The Acts of the Apostles 27

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense III

Acts 7:17-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 11, 2022.

Stephen is still before the Sanhedrin of Israel, and he continues his walk down memory lane.  Though the council may find this insulting, it is important to know where you come from.  The history of a people is important because it has the kernel of why God has allowed the people to rise among the nations.

Remember, Israel was not one of the original nations that were created at the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 10).  To use phraseology from the Apostle Paul, we could say that Israel is like a nation “untimely born.”  None of those original nations exist today, though we all come from them. 

Israel was created by God for His purposes.  Stephen is reminding them of why they are a nation in the first place, and the purpose of God.  It is the How and Why of their existence.

It is also important to understand the truth about that history.  We know this quite well today as we see a struggle in our own culture over our origin story and how it should be understood.  We should not be shocked by this because Israel clearly had people of its own who did not buy the origin story of the Exodus.

As Stephen tells the story, we see that it is full of God’s Spirit trying to lead Israel, and yet only a remnant truly believing and following Him.  The others are resistant and even rebellious.

Do we not know that God has allowed these united States of America to rise up for a particular purpose?  It should not fill us with arrogance, but rather a humble attitude that asks, “God what are you doing, and what would you have us do?”  In a way, God has general purpose in all of the nations, but He does raise up certain nations at certain times for certain purposes, and Israel had a huge role to play in bring salvation to all of the other nations.

May God help us to hear Stephen’s appeal to believe God, and follow Jesus, rather than rejecting The One whom God has sent to save us from our sins.

Let’s get into the passage.

Remember the call of God upon Moses (vs 17-29)

Stephen fast-forwards from Joseph to Moses.  Just as God had a call upon the people of Israel, He also had a purpose in Moses.  Moses is as important to Israel as Abraham.  Abraham is seen as the Father of the faith, a friend of God.  Moses is the one who goes up Mt. Sinai and brings The Law down for Israel.  He is the mediator of God’s covenant with Israel.

By this time, the first generation of tribal patriarchs had passed away.  Israel was coming to the end of the 400 years that they had spent in Egypt.  During this time, they had flourished and multiplied in the best area of Egypt, numbering in the millions now.  This draws the ire of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph,” at least he did not care about this history.  He could only see that there was a large group of foreigners in his land and he felt threatened by this.

We are not told how Israel was pressed into slavery, only that Pharaoh dealt “shrewdly” with Israel.  The word basically means “wisely,” but in this negative context, it would have the sense of craftily. 

How do you subjugate a free people?  This part is skipped over in the narrative, but something happened.  Brilliant minds have worked on this problem many different times throughout history.  However, in our day and age, it has become a science.  It is the science of subjugating large groups of people to become cattle and sheep for the pleasure of the elite.  It is a betrayal of humanity by other humans.

Pharaoh thought that subjugation and slavery would slow down the growth of the Israelites, but it did not work.  They continued to flourish and multiply under the harsh conditions.  This is a big problem for Pharaoh so he then commands that the midwives kill the male children.  When the midwives refused to do so, then the command is that the people are to expose their male babies, or pay the price.  It is important to see how God’s blessing upon the Israelites was a problem for Pharaoh. 

Of course, this brings up the hard question.  How can you talk about God’s blessing when they were in slavery?  This is the point.  God’s blessing was upon Israel all the time that they were in Egypt, not just when they left.

It is interesting how God moves in the light of our trials and difficulties in life.  I do not believe that God made Pharaoh make Israel slaves.  However, God knew that it would happen. 

Logically, there are three possible sources to our trial:  God is actively causing it, or God is letting us experience the results of our sin, or God is letting us experience the sin of people or spiritual entities.  No matter what the source of our trial, God is committed to helping those who turn to Him, even sinners who are repentant.  He will work it to your good if you will just trust Him, and wait upon Him in faith.

Here we might complain that God is letting it last too long and going to a point where children are being put to death.  How could he do that?  So, when should God step in?  If He steps in before any sin happens then we will complain when someone is judged, and God states that they were “going to sin grossly.”  If He steps in after a little sin, but nothing big, we will still feel that He is over-reacting when He sends someone into the Lake of Fire.  God in His wisdom allows us to experience the effects of our sin and the sinful choices of others.  None of us should leave this earth with the Pollyannaish notion that humans are basically good.  We have far too much evidence to the contrary.  We are the ones who chose the knowledge of good and evil, and God allows things to play out to the degree that He does so that we will understand the true nature of our sin, and His love.

The truth is that we do not like waiting upon the Lord.  We think that His timing is generally too late.  In fact, if you think that God finally turned things to the good on the day Israel left Egypt, then you are not paying attention to what He is teaching us in His Word.  The very difficulties that Israel went through in slavery would prepare them to hear God’s Word later when He tells them not to oppress the stranger in their midst.  They were not to have two sets of laws, one for Israelites and one for foreigners.  Of course, Israelites would have privileges that foreigners did not, but they should not be mistreated because they are foreigners.

God’s timing is always perfect for His purposes.  The reason we do not think it is perfect is because we are focused on our own purposes.  My purposes basically are not to have anything in my life that would challenge me to be like Jesus!  That would be things like difficulty, trial, rejection, and unbelievers in my face.  Part of the trial is to surrender to God’s wisdom and trust, to let Him help you become like Him.  Do you believe that the difficult things in your life were to prepare you to grasp and understand God’s Word?  At least the potential is there, if you will leave your purposes on the ground and go after His.  He loves you too much to give you a “perfect” life where nothing bad ever happens.  In fact, the perfect life is one where bad things happen because they teach us about God’s love that went to the cross while we were still sinners.

This does not mean that everything is easy now that I know He is working it for my good.  When a person wants to become stronger and begins lifting weights, they soon realize that the benefits that they are seeking can only be had by going through the pain of lifting, “No pain, no gain!”  We will discipline ourselves (okay, some people will) in order to gain physical strength, which only profits a little.  What pain are you willing to go through in order to be spiritually fit, like the Lord Jesus was?  No pain, no gain.  I do not just mean pain of being hurt and persecuted.  I also mean the pain of saying, “No!” to the lusts and desires of my lazy flesh, in order to obtain something greater spiritually.

What does it mean to be like Jesus?  For me, I see 4 important character traits.  I need to become a man of the Spirit of God, rather than my flesh, a man of the Word of God, a man of prayer, and a man living out the righteousness of Jesus.  Once you receive a clear vision of Jesus hanging on the cross for your sins, you really do not need any more evidence that God loves you and will do whatever it takes to bring you to Himself, the very definition of the ultimate good!

Did you notice in this story that it looked to Israel like God was not doing anything when He was preparing their deliverance.  We sometimes act as if we have the omniscient view.  Perhaps we have been reading too many novels, or watching too many movies.  Who am I, and what do I know?  Not only is God’s timing perfect, but He is always working in ways that we cannot see. 

I do not know about you, but God does not send me status updates on how He is bringing my situation to the good, like Amazon.  To the Israelites, it looked like God was not doing anything about their situation.

Yet, God was actually using the very commands of Pharaoh to bring about their deliverance.  Just think of it.  The mother of Moses does not have the heart to kill him, so she puts him in a basket on the Nile River.  She technically obeys the command of Pharaoh.  Exposure was the most common way of taking the life of a child.  Only in extremely barbaric places would they strike, burn, and actively kill a child.  She casts her son on the water, and entrusts him into the hands of God.  She may have had some direction from God.  She may have intended Pharaoh’s daughter to find the baby, but she had no guarantees of what would happen. 

God had a purpose for Moses that did not include being eaten by a crocodile, or found by an Egyptian who would kill him.  God made sure that Moses ended up in the hands of the one person who could protect him from Pharaoh.  I can hear her now.  “O, daddy, can I keep it?  Can I, huh?”  Pharaoh ends up bankrolling and training Israel’s deliverer.  Of course, we know that Moses does not deliver Israel.  God does, but He often uses people in what He does (the righteous and the wicked).  God was preparing their deliverance when it looked like He was doing nothing.  Thus, waiting on the Lord is a wise thing to do as well as being righteous.  Have you ever thought that it is wicked not to trust God who has shown Himself to be more than faithful, and more than able?

Waiting on the Lord requires faith.  I cannot always see what He is doing, but I know that He is working all things to the good of those who love Him.

Another part that we balk on is this.  God allows things to happen that we think He should not.  Yet, now we are back to the issue of over-reaction.  When God’s plagues start falling on Pharaoh from the God of Israel, he will not be able to feign innocence.  His wickedness towards Israel was far worse than anything God righteously did to him.  The problem of sin, and what it leads to, is serious and personal.

The Old Testament does not record the age of Moses when he decided to check on his people, but Stephen gives us the traditional view that Moses was 40.  For some reason, it comes into his heart to check on his people.  Of course, he knows that he is not an Egyptian, but a Hebrew that was spared by Pharaoh’s daughter.  I believe that it is God who puts it on his heart, even though Israel is not ready to be delivered yet. 

Moses sees that they are not just working hard, but being harshly treated.  Moses kills one of the taskmasters who was mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave and hides him in the sand.  Even this was part of “preparing their deliverer.”  On the next day, he sees to Hebrews fighting with each other, and he tries to help them reconcile.  Think of it.  You are in a trial of slavery as a people and you are fighting with your own people.  You are mistreating your own people.  And, we wonder how the enemy is able to keep us in slavery.  He only needs to keep you divided and fighting one another.  Moses means well, but the bitterness of servitude has embittered the hearts of many Israelites, particularly this one.  His acidic response hits Moses like a sucker-punch. 

Listen.  The enemy knows how to cut you off at the knees.  If God puts something in your heart and you go to do it, just know that he will be winding up to give you as many low-blows as he can (and he is good at it).    This incident is symbolic of all of Israel.  They are not ready to be delivered yet, though they would have said that they were.  They had bigger problems than a Pharaoh and his taskmasters.  They had gigantic spiritual problems that had built up strongholds in their hearts.  The rejection of Moses is symbolized in the question, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” 

God was already stirring the heart of Moses for the plight of his people, but neither he nor they were ready yet.  Somethings need to simmer before they are ready.  Imagine every day you cry out about your situation, wanting relief, and yet at the same time you are lashing out in anger at the very thing or person God is wanting to use to help you. 

Moses would have to come back in 40 years, which is interesting.  They would have to wait another 40 years because of their rejection of him.  A similar thing happens when they get to the promise land.  They refuse to fight the giants at first, and so they go back into the wilderness for 40 more years.

Let me close this by comparing Moses with Jesus. We see many parallels between Moses and Jesus, though no human can perfectly picture Jesus.  In fact, this is our job, to image Jesus to the world around us. 

Let us first look at ways that Moses is not like Jesus.  We might note that Jesus did not kill anybody when he came to Israel.  He laid his own life down that they might be set free from sin and death. 

Also, Jesus dwelled among his people in their servitude under the Romans.  Whereas, Moses was in the palaces of Pharaoh.

Lastly, Jesus did not flee away, but ascended into heaven and sits at the Father’s right hand waiting for the day when it is time to make his enemies his footstool.

All this said, there are some striking parallels.  Jesus did spend time in the halls of heaven before he came down, became a kinsman to Israel through the incarnation, and experienced what his people were going through.

Jesus was also rejected the first time he came to Israel.  “Who made you judge and ruler over us?”  Of course, the answer to this is God the Father did.  Peter prophesied before Israel in Acts 2 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

Jesus then goes away from Israel and ends up taking a Gentile bride.  To be fair there are Jews who are a part of this bride, and even the foundation of it.  Yet, the Church has a very Gentile flavor to it.  Yet, Jesu will come again, after a long period of time, and deliver all of God’s people.

This world cries out for a savior, but at the same time it rejects the One that God has given, Jesus.  Just as the cry of oppression from Israel’s slavery was heard by God, so the cry of sinners suffering under sin is heard by God today.  How tragic that God has done everything, but believe for us.  Yet, we still say that He is not good enough.  Jesus is not good enough.  We double down on trying to be our own saviors.

Israel was not saved by its own faithfulness from Egypt.  They were saved by the faithfulness of God.  May God help us not to look at our circumstances and become stuck in the quagmire of despondency.  Rather, let us look up in faith and know that our God is even now working these things for our good.  Perhaps He even has some great things He would do right now, if we would only dare to believe!

Defense III audio

The Acts of the Apostles 18

Subtitle: Lying to the Holy Spirit II

Acts 5:7-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 18, 2022.

Last week, we dealt with the death of Ananias, and today we will deal with the death of his wife, Sapphira.

Ananias is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Hananiah.  It means ‘the favor of Yahweh,” or “the grace of Yahweh.”  Sapphira’s name is a reference to the sapphire gem.

Though one could think of their names as ironic in this story, it is more likely that they serve to emphasize the tragedy of their lives and their fall into judgment.  God was pouring out the greatest grace and favor that the world had ever seen in the work of Jesus.  He followed this up with the amazing gift of pouring out the Holy Spirit upon those who believed in Jesus.  How tragic to fall short of the grace of God.

Similarly, Sapphira’s name should remind us of God’s ultimate goal for believers, which is spoken of in the Old Testament.  Daniel 12:2-3 says that the righteous who are resurrected will “shine like the brightness of the firmament,” and “like the stars forever and ever.”  This imagery of shining stars is used in the Bible for spiritual beings.  It also is connected to gems.  Read Malachi 3:15-18.  God speaks of a day in which He declares that the righteous will become His.  “’They shall be Mine,’ says the LORD of Hosts, ‘on the day that I make them My jewels.  And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’”

This story is a tragedy of the highest level.  May God hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Let’s get into our passage.

His wife follows him in his sin

It might seem strange to us that Ananias is buried without his wife’s knowledge, but it would have been similar to her husband being in the morgue.  In those days, a family would typically have a tomb that had a platform in the middle.  The dead body would be laid on the platform and allowed to decompose over the course of a year.  Later the bones would be gathered up into a bone box called an ossuary and deposited within one of several niches that would be in the walls.  Whole families would be buried in the same tomb this way.  Also, It would be necessary to deal with a body right away due to the heat.

Verse 2 tells us that Sapphira knew what her husband was doing.  We should pause and discuss the difficulty of having a spouse who is pursuing sin.  Many Christians have had to deal with being married to unbelieving spouses.  In fact, the Apostle Paul encourages such to stay married as long as the unbelieving spouse is open to it because you never know how God may use it to save their soul.  It can be more nuanced if you have a “believing” spouse who is serving their flesh rather than Jesus.  Regardless, Sapphira had a choice to make.  She could refuse to stand with her husband in this sin, or she could join him in it.  Sadly, she chooses to join him in his sin.

Don’t get me wrong.  There is no reason to make Sapphira to be the instigator, or innocent bystander.  Perhaps she was like Jezebel goading Ahab on in worship of Baal.  Maybe she was not.  All spouses should recognize that their life deeply affects their spouse for good or for bad.

It is three hours after the death of Ananias that Sapphira shows up.  It would stand to reason that she is looking for him, wondering why he is taking so long.  She gets there minutes before the men who have buried her husband make it back to the place where Peter is. 

It is at this point that Peter questions Sapphira about the value of the property sold.  It would be easy to blame Peter here.  Couldn’t he have led with the fact that her husband had lied and had been struck dead by God?  Yes, he could have.  However, Peter questions her to see if she is in on it.  I mentioned last week that I don’t believe Peter knew up front that Ananias was going to die.  Otherwise, we would expect him to pronounce something so, like he does here with Sapphira.  God had made it shockingly clear to Peter that this was to be taken seriously, and Peter is only taking this seriously.  How bad has this wickedness spread?

Tragically, Sapphira lies to Peter, and therefore, lies to the Holy Spirit as well.  Peter rebukes her for her sin, and adds some further light to why this is taken so seriously.  Sapphira will fall down dead and breathe her last as her husband did.

The first part of this rebuke is in reference to the Holy Spirit.  Sapphira had agreed with Ananias to “test” the Holy Spirit.  The Greek term it translates is often used of the devil tempting us.  It typically means to test so as to make someone fail.  A test can be a good thing that measures your progress and helps you to see where you need to improve.  In general, teachers are not actually trying to fail their students, but they do have a duty to make sure that the kids are learning the material.  This will ensure that the student is able to get more work on the failed problems.

The plot of Ananias and Sapphira is not devised to strengthen the Church, Peter, or God.  They hope to get the social reputation of donating all the proceeds of their sale without having to do it.  Their lie is selfish, and somehow, they believe that God won’t do anything about it.  This begs a lot of questions.  Were they actually saved, or only going along with the group because amazing things were happening?  Did they actually believe God was behind these things, or did they somehow believe it was more like magic, the involvement of an impersonal force?  Of course, we cannot know.

I believe that America is testing the Holy Spirit today, and has been for a long time.  We have been coasting on the grace that prior generations have won for us, but now, the judgment of God is in our land.  Everywhere around us, we see the crumbling culture.  The principle of death is being breathed into the land through every action of sin.  Yet, there is still hope.  We can see the turmoil and repent. 

In fact, God generally sends his judgment in increasing waves.  This makes me wonder if Ananias and Sapphira hadn’t had some warnings from God earlier.

Peter tells Sapphira that the same men who were coming in the door from burying her husband will now bury her.  She then dies as Peter has prophesied.  No leader should ever dare to utter this kind of statement unless it is really from God.  As I said, God had made it clear that He wasn’t letting this pass.

Whether I am judged by God on the spot or after 80 years of this life, the testimony of Scripture is that Jesus is a righteous judge.  He knows the thoughts and intents of our hearts.  You cannot fool God.

Yet, none of us can be good enough to merit grace in that hour.  I don’t believe that God wants us to be unsure of that day.  1 John 5:13 states that we can know that we have eternal life.  Still, there is a tension between being confident of our salvation, and yet not letting that become an excuse for sin.  The saved person will fight their own sin.  There will be losses and wins in that battle, but the Lord will deliver them from them all.  This tension can be described as a tension between being afraid of God and having a healthy fear of the Lord.

Luke mentions twice that fear came upon everyone who heard about the story (vs 5, 11).  For Christians, it would be the fear of the Lord that wisely fights against sin in their life.  For unbelievers, it is more than likely a fear of the unknown.  It would be a fear of not knowing what is really going on among those people.

Just because this is the Age of Grace does not mean that God is no longer making judgments.  If we eat up His grace and spend it on our lusts, instead of putting our faith upon Jesus, working to become like him, then we will pay with our life.  We will receive eternal life or eternal death, eternal glory or eternal shame.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It teaches us to stop asking how close to the cliff we can hang out without falling.  The whole point is to want to be close to Jesus, to have intimate communion with him.  I fear the holiness of God too much to try and lie to Him.

Of course, any time we tell Jesus that we love him, we are somewhat like Peter was in John 21.  My words may be greater than my flesh can back up right now, but Lord you know my heart.  You know that my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.  God is gracious and is not looking for an excuse to take you out.  That tells me something drastically wrong was going on inside of Ananias and Sapphira.  I should not try to look like anything more than a sinner being set free from my sins as Jesus helps me.

Now, let’s come full circle on God’s love for us.  Remember, God is not willing that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  More than that, God wants for you to be the recipient of His grace and favor.  He wants you to be at His side shining like the stars.  In fact, a beautiful thing about gems is that they don’t have internal light.  At His side, we will not only be gems, but the most dazzling light of God will be shining through us.  What a day that will be!

Lying to the Holy Spirit II audio

The Acts of the Apostles 17

Subtitle: Lying to the Holy Spirit I

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.

Ananias becomes a cautionary example (vs 1-6)

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!

Lying to the Holy Spirit audio

The Acts of the Apostles 15

Subtitle: The Power of Prayer

Acts 4:23-31. 

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday morning August 28, 2022.

Last week, we saw that Peter and John were severely threatened not to teach in the name of Jesus, and they were released from custody.  With the response that Peter gave them, they can’t hope too much that these men will actually stop.  However, it will buy them some time to craft a plan for dealing with them just as they did with Jesus.

We are going to see the importance of prayer today.  These men were full of the Holy Spirit, but they were not a source unto themselves.  In fact, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them during a prayer meeting.  Instead of responding to the threats of the rulers with threats themselves, they responded to the threats with more prayer to God.

May we never forget that all our doing must have a foundation of prayer underneath it, so that God is evident within it.

The believers turn to God in prayer (vs. 23-30)

Upon their release, Peter and John go to their companions to describe the actions of the rulers of Israel.

After hearing about the threats, the disciples turn to God in prayer.  Notice that we have that phrase again “in one accord.”  Remember that this means they were all singularly focused with a passion for reaching God in prayer. 

It is hard enough to get ourself singularly focused with passion on one thing, much less a whole group of people.  This really is a miraculous move of God that is happening among these early Christians.  O, that believers today would be moved upon by the Lord to be in one accord about reaching God through prayer.

Let’s take a look at how they pray and then how God responds.

They start out glorifying God by declaring that He is the One who created everything.  He created the heavens, the earth, and the seas, and then He filled each of these domains.  Salient to the moment, God is the Creator of those people giving them threats.  Essentially, they are appealing to the higher authority.  The men who have threatened them are accountable to a higher power, just as the disciples are.

Prayer is never about telling God something that He doesn’t know.  It is more about demonstrating that we know who He is.  Prayer is not getting God to the place where He will do what you want, it is about getting ourselves to a place where we can truly serve Him.

To glorify God is to lift our own spirits up out of the squalor of this world, and the clouds of confusion.  It is to come out of ourselves and into the presence of One who is greater than us.  It is to focus our heart and mind upon the only One who can sustain us and enable us.  Prayer gives us God’s perspective about our life and the things that bother us.  If we spent more time in prayer, then we would have a better perspective on life when we get up off of our knees and go about our day.

God is not only the One who created these men threatening them, but He has also spoken things through the prophets about just such men.  Through the prophet David, God said this very thing would happen.

Psalm 2 is a powerful psalm that clearly depicts God making His Anointed One (Messiah, Christ) to be king over the nations at the protest of their rulers.  Those rulers will attempt to throw off his rule, but God in heaven will laugh at their attempts to reject His decision.  “I have set My King upon My Holy Hill!”  The rulers are then warned that if they do not turn to the Anointed One in fealty, then they will perish when his wrath is kindled just a little. 

It ends declaring, “Blessed are those who put their trust in Him.”  This is similar to the message Jesus sends back to John the Baptist, “Blessed is he who does not fall away because of me.”  Really these are flip sides of the same coin, one positive and one negative.  To trust in Jesus is not to fall away.  Not to fall away because of Jesus is to put your faith in him.

These disciples of Jesus are actually seeing Psalm 2 happening in real time.  In fact, we are seeing the same thing today in our world.  The rulers of the world are set on casting off the “bonds” of God and His Christ.  This is what it looks like.

The question today is, “Whom do you fear, God and His Messiah, or the powerful rulers of the earth?  Our response will set the position that we will be in in the day of His wrath.

Verse 28 holds a nugget of powerful understanding that we must get ahold of and never let go.  No matter what the enemies of Christ may do, they can only accomplish what God has purposed ahead of time.  This does not mean that they are doing a good thing.  They have the power to choose wickedness, but they don’t also have the power to choose where that path will take them.  God is truth and reality.  You can’t fight reality without paying a price of your decision. 

Thus, all beings in the universe will do the will of God.  Some will accomplish His will by choosing to cooperate with His purposes and being transformed into His righteousness.  Others, will accomplish His will by refusing to cooperate with His purposes.  They become something far worse than they ever imagined, but in so doing, also accomplish the will of God.

Only God is the Sovereign over all that happens, and it is His Providence that is before us.  Christians must never think that becoming so grants us sovereignty over our own life.  The best that we can do in this life is to cooperate with the will of God and thereby to be transformed into the image of Jesus.  Yes, some of the path ahead is revealed to us through prophecy, but all of us must learn to trust God with our today.  If God had allowed Jesus to die in order to do something greater, then God may choose to do the same thing with Peter and John.  They have no guarantee exactly what following Jesus will look like, only that Christ will be with them all the way.  What matters in life is doing the will of God regardless of what the future may hold, and that will take a lot of time in prayer tuning our hearts to the heart of God.

Though they have been glorifying God, they are also building a case, asking God for His help.   They first ask that God would grant them to speak His word with all boldness.  A “grant” is in keeping with coming to a great King, but this is more than getting a title to some land.  They are asking for God’s help in doing what they know must be done.  God, whatever you have to do in me in order to do this thing that must be done, then please do it!

The content of our speech to this world and to one another needs to be the Word of God.  Yet, the boldness cannot come from a place of our flesh.  The Sadducees and the Pharisees had a boldness that came from much study, and the accolades of an intellectual system.  In fact, it takes a lot of boldness to put the Lord Jesus Christ to death even though it didn’t square with the Law of God.  Fleshly boldness will not work to lead us in what God is doing.  It only made things worse. 

At each point along the way, God in His mercy gave them opportunity to jump off this confidence in their own righteousness.  Nicodemus jumped off.  Even the Apostle Paul saw the light and turn around to the point that he later says that he considered all that previous boasting as rubbish, garbage, in the face of knowing Jesus.  The problem is not that God is wanting us to get rid of everything.  The problem is in my heart.  I so easily try to hold onto fleshly things that give me confidence instead of only holding on to the Lord.  Eventually, you will have to choose.  If something is getting in between you and Jesus, just know this.  There will come a day when it will be to hard to hold onto both.  Like a man trying to hold two horses together going in opposite directions, you will either let go or be destroyed.

The boldness they wanted could only come from the Holy Spirit within them and speaking in the moment.  This is only granted as we daily come to God in prayer, seeking Him, and seeking His will.

They also ask that God would stretch forth His hand to heal and give signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.  We see this again that they are fully aware that any miracles would be by the hand of God.  They would simply be faithful servants whom God worked through.

We are called to be a blessing to the sick and the hurting.  These things will then be signs pointing people back to Psalm 2.  We must make our peace with Jesus today because the day is coming when his complete rule will be established.

It is clear from history that God has granted seasons of healings, and signs and wonders.  It is not our job to know either way, but to pray for God to move and to work.  No number of miracles can save a person’s life.  People need Jesus, not miracles.  Perhaps the greatest miracle they will ever see is a man or woman of God coming out of the wilderness and speaking the word of God to them by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

They were not praying for miracles because they wanted to be wowed again.  No, it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks for signs and miracles.  No, they are praying for God to confirm that they are from Him through these miracles.  Only God can help us to make it to that pure place where we are praying for Him to move in our time, but we are not seeking things rather than Him.  They are not asking miracles for themselves, but to be done among the people in order to draw them to Jesus.

God’s response to their prayer (vs 31)

Verse 31 tells us that there was a response from heaven.  They would get up off of their knees that day knowing that God had heard them because the place was shaken with an earthquake.  We do not know how widespread it was.  It seems to be more for them than Jerusalem.  Of course, the skeptic will say it is only a coincidence.  However, such a person was not there to see the lame man dancing in the temple, nor the ministry of Jesus before.

So why did God shake the place that they were at?  In Psalm 18:6,7 it says, “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.  Then, the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, because He was angry.”

This is David recognizing that his victories over Saul, and the nations surrounding Israel, were not about his great ability.  It was always about God answering his cry.  This imagery is used throughout the Psalms and the prophetic literature.  When God is stirred up to judgment, the natural order is practically unable to stand it (Hills melting like wax, etc.).  It is a sign that God is angry and is not to be messed with.

This can be seen at Sinai as well.  The powerful demonstration of quaking, thundering, lightening, fire and smoke demonstrates that God is legislating the righteousness that they should be doing.  The law is a scary thing without the mercy and grace of God.  Thankfully, it was not without mercy and grace.

The Bible says that the righteous are a people who cannot be shaken, and consequently destroyed.  Here, God shakes the place to show that He is rising up, just as David spoke of it, to stand on their behalf before these rulers.  He is not happy with their actions, though He will use them for His purposes.  When we are in right relationship with God, we need not fear His judgments around us.

This is shown in Hebrews 12, where God promises to shake the heavens and the earth.  This great day of shaking no wicked person will survive.  The only way to survive it is to become an unshakeable person.  Only God can make us an unshakeable person by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Perhaps, we should remind ourselves that Satan tries to shake us as well.  In this mortal flesh, we will be tested.  As long as we hang on to faith in Jesus, we cannot be destroyed.  In fact, the devil will only succeed in making you stronger.  Yet, if we let go of faith in Christ, then we can be destroyed.  Let us receive an unshakeable faith by the help of the Holy Spirit.

They were then all filled with the Holy Spirit.  As we have mentioned before, being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event.  There is a fresh pouring out of the Holy Spirit in response to their prayer.  We must see this and pay attention to it.  God wants to fill you, but He does so in the relationship of prayer. 

Public prayer times with other believers has its place, but the foundation of our walk with Christ is our private prayer time.  We cannot skip these private times of prayer and expect that the Holy Spirit will just always be there to back our fleshly minds up.  God help us to desire to be a people of prayer because it was God’s desire first, and it is His Holy Spirit even now stirring you up to want to pray.  You won’t be able to run the marathon tomorrow, but if you get up and start a little at a time, each day, over time you will develop a strong foundation of prayer that your flesh resisted at first.  Prayer is hard.  There is no lime-light, no accolades.  Our flesh shrinks back from it, but we must master ourselves and turn to God in prayer, if we want to know Him and the power of His resurrection.

It ends by saying, “and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”  I believe this is simply saying that God answered their prayer and this was the hallmark of their activity moving forward. 

O friend, we need to speak the word of God boldly.  It is the only hope that people have, whether they know it or not.  However, that kind of power is only found in a place of prayer seeking God’s help.  Let’s get to it!

Power of Prayer audio