We're looking today at Acts chapter
5. I'm taking a title from the words that are repeated twice
in our text. The title of the message, the
dangers of keeping back a part. Notice verse 1 down to verse
3. But a certain man named Ananias
with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. and kept back part
of the price, and his wife also being privy unto it. The problem
is they said they gave everything, but they kept back a part, and
brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet, acting
like they had done what Barnabas had done. And Peter said, and
I ask why of Satan, your heart to lie to the Holy
Ghost to keep back part of the price of the land. Now, the dangers of keeping back
part. Now, true faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ is forsaking and trusting all alone for all things in salvation. True faith doesn't keep back
apart. It's total sellout. As Paul said, I count all things
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my
Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and count
them all but done that I may win Christ. That's all that matters. That I may win Christ and be
found in Him. True faith is forsaking all and
trusting Him alone. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, as we read earlier. Someone said faith is, using
those letters F-A-I-T-H, someone said faith can be described as
forsaking all, I trust him, or take him. Saving faith, which
is a sovereign gift of God, always loves the truth, receives the
truth, and believes the truth. The faith of God's elect, we
know, is the precious gift of God. And without it, as we read
in Hebrews 11, without faith, it is impossible to please God without
faith. Why is that so? A man without
faith is a man without Christ. Without Christ, it is impossible
to please God. True saving faith does not keep
back part. Total sellout, total commitment
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle put it this way,
2 Timothy, for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded
He's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. True saving faith in Christ looks
to Christ and we say in him, Christ is all and in all. Saving faith is total commitment. Now let me give you this homely
illustration. And I heard this by someone else
years ago, maybe 40 years ago. but it kind of stuck on my mind
here the last few days. Next time you sit down to eat
breakfast and you have on your plate two eggs, two pieces of
bacon, and two pieces of sausage, someone said the life of faith
can be seen in breakfast. Next time you have breakfast,
remember this. The chicken made a contribution. The hog made total commitment. That's saving faith, total commitment. You see, the Lord, when he taught
the gospel, used simple, earthly illustration. Should we try to
do something different? So next time you eat breakfast,
You think of that illustration. The chicken just contributed
a part. The hog gave total commitment. It's a breakfast. I enjoy breakfast,
my favorite meal. You will only trust the Lord
Jesus Christ alone for all salvation when God strips you of everything
else. As long as you can hold on to
some kind of self-something, you'll never totally trust Christ
for all of salvation. You'll only trust Him when God
takes everything else away from you and shows you that you are
naked, guilty, sinful before God. You see, the truth of the
gospel is God must empty us of our religious pride before he
fills us with a broken heart and full of true humility. He's died to them of a broken
heart, save us such as be of a contrite spirit. God must strip
us of our self-righteousness before he clothes us with the
righteousness of Christ. Christ is our righteousness. You see, it's not Your sin that'll
keep you from Christ is your supposed self-righteousness.
That'll keep you from trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. God must
take that away from us. He must strip us. Strip us naked. before God, before we ever trust
Him. God must convict us of our sin
before He comforts us with Christ, our atonement. And that's what
He does. That's what we call Holy Spirit
conviction. There is no quickening apart
from conviction. If you're never convicted of
your sin, if God never has shown you that you're lost, you've
never been saved. You've never been saved. God
must convict us of our sin before he comforts us with Christ our
atonement. God must show us that we are
truly sinners or we'll never trust Christ for everything in
salvation. That's what saving faith does.
Looks to him for everything. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. He's all and in all. Now, getting
back to our story. in the early church here in Acts
chapter 5. We know that all things are written for our learning,
right? Right here is written for our
learning. We had a good example, a prime example in our last study
of Barnabas. how he demonstrated that he really
did believe the gospel by selling out every possession he had and
gave it to the cause of God in the gospel and submitted to God
in all things. He demonstrated he believed Christ
by selling out the land he had and gave it to the furtherance
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the full price. He kept
nothing back. He said, here it is, boys, everything
I have. Use it for the gospel. Use it to the gospel, for the
furtherance of the gospel. He gave out of love and gratitude.
He didn't give to be blessed, did he? He gave because he was
blessed. He gave out of love and gratitude,
Barnabas did. He gave not only his possession,
but more importantly, he gave his person. He gave himself to
the Lord, and his life to the furthest of the gospel. We're
gonna see in Acts chapter 13, when God says, separate out me
men to go preach the gospel. You know who he sent? Barnabas.
and Saul of Tarsus, those two men, sinners saved by the grace
of God. Now, by way of contrast, the
Lord points out the grievous sin of Ananias and his wife,
Sapphira. And the Lord often does this
in His Word by holding forth truth by contrasting it with
error. For example, we read a moment
ago. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. I think the prime example of how God teaches us
truth by contrasting error and truth is that in Cain and Abel. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. What was that sacrifice
of Abel? It was the blood of the Lamb,
which teaches us of substitution and satisfaction in the blood
atonement of Christ. And God accepted that offering
and accepted Abel as it was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God. Cain brought the fruit of the ground. You remember what happened in
Genesis 3? God said, cursed is the ground
for thy sake. And he brought an offering unto
the Lord that was cursed of his own hand. And God tells us in
that example, the way of Abel is a way of grace, the way God
saves sinners. And he contrasts truth by showing
the way of error in the way of Cain and that of works. You see,
there's just two religions in this world. One's right and one's
wrong. There's one of grace and one
of works, and they don't intertwine. It's either all grace or all
works. It's not both. So the Lord often
does that. He sets forth truth by setting
it against the background of sin. It's like when a young couple
goes to the jewelry store, they got this idea of being married,
and they go and they look at some diamond rings, and that
jeweler, he'll stand there, and he'll find out they're interested
in looking at that one, that one, that one. And he doesn't
get that ring and lay it out there on the glass counter. He
gets that black velvet cloth, lays it out, and then he puts
those sparkly little diamonds on that black velvet cloth. Why
does he do that? To show the brilliance of a diamond.
And that's the way God works with His grace. He shows the
exceeding greatness of His grace against that black background
of our sin and depravity, and His grace shines forth more and
more. more and more. I'm reminded of
this scripture in Jeremiah 17, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, that maketh flesh his arm, whose
hearts departed from the Lord. And then he contrasts the cursed
man with the blessed man. Blessed is a man that trusteth
in the Lord, whose hope The Lord is, we have a good hope, through
the grace of God. Now, in our story today, God
reveals unto us the dangers of hypocrisy, the dangers of lying
unto God, that is, playing the religious game before God. The Lord always had the sharpest
rebukes. You read through Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. The Lord told those vile, wretched
sinners, come unto me, I'll give you salvation. But the Lord had
the sharpest rebukes for those Pharisees, didn't he? The Lord
always had the sharpest rebukes for the Pharisees who outwardly
appeared righteous before men, but he said, within, you're full
of dead man's bones. Let's see if we can find that.
Where is that? Over in the book of Matthew,
I think it is. Let's turn over there and let's
read this. He said, in another place you were, they would justify
yourself before men, but God knows your heart. That which
is highly esteemed among men is abomination inside of God. Matthew 23, you got it? Verse
25, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. for you
make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within
you're full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee,
cleanse first that which within the cup and platter, that the
outside may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are like unto a whited sepulcher, which
indeed appear beautiful and outward, but are within, full of dead
men's bones, all uncleanness. Even so, outwardly you appear
righteous unto men, but within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Who warns you, scribes and pharisees and hypocrites, because you build
the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the
righteous, and say, if we have been in the days of our father,
We would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets, wherefore you be witness unto yourselves that you are
the children of them which killed the prophets, and fill up the
measure of your fathers. Verse 33, you serpents, generation
of vipers, how are you going to escape the damnation of hell? Ananias and Sapphira, played
the game before God. They acted as though they had
did what Barnabas had done. They acted as they had sold out
everything and followed the Lord, but they lied about what they
had really done before the Lord. As it said in verse three and
verse two, you kept back apart and said you gave everything. Maybe they acted, out of pride
to receive special recognition and applause like the apostles
had given unto Barnabas? How many men, religious men,
give unto certain organizations? It's usually they make sure it's
non-profit so they can get the tax return, the tax benefit. But how many people give unto
certain organizations, churches or others, and then toot their
horn, put it in the paper, broadcast it, put the name on the pew,
dedicated or donated by so-and-so. They do all these things to be
seen as men. They have to have pride to receive
special recognition and applause like the apostles had given to
Barnabas. Our Lord said, don't do things to be seen as men.
Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.
Give as unto the Lord and do it secretly. Don't toot your
horn. Don't call attention to yourself. That's one reason we
don't pass the plate like most people do to receive offerings.
A lot of people throw a check in there just to be seen. Put
it in the box and don't tell anybody about it, especially
me. I don't want to know what you give. I tried not to find
out what people give. Don't want to know. But instead
of giving with a pure motive out of love, And that's how giving
is done. The love of Christ constrains
us. They gave to be seen of men, to be noticed by the church,
but the Lord knew their heart, their motive, and said, they
were inspired by Satan, and you've lied to God. You see, God doesn't
look on the outward countenance. the outward appearance, the Lord
looks on the heart. And this is with whom we have
to do. All things are naked and open
to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Now you can't
put one over on God. You may fool me or you may fool
someone else, but you can't put one over on God. But here we
see even the early church, there were tares among the wheat, Goats
among the sheep, hypocrites among true believers. It's always been
this way. It's always been this way down
through the years. You look at different churches,
congregation. The Lord in due time will separate
the sheep from the goats, the precious from the vile. Turn
back to Matthew again. Matthew 25 this time, Matthew
25. It's not our business. to separate the precious from
the vile, that's the Lord's business. We're never gonna have a business
meeting of vote people in or vote people out. I'll resign
and move to Timbuktu before I do that. I'm not gonna have any
part of that. I've seen what that leads to.
God will separate the precious from the vile in due time. Matthew
25, I believe it is, Matthew, Well, I need to find Matthew
25. There we go. Matthew 25 when verse 31 when
the son of man shall come In his glory and all his only angels
with him Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before
him shall be gathered all nations And he shall separate them one
from another as the shepherd divides his sheep from the goats
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goat on
the left Then shall the king say to them on his right hand,
come ye blessed in my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now, it's the Lord's
business to separate. If you look over at Matthew 13,
there's another verse given here in the parable of the tares it's
called. The Lord said, let them grow
together into the harvest Matthew 13, 30. And in the time of harvest,
I will say to the reapers, gather you together first the tares
and bind them in bundles to burn, but gather the wheat into my
barn. Verse 29. When they said, shall we go and
tear out the tares, tear up the tares? He said, nay, lest You
gather up the tares, you also root up the wheat. Let them grow together, and the
Lord will take care of it in due time. It's not our business,
certainly not my business, and I want no part of it. Trying
to determine who's saved and who's lost, that's the Lord's
business, that's not mine. Now, what can we take away from
this story? of Ananias and Sapphira. Well, warnings of apostasy. That's the message here, warnings
of apostasy. Three things I'll mention here,
and I won't keep you much longer. God reminds us by the fall of
others and the apostasy of others that our salvation is completely
and totally by the sovereign grace of God. Were it not for
the mighty grace of God that holds us and keeps us by His
power, we would do the same or worse. You see, we're kept by
the power of God. Let us never say in our self-righteous
judgment, well, I'd never do that. Be careful. That's the
very thing that God may bring to pass in your life. We can
say with the Apostle Paul, I am what I am by the grace of God. Were it not for the grace of
God, none of us would persevere in faith. what not for the grace
of God who keeps us and holds us and binds our wandering heart
we sing that song prone to wonder lord i feel prone to leave the
god i love here's my heart oh taken ceiling for thy courts
above Remember in John chapter 6 when that multitude of those
5,000 people whom the Lord had just fed, when he declared the
gospel unto them of his sovereign grace, no man can come unto me
except the Father which sent me draw him. He said that once,
not only once, but twice. And most of that crowd, with
the exception of the apostle, turned tail and walked away from
Christ. They followed him no more. The Lord turned to his 12 and
said, will you also go away? Remember what Peter said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the word of eternal
life. We believe and we're sure you're that, you're that Christ,
the Christ of God. Let us never boast and be filled
with pride, religious pride, self-righteousness, and presumption.
Our only hope before God is Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone. We believe according to the working
of his mighty grace. It's God who saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. The second thing is this. Though
some do forsake the gospel, even in this, the sovereign purpose
of God is accomplished. He worketh all things at the
counsel of his own will. There is no real lasting harm
that has been done to the church of the living God, the church
of the firstborn. Though many do forsake the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who had professed faith in Christ,
and they do, some, walk away from the gospel, the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ is not harmed. Because the Lord said
I'll build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it But of him are you in Christ whom God has made unto us wisdom
righteousness? sanctification and redemption
the Lord Jesus Christ has never lost one of his sheep and never
will Not one of his redeemed one can perish in their sins
because Christ put away their sin now all Reprobate shall perish,
but not the elect of God. They cannot perish, because Christ
put away their sin. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Neither can any man pluck them
out of my hand. You see, our hope of salvation
is what he has done for us. He's redeemed us with His precious
blood. We're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the last point. Even though some who at one time
professed faith in Christ do fall along the way, the elective
God will persevere. in faith unto eternal and final
glory. If you read down in Hebrews 11
verse 13, these all died in faith. The elect of God will die resting
in Christ. They will not depart from him
and he will not forsake them. God's covenant cannot be disannulled. HIS PURPOSE AND POWER CANNOT
BE DEFEATED, CANNOT BE CHANGED. AS DAVID SAID, THE COVENANT OF
GRACE IS ORDERED IN ALL THINGS AND IS SURE THIS IS ALL MY SALVATION
AND ALL MY HOPE. GOD WHO HAS BEGUN A GOOD WORK
IN YOU, WE HAD THIS ON RADIO A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, GOD WHO
HAS BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU, HE WILL FINISH IT. That which
begins in grace will end in glory. The covenant language is this,
Jeremiah 32. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them. I will not turn away from them
to do them good. I'll put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me. I will and they shall. Let us always do this daily. Let's turn and read two things.
Let us always do this daily. Find 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1 verse 10. 2 Peter 1 verse 10. Wherefore the rather brethren
give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you
do these things you shall never fall. For so an infant shall
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Make your calling and
election sure. Make sure you're trusting the
God of electing sovereign grace, not a false idol. And then the second thing, let
us do this daily. Let's make our calling and election
sure. by looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and then let us do this as well. Find 2 Corinthians 13.5. 2 Corinthians 13.5. 2 Corinthians 13.5, you got it?
Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own
selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be a reprobate? So examine yourselves whether
you have enough righteousness to enter into the kingdom of
God. Well, wouldn't that be a sad thing? I was driving home from,
I come over here early on Sunday morning, usually about six o'clock,
and go over both my messages, and then I listen to the radio
program, put the radio out here, and listen to our radio program
at 8.30, and then I get in my truck and drive back home for
breakfast. And as I was driving down the road, headed across
the bridge, There was a preacher on the radio after our sermon
came on. I don't know who it was. It was
something unusual. It wasn't the regular programming
that followed me. It was just kind of right in
the middle of a sermon. But he's talking about making
yourself holy and righteous by your efforts and your doing to
be accepted of God. I thought, what a sad thing.
He says, examine yourself whether you be in the faith. You see, it's not the amount
of faith that saves, weak or strong. It's the object of faith,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we don't examine ourselves
whether you've got enough works or bad works, am I good works
that way, am I bad works, if that be the case.