Acts 5:1-6. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 11, 2022.
What a horrible thought it is to lie to the Spirit of God. What a horrible thought it is that a sin might be judged by God on the spot by striking a person dead. It sounds like it must be something in the Old Testament, but today’s story is here in the New Testament at the beginning of the Church.
These are the things that God would have us contemplate today. Furthermore, they are the things that should convince us that God is not playing games, and that this day of grace that we are in is still deadly serious.
I think that we might be surprised at who did not survive if God were to strike dead every single person who was lying to the Holy Spirit in the American Church. Through the prophet Moses, God warns “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23 NKJV).
Of course, it is rare for God to strike people dead on the spot for even gross sin in this life, but the question is not when will it happen. The question is will He strike me with eternal death. Whether during this life, or when you stand before Jesus the judge after death, if you have not been living for Christ, then it won’t matter much that He gave you more time.
Let’s get into our passage.
Last week, we looked at Barnabas and how he was an encouraging example, or an exemplar, for believers. It is not by accident that the very next story is a cautionary example about a person doing something similar to what Barnabas did, but lying to the Holy Spirit about it.
We all can think of examples in our lives of people to emulate and others to avoid. However, you may not have someone that is at the level of an apostle like Barnabas, or on the other side, at the level of Ananias and Sapphira for bad. Ultimately, this lesson teaches us that following Jesus is not a game that we can play. Of course, Jesus is the perfect encouraging example. However, people like Peter, John, Barnabas, and Paul show us that we can rise above our sin and weakness through Christ.
Of course, to do so, we must take our sin seriously, and we must take Christ’s salvation seriously. There is a tendency for us to think of the Church Age as a time of grace in which sin is no longer a big deal. It is all covered by the death of Jesus, hurrah! Yet, the writer of Hebrews warns us in chapter ten that if a person was put to death without mercy under the Law of Moses if two or three witnesses testified, then an even worse punishment awaits those who trample the Son of God underfoot, treating his blood of the new covenant as a common thing, and insulting the Spirit of Grace (28-29).
Luke leaves out many details that we would like to know. However, it is apparent that Ananias sells a plot of land of some sort and then donates the money to the church. From Peter’s reaction, we can know that in some way Ananias has made it known that he is donating all the proceeds of the sale. This could have been a legal stipulation in the sale document itself, or it could have simply been a public declaration before the church and, or, its leaders.
In verse 2, the phrase ‘kept back’ has a connotation of embezzlement, which lets us know in advance that he is doing something wrong. The point of the story is not for us to judge for ourselves the scenario. We don’t have all of the facts to do so. The point of the story is to caution us against a severe sin. Notice the difference. Luke is not trying to put us in the judgment seat. He is trying to keep us out of the defendant seat.
When Ananias brings the money to the Apostle Peter, he is rebuked on the spot for his sin. How did Peter know? He knew by the help of the Holy Spirit. In terms of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we would say that Peter was given a word of knowledge by the Spirit.
Of course, any leader in any group could covet such near omniscience. Thus, tyrants will do openly to get information on everyone what cults do openly, but with more seduction in getting the information. Such leaders will build networks and systems of gathering information on all of your secrets so that they can use it against you in order to further their power. Woe to those who would pervert the Church of Jesus for their own empowerment and glory.
Yet, this is not what Peter is doing. This is something that is pure and clean and comes from the pure and clean Spirit of God. Peter rebukes Ananias, and it is a fearful day for those who are sinning. Yet, rebuke also opens the door for repentance. Thus, it is a strange day in which things can go in vastly different directions. I will either repent and be cleansed, or refuse and be hardened even more.
When we look at the specifics of the rebuke, Peter twice refers to his sin as, vs 3, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit,” and vs 4, “You have not lied to men, but to God.” Of course, he did lie to men, but his sin is far worse than that. He is lying to God Himself.
How has he lied to God? First, he has lied to leaders whom he knows to be full of the Holy Spirit. He has lied to a body of believers who are Spirit-filled. Interesting question here, had Ananias been filled with the Holy Spirit? Is it possible that a person could be filled with the Holy Spirit, but then lie to the Holy Spirit? We don’t know specifically with this case. However, King Saul had the Holy Spirit come upon him and he prophesied. Yet, he later turned to the witch of Endor for occultic help because his rebellions against God’s Spirit had caused God to leave him.
Peter mentions Satan. Satan is at work here, and Peter knows about Satan stirring your baser notions in order to get you to resist what God is doing. Listen friend, don’t play fast and lose with the things of God. It won’t be worth it in the end. Even if you get away with it for all of your life, you will regret it when you stand before Jesus. Just as Israel drew near God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him, so can we. In fact, all of life is a challenge asking us if our worship and strong talk was all lies. From time to time, Jesus challenges us, “Will you too go away?
In verse 4, Peter describes just how needless this sin was. It was his property. No one forced him to sell it. After the sale, it was his money to do with as he would. No one forced him to declare that he would give all of the money to the church. Why didn’t he just make it clear that he would only give part of the proceeds?
Let’s say it was a plot of land that was worth $10,000 USD. If he simply gave 10%, it would have been a $1,000, which is a significant donation. Even $100 would be helpful to people. In fact, any gift you give for the work of Jesus is significant, whether $1 or $10,000, because it is given to God. It is holy. The widow only gave a mite, and yet our Lord said it was greater than those who gave bags of Gold. God does not judge value as we do.
Jesus does not force people to give to his mission. You are free to give what you want. But, the case of Ananias shows that, though we are free from constraints by the Lord, we are not nearly as free from sin in our hearts. Ananias was free to give in relation to God, but his sin held him in bondage and led him to the slaughter. Sin had taken root in his heart somewhere along the line, much like Judas before him.
And that is where the problem lies, in his heart. In verse 3, Peter says, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie,” and in verse 4, “Why have you conceived this thing in your heart.”
Peter is not saying that Satan made Ananias sin. Satan can’t make anybody sin. In fact, you are quite capable of being tempted by your own flesh without his help. However, he is a real influence, a real interloper, nonetheless.
It is one thing for a temptation to “fill” our heart or mind. This is being a fallen human being in a fallen world. However, you can keep from playing with that temptation. Notice the use of the word “conceived” by Peter. This should bring to mind the picture that James gives us in James 1:14-15. “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.”
Notice the progression. It begins with the temptation within our heart and mind. If we do not nip it in the bud in that moment (bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ), we will then be dragged away and enticed by our own desires. It is not Satan dragging us off. It is our own desires. At some point your desires conceive. You have given yourself over to do the sin. You first want to do it, and then you plan to do it. Eventually conception leads to birth. This sin will come out into the world through words and deeds. They may be hidden and done in secret, but into the world the little sin babies will be hatched. And, when sin has grown to full maturity, it brings forth death.
We must guard our hearts! O, how our hearts are laden down with impure desires that only serious warriors will rise up against and slay by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, you actually have to take possession of your heart before you can then guard it. This picture can be seen through Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Picture the Promised Land as your own soul. When you get saved, your life is full of many gigantic strongholds of sin. You look like a Lilliputian compared to them, and you are! However, God has promised to give you victory if you will attack the strongholds relying on His help. Too many Christians have settled for a small plot of victory, and have allowed the enemy quarter in their own hearts and mind. Such activity will not last us because the Holy Spirit is always calling us to rise up and fight!
After Peter’s rebuke, we are told that Ananias falls down and breathes his last. He dies on the spot. There is no sense that Peter knew that this was going to happen. Though God revealed the sin of Ananias, that is not reason to automatically believe he knew death was coming.
So, why was God so harsh? Perhaps, He determined that it was important at the onset of this group to make it clear that, even when God is being gracious, He is not to be mocked. Every man is a liar and the judgments of Jesus are righteous and true. We can be assured that sin has take deep root in the heart of Ananias, and he is boldly lying in the face of the powerful working of God through the Apostles. It is hard to understand how he could be so bold, but such is sin. It blinds us to our true condition and danger.
Our theology can so promote grace that we no longer have people who are afraid to sin. In general, you do not have to fear that God will strike you dead for sinning today, but in the words of Johnny Cash, “Sooner or later, God‘ll cut you down.” Sin that is not fought by the help of God’s Spirit will breathe death into your life and the life of people around you. It is not just a matter of your eternal destiny. It is also a matter of whether you are a source of sin and death in this life, or a source of life that comes from the Spirit of God.
God’s desire is for you to fight the sin that He reveals in your life. His word shows us what sin is, and His Spirit helps us to see it in our life. In short, the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, and points us to the righteousness of Jesus. Yes, we are to believe in Jesus for salvation, but we are also to continue believing in Jesus for taking possession of our soul, sanctification. The Holy Spirit really can strengthen you and help you to get victory over strongholds of sin in your life, but He won’t repent for you. He won’t get you out of your bed in the morning and force you to pray for strength.
The problem is not that God is mean and scary. The problem is that we don’t take God serious enough to take sin serious enough. Imagine that your sin is so horrible that God Himself had to become a man in order to pay the price for it. Yes, it is easy to imagine that Hitler’s sin is so bad that it would take that, but not mine (of course, we would never say those words). To the degree that you think sin is not a big deal is to the degree that you diminish the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. However, the more you see the glory and majesty of the righteousness of Christ, then the more you see the depths of shame and dishonor our sinful ways are towards God and one another.
Christian, we must become convinced that sin is breathing death into our life and the lives of the people we love. We must desire to destroy its hold on our hearts, and we must learn to lean on Jesus for victory in the way that David did when standing against Goliath.
We have to stop here today. We will pick up with the story next week. Until then, I pray that the love of God will convince us to cast off any dalliance we may have with sin, and to turn our eyes unto Him. Only He can give us victory against sin, the world, and the devil!