When Fear Seized The Church - [Acts 5:1-14]

It was about three years ago when I was with a pastor friend of mine, he was visiting from New Jersey. Actually, I got to know him through my wife. She was good friends with his wife when we lived back in New York.

And they came to visit us here in Massachusetts about three years ago with their daughter and we had a great time, their daughter with our two daughters at the time. And we were kind of just talking about being in the pastorate.

And we happened to touch on the topic of church discipline and I share with him an incident in our church that had occurred and the person, unfortunately, was not repentant of their sin and he told me he had two incidents in his own church where he was pastoring in New Jersey.

Fortunately, one of the people was repentant, but one of the others was not. There was a local church about a mile and a half down from where my friend was pastoring and when they found out what had happened with the whole church discipline thing of the person who was not repentant, the next week on their sign was, if other churches do not welcome you, we will.

The Contrast Between the Modern Church and the First Century Church

If we look at the state of the evangelical church today as it stands next to the state of the first century church, we will see a stark contrast. For example, the 21st century church is filled with fun.

The first century church was filled with fear. The 21st century church has clowns entertaining goats, while the first century church has had shepherds feeding the sheep. The 21st century church is user friendly and secret sensitive, while the first century church was God fearing and sin sensitive.

The 21st century church preaches a watered down gospel because it doesn't want to offend anyone, while the first century church preached the pure gospel. Why? Simply because it is the power of God for salvation.

And the 21st century church is filled with anemic preaching whose focus is man centered self fulfillment and self esteem. While the first century church was filled with powerful preaching whose focus was Jesus Christ, him crucified and self denial.

Acts 5 and the Background of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts

If you will turn with me to the book of Acts, chapter five. The book of Acts, chapter five, verses one through 14, this is one of the most riveting passages in the New Testament. So much so as it has done with me.

Not just this time around, but when I preach it back at our old church that I was pastoring, when you come to grasp the message of this passage, it will send a spiritual shockwave through you that you will never recover from.

Acts, chapter five, verses one to 14. But a man named Ananias with his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of property and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles feet.

But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land while it remained unsold? Did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?

Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last and great fear came upon all who heard of it.

The young man rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened, and Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.

And she said, yes, for so much. But Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out.

Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young man came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Now, many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord.

Multitudes of both men and women. Before we take a nosedive into this chapter together, you need to understand the background of the book of Acts, where this is placed in the book of Acts. If you turn with me to chapter one of the book, just a few pages before verse one, the very first sentence of the book, chapter one, verse one, we know that.

Dr. Luke is writing the Greek as he wrote the third gospel, as he's writing to Theophilus in the Gospel of Luke and here in Acts, but notice what he says in opening this book in the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.

Began to do and teach, wait a second. I thought Jesus was done. He was completed the work that he came to do. He said in John 17 in his high priestly prayer, he went to the cross for atonement for sin.

He rose from the dead. He ascended to the right hand of the father. Well, Luke is saying, and excuse my English, it ain't over yet. It's not over yet. In the first book, the Gospel of Luke, Luke says, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach.

In other words, what I'm writing now in this book, a continuation of what Jesus continues to do and teach how well the book is known as the book of Acts, commonly referred to as the acts of the. Apostles.

Better to be known as the acts of the Holy Spirit. Through the apostles, the acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles in the book of Acts, as we'll see here in our specific text, but overall in the book of Acts, the third member of the triune God plays a much more prominent role than ever before.

Now, does that mean that he was not active at all before? Absolutely not. In the Old Testament, he would come commonly upon men and he would come upon people to empower them for service. But it was temporary.

He would come upon them and leave. It wasn't permanent. Well, you have your finger in acts. Turn with me to the gospel of John, just to highlight to you this aspect of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

John chapter seven. We're just going to look at a couple of passes in John just to set the background for Acts chapter five and the work of the Holy Spirit. John chapter seven, verses 38 and 39. Jesus speaking, he says, whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Now, this he said about whom the spirit. Whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Turn with me to chapter 14 of John, we're going to look at a couple of passages in the upper room discourse as he's preparing the disciples for his departure from this world.

What does he teach them about the Holy Spirit? John chapter 14, verses 16 and 17, and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper paraclete to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. Notice there what Jesus says to them in verse 16, that the helper who he will send will be with them forever. And then in verse 17, he highlights that he is with you, but then he will be in you.

Couple of chapters following John chapter 16, still in the upper room discourse, John chapter 16, verse seven concerning the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.

Why? For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. So that hadn't happened till acts when, as we know, in Pentecost, the disciples had the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And if you were turned back to Acts chapter one, we see in verse eight kind of an outline of the entire book that Luke sets out for us. Acts chapter one, verse eight, the words of Jesus, his interaction with the disciples before he departs from them, he says there to them, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

That verse simply serves as an outline for the entire book of Acts, so we understand where Acts five, what we're studying tonight is found in you'll be my witnesses where in Jerusalem. Chapters one through seven of Acts is the witness in Jerusalem, and then you'll be my witnesses, Christ says in verse eight here through Judea and Samaria, that's chapters eight through 12, and then to the ends of the earth, chapters 13 to the end of the book highlighted by Paul's missionary journeys.

So in Acts chapter five in our text, we find ourselves in a local church in Jerusalem. We're still at the beginning stages of the church. And then acts one for Jesus specifically told the disciples while staying with him, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait from the promise of the father.

And in Acts chapter eight, verse one, there arose on that day, a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. So here in Acts chapter five, we're focused on the local body in Jerusalem. Of course, we haven't gotten to the rest of Acts where the gospel spreads to the Gentiles, which is a great transition in the book of Acts.

But here we see in the book of Acts, the local church in Jerusalem and in the book of Acts, the prominent role that the third member of the Trinity is playing, the Holy Spirit. Our text begins with a very simple word, verse one of chapter five.

But that's significant for two reasons, it focuses, it focuses us on the context of the grammatical passage here, the verses that come previously in chapter four to help us understand what was the historical context of the church at that time, what was going on in the life of the church at Jerusalem.

And also, it's a significant word because it's setting up a contrast between a man by the name of Barnabas, who was a spiritual example versus the sinful example that we read about in Ananias and his wife, Sapphira.

Fellowship in the Church Is Demonstrated and Threatened

Now to highlight kind of the truths of this passage that God wants us to see, I will give you five points as we walk through this with you together. The first one is this, number one, fellowship in the church is demonstrated.

Fellowship in the church is demonstrated. Look with me in chapter four, verses 32 to 35. Now, the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

And with great power, the apostles were given their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet.

And it was distributed to each as any had need. Notice everything they had was in common. That's a Greek word, koinonia, or as I would say, kinonia. It comes from the word that means to have in common.

That's what true biblical fellowship is about. When the day came that BBC was going to two services and I thought, oh, my goodness, no more donuts, what's going to happen to our fellowship? Donuts are great and we appreciate that.

But genuine biblical fellowship is to have all things in common. This was characteristic of the church in Jerusalem from the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, Luke said, and all who believe were together and had all things in common, kinonia, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

This was the norm in the first church. This was the pattern. This was the normal practice of what was going on in the church. And to highlight this practice, Luke brings forth a man by the name of Barnabas.

He is setting us up here later on for the ministry of Paul, because as we know, Barnabas in a sense was Paul's Paul. He was Paul's mentor and brought him into the church where nobody else believed that God had transformed him.

But it says of Barnabas in verses thirty six of chapter four, thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold the field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet.

He did what was the normal practice they sold, brought the proceeds and laid it where at the apostles feet. Barnabas did that. This was the fellowship in the church that was demonstrated. However, number two, the fellowship of the church is threatened.

The fellowship of the church is threatened. I want to show you an interesting interplay here that Luke highlights for us here in chapter five, as we read, the fellowship is threatened from within, from within the church.

But throughout these chapters, four or five and six, the church is threatened from outside, from without and from within, from without and from within this constant threats to the new church in Jerusalem.

Let me take you a little bit before that in chapter three. Peter, there was a there was a man who was lame and was always begging for arms. The people knew him because he was doing this regularly. And when Peter came by and he begged Peter for arms, he says, silver and gold.

I do not have Peter said, but what I do have, I give to you in the name of Jesus, rise and walk. People were amazed and astonished because they knew this man who had been begging for arms all this time and God had cured him.

And Peter gave the credit to God, not to himself. And he told them, you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead to this. We are witnesses. Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.

So as they were preaching the resurrection and repentance, the leaders, the religious leaders were annoyed, the text says, and they arrested them, put them into custody. And they told them basically they charged them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard threats from without.

Don't teach in the name of Jesus. We don't want to hear proclamation about the resurrection. And then we have threats from within in Acts chapter five. But the aftermath of Acts chapter five, we have threats from without the high priest, it says later in chapter five, was filled with jealousy.

So he put the apostles in prison. But an angel of the Lord comes freezing from prison and says, go to the temple and preach Jesus. So in obedience, they go and do that. And they were so upset, the religious leaders, they said, we strictly charged you not to preach in the name of Jesus and you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to put this man's blood upon us.

Jesus, Peter and the apostles answered what we must obey God rather than men. The text says Luke writes when they the religious leaders heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But God in his sovereignty provided a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected among the people, and he asked the apostles to leave.

And as he talked to them, he said to the leaders, listen, if this is a man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them and you will actually find yourself fighting and opposing God.

So they listen to him. But before they let the apostles go, they beat them. And after they beat them, the apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. More threats from within in chapter six.

In those days, the disciples were increasing in number, a claim, a complaint by the Hellenists. Those are the Greek speaking Jews. Those Greek speaking people always cause trouble. The Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

And you might be familiar with the result, the apostle said, we can't neglect the ministry of the word to serve tables. Let us select seven men, one of them being Stephen, the first martyr. And he said, we will give our attention to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

So we see here in these chapters, the church early on in its life is threatened from persecution, from without, from complaints, from within, from sin, from within, as we see here in chapter five. Well, what exactly was the sin that threatened this church, this fellowship?

Well, notice what Peter says in verses three and four to Ananias. Peter said in Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land while it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?

And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? In other words, and Ananias could have decided not to sell the land to give the proceeds. That was his decision to make. Or if he decided to sell it, it was at his disposal to decide how much to give.

That wasn't the sin in of itself, because even later on, Peter said to his wife, how is it that you agreed to test the spirit of the Lord? Verse eight, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And actually, Ananias did follow the practice of the early church.

Where did he bring the proceeds to the apostles feet? So what was his sin? Well, Peter says it was lying to the Holy Spirit, specifically what lying in how much they were giving to the church. How much were they giving to the church?

Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? He could have kept them back if he wanted to, but he must have made perhaps some kind of commitment.

It might have been public, maybe not just within his heart that he was going to give the full proceeds. But he didn't. What was the sin characterized by? It was characterized by hypocrisy. He brought it to the apostles feet in a pretense that he was doing what everybody else was doing as a practice of the church.

It reminds us of the words of Jesus Christ, what are hypocrites on the outside? We want to appear a certain way, as Ananias might have wanted to appear in the giving of the proceeds. But inwardly, there was something else going on.

Jesus said it in Matthew 23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The sin was not only characterized by hypocrisy, it was characterized by greed. He had more than likely made a commitment.

That's what was revealed to him to Peter and that he kept back part of the proceeds. And he had maybe out of greed, kept back that for himself, which he had committed to the Lord. There was also deception involved in the sin because he told his wife, Peter did.

How is it that you, verse nine, have agreed together with your husband, of course, to test the spirit of the Lord? There was a testing of the Holy Spirit, lying to the Holy Spirit, the prominent member of the triune God here in Acts and testing the Holy Spirit.

They were presuming on the goodness of God. They were presuming on his forbearance. Thus, the sin was ultimately against the Holy Spirit. And notice the threat of this sin originates in the heart, as all sin does.

Verse three, why has Satan filled your heart to lie? Verse four, why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? And Ananias didn't do what the proverb says. Proverbs four, twenty three, watch over your heart with all diligence.

And that is why Jesus made this stark statement for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness and slander. But Satan was involved in this threat because he was the one who filled his heart, as Peter said.

I wonder as Peter was saying that to him, if Peter was recalling the words of his Lord, as he was telling to Ananias, did Peter remember in Luke twenty two when the Lord said to Peter, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. I wonder if when Peter was confronting Ananias about the role of Satan and filling his heart, if Peter was mindful of what the Lord had told him.

And finally, concerning this threat that came within the church, notice what he says in verse four, you have not lied to whom to man. But to God, you have not lied to man, but to God reminds us of a couple of Old Testament characters, David, for example, did he not sin against Bathsheba?

Did he not sin against Uriah? Yet in his psalm of repentance and Psalm fifty one, he says against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. It reminds us of Moses, for example, it says in Exodus sixteen, the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

For what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said, when the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him.

What are we? Your grumbling is not against us. But against the Lord. Just as we see here in Acts five, Peter made it very clear that his sin was not against man, it was against God. Though the fellowship of the church.

Was threatened, we see number three here, the fellowship of the church is preserved, the fellowship of the church is preserved despite the threat. How is it preserved? Through divine intervention. In almost a way that we talk about.

Our soteriology that without God's divine intervention, we would be completely lost. Think of passages like Ephesians for Ephesians to how we were dead in our trespasses and sins, walking according to the ways of this world, objects and children of wrath.

But God, divine intervention. Who is rich in mercy because of his great love for us, made us alive. We see here divine intervention, God intervening to preserve the fellowship of this new church, the first church in Jerusalem through divine discipline.

Notice in the text that we read, neither Ananias nor Sapphira even had a chance to respond. When Peter told Ananias verse five, Luke records when at that moment in time, when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.

And when his wife came in, she hadn't heard about her husband's death three hours later. Verse 10, immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. I find it ironic that the story begins at the apostles feet and ends at the apostles feet.

The practice of the early church of the genuine biblical fellowship, having all things in common, was to bring the proceeds of what they sold to the apostles feet. And these two husband and wife who contrived this deed in their heart and lied and tested the Holy Spirit.

She fell where? At the apostles feet. Legitimate question to ask. Jesus had taught the disciples in Matthew 18 concerning church discipline. Why wasn't that followed here? Jesus had told him, if your brother sins against you, correct, go in private.

Tell him his fault. If you win, if he repents and listens, you've won him over. If not, bring two or three others. If not, take it to the church. And if they still don't repent, consider them as a tax collector.

And it was Peter who was intently listening to those instructions of our Lord because he said at the end of that, when Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, Peter said, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

How often? Well, why wasn't it done in that manner? Why was it such a direct divine intervention and divine discipline? Well, a couple of reasons that come out from the text, as Luke highlights. First of all, this was sin against the Holy Spirit.

True, every sin is first and foremost against God, even when we sin against others. But Peter was highlighting here to Ananias said he had not lied to man, but he had lied to God, to the Holy Spirit. Whereas in Matthew 18, Jesus had told the disciples, if your brother sins in the original text of Matthew 18, by the way, it doesn't say if your brother sins against you, it just says if your brother sins.

But we know that's what Jesus was talking about, because that's what Peter understood when Peter said in the text, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? The sin wasn't in a way directly against a brother, though it affected the fellowship because it affected the proceeds that were brought for the needs of the local church there in Jerusalem.

But it was first and foremost against the Holy Spirit. Second of all, it was a sin of the heart. Now, wait a moment. Aren't all sins contrived in the heart? Yes. But this was not something that seemed to be publicly known, according to the text.

It was something that was revealed to the apostles, to Peter. It was the sin of the heart. Somebody else might be seeing this. And with the hypocrisy that Ananias and his wife were portraying, they might say they brought the proceeds of what they sold.

But Peter knew that he had lied to the Holy Spirit. Also, this was also an early part of the foundation of the church. This was the apostolic era. Ephesians 220 tells that the church was built on the foundation of the apostles, Christ being the cornerstone.

And finally, I believe because it was early on in the life of the church, as we see the birth of the church in Acts 2, God was trying to set a precedence, a precedence, an example for how he wanted his church, his body to function.

So he preserves the fellowship despite his threat. Number four. After the fellowship of the church is preserved, number four, the fellowship of the church is strengthened. The fellowship of the church is strengthened.

How so? Verse 11. Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. This is when fear sees the church. Notice it was just not fear. It was a great fear for us. It was the whole church, not just some of the church.

This is the first time the Greek term for church is mentioned here in the book of Acts in the New Testament, Ecclesia. This is when the church is strengthened because a church without the fear of God is a weak church.

A church that does not have the fear of God is a weak church. A Christian without the fear of God is a weak one. So a church after all, the writer of Hebrew says in 1229, our God is what? A consuming fire.

Yes, God is our Abba father. Yes, he has not given us a spirit of slavery that leads to fear again, but he's given us a spirit of adoption as sons whereby which we can cry out Abba father. But yet we come to him with total adoration and respect for who he is.

In his pastoral epistle in First Timothy, Paul is writing concerning elders in chapter five, and we know that from the context because he says in verse 17, let the elders who rule well. And then in verse 19, do not admit a charge against another.

And then he says this in verse 20, as for those context of elders who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all. Why? So that the rest may stand in. Fear, God strengthen the church by preserving her through divine intervention and divine discipline so that the effect of fear came upon the entire body in Jerusalem.

And finally, not only was the body strengthened from within number five, the fellowship of the church is expanded. The fellowship of the church is expanded. Look what happened, according to verse 13, none of the rest.

None of the rest of the people who weren't part of the local body dare join them, the outsiders, the unbelievers, the lost. But interesting here, Luke says, but even though they didn't dare join them, but the people held them in what?

High esteem, today's 21st century church has become a laughingstock to outsiders, the people then held them in high esteem because great fear came over the whole church. And why didn't they dare join them?

Because they were afraid. They knew the results of sin. Great fear, it says in verse 11, came not only upon the whole church, but also upon all who heard these things. The outsiders, too. And notice the final result, verse 14.

And watch this more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. Now, I wouldn't have thought that, especially after what happened within this body, that more than ever, more believers were being added to the body.

Well, you know, for that to have happened, it had to be only the Lord's doing. This is significant because the discipline was of sin. It was not a secret, sensitive type of mentality. It's proof that it was the Lord's doing.

If we are faithful to do what the Lord asked us to do in obedience to him. God is faithful. We sang this morning about the faithfulness of God. God is faithful to his character. Always. He can never go against who he is in here because of what he did.

He brought the result more than ever. Pastor MacArthur says in his book, The Truth War, the appendix, by the way, when you do read books, you always have to check the appendix. Most of the nuggets are in there.

He says this, and I quote, Why do you think the Lord struck an Annihilation Sapphire dead in front of the whole congregation? Imagine that, by the way. Wife and husband within three hours of each other.

MacArthur continues, Scripture is clear. It was so the rest would be fearful of sinning. This was not a secret, sensitive strategy. In fact, it was the polar opposite of the contemporary push to make the church as comfortable as possible for sinners.

Listen to this. MacArthur says the primary message of the church should not be we're a nice place. You'll like us. Instead, the message should be this is a holy place where sin is despised. Wasn't that, after all, the whole point of the Ananias and Sapphira episode?

End of quote. Now, does that mean we're not friendly and welcoming? Of course not. Hospitality was high. In the early church, and we had to be hospitable to those who come to visit, but it's the atmosphere, the DNA of our life, as outlined in the scripture.

I wanted to show you a little bit how more than ever, believers were added to the Lord because of this incident. If you trace through the book of Acts, you'll see many times Luke will record numbers were added.

Believers were baptized. So and so God saved. You don't have to turn to these, but just listen at Pentecost, Acts 241. So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3000 souls.

But here in this incident, more than ever, believers were added. Acts 247, and the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. But here in this incident, more than ever, believers were being added.

Acts 4, 3 to 4, they arrested them, put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to be about 5000.

But here in this incident, more than ever, believers were being added. Acts 6, 1. Now, in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose. But in this incident, believers more than ever.

Acts 6, 7, and the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. But in this incident, believers were added more than ever.

Acts 8. And there arose in that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

But when they believe Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. But here in Acts 5, believers were added more than ever.

Acts 9, 31, the last one. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord. And in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

But here in Acts 5, more than ever, the Lord added believers. What are some takeaways from this passage? I have six lessons that we can take away with us this evening. Number one, the obvious one, the primary purpose that God recorded this.

Six Lessons from Acts 5: Taking Sin, Church Discipline, and the Holy Spirit Seriously

Number one, we are to take sin as seriously as God takes it. We are to take sin as seriously as God takes it. We see it from the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned. That's what I'm going to rename my daughters, because when they do, they go and hide.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid and God asked him, where are you? It was not a question of geography. They sinned. We see it throughout the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement in Leviticus chapter 16.

We see some of the major prophets in the Old Testament highlighting Isaiah, the prophet, seeing God, the Trisagion, the thrice holy God. He couldn't look upon him because he was a man of unclean lips.

We see it, of course, ultimately in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, as we read this morning, committed no sin, but he died as an atonement for sin. God, if he is faithful to his character, and he is, he will judge sin.

He did it here and he will do it always. Sin must be judged. And at the cross, Jesus bore the wrath of God, his ultimate punishment for those who would ultimately believe on him. Sin must be taken seriously.

When I discuss with my daughters and try to incorporate the scripture into everyday life, I'll ask them. One of them told me the other day about one of their friends, why they were doing something really bad.

And I asked her, I said, well, why were they doing something so bad? Well, you know, Daddy, I said, I know. But you want to tell me? Because they're sinners. It's funny how they always notice when others do bad, but not when they themselves do bad.