Acts Chapter 5:1-10

It wasn't that Ananias didn't sell the land. It wasn't that he kept back a portion after he had sold the land. The problem is that Ananias misrepresented what he had done.

He had misrepresented or lied in what he had presented. And notice what Peter says. He says, why has Satan filled your heart? And guys, we do have a spiritual enemy.

It's a very real thing. If you believe in God, if you believe in Jesus, then Jesus spoke that we have a very real spiritual enemy. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. One of the pressing issues is how to avoid hypocrisy.

And sometimes that happens in a church setting. Well, today we have in the studio D.A. Brown, who is one of David McGee's associate pastors.

And D.A., give us some ideas on this. Well, Bob, one of the things that could create hypocrisy in our life is us not being real with God, nor allowing God to be real with us. Today, if we'll just sit back and listen, allow Pastor David to teach directly from the Word of God, and allow God to speak to us through the teaching, this could radically change everyone's life.

Sounds good. And so here's David McGee with his teaching, Ananias and Sapphira. So we're in Acts, chapter 5, verse 1. And just as a point of review, we've got the early church being birthed, a lot of glorious things happening. We were introduced last chapter to Barnabas, the son of encouragement.

We talked about encouraging one another last week. And we see that Barnabas, in a very sacrificial act, sold his land and gave all the money to the apostles. Note verse 37 of the previous chapter closes and says, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

So let's open up with Acts, chapter 5, verse 1. And a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?

Now, I want you to notice something. It wasn't that Ananias didn't sell the land. It wasn't that he kept back a portion after he had sold the land. The problem is that Ananias misrepresented what he had done.

He had misrepresented or lied in what he had presented. And notice what Peter says. He says, why has Satan filled your heart? And guys, we do have a spiritual enemy.

It's a very real thing. If you believe in God, if you believe in Jesus, then Jesus spoke that we have a very real spiritual enemy. Somebody that wants us to fall, to fail, somebody that wants us to give up. Somebody wants us to give up.

Why did I include that in? Because in Proverbs it says a righteous man, though he fall, will get up seven times. So it's not just the stumbling. Everybody's going to stumble.

Everybody's going to fail at some point. It's the giving up and that discouragement that the enemy will come to you with. I thought, you know, Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies, I thought that was a very impactful thing. You know, because Darth Vader would always come up to Luke and go, you know, give in to the dark side, give in to your anger, give in to your fear and give up and join our side.

That was very effective. That's probably closer to the truth and we're comfortable with now. And let me say this while I enjoyed the message of redemption that Darth Vader ended up on the good side. That's not what happens in the end of the book. Okay. So we need to be clear on that. Oh, he's going to, the devil's going to get saved.

No, he's not. Notice something too. There was an attack going on outside of the church. But notice where this attack is coming from. It's not coming from outside the church. It's coming from inside the church. The life lesson here off the bat, our enemy usually attacks the church from within it. Our enemy usually attacks the church from within it. It was one thing for the early church to kind of stand up to the Sanhedrin, this council that was standing against them and throwing them in jail and beating them up and all these things. It was a much more sinister thing that one of the people here took it upon themselves to lie.

Now here's the thing. As believers, I think we can be, we can be very vigilant, maybe even too vigilant about attacks coming from outside the church, but we should maintain the same vigilance towards the inside attacks. You know, while we'll sit and watch the news and go, oh, you know, that's bad.

The world, look how evil the world is. What's really no surprise. But what we maintain that same village vigilance as we listen to somebody complain about leadership or complain about the church or complain about the pastor, we need to be as vigilant and those attacks. Now again, notice the phrasing verse 37 and laid it at the apostles feet. It's interesting because look at verse two of chapter five and laid it at the apostles feet. I think Ananias and Sapphira, I think Ananias saw what Barnabas did and thought, oh, I want to do that. I want to do that. Very likely God had not told him to do that or there would have been a freedom to do it.

He would have, I think he would have followed through, but he saw Barnabas and said, oh, I want to do that. Listen, family, loved ones, be careful of that. Be careful. Look at some other person and think, oh, I want to do that. Oh, I want to do that. No, God, I don't want you to use me in this way. I want you to use me in that way. Be careful because that's where a lot of trouble starts.

You know, at this point, it's interesting every now and again, somebody will think that they, you know, they want my job and they don't really know what it is I do or. And that's a dangerous thing. That's a dangerous thing.

Why? Because to look at somebody else's ministry or look at somebody else's life and go, oh, I want to do that. Well, number one, you're breeding discontent and you're really inviting disaster. And it's a pitfall.

It's a pitfall that you can fall in that's hard to get out. And part of this pitfall, too, in serving the Lord and maybe Ananias was serving the Lord. We're not really told a lot about him, but perhaps he was serving the Lord. See, here's the thing.

I think and this is kind of it's a theory, so label this under conjecture. I think that when Barnabas did this, a lot of people were like, oh, Barnabas, man, way to go. What a blessing.

Yeah, we heard you sold this land and man, what an awesome thing. And then I thought, I want some of that. I want people to thank me. I want them to appreciate me.

That's a dangerous thing for a Christian. Now, we should be appreciative of the people like the people that serve here. People show up early and clean up the church and, you know, make the coffee and all these different things. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate it. But these people aren't here for me to say thank you to, although I try to do that on a regular basis, even right now. Thank you. Thank you.

If you're doing that, but they're not doing it waiting on my thank you. And if they are, then their motivation is wrong. If you step out to serve God thinking people are going to appreciate you and you're going to get lots of warm, fuzzy stuff.

Let me enlighten you. It'll happen every now and again, but you can't live on that. You can't. Guys, if I was living for the thank yous, I'd have quit a long time ago. Now, I so appreciate people that send emails and send cards.

It seems like I've gotten a lot lately and I don't know because I need more encouragement or what, but I really appreciate that. But I can't survive on that. I'm getting real, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. I'm not going to serve God anymore. Oh, there's a thank you card.

I'll do it for a little bit longer. No, I mean, I can't. You can't.

You can't do that. See what Peter says in verse four. While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your control?

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You've not lied to men, but to God. So Peter's saying, no, it was your land.

You could have done what you wanted to with your land. It was in your possession. But notice he says you have not lied to men, but to God. So the Holy Spirit is called God here. In the previous verse, it says lie to the Holy Spirit, and verse four it says lie to God. So we can see, not through rocket science, just plain logic, we can see that the Holy Spirit is described as God.

The Holy Spirit has divine attributes. He, not it. Not it. The Holy Spirit's not a it. It's a he. It's never referred to as an it in Scripture. It's never a good thing when somebody refers to you as an it, right? It's usually a bad thing.

Okay? We refer the Holy Spirit as he. As he. Now, he has such God-like attributes as, number one, all power. Because in Luke, chapter one, verse 35, it says, the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren, for with God nothing will be impossible. So it says this happened to the Holy Spirit, and then it says, with God nothing is impossible, attributing impossible things to the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is everywhere. Psalm 139, verse 7 says, where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. The Holy Spirit is everywhere, or omnipresent is the theological term we use. And the Holy Spirit has all knowledge. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 10 and 11 says, But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. And then we have that the Spirit is eternal. Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 14, says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Through the eternal Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is God. It's part of the doctrine of what we call the Trinity. Now, I know some have said, well, Trinity's not in the Bible. Well, that word particular is not in the Bible, but neither are cars, and we drive them, right?

So there's certain words that describe certain things. And we see a beautiful illustration of the Trinity at the baptism of Jesus. John baptizes Jesus. The Spirit descends like a dove. And then there's a voice from heaven, the Father saying, Behold my son in whom I am well pleased. So we see the Trinity.

So what? Is God schizophrenic? Or are we a polytheist? We believe in more one God?

Or what is the deal? We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons is what we believe. Now, how can you say that you believe in one God, but is eternally existing in three persons? Because one plus one plus one equals three.

How can you say that? Sounds like you believe in three gods. Well, we believe in one God represented in those three persons or personalities, if you will. And we look at things like water.

You may have heard that analogy. You know, water takes three forms. It's water as a liquid. When you turn it to ice, it's a solid.

Or if you heat it to the point that it's steam, it's now a vapor. It's the same thing expressed in three different ways. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, guys, we want to take just a minute to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically Ashland, Oregon, and Baker City, Brookings, Canyonville, Cave Junction, Cloverdale, and Colton. Lord, we thank you for these cities and everyone listening. Lord, we pray that you would pour out your Spirit on these broadcast audiences. Father, we pray that pastors would have wisdom in these cities on how to love their communities. Lord, I pray that people would put their trust in you.

God, I pray that you would give the governmental leaders wisdom and discernment, that you would protect these cities, Father, that there would be peace in these cities. And, Lord, that your Word would be high and lifted up. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 5, Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last.

So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. Now, understand, Peter didn't do this. Peter did not do this. I think Peter, at this point, was as surprised as anybody. I think Peter said, you know, what you're doing is bad.

This is not good. I mean, there was, you know, perhaps some sense of foreboding or ooh, you know. And he said, look, yeah, you did a bad thing, but I think he was really shocked when Ananias fell over dead. So this is something that God did. We're going to talk about this. This is a difficult passage, but understand, we don't have all the details here.

I mean, this is obviously something that's in-depth. There's more to the story, but we have about 11 verses that we can look at and we can learn from and we can glean from. And, you know, I wondered as I was studying this passage, did Ananias have previous warnings? I bet you he did.

I bet you he did. I look back on my life and some of the, you know, really stupid things that blew up in my face. You know, there was that feeling right before you did it, you know, and perhaps you can connect with this. You know, right before you did it, you thought, boy, I really probably shouldn't do this, you know. But then you did it anyway and then bad things happened. Maybe it's never happened with you.

Sympathize with me, if you will, for a moment. You know, there is that thing. I think Ananias probably had that, but he proceeded anyway. Can you imagine if God acted like this every time we did this?

I mean, Ananias said, hey, I gave all and he didn't give all. People would be dropping like flies in here, man. I mean, think about it. Every time we surrender, you know, we sing that song, I surrender.

I surrender. You know, people would be falling over because God would be going, no, you didn't. Praise God, he doesn't. Praise God, he doesn't. See, this is the thing.

Again, it's not that he didn't give the land, it's that he lied. And that's what we're going to be looking about, looking at. And maybe you're looking at just going, wow, this is really cold of God. This is really cruel.

No, no, no, no, no. Wait a minute. Let's read verse six. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out and buried him. You needed to be buried within 24 hours. It's true to this day in Judaism that you need to be buried in 24 hours unless there's some sort of exception if you're going to be buried at the Mount of Olives because they've got to get your body over there and so they will let you be buried in more than 24 hours. So they buried him right away.

But see, here's the thing, guys. Your life was given to you. It was given to you.

You didn't go out and earn your life. You were given your life. Who was your life given to you by? By God. By God.

Yes, he used your mom and your dad. But it was God who was responsible for that miracle of birth. Our life lesson here, our life is on loan from God. Our life is on loan from God. We act like our life is our own. Well, it's my life.

Well, no, it's not really. I mean, did you go get your life at Wal-Mart or Target or Best Buy or something? No, it was a gift. A gift from who? A gift from God.

See, and this is important to understand. You don't own your life. You're a steward of it. You're a steward of your life. And at some point, you stand before God and you give an account. You give an account of the things you did and the things you didn't do. Well, Pastor David, that's if you're not saved.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Scripture is very clear. Everybody does this. Everybody stands before God and gives account for their life. So it's important to understand this concept of stewardship, that you are a steward of your life. Your life is on loan.

I mean, look at it. You're walking on His earth. You're breathing His air. You're living off of plants He invented.

He controls your heartbeat, your breathing, all those things. Your life is indeed on loan. Verse 7, now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. She said yes for so much. Man, if there's any time a wife could say, you really should have told me, this is one of those times.

But he didn't have the opportunity, did he? She takes part to verse 9. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So while I don't think Peter knew what was going to happen to Ananias, we see that he did know what was going to happen to Sapphira, and he actually told her, you're going to fall down dead in just a moment here. Man, this is a very intense passage, a very intense passage. What was going on? Well, one thing that was going on was God was purifying the church.

He was purifying the church. And again, we can't stand off as spectators and say, well, God, you really shouldn't have done that to Ananias and Sapphira. We don't know all the details. We didn't create Ananias and Sapphira. Their lives were not on loan from us. They were on loan from God. God is God. And God sometimes purifies the work. God does that. God does that here. Do you realize that? God does that here. You know, not like in this fashion. Somebody's going, ooh, I didn't hear about that. That wasn't on the website.

I think visitors would drop, drop, way, way down. No, no, they're not going to that church, are they? But God does purify the work occasionally.

Let me be honest. Occasionally, I will look at somebody and I will say to them, you know what? I think you ought to go to church somewhere else.

I do that. Now, you may think, well, pastor, that's wrong. If you do that, the church won't grow.

Well, I've been doing that since we started the fellowship. See, because there are some people in different situations. You know, I've had people that run around being really divisive. And I've said, look, you can't do that.

You can't keep doing that. And then they keep doing that. And then I sit with them and go, you should go to church somewhere else. Because, see, at that moment, what they've shown me is I'm not their pastor. They may go to church here, but I'm not their pastor.

If I'm not their pastor, they shouldn't go to church here. And so we see that God purifies the work. God does that. Now, it says, breathed her last.

Breathed her last. This is interesting. Do you understand? Life is fragile. We don't treat it like it's fragile, but let me promise you it is. It is fragile. And one thing that I've seen as a pastor is how fragile it is. Because, you know, whether you're in the hospital and watching a woman in her 60s or 70s dying of cancer, trying to breathe, or you're performing the funeral of a 21-year-old that died from a drug overdose. And what I do, I realize that life is fragile, but we don't think it is.

We don't treat it like it's fragile. See, in your breath, do you realize your breath is a gift from God? The fact that you breathe is a gift from God.

That breath that you just took is a gift from God. It's interesting, when you start to study the body, there's two muscle groups. There's the involuntary and there's the voluntary. The voluntary are the muscles that you control. In other words, you know, I'd say, well, you know, my brain says to my hand, hand, I want you to wave out over people.

And my hand hopefully, you know, obeys and does like that, right? That's a voluntary muscle. The involuntary muscles, your liver, your kidneys, your heart, your lungs, you don't control those.

They're called involuntary muscles. The breath you just took, you took it without thinking about it. Your heart beating right now is beating without you thinking about it. Who's in control of that?

Oh, it just happens. No, God's in control of that. God is in control of the important things. And if you can trust him with your heartbeat and you can trust him with your lungs, guess what?

You can trust him with everything else. That's interesting that God set it up like that. See, because you think about it in spiritual terms and guess what? God is responsible for our salvation. We're just responsible for accepting it, either accepting or rejecting. And once you accept it, it is a work of God.

There's nothing you can do to add to it. So the important thing spiritually is something again that God has done. And he's done it for our benefit because we couldn't save ourselves any more than you can make your heart beat.

And this whole breath thing. You remember that God breathed life into Adam. He gave Adam his breath the same way he gives you your breath. And with every breath that we take, we recognize that we have been given our life from God. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

And congratulations, friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge. Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God, with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free, so folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.