The Power Of The Holy Spirit - [Acts 4:32-5:11]

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Well, I'd invite you to take a

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Bible and open it to the book of Acts. We're going to be in Acts chapter 4, powering all the way through to chapter 5, verse 11.

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It's going to be a frightening, dizzying even, sprint through multiple passages here today.

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I have a list for you because I like lists. You know that. And I really like this one.

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Some of it, you know. These are historically selfish acts.

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I mean, these are incredibly selfish acts. Number eight on this list.

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A man fakes seizures at restaurants. Andrew Palmer of Baltimore made a name for himself, at least in the word of selfish world of selfish dine and dashers, and he got away with this for years.

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He would go into a restaurant, order something expensive after he consumed it, fake a seizure.

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The ambulance would come in and take him out and he would get away with it because his tabs were under $100, which was considered a misdemeanor.

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Finally, he was convicted for not paying an $89 restaurant tab and he received five years in prison.

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I like that one because he got his just rewards there. You could say he even got dessert. Thank you.

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Man was afraid to lose his girlfriend. She was very cute. So he overfed her for a year so that she doubled her weight.

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Then he asked her to marry her and she said yes. I don't know what that says. Number six, man fakes suicide to get out of wedding.

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He calls his fiance and pretends to be his father, said that the son had committed suicide.

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She of course calls the man's mother to offer her condolences. That's when she finds out that he's not dead.

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His confession, I'm a terrible, awful person. I know I shouldn't have told her I was dead, but I didn't know what else to do.

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Man up. Then there's the man who called in a bomb threat so he wouldn't miss his flight and he got arrested for it.

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So he didn't make the flight anyway. Number two on the list, a woman faked her own abduction.

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I didn't want to just be guys. Faked being kidnapped to avoid going to Christmas parties.

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She had an eating disorder, so instead of going to all these parties, she staged her own abduction.

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Two days later, she appeared looking disheveled and claimed she had been kidnapped. When police started getting suspicious, she broke down and admitted it was all a hoax.

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She was given a 12 -month sentence. This is the worst. Number one.

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Man stopped a train to recover his cell phone. This is like what we're talking seven years ago.

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Man's riding the New Jersey coastline train when he dropped his cell phone between cars.

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Thinking quickly, he pulled the emergency brake, bringing the train to a screeching halt. He was arrested and charged with defiant trespass and interfering with transportation.

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Selfishness. Something that besets us all, but I think we're going to see selfishness brought to a whole new level in our, selfishness and really hypocrisy in our text today.

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Acts chapter 4, beginning in verse 32. Verse 32.

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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.

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And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the

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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.

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And it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus, Joseph, who was also called by the apostles

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Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

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But a man named Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of property.

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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.

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But Peter said, Ananias, why has

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Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?

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While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?

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Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God.

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When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.

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The young men 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.

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And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she said, yes, for so much.

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And Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the

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Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out.

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Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead.

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When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

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And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.

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Now, just kind of bring us up to where we are in this book, book of Acts, the

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Acts of the Apostles. We could also call it the Acts of the Holy Spirit because the spotlight really turns to the

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Holy Spirit and his work in the church. Well, after the apostles healed the man born lame,

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Peter and John, when they'd gone to this prayer meeting at the temple, they were arrested in prison and put on trial before the

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Sanhedrin. And Luke tells us that the apostles were filled with the

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Holy Spirit, even while they were on trial. Peter shifts the ground of the trial and points out what the trial was really all about.

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It was about a good deed done by the power of Jesus Christ. They'd healed this man who had been born lame and lived that way for more than 40 years.

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And of course, even the Sanhedrin cannot punish them for doing a good deed. That would be very unpopular.

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So they're forced to release Peter and John, but not before giving them a warning, which is stop preaching about Jesus Christ and the resurrection.

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But that warning had to be disregarded. As Acts 4, 19 and 20 says, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.

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For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. The growth of the church, which began on Pentecost, continues.

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But persecution, the Sanhedrin begins to persecute the church.

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How would the church respond? What would God himself do to protect the church?

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And this morning we get some answers here. We have three illustrations of what the

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Holy Spirit is doing here to protect the church. First of all, the Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church.

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Secondly, the Holy Spirit sanctifies believers. And thirdly, the

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Holy Spirit purifies the church. So he brings unity and holiness to the church.

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He sanctifies believers and he purifies the church. First, the

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Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church. Look again at verse 32, and we see unity on display.

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Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. That's a good description of unity.

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How is it possible that a church of 5 ,000 or more could be so unified? We don't have to look back long, just looking at the context.

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Verse 31, And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the

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Holy Spirit, and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. The Holy Spirit was running freely among the believers there in Jerusalem.

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They were continuously speaking the word of God with boldness. If we just think about it this way, you know, if we could live kind of if there was a

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BBC compound, and we could just always be together, kind of like the camping trip that some of you like to go on.

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What would that be like? And you might think, well, it could get old. Maybe it would, maybe.

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But the psalmist wrote this in Psalm 133, he said, Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

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And there's truth in that. What's better than being among believers? You know, do you think, well,

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I'm glad the church is over. Now I get to go back into the world. I heard that snort.

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We don't think that way. Why? Because we like being with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Recently, there's been a lot of attention drawn to,

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I'm going to say it this way, an alleged revival in Kentucky on the campus of Asbury College.

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There are several reasons to be suspicious of the claims being made there.

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First of all, I'm just amazed when unbelievers are excited about a revival.

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That strikes me as curious. But when you start reading, you start researching some of this, some of these sessions were led by professing

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Christians who also, you know, I mean, you read some of the tweets, was led by people of color, okay, and how about homosexuals?

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That's problematic. If you're a professing Christian and you're a homosexual, and why would you make that, you know, that that's your identity?

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Yes, I'm a Christian, but I'm also a homosexual. I'm also on the, whatever, the scale of whatever they pretend to say about gender.

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Why would you do that? Why would you identify yourself in that way? It's because that, in your mind, that identifies you.

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Even as we saw in Luke, and as we're going to see this morning, what happens when holiness comes in contact with sinful man?

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It's more like Isaiah chapter 6, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, right?

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And Isaiah says, woe, woe is me, right?

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I'm undone. Peter says, get away from me. I'm a sinful man, not, you know, these are my sins,

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I'm going to list them. Isn't that good? Holiness versus sin, holiness wins every time.

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Nobody is going to stand before God and proclaim their sinfulness, you know, with joy and, you know, like that's their identity.

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Wrong. What brings unity? The truth brings unity.

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The spirit brings unity. Sin, and the practice of sin, that doesn't bring unity.

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It brings disunity. Truth proclaimed, truth believed in the spirit of truth, none of those things happened at Asbury College.

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I don't want to spend much more time on that, in fact, I won't, but let's consider a church that's commended for unity.

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Let's turn for a moment to Philippians chapter 1. In fact, I have a commentary on the book of Philippians, and the title is one word, and the word is unity.

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That's what the whole book is about. The whole letter. I'm just going to read verses 8 through 11 of Philippians chapter 1.

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Paul writing this church, commending them, you know, you have the book of Galatians where he blasts them in the opening chapter, but this is starkly different.

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Verse 8, for God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

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It's that desire to be with brothers and sisters in Christ. Verse 9, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more.

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What is the church of Jesus Christ to be known for? It's love. But look what he says.

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He doesn't just stop there. He's not talking about emotion. Look, he says, with knowledge and all discernment.

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What causes unity? Knowledge. Discernment. Yes, love, but it's the knowledge of the truth.

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A zeal for discerning truth from error. Verse 10, so that you may approve what is excellent.

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You look at things and you approve what is excellent, not what is base or sinful.

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And so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, for that judgment day.

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You're being purified by the word. Goes on, filled with the fruit of righteousness.

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The word working through you, through the Holy Spirit, bringing forth that fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

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That's what generates unity. That's a picture of unity is that church in Philippi.

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Let's go back to Acts, the point being that God unifies the church around truth, not emotion.

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The church in Jerusalem was of one heart and soul because the gospel was being proclaimed.

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Here are three markers of this Jerusalem church. First, selflessness, selflessness as opposed to selfishness.

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Verse 32, the second part of it, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

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Imagine a community in which no one said, use the word mine, and just kind of reached out and protected all their stuff.

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Talk about this all the time. Who teaches kids how to be selfish? You can go to the nursery on any Sunday morning and if there are two kids in there, there's going to be selfishness.

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Somebody's going to want something that somebody else has. That's just the nature of us as fallen creatures.

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We want stuff, but when everything is ours instead of mine, then things are distributed more effectively.

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We don't really worry about what's equitable or fair, but only what meets the needs of those in the church.

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Of course, in our sinful world, what happens to something that does not belong to us?

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In other words, let's say a good example. Are we concerned when we see a public bus go by and it has something scrawled on it, some graffiti, or we pass a public building and it's got something on it?

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Well, it might bother us a little bit, but how about if somebody tags your house? Somebody spray paints on your car.

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It's a little bit more personal. We care about things that are ours, that are mine.

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The willingness to put the needs of others before your own. That's the essence of agape love.

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That's the essence of love, period, right? We want to put the needs of others before our own, but we often struggle to do that.

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But in this church, in this group, they were able to do that because they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Second marker of this church, boldness. Boldness. Look at verse 33.

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With great power, power of the Holy Spirit, they were doing signs and wonders. The apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the

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Lord Jesus. The Sanhedrin said, don't do it. So they did it.

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Why? Because they needed to obey God. And great grace was upon them all.

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Inside the church, there was unity. Outside the church, there was evangelism. The resurrection that they were preaching about really is at the heart of the gospel.

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A faithful preacher must proclaim that Jesus alone can redeem. Being the only man who would ever obey the law perfectly, right?

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The second Adam. First Adam failed. He was told, do this and live, and he failed.

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Jesus did this. He perfectly obeyed everything that the Father commanded. A faithful preacher must proclaim that Jesus alone is

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God. He's fully man, and he's fully God. He's the only man who would ever obey, and he's deity.

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That he has always existed. That he's eternally begotten of the Father. A faithful preacher must proclaim that the substitutionary death of the

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Lord is the only means by which our sins can be forgiven.

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He, Jesus, voluntarily died on behalf of sinners. But a faithful preacher of the word must also preach the resurrection.

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Without the resurrection, Paul wrote that we are of all men to be most pitied. If Jesus is still in that grave, there's no hope for us.

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Why? Because our sins are not forgiven. The Sanhedrin hated the resurrection.

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Why? Because it showed how powerless they were. How hard -hearted they were.

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They were the ones who moved the crowd and got Jesus put to death. They wanted him put to death.

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And the idea that he's alive, that destroyed everything that they worked so hard to achieve.

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Third marker of this church, they were meeting the needs of the church.

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Look at verse 34. There was not a needy person among them. Not a needy person among them.

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5 ,000 people. How did they do that? Look again at the text.

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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.

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Donations. The pattern is sold, brought, offered.

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Right there in your text. Sold, brought, and then laid at the apostles' feet. Really, the picture is of an offering.

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They would bring it in and lay it at the apostles' feet. The idea is they're offering it to the Lord Jesus Christ. These offerings were not compelled.

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They were not commanded. They were voluntary. Let me ask you this.

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Have you ever had an unbeliever raise this passage and go, See? You Christians have it all wrong. You're supposed to sell all that you have.

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Get rid of your house. Sell it. Get rid of your land down there on the Cape. Sell it.

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Give it to the poor. That will get rid of the poor. That'll solve the problem. They try to convince you that this early church here in Jerusalem was some sort of Marxist utopia.

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After all, it was Karl Marx who said, From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

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And isn't that what they're doing here? The rich gave. The poor received.

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Perfect. There are a couple problems.

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One is, this is a narrative. This is description, not prescription.

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This is not a command. The big problem, of course, is human nature.

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We don't like to do this. This is a special work of the Holy Spirit. But we think of this principle here of giving to others.

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Of considering others is more important than ourselves. Jesus said this. He said,

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Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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Why did Jesus command that? Because it's hard. It goes against our natural inclination.

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We want to pile up stuff. Without it, what would we do with those hoarder shows?

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We'd have nothing. There would be none of those things. But these believers, filled with the

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Holy Spirit, are not greedy. They're thinking of others first. It's reminiscent of Galatians 5, the fruit of the

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Spirit, right? What does the Holy Spirit produce in believers?

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You just listen. It sounds like this Jerusalem church. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.

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I don't need this. You take it. Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

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I have enough. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

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If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, listen, envying one another.

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I don't care what other people have. I have all that the Lord has blessed me with.

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That's enough for me. And look at how they were distributing things.

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Verse 35. And it was distributed to each as any had need.

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That's how the church was fulfilling, really, the Old Testament concept. Deuteronomy 15, 4.

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But there will be no poor among you. How are they going to avoid having any poor? By the generosity of the rich, the sacrifices of others.

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So, we've seen our first act of the Holy Spirit in this church.

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The Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church. Second act of the

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Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sanctifies believers. Specifically, we're given a specific illustration here of Barnabas.

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I keep wanting to call him Barnaby. I don't know why. Barnaby Jones or some old

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TV show that I never even watched. Barnabas. Look at verse 36.

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Thus, Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas. You know why a lot of these guys get nicknames?

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Because they would use the same first names over and over and over again. You could only have so many Josephs, so many

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Judes, you know, etc. And eventually, you have to go, okay, let's call this guy. But look at this.

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Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. A Levite and native of Cyprus.

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Sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. So, who's

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Barnabas? Just briefly. Who's someone, because of his behavior, because of his affect.

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Maybe just the way he smiled. You know, every time I read this, I'm just reminded, you know,

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I hate to just name people, but it just made me think. I was just thinking of Spencer Canard the whole time. I'm just like, just sounds like Spencer.

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He's just such an encouragement. That's the idea. Forget about Spencer for a minute. But the idea is he's just such an encouragement to the apostles that they're just like, you know, we can separate this

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Joseph from all the other Josephs. Let's just call him son of encouragement. By the way, I was reading about Barnabas.

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Here's what they can't figure out. And some of you experts in Greek and Aramaic and all that will understand this.

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Bar means son of. But no matter what they do with the rest of the word, they can't figure out how they get encouragement out of that.

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So, it's some kind of nickname that just sort of, Luke knows and he's the associate of the apostles.

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So, we will just go with that. That's his name. He's the son of encouragement. What a name.

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Like others in the book of Acts, he kind of gets introduced in a pretty casual, almost nondescript kind of way.

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I mean, Luke, who's writing this, could have used any number of examples.

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Barnabas, Joseph here, isn't the only one to do this. But he focuses on Barnabas.

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Why? Because Barnabas is going to become a significant character later. This is how you write a book, right?

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You start out and you think, how am I going to introduce characters? And he does this a lot. We're going to see this with Saul, where Saul is just basically hanging on to the coat, right?

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When Stephen gets stoned to death. And then Saul becomes a character in the story.

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He introduces him in a kind of an incidental way and then develops him later on.

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Barnabas is a Jew who was born on the island of Cyprus, which is off.

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I mean, it's interesting to me that Greece and Turkey used to fight over this island because it's off the shore, basically, of Turkey.

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And then Syria are the two closest countries to it. And Greece is just kind of trying to Bogart in there.

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That's historical there. But he is kind of the servant and just the encourager par excellence.

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And look what he does. If you look back at the text, verse 37, I underline these words here, sold, brought, and laid it, right?

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He sold the land, he brought the money, and he laid it at the... In other words, he made an offering of it.

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Following that model. So why did the church do this?

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Why did they follow this model? And note again, it wasn't commanded. This is just what they were voluntarily doing.

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James 2, verses 14 and 17. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

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Can that faith save him? And the answer, of course, is no. Faith takes action.

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If a brother or sister is poorly clothed, then lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warm and be filled without giving them the things for needed for the body.

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What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.

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So what the church in Acts, in Jerusalem here is doing, they're actually doing what faith says.

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I see somebody in need, I'm going to meet that need. Galatians 6, verse 10.

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So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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Barnabas did exactly that. The Holy Spirit brings unity and holiness to the church. Secondly, the

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Holy Spirit sanctifies believers. Barnabas was acting on a whole other plane than most of us would.

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Very sacrificial. Because he understands these things are temporary. He's thinking about eternal things.

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He's thinking about the welfare of others. And thirdly, the

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Holy Spirit purifies the church. And we have kind of the, if Barnabas is the good example, the example of things done well, well,

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Ananias and Sapphira are the example of what happens when you don't do things well.

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Verse 1, But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property.

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So far, so good. Sold. Then what are they supposed to do? Brought, right?

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And then they're going to offer, right? Well, yeah, sort of.

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I want to just draw your attention to the first word in the Greek there, or first word in the English, but be the second word in the

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Greek. We see that and we think, well, that's a contrast.

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We have Barnabas. And now we're going to see Ananias. And normally that word, but can be a real slight contrast.

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In this case, it's a lot more of a contrast than the word in and of itself would identify.

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Because it all goes south right after the sold part. Look at verse 2. 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.

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Now, this is a bit of a conspiracy. As a police officer, I used to like conspiracies because it made for an easy felony arrest.

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You know, sometimes like you have to like felony arrests. What two people do, what they agree to do could be like small potatoes.

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They could agree to go in and steal ding -dongs out of the store. But if they agreed beforehand to do that, that's a conspiracy, which made it a felony.

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So you're like, of course, they'd never get charged with that, you know, but my stat sheet showed two felony arrests and that's all that counts.

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And that's what this is. This is a conspiracy. Ananias and Sapphira. Look, his wife's knowledge.

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They talked about this. They sold this property with an eye toward gaining approval for what they were really not doing.

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They wanted to make it appear like they were better than they were. I don't know about you, but I have a little bit of a legalistic background.

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You know, you could go to church on Sunday in the Mormon church and look great, leaving aside what you did

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Monday through Saturday. Listen to just Paul writing in 2

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Corinthians 9, 7, talking about giving. And this isn't a sermon about giving, but just think about this, about what this says.

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Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

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Then think about Ananias and Sapphira. Were they cheerful givers? They didn't really want to do this, but they felt like they should do something.

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Why? Because a lot of other people were. And they had something.

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They had something they could give. So instead of giving all of the proceeds from the sale, they were going to keep some and give the rest, because they wanted the appearance of being sacrificial.

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This was a spiritual fraud that they were trying to perpetrate. So here comes

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Ananias just kind of sauntering in to see Peter. I like to use the word saunter because Pastor Mike always says saunter.

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They're just going to saunter in. So Ananias saunters in. He expects exactly what

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Barnabas and others had probably gotten. They walk in, everybody's like, oh, here comes somebody who sold some property.

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And look, they're going to give this offering and lay it at the apostles' feet. People are probably,

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I don't know, maybe they were really dopey and applauded. I don't know what they did, but whatever the normal was, it got interrupted.

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So here's what Peter did. Verse three, but Peter said, Ananias, why has

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Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?

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It's like the whole spotlight, everything just stopped, and the spotlight came right on Ananias.

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What do you think he was thinking right then? I mean, his heart rate probably went from a nice 75, 80 to about 180.

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Panic. The idea of being caught had never occurred to Ananias.

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Why? Because only two people knew. Just Ananias and Sapphira. It's our little secrets.

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We'll look good. Everybody will think we're just like Barnabas. And he walks in and Peter uncovers him.

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Well, Peter does blame Satan here, but not in a way that excuses Ananias.

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Ananias had done what's at the root of every sin. Mark this down. What is it that motivates sin?

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And you could say it's sinful nature. It's all these kind of things, but ultimately it's disbelieving God. Go back to the garden.

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What happened? Here comes Satan. Adam, Eve, it's

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Eve ultimately. God's wrong. This is just me summarizing it.

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God's wrong. Okay. God's wrong. That's what happens here.

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Satan had convinced Ananias that he could put one over on the apostles. It's just Peter.

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It's just those dopey guys in there. Just go in there and act like everything's cool. Like you know what you're doing.

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You'll just be like everybody else. By the way, that verb translated to keep back has a connotation of theft.

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One dictionary listed this way, a type of skimming operation. And when you think about it, that's exactly what he was doing.

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The same verb is used in the Septuagint of Achan when he keeps what is supposed to be devoted to the

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Lord. He keeps a portion of that. So that's the idea. The scam was to pledge the full value of the sale of this land to the work of the

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Lord. Then skim some off the top because nobody would know. But this isn't just to Peter that this is happening.

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Peter doesn't say, You lied to me. How could you do that? Instead, he said, You've lied to the

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Holy Spirit. Verse four. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?

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And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? In other words, at any point you could have stopped this.

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You could have just said, You know, after further consideration, instead of the hundred K, we can only afford to give 50

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K, whatever it was. Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?

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You have not lied to man. It's not just me, but to God. Holy Spirit is

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God. It's all voluntary. You didn't have to do this.

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But the finger of blame is clearly pointed at Ananias. You did this.

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Verse five. When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard it.

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So how did Ananias die? We don't know. But certainly

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God determined that he was going to die. It certainly was God who executed this punishment.

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It's a stark reminder of how seriously God views sin. Instant judgment. This is what every sin deserves.

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And we sometimes just gloss over that. Yes, I'm a sinner. Well, every sin deserves this kind of judgment.

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Great fear. The word went out that if you say you're going to give, if you say you're going to sell that property in Pensacola and give the proceeds to the church, you better make it happen.

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Don't try to make yourself look better than you are. Hebrews 10 31 is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

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God. That's what happened that day. Ananias had no advocate that day.

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He had no idea that the living God was with Peter until it was too late. Now, some people are going to say, was

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Ananias a believer? I don't know. He obviously was a professing believer. He wouldn't have been in the church.

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Is he in heaven? I don't know. Text doesn't tell us. That's really not the point here.

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The point is the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse six. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

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After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened.

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These young men had gone out, buried Ananias, and there was nobody around to run and tell

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Sapphira. Probably nobody interested in doing that anyway. Everybody was like, I'm not going to mess with the

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Holy Spirit. But the situation with Sapphira is a little bit different.

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Imagine you're her. You and Ananias have agreed, for the sake of your reputations, to appear to be generous.

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Whatever the reason, you're going to keep just a portion of what you've agreed to donate. Again, the portion isn't the issue.

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Could be 2%. Could be 80%. I don't know. But among themselves, they're just thinking, nothing can go wrong.

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Nobody knows. It's our little secrets. She's at home.

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She starts thinking, what's taking Ananias so long? This is no big deal. You just walk in, you drop it off, you know, you come back, and I don't know, maybe he stopped by the bank or the cleaners.

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After a while, she starts thinking something's wrong. So what do you do?

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If you're Sapphira, you start thinking, well, I'm going to retrace his steps. And eventually, at some point during your thinking, you go, well,

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I'm just going to go and see if, you know, there's some kind of, maybe he did other things first, then went and saw

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Peter. Who knows? I'll just start there. Or I'll go there. Maybe you're not as casual.

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I mean, I think Ananias just kind of strolled in there. I don't know if she strolled in.

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I don't think she's got that much confidence. Not now. Not after three hours. But, Peter asked her in verse eight,

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Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. Again, the amount is not the point.

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So Luke doesn't even record the amount. And she said, yes, for so much agreeing with what he said.

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You know, you read that and you just go, Sapphira, Sapphira, Sapphira. The officer wouldn't have asked you if he didn't know the answer.

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And you just lied. Bad move. You know, it's like you're watching one of those shows.

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You just go, don't lie. Don't lie. But Peter said to her, verse nine, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the

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Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out.

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Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

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She was as guilty as Ananias was. He didn't say,

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Peter didn't say, you know what, your head, the man responsible for the decision making in the home decided this, so you're free to go.

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They were both guilty. Ananias and Sapphira had conspired together to see if they could pull this off.

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They were confident they could. That morning, it started with them in agreement and the day ended with them buried together.

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What's the result? Verse 11, and great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.

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Today, when we see people just trifling with the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and ordering him about or throwing him around, you think of this passage and you just think, you people don't understand the spirit of God at all.

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He is fully God. He's fully divine. He's as much God as the

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Father or the Son. No difference. And also notice that the grace of God, which was abounding here, the grace of God in this church is not a license to sin.

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If it were, Ananias and Sapphira would not have been struck down. After all, they were just following their own hearts.

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They were just following the desires of their hearts. The grace of God is a license.

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If I could put it this way, what does the grace of God enable us to do? Give us license to do?

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To obey, to please God, not to disobey, not to try to make ourselves look good.

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They knew the gospel. They'd heard the gospel. They professed to believe in Jesus Christ.

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They professed to believe in his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his soon return.

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They believed all these things they said, and then they lied to the Holy Spirit. Let's pray.

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Father, we thank you for this difficult passage, even as we struggle with all the issues surrounding it, trying to figure out, were they really believers?

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Did they just have some bad ideas and go astray?

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We don't know. Here's what we do know. It's clear here that the

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Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, not so that we could sin some more, but so that we could die to ourselves and live for your glory.

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Help us increase our holiness.

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Our desire to obey, even the training of our consciences by the reading of your word, that we might not sin against you, and that we might never be so presumptuous as to think we can, as it were, fool you.

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Father, we sin in many ways, and we thank you that the Lord Jesus Christ, his one -time offering for sin is sufficient for all of our sins.