever have the gospel preached
in power, it's because someone will have rightly divided the
word and the Holy Ghost will have used it for your soul. Are
you hearing me? I'm actually making a chain of
command that establishes the unity of the church down here
with the exaltation and nature of the true and the living God
up there. I'm going to argue my point here in a moment about
the necessity of unity as a basis for harmony in the church. the
necessity of unity as a basis of harmony in the church. How's
the church going to walk in harmony without walking in unity? How's
it going to overcome the, the assailments and the temptations
and the infiltrations of the devil that would seek to corrupt
the truth of the gospel in the church unless they walk in harmony
in order for them to walk in harmony, they got to walk in
unity, right? There's a unity between the church and the truth
the Living God which God promises will always be and it will protect
them protect them Protect them point number two in your outline
the Spirit of Christ the judge of his church Do you think do
you believe that Christ still walks through the midst of the
church is judging every man according as his work shall be Look at
verse 3 and we already know the verse 3 and 4 Will you mark that
what Peter says in 3 and 4 is this Ananias Satan has filled
your heart. That's a word of knowledge, isn't
it? That's not speculation. That's not the garbage that people
do today where they're 80% right. God is not 80% right. God's right
100% of the time. And why would he give a unusual
gift like the gift of knowledge and you be half right? That's
utterly foolish. It would indicate again a flaw
and a weakness in the character of God, wouldn't it? Well, you
know, New Testament prophets don't always get it right. New
Testament prophets always get it right. They always get it
right. Will you hear me? New Testament
prophets always get it right. They are no less qualified than
Old Testament prophets. What? The New Testament prophets
have a Holy Ghost that's older and more effete? No! The same
power that operated in the Old Testament operates in the New,
and their word comes from God. They are one with God, and God
is truth, and there is no variableness of turning with God. Now, this
is critical. This is why we don't play all
this prophecy stuff here. We don't play this junk. We don't
play what God got a word for you from me Okay, show me in
the Bible because I know this is his word Are you hearing me? God got a word for you for me.
I Got one for you, too Peter is saying something to them.
That's critical. He's saying to Ananias and he will say it
to Sapphira Don't you understand Ananias that the only way you
could do what you did is if you were filled with the devil John
chapter 8 44 listen to our words as he spoke to the rulers who
use this same device to kill him because the only way that
the real rulers could have killed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
was to lie about him. Do you understand that? Look
at what it says. You are of your father the devil.
Isn't that what Christ said to them? You're talking about being
politically incorrect. The lust of your fathers you
will do you know what that means when a man or woman is not born
of God They are under the control of the wicked one and his will
they must do this is the rulers of the church He's talking about
he pulled the curtains back and exposed them for what they were.
He knew that they were already conniving Manipulating cunning
sneaking trying to get men to say things about him suborn Testimonies
against him that was not true. He knew that he knew they were
already trying to kill him Here's what he says He was a murderer
from the beginning and a bold not in the truth because there's
no truth in him when he speak of the lie He speaketh from his
own essence for he is a liar and the origin of lies Did Ananias
and Sapphira lie? Where did it come from? the devil
the devil The devil So Peter has exposed him for being filled
with it That's point number eight in your second point, the spirit
of Christ, the judge of his church. I love what revelation chapter
two, verse 23 says, look at revelation two 23, revelation two 23. This is Jesus coming to the church.
And again, we'll get a chance to unpack this and work this
through development over time. When we come into, uh, into the
text. Our master is speaking to the
church at Thyatira, and it has a whole lot of problems. I will
not elucidate those now. Here's what he says in verse
23. Are you there? And I will kill her children with death.
Of whom is he speaking? The children of Jezebel, that
false prophetess who raised up a whole bastion of false prophets
who were in the church of Christ at that same time, teaching people
to commit idolatry and fornication. He says, I will kill her children
with death. Well, that's serious, isn't it?
Now watch what he goes on to say. And all the churches shall
know. Now watch this now. I am he,
which what? Searches the reins in the heart.
In other words, I'm present. I'm present. Now watch this.
And I will give unto every one of you according to your words. Was Christ present? Go with me
in your Bibles now to Malachi chapter 3. I want to show you
another prophecy of the same truth. And I want to submit to
you that what's taking place in Acts chapter 5 is the presence
of our great mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the person of
the Holy Ghost, which he sent back to represent him, executing
judgment in the church to keep the church pure. Keep it from
beginning to corrupt. To stave off false notions, Malachi
chapter 3. To stave off false notions that
Any Tom, Dick and Harry can come up into the church and manipulate
and rip off the people. Do you know the church wouldn't
have a chance if the spirit of God wasn't here? It wouldn't
have a chance. Notice what it says in verses
one through three and tell me whether or not this fits the
context of our text. Behold, I will send my messenger. Verse one of chapter three is
speaking in the first person singular. Behold, I, Will send
my messenger who's talking here Jesus. I Will send my messenger
who is his messenger John the Baptist and he shall prepare
the way before me and the Lord whom you seek Shall suddenly
come to his what is Christ in his temple now. Is he in his
temple in our context? Notice what he says he'll suddenly
come to his temple Even the messenger of the covenant, who is the messenger
of the covenant? Christ, whom you delight in. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Malachi
is speaking in a satirical fashion. These are people who pretend
that they are seeking the Lord. These are people who are pretending
that they delight in the Lord. And he's exposing them saying,
you guys have a show of godliness, a show of religion. But when
I come, I'm going to separate those who have a show of religion
from those who are truly looking for me. Are you hearing me? Now
watch how he underscores what I just stated. When he comes
to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight
in, behold, he shall come, said the Lord of hosts. But who may
abide the day of his coming? That's a threat, isn't it? Listen
to what he says. And why and who shall stand when
he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire
and like fuller's soap. The analogy is a purging and
cleansing. That's why the first major thing
our master did when he went into jury at the beginning of his
ministry was to whip the money changers out. And it was the
last thing he did when he left the temple for the last time
to affirm this text of scripture. Listen to what he goes on to
say. And he shall sit, that means to judge, as a refiner and purifier
of what? Now see, every believer is like
silver. The church is like silver, but
the silver has draws. It has to be what purged. And
that's what's happening in the text before us, a purging of
the draws that appears to be silver, but does not pass the
test of the fire. Listen to what he goes on to
say. He shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and
he shall purify the sons of Levi. This is a, Old Testament designation
for the rulers of the church and for the people of the priesthood.
All of us are priests in the temple of God. We are like the
Levites, are we not? And he shall purge them as gold
and as silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of
what? That's right. See, this is why
God had to deal with this, because he will not have the church perpetrating
frauds and acts of unrighteousness before God. He shall purge his. people. Then shall the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days
of old, as in former times. Go back with me to your text.
Work this through a little bit. So in one of the, uh, the opening
point, Satan has filled his heart. That means he was not a true
believer. Secondly, it was indicative of him not being a believer.
And I say that because, and some would argue that it's possible
for Satan to have filled his heart. It's impossible. First
John chapter four, verse four, very plainly tells us, little
children, you are of God. You are of God. That construction
means that we are owned by God. It means that we are controlled
by God. It is in the genitive form of
that little of, it means that God possesses us. Watch this,
and you have overcome them. You are of God and you have overcome
them. Is that what the text is saying?
Now watch this. Because greater is he that is in you than he
that is of the world. How on earth can God coexist
in the heart of a believer right along with Satan? That's utterly
absurd. How can God fill your heart and
then Satan fill your heart too? Utterly absurd. Here's the question
we have to ask if Satan fills a person's heart It means that
their heart was empty in the first place. Stay with me now
This is why Jesus taught in the gospel of Matthew chapter 12
if you're gonna control The house of your adversary you must first
bind the strong man you must bind him and cast him out in
order that another might occupy his space and Jesus gave the
parable in Matthews 12 of the man out of whom was cast out
the demon who went through dry places Remember that and because
his house was empty swept and clean But it was never filled
with or occupied with the true of the Living God Seven demons
worse than the first one came in and entered in and woe the
last state was worse than before. Is that true? The point is this
Whenever you read in the text of the devil's ability to infiltrate
the heart and mind of an individual, it means that God is absent.
Are you hearing me? God did not purchase the believer,
pay the price of redemption for the believer, the sin atoning
sacrifice of Christ for the believer to give the believer, the Holy
ghost, which promises the seal, the believer only for the believer
to be occupied, controlled by the devil. God did not purchase
the believer so that the believer can act in the same absolute
heinous criminal way that the unbeliever acts and then come
under the same kind of judgment that the unbeliever comes under.
Who would want to come to Christ under those notions? Am I making
some sense? Let me say it again before I
go to my next argument to prove that this cannot be the case
for the true believer. So there are some folks who depict
salvation as if a person is just merely making an assent, a consent
to the biblical proposition. That's why they actually, you
gotta be filled, you gotta go through a second blessing so
you can actually be filled with the Holy Ghost. Well, you actually
do need to be filled with the Holy Ghost, but that needs to
be done the first time. You understand what I'm saying?
That needs to take place at the first time so that your profession
of faith is already authentic instead of a mere assent. But
they would assert that that kind of salvation has these conditions.
That so long as you are walking right with God and you're praying
right and sincerely going with God and serving God, God's with
you. But if you leave God, God will leave you too. And then
you'll be wide open for the devil. Do you understand how criminal
that would be over against the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who
chose you in eternity, died for you in time, called you by his
spirit, converted you, and then occupied your soul by the Holy
Ghost for you to then be lost in such a scandalous way as that?
Why would I want to come to a God like that? See, in my own mind,
he would be more of a fool than me. If I would give all that
I have to save you, And then my arch enemy is still able to
come in and wreak such havoc that I have to just utterly destroy
you, just like I'm going to destroy the wicked. Where in does that
constitute salvation? Are you guys hearing me? It's
critically important. Now, let me show you what our
master said, how critical this is. First, Satan filled their
heart. Secondly, it's indicative that they were not true believers.
But thirdly, thirdly, they were themselves kept. by God. That is true believers themselves
are kept by God so that we don't fall into these kind of heinous
criminal activities. First John chapter five, verse
18, first John five, 18. This is after first John four.
And here's what John says. This is the same John that's
with Peter in this account. I want you to hear this text.
Are we there? Listen to what chapter five,
verse 18 says. And I want you to hear this.
We talked about the construction on this before, but I want you
to get grasp. Now let me start back up at verse
17. Here it is. All unrighteousness is what and
there is a sin not unto death now we know that Whosoever is
born of God does not continue practicing sin. You guys got
that. That's the Greek construction
of that language. They are born of God, and therefore
they do not continue down that same trend, down that same path,
down that same course. There was an abrupt stop, there
was a turning around, and they're headed in a new direction. They
are coming towards God, not away from God. They are walking in
the light, not walking in the darkness. They are coming to
Christ, not away from Christ. They are learning how to tell
the truth, not tell lies. Are you guys hearing me? Listen
to what it goes on to say. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and that wicked one does what? Toucheth him not.
Do you see that? He that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. I told you
several months ago when we were going through 1 John, that particular
clause there appears to speak to the intentionality and the
capability on the part of the person that's born of God to
keep himself, right? To keep himself. Actually not
speaking about you and me is actually speaking about the one
who was authentically born of God and that's Christ Okay, the
one who was begotten of God that is Christ who is the only begotten
of the father? He is the one that's actually
keeping us That's really the way the construction should be
written that all those that are kept are kept by the begotten
one That should be the better construction Let me see if I
can help make this good. Go with me in your Bible to John
chapter 17 and listen to our Lord's words. This, what I'm
talking to you about now, ladies and gentlemen, has everything
to be, has everything to do with being kept. If Ananias and Sapphira
could perpetrate the kind of crime that they are attempting
to perpetrate and get by with Peter and John and the rest of
the apostles and somehow ostensibly move into leadership with these
criminal acts, We would have to question whether or not God
is keeping his own. Is that true? Listen to what
Jesus says in John chapter 17. I want you to hear what he says
as he prays his high priestly prayer for the protection of
his people in the church. I want you to hear this now.
Watch this. I'm at verse 12. Are you there? While I was with
them in the world, what I kept them. Kept them. This is what
John meant in that construction of first John 518 the begotten
one keeps his own The King James translated keep it himself, but
it should be translated keeps his own Christ keeps his own
Now watch this now father while I was in the world. I kept them
in your name Those that you gave me I have kept and none of them
is lost but whom the son of perdition in order that what the scriptures
might be fulfilled that he was none of his right look at verse
13 and now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world
that They might have my joy fulfilled in them. And what is our master's
request of them? What is Christ's request of them? He tells us in verse 18, listen
to what he says in verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest what? Keep
them from the evil and in the construction, it's the evil one. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest what? Keep
them from the evil one. Now, will God the Father answer
God the son's request to keep his elect? Now, I want you to
know that the request was already put in before Christ died. The
request was already put in before he rose again The request was
already put in before he ascended on high and took his place at
the right hand of the father To mediate on the behalf of the
church father. Keep them when I leave keep them
now. I want you to mark the aim of
keeping us Because it's in your outline The aim of keeping us
is that we might is that we might be able to maintain the unity
of the faith that exists between the people of God and God. This is profound. Father, keep
them in order that they might know and continue to know the
unity that exists between us and them. Keep them so that they
can know that they are kept on the basis of the oneness that
exists between God and His people. Don't go to sleep here. This
is important for you. This is important for you. Shake that
off and listen. Listen to what He says. Listen
to what He says. This is so absolutely important. I'm at verse 18 now. Verse 21. No, listen to verse 21 and 22.
Our master's concerned as he prays to his father, when he
leaves his disciples here, his sheep. And he prays for us, verse
20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which
shall believe on me through their words. That's us, right? So,
so, so, so our master in his mediatorial work is spanning
the scope of time and considering every one of his elect sheep.
And he's saying to the father, keep them father. And the father
will keep them because he's sending the Holy Ghost, right? to keep
them now watch the language here's the purpose in order that see
verse 21 this is what we call a purpose clause in order that
they all may be what as thou father are in me and I in thee
that they also may be one in us that the world may believe
that thou has sent me now I want to get the verse 22 but I want
you to see the import of this statement if Peter had not been
kept by the Spirit of God and was deceived and manipulated
by Ananias and Sapphira, the unity that existed in the church
that we saw in the fourth chapter would have been threatened. Are
you hearing me? The unity that we saw in the
fourth chapter, which was a consequence of the pure preaching of the
gospel, which was the consequence of the presence of the spirit
of God, which was a consequence of the mediatorial work of the
son, which was a consequence of the reigning rule of God,
the father. This is the unity that comes
down from the father through the son by the Holy ghost in
the leadership of the church and to the people of God. We
are one with God. Are you hearing me? I want this
to come home. The unity that we have is because
of the keeping power of God the father God the son and God the
holy ghost This is the unity and as soon as the unity is broken
We have to broken we have to bring in the question whether
or not God is in it at all you see the breaking up of denominations
and the breaking up of churches and the The divisions in the
stripe that goes on. The real question that has to
be asked is whether or not Christ was actually in that place among
those people and whether or not his prayer for God to keep them
is actually valid in that case. Am I making some sense? This
is very important. Ladies and gentlemen, this is
very important. This is, this is enormously important. I'm
actually thankful that God is acting like God this early on
in the apostolic age to help us understand God's serious about
the nature and character and representation of his church
in the world. That's his only witness. So listen
to what our master is saying. He's saying, father, keep them
that I have given to you, keep those that will believe on me
through their words, in order that through your keeping power
they may all be one as you and I are one." Did the Father keep
the Son when He was down here? You better know He kept Him.
Listen to what He says, "...that they all may be one as you, Father,
are in Me, and I in thee, that they all may be one in Us." One
in Us! Do you understand what He just
stated? The unity starts down here at the level of the church
because we're all begotten of God, and then it proceeds through
the ministry of the leadership who's begotten of God. For us,
it's the word. This is apostolic doctrine. And
it proceeds through the mediatorial work of Christ all the way to
the honor of his father. Do you guys see that? Go with
me in your Bible to Ephesians chapter four. I want you to see
it. I want you to see what Christ has prayed for, of which we can
implicitly see in our text as a form of protection against
the wicked one invading the church through false teachers and false
doctrine. In the book of Ephesians chapter
four, it opens up speaking to the issue of unity, doesn't it?
Listen to the language. I want you to watch this vertical
unity that exists between the church down here and the true
and the living God who sits on his throne in glory. Verse 1,
I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you have been what? Are the saints
of God called? You better know it. And walk
this way with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the what? So what Paul has stated was that
when the Spirit was given to the church, he was given with
the responsibility of bringing into union and oneness every
one of God's people through the ministry of the Word. Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the what? Spirit. So true unity at the
level of where we are down here on earth is a work of the Spirit
of God. Is that true? True unity at the
level of where we are as a church on earth is a consequence of
the ministry of the spirit of Christ in the church through
the word of God, bringing men and women into conformity to
Christ, into oneness in Christ, into the same mind of Christ.
How do you explain what happens in Acts chapter four, where they
were of one heart and of one mind, giving up everything for
the cause of the gospel, except they saw God's glory. They saw
his glory. Ladies and gentlemen, are you
hearing me? You and I by nature are too selfish to give up that
much unless you see the glory of God. We don't give up stuff
like that. They were impacted by the power
of the spirit through the preaching of apostolic doctrine, the exaltation
of Christ. It was for them a scene of God. That's the only way it can be
done. Verse four. There is what? One. Stop right there. That's my point.
There's a oneness. That uniquely and exclusively
belongs to the people of God, and it has its ultimate finality
and destiny in God. There's a oneness that uniquely
and exclusively belongs to the people of God, and it has its
finality and destiny in God. Are you hearing me? There is
a oneness, a unity, a harmony, a conformity to this oneness
that has its ultimate destiny in God. If God is not part of
the equation, there is no reality to that oneness. Now follow this
now. There's no reality to that oneness
in a home. There's no reality to that oneness
in a business. There's no reality to that oneness
anywhere in any institution on earth where God is not the foundation
and anchor and the concrete being of that unity. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? See, everything is divided and
atomized and broken up into parts where God is not the foundation
and center of it. Are you hearing me? I want you
to grasp it now. There is one body. That's the
church, right? Is that right? And there is one
what? He is the immediate presence
which gives life to the body so that the body possesses the
spirit of God in it as its life, its understanding, its comprehension,
its existence, Its purpose, its design, its scope, its objectives
are all rooted in the presence and permeating work of the Holy
Spirit in the life of the believer. This is what constitutes our
oneness. No spirit, no oneness, right? So without the spirit,
the body would be what? But if the body is in fact alive,
and it is because we're tied to Christ, it is alive through
the spirit. One body, one spirit, Even as
you are called in one hope of your calling, what is that? The
resurrection from the dead. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
right? Right? Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The spirit of God lays that promise in your soul, right? Because
he lives, you shall also live, right? If you suffer with him,
you'll reign with him. As He is one with the Father,
so you are one with the Father. As Christ was, so were you. As
you are, so was Christ. Right? That's the oneness that
we have with Him in our soul. We are conscious that we are
God the Father's children through Jesus Christ. Is that true? That
is a profound reality that is part of our new nature. That's
the unity that every believer has with God. Now follow the
next verse. Here it is. Watch this. I want you to see
this verse five. There is one Lord. What's his
name? Jesus. There is one faith, one faith. That's the gospel of the grace
of God in Jesus Christ. One faith, not two faiths, not
three, not four, not five. This is why we fight over doctrine.
This is why we fight over doctrine. You're not going to tell me that
Christ gave you a diametrically different doctrine of faith than
what I have and we both be right. Somebody's wrong. Somebody doesn't
know God. Somebody has never heard the
gospel. Somebody has not had the faith once for all delivered
unto the saints brought to them because there's only one law
giver and that's Christ and he's given us one law and that's the
gospel. Am I making some sense? See,
this is the battle we're fighting, because the devil would have
you to settle with all kind of faiths, just like he'd have you
to settle with all kind of Jesuses and all kinds of Holy Ghosts.
There's only one spirit. There's only one Christ. There's
only one faith. There's only one body. Listen
to it. There's only one baptism. You got that? That is the authentic
work of the spirit of God that takes the dead sinner out of
the world and places him into the body of Christ. We have all
been baptized by one spirit into one body. That's first Corinthians
12. Am I making some sense? And the
semblance of that is given by water baptism. Water baptism
represents our unity in Christ. When you guys see folks get baptized
in a couple of weeks, you're going to see people who symbolically
have been brought into unity with us in Christ. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
See, the gospel is a doctrine of unity. It's a doctrine of
unity. Let me keep going because this
is very important. Verse six. So now you notice that we started
with the one body, the church, right? Then we went to one spirit,
right? That's the immediate praises.
Then we went to one Lord, right? That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we enter into the hope of our calling, right? That's the
expression of the gospel, the manifestation of it through the
Lord's table and baptism, right? Now watch it. And one God. Do
you see that? Do you see how we have left the
ground and made our way in a vertical ascent all the way up to him
who is the essence and reality of all things? Do you guys see
that? One God and father of what? Now that's all believers. Don't
leave the scope of the oneness. We ain't talking about father
of everything. This is the father of all believers. We are still
within the confines of the oneness. Are you hearing? He is the father
of all believers. He's the father of the body.
He is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit
is his, the doctrines of the gospel are his and we are all
one in him. One God and father of all who
is above all and through all and in you all. Do you see that?
Now go back to Acts. I want to show you what I'm talking
about. I want you to see it in the book of Acts. You're gonna
see it in Acts. And here's what Peter is doing in Acts in a very
short, terse fashion. He's getting ready to say the
same thing. He's getting ready to say the same thing that I
just showed you about the unity of the believer and the oneness
of God, their union with God, which is the grounds of keeping
them from being deceived by false doctrine and false teaching.
Here's what Peter's gonna say. I want you to see this. Are we
there? You guys bored? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Here
it is. Verse three. Peter said, Ananias,
why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Two
points. All Satan does is lie. And you were deceived by Satan
to lie to the present reality of Christ in the church, which
is the spirit of God. The Holy Ghost is with us in
the church, the true church. so that he lied to the spirit,
didn't he? Did he lie to the spirit? He's
called the Holy Ghost. Now watch this. And kept back
part of the price. Him and his wife somehow thought
that God was not such that he sees everything. But God is a
discerner of both the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
He can see through the bone and the marrow. He can discern between
soul and spirit, can he? But but see when you are blinded
to the reality of who God is you will you will you will fall
prey to these insane Notions that you can get away with God
Peter went straight to the matter. Listen Ananias and Sapphira you
lied to the Holy Spirit Watch what he goes on to say While
it remained was it not your own after it was so was it not your
own in other words? This was not a compulsory giving gift.
You were free to give it or not. I This is how insane the devil
makes you when you fall prey to his darkness. This was a free
will gift. It was a voluntary gift. They
could have still been people in good standing in the church
if they hadn't given a dime. But seeking to perpetrate a fraud
so that they can come off as false religionists is the reason
why this occurred. Stay with me now. It says, Why
have you conceived this thing in your heart? Human responsibility. You have not lied unto men. Do
you see that? Mark that. He says to them, you
have not lied to me. You haven't lied to me. Are you
guys hearing me? Peter is saying the Holy Ghost
already made it known to me to whom you committed this offense.
I'm not offended. You aren't lying to me. You're
lying to God. I'm an apostle. God has made
me a gatekeeper of the church. I am the human instrumentality
by which the authority of the gospel is established. I'm God's
judge, ladies. And we learned that last night
about the judges. Luke chapter 22, verse 30, pull it up. Peter
says, I'm God's judge. Me and my other 11 brethren.
We're God's judges of the New Testament Church We sit in judgment
over the children of Israel Is that what the text says? Look
at it. He says in verse 29. This is
just in case our folks don't know the text. Listen to verse
29 Luke 22 29 I Appoint unto you a kingdom As
my father hath appointed unto me, he's talking to the apostles.
Verse 30, listen to it, that you may eat and drink at my table
in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Are the apostles judges over
the 12 tribes? Are they judging Israel right
now? Is Peter judging Israel right now? You better know it. Read your Bible. The church will
judge men and angels, let alone everyone that comes into the
church. Does apostolic doctrine judge every man that comes into
the church today? Does the writings of the scripture
judge us? Absolutely. Absolutely. Is Peter judging
Ananias? Now, you know, if Ananias lived
in the 21st century, you know what he'd be saying, Peter, Peter,
don't judge me. You don't know my heart. Wouldn't he? Wouldn't he? You
don't know my heart. What Peter is saying is, I'm
apostolic. This is not about me. God has
made this very plain that you've lied to God. He said, you lied
to the Holy Ghost presence. Then he went on to say in verse
four, you've lied to God, the father. And then he went on down
to verse nine. It says, then Peter said to her,
his wife, how is it that you have agreed together to tempt
the spirit of the Lord? This underscores all three persons.
Behold the feet of them which are buried your husband are at
your door. Let me go back up to verse 5 What what Peter is
saying is the fact that you have merely seen me as a man you missed
the whole point If you think that the apostles
are mere men and this is what Paul had to argue with the churches
all the time Hey, wait a minute. Hold on now We have power That's
what he told the church of Corinth. We have authority. And in fact,
those people that are puffing themselves up at us, when I get
there, we will solve this problem. We will see whether or not they
have power and authority. Are you hearing me? And by the
way, for you, how do you want me to come when I come? You want
me to come meekly or with a rod? Because I've got both. That's what Paul said. Be sure,
he said, that we have the spirit of God. That's wild. That's why for me, folks who
twist their lips and form their words to say that they are apostles
are clueless at the kind of borderline blasphemy they are committing.
You are utterly foolish to think that you possess that kind of
authority. These are the judges of the New Testament church.
They correspond to the Old Testament judges under Moses. Christ is
a new lawgiver. Christ set up judges, didn't
he? He set up 12 to judge the church. Paul being the last born
out of due season. In your outline, let's move forward
a little bit. Briefly, and I'm going to stop here in five minutes
and call it a wrap. We'll probably come back next week. An act of
blasphemy against the Spirit. The phrase that you lied there
really, really, really brings out a major, major concern about
how borderline these two persons were in the area of blasphemy
of the Holy Ghost. In fact, I would state, ladies
and gentlemen, that that's what they did. They had blasphemed
God. else why would he kill them? Why would he kill them? Look
at verse 5. And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave
up the ghost. Do you see that? And Ananias
hearing Here's what Peter said. He says, while it remained, was
it not your own? After it was sold, was it not
your own power? In other words, this is insane that you would
put yourself in this kind of eternal jeopardy over some property
that God never demanded that you give it. And then why have
you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto
men, but unto God. Boom, you die. He died. Are you guys hearing how important
this text is about integrity before God? Now I can run through
points number A, B and C and point number three, but I already
have developed them. They lied to the spirit. They lied to the
ultimate authority, which is God. Then they lied to the apostles
who are the representative authority. Are they not? Point number four,
you might as well hear it. Death comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Death comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Just like life comes by hearing
and faith comes by hearing. There is a day coming when God's
Word is going to kill every man woman that does not know the
Lord Jesus Christ Are you hearing me? It's still a two-edged sword,
isn't it? There's a two-edged sword So what it underscored
was apostolic authority What it also underscored was discernment
critical to our unity I talked about our unity wasn't it critical
for Peter to have operated out of the gift of knowledge here
is the unity of the Saints going to be maintained and Is the fear
of God gonna stay resident in the church? Look at verse 11. And great fear
came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. Do you see that? Great fear came
upon the church. Look at verse 13. And of the
rest, there's no man joined himself to them. That destroys your big
old seeker-friendly church. That destroys, get them in, get
them in, any whatever way you can, get them in, get them in,
get them in. Not when you got apostles killing
folks left and right for lying. People are not coming to that
church. Am I making some sense? See,
again, and I'm going to stop here and we're going to come
back and deal with the real clear. This is the reason my title is
Ananias and Sapphira, a picture of the false church. You can
work it through. You'll see the outline. It'll be very clear.
Ananias and Sapphira is lifted up to demonstrate the false church.
It's really clear. We'll work it through next week.
But here's the point. We have churches all over the
world with thousands and thousands of unconverted, unsaved, unregenerate,
carnal people in them. Do you know why? Because the
churches they are in are false. How do we know that? Because
what's absent is what's present in our text. Are you hearing
me? And no man dares join them. But
the text says, and the Lord continued to add daily to the church, such
as should be saved. It's amazing, isn't it? All right,
we'll come and deal with it next week. Father, thank you for this
time. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the saints. Thank
you for the purifying work of your spirit. Thank you for keeping
us humble enough to recognize that we have the same capacity,
but we are so thankful that you have kept us back. You kept us,
oh God, you kept us from lying against the Holy Ghost, blaspheming
against the Holy Ghost. Keep us, oh God, as you have
promised you would keep your people because of your son's
request. Keep us. And as we go our way, prepare
us to worship you on Sunday. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you.