The Acts of the Apostles 19

Subtitle: A Powerful People

Acts 5:12-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 2, 2022.

What does it mean to be a powerful person?  If we use the world’s definition of a powerful person, then we are focused on someone who is in control of their life personally, who is financially powerful, and who has powerful social influence. 

It is easy for Christians to simply “christianize” these concepts rather than seeking God’s word for His definition of a powerful people.  The above concepts are focused on manipulating the world around us so that it conforms to our desires.  Using religion to do this is the very definition of witchcraft.

Don’t get me wrong.  God made us with a powerful ability to affect the world around us.  However, when we use those abilities for self-serving purposes, even to the point of co-opting religious garb to do it, we have prostituted God’s purpose in it.  Christians are those who wrestle with God in prayer over how to impact the world around them.  We don’t always perfectly understand it.  However, we must be convinced that He is the only leader that can teach us in this life.

Our passage today focuses on the powerful work that God was doing through the early Jewish believers in Jesus.  Let’s look at it.

Powerful things continue to occur (vs. 12-16)

So far in the book of Acts, we have seen some powerful things.  In Acts chapter two, we saw a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, followed up by Peter’s powerful sermon.  He challenged the people, “Be saved from this perverse generation...”  This led to 3,000 people being saved.

In chapter three, we saw the healing of the man in his forties who had been lame from birth.  Again, this was followed up with a sermon from Peter saying, “Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the LORD, and that He might send Jesus…”  Peter clearly saw a connection between the repentance of Israel as a nation and the return of Jesus.

In chapter four, Peter and John are arrested, threatened, and released.  However, they were not intimidated and continued to preach powerfully in the name of Jesus the Christ.

Chapter five explains the powerful deaths of Ananias and Sapphira.  This made sure that the believers and the unbelievers understood that God was at work in this group.

These verses here are another one of Luke’s summaries of how things were going with the Church of Jesus.  We are going to sift these verses into three categories: statements concerning the Apostles, statements concerning the believers, and statements concerning the others.

The Apostles-

After his death, Jesus sent his disciples to call all people everywhere to repent and believe on him.  He was God’s Anointed One, God’s savior for our sins.  He was also God’s anointed ruler for our world.  They are called apostles at this point because the term means “sent-ones.”  They are sent by Jesus to establish His Church, which means the “called-out-ones” by the way.  We are called out from among the world, but not to go away.  We come out from the spiritual prostitution of this world into the chaste life of a bride of Christ.  Our work is to pull others out from the cesspool of this sinning world.

Verse twelve reminds us that God did amazing signs and wonders through the hands of the apostles.  These are things that caused people not only to be amazed, but also to recognize that God was in them.  These apostles were just like Jesus, the same Jesus that was executed.

Healing was one of those ways that God got the attention of that first century.  Verse fifteen tells us that the apostles were healing people so much that others would bring their sick out to the street and lay them on beds, hoping that Peter’s shadow would touch them and make them well.  Now it doesn’t actually say that someone was healed this way, but that is what the people thought.  It is possible that something like this happened and word spread.  Desperate people will try anything that even has the faint odor of hope.

Yet, this is not about Peter, but rather about God’s call on his life, and his faithful, bold obedience to do what God’s Spirit led him to do.  If looking at Peter diminishes our understanding that it is the grace of Jesus that is doing this, then we need clarify the way we are looking at this.  Conversely, if we completely disregard that this is done through the hands of Peter, i.e., through his obedient faith, then we miss what God is showing us.  There are some things that God wants to do, but He has decreed that they would happen through the prayer of faith, and the actions of faith.  In short, Peter is cooperating with God, co-laboring with Jesus Christ, by the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

Verse sixteen also tells us that people from the surrounding towns and villages were coming to Jerusalem bringing sick people, and some who were tormented by evil spirits.  “They were all healed.”  This is a sign in itself.  Jesus was powerfully healing people and then the leaders pushed to have him executed by the Romans.  Yet, his disciples were now doing the very same thing.  This was getting the attention of the people.

Let me just say that it is clear that God used the Apostles in a way that was greater than those who were believing in Jesus.  It is also clear that Peter was used to a greater degree than the other eleven.  The apostle Paul was powerfully enabled among the Gentiles similar to Peter.  As Pentecostals, we can overly focus on the power aspect while missing the more important point.  The goal of the Good News is not to get more and more people doing what Peter and Paul did.  The goal is to change your mind about your sin, and about who Jesus is.  It is about surrendering your life to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is about trusting him to cover your sins, and empower you to fight sin in your life, walking in his righteousness.  It is about that sorrowful pricking of the heart, where we turn away from rebellion against God, and turn towards faith in Jesus.  The one who believes in Jesus will walk as he did.  They will obey his word and the word of his apostles.  God will work powerfully through them, but it will not always look the same and be at the same scope.  We must quit worrying about the scope of His power in our life and simply cooperate with it.  Jesus did only what his Father had for him to do.  So, we too must not put our ego ahead of ourselves with dreams of parting Red Seas.  Instead, we are to be faithful and let God lead us in His powerful works expressed in our life.

The followers of Jesus-

Luke mentions the followers of Jesus, or the believers, in verse twelve.  We are told that they were in one accord.  We’ve seen this word before, and it means that they were focused with one passion as a group.  That passion was to live for Jesus and to do his work.  Luke uses this phrase of the believers seven times throughout the book of Acts.  It is not until the stoning of Stephen that it is used in a bad sense for the crowd who plugged their ears, seized him, and stoned him to death.  They were focused on the one passion of extinguishing the fire of Stephen’s preaching.

Can the Church of Jesus be of one accord today?  We might be tempted to say that the Church is too fractured to be of one accord.  However, remember that Israel was a fractured people at this time.  All of Israel was considered the people of God.  Yet, the ministry of Jesus had polarized society.  Those born of the Spirit were moving to one side of the Sword of the Lord, and those clinging to the flesh were moving to the other side.  Through Jesus, the Father was making a distinction between that which is holy and that which is unholy among His very people.  Thus, Luke is referring to those who are truly following the Spirit of God, not those who only had a profession of being the people of God. 

Can you not see how the Church has progressed to the same state that Israel was in so many years ago?  We have accreted millennia of fleshly institutions and people.  However, within this mass of the Church is a true, believing people.  The denomination doesn’t matter.  If a person is truly born again of the Spirit of God, they will quickly recognize the Spirit of God in another.  I put to you today that true believers across the world are of one heart and one mind to do the will of Jesus, rather than playing a religious virtual reality game.

The caution is that we must be careful about what spirit animates us, and what passion we are unifying around.  There is a sinful passion that operates in the crowd, the mob, this world even, to resist the will of God.  We must unify around the One True Lord, Jesus, and the One True and Holy Spirit of God.

Verse fourteen tells us that multitudes of men and women were being added to the Lord.  This is despite the fear that many felt when news of the death of Ananias and Sapphira was spread.  We should also note that they were “added to the Lord.”  All believers are ultimately added to the Lord within a local context.  No church belongs to the people there.  It will either belong to Jesus or it will not.  Let us strive to be a church that belongs to Jesus alone.

This was not a comfortable time for Christians.  In comfortable times, many people will join the Church, but they can simply be making a casual commitment.  They may join because there is a beautiful girl attending, and they hope to catch her attention.  They may join because they see a promising network of clients for their business.  They may see the potential of a place to amass social pride in religious matters.  The fleshly motivations are unlimited. 

Notice that no one casually becomes a true believer during times of persecution and difficulty.  This is part of the grace of God in it.  It is sometimes led by religious people who have no relationship with God at all.  Let me just say that you cannot have a casual relationship with the Creator of the universe.  You either take these things seriously or you don’t.  A serious believer doesn’t just read the Bible, but studies it as if their life depended upon it, as if it was actually a letter from your Creator to you.  A serious believer doesn’t just say their prayers, but seeks God for direction, wisdom, and guidance daily.  A serious believer goes to war against sin in their life, which begins in their heart and their mind, and affects their outward living.  I don’t know what you are going to do, but I’m going to serve Jesus seriously!

The others-

This brings us to the third group that Luke mentions here, the others.  Verse thirteen says that “none of the rest dared to join them…”  There was a hesitancy and a cowardice that kept them back.  Of course, there were some like the High Priest and others who were taking their stand against this group no matter what.  However, this is the group in between, the almost-persuaded group.

Let me just say that God is real, and therefore, it is a good thing to be careful about jumping on His side.  However, He is not some kind of psychotic parent who is beating people for no good reason.  If God disciplines us, it is to bring us to repentance so that we can have true life.  When we daily walk in repentance, we have fellowship with Him by His Holy Spirit.  It is a relationship that brings us healing from our sins and the sins of others, from the effects of those sins.  It gives us internal peace, true righteousness, and joy like a river in our soul!

The people who weren't joining them still had a respect for them.  They esteemed them highly, held them in high regard.  The word has a sense of honor in it so that the believers were seen as an honorable thing in their eyes.  Not everyone in the world is going to think that Christians are honorable.  It is not our job to focus on what the world thinks.  Instead, we are to live a life that is honorable by God's definition.  When a Christian casts off a lukewarm life and lets God transform their thinking and living, then they will be the hope of Jesus everywhere they go. 

If we are going to be despised, then let it be for following Jesus, not for following our own flesh and desires.  Every time a story comes out of sexual abuse, or financial embezzlement, it only shows that the mentality of Ananias and Sapphira is still with us.  You can't control other Christians, and shouldn't want to do so, but you can keep your eyes on Jesus, and live to honor him!  That will make you a person who is spiritually powerful.

Friend, no matter how bad a sinner you are, you can come to Jesus, that is if you are tired of struggling in those sins, and desire to be free.  Jesus can forgive you of your past, fill you with his Holy Spirit, and enable you to powerfully walk away from your sins!  Let’s be a people of power who are powerfully cleansing our lives of sin, powerfully guarding our hearts from the lies of this world, and powerfully doing the work that Jesus has given us to do!

Powerful People audio

Barriers to Jews Believing in Jesus

This sermon was preached on September 25, 2022 by Missionary Robert Specter of Rock of Israel Ministries.

There will not be an article on this sermon, but the audio is now available.

Barriers 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