R543 A Sad Story

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. That's just part of today's message from Dr. Don Wilton here on The Encouraging Word. Would you take your Bibles with me please and turn to the book of Acts, the book of Acts in chapter 4. Now before I read this morning, I want to say to you that, listen my friend, God is using you and I want to commend you today to the Lord Jesus Christ and I want to express my gratitude to you. Well done. God bless you. You're making a difference.

Keep on, keep on striving, keep on pressing ahead. Now, when we get here into the book of Acts this morning, I want to ask a question. You know I'm full of questions, but I'm going to ask this question anyway. Have you ever been on a picnic with your family and with a group of people and everybody's having the best time? You're having so much fun you can hardly stand yourself accepting for one person who's with you. I mean everybody's having a ball. They're all eating up a storm, playing ball, running around enjoying themselves and you look over here on the one side and there he or she is, look like they're recovering from hookworm treatment. Have you ever been around a Christmas tree when everybody's opening gifts and everybody's having a wonderful time and it's just such a happy time and you look over here and one person is not having a good time?

For good reason or for not so good reason? I want to ask a question today. Are you ready for this? I want to make a statement and by so doing I want to ask a question. God is moving.

There's no question about it. God's moving in this church. You can feel the presence of the Lord. You can see God moving.

Bible studies, discipleship groups, the youth ministries, college ministries, senior adult singles, our education ministries, preschool. God's moving. It's just incredible what God is doing. More and more people coming to know Jesus Christ. There is a spirit in this congregation, my friend, that is unprecedented. God is doing something. Now I want you to listen. Is it possible that there may be someone in this congregation who is missing this blessing?

Do you think it's possible that in the midst of all of this going on, is it possible that there is someone who is missing this blessing? I want to speak to you today from the Word of God and I want to speak to you about a sad story. I'm going to confess something.

I think my wife will tell you this. I know the ministers will tell you this morning. I have done everything I can not to preach on this passage. I said, now look, I'm just going to leapfrog right over chapter 5 in the book of Acts. I don't want to talk about Ananias and Zephira. I've said, Lord, come on now.

God's moving in our church. I don't want to talk about something so sad, something so pitiful. I don't want to talk about two people who are disobedient to the Lord.

I don't want to talk about the consequences of their sin. Lord, come on now. Do something for me. Rescue me. Deliver me from this and God just keeps coming back. In a sense, God has been saying to my heart, listen, pastor, I know that I'm moving at First Baptist Church. I know that people are pleasing me today, but are you trying to tell me that you know the heart of every single person there? Well, no, Lord, I wish I did, but well, excuse me, preacher, didn't I tell you that man has the capacity only to look on the outward appearance? It's only God who looks upon the heart.

I want to speak to you this morning about a very sad story, but let's read about it first. I'm going to begin in chapter four and verse 32. I believe verse 32 through 38 of chapter four through verse 37 talks about what is going on in this church and in many churches today. Bible says that all believers were one in heart and mind.

Folks, listen to me, watch me. You do not get a church vote so overwhelmingly to do what this church is about to do if the congregation is not of one heart and mind. You do not see 71 people come to know Christ on Tuesday night if the church is not of one heart and mind. You do not see a congregation break out into spontaneous applause when people come to know Christ if the church is not of one heart and one mind.

It will not happen. If we were not of one heart and one mind, it wouldn't matter if we had 100 people give their lives to Christ. This congregation will sit there looking like they recovered from hookworm treatment. We would be fussing about chandeliers and colors of carpets. We would be going to business meetings and turning them into war zones.

People would be getting bent out of shape over the smallest thing. People would be trying to establish power struggles within the congregation. The Bible here says all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Look what happened. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's the main thing, keeping the main thing. Do you see that? And much grace, I love this, much grace was upon them all.

Folks here, watch this. You know what I pray today? I pray that the grace of God would be upon us all, moms and dads, oldest to youngest. There were no needy persons among them. From time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, also did the same thing. He went and sold a field. He owned and brought the money and he put it at the apostles' feet. And then chapter five and verse one begins with the word, but, or now. But all of a sudden there's a contrast. In the midst of all of this, there was a couple by the name of Ananias and Sapphira.

And I'm going to show you something interesting because it's a very sad story. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife, Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. They did what everybody else apparently was doing. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Evidently they went and did what everybody else had done, sold their property for $1,000. God had put in their hearts that that $1,000 was to go to the Lord's work. Ananias and Sapphira got together and said, now we know we got $1,000, here's what we're going to do. We're going to masquerade.

We're going to pretend that we're doing what everybody else is doing. We're going to give God $500 and we're going to keep the rest for ourselves. Well, look what happened. Verse 3, then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?

What made you think of doing such a thing? You've not lied to men, but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died and great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, carried him out and buried him.

About three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened to her husband. Peter asked her, tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? Yes, she said.

That is the price. Peter said to her, how could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door.

They will carry you out also. At that very moment, she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And here's the bottom line, great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. What a sad story.

I want to share some things with you this morning. Number one, that I believe that this story is about the faithfulness of many, many people. Some people look at the story of Ananias and they say, oh my, look what happened to Ananias and Sapphira.

I genuinely believe in my heart that this story is not about Ananias and Sapphira. This story is about the incredible faithfulness of so many of God's people. That's why I read that part in context from verse 32 of chapter four. It's in that context, what God was saying here, God was saying, look at what God's people are engaged in doing. Look at the blessings.

Look at what's going on. Look at how God's people are serving me. And then as it were, God says to me, he says, I want you to know pastor that in the midst of all these things, that it is possible that there could be someone who's missing this blessing and you need to pray for them and you need to love them and you need to encourage them and you need to pray that God would get a hold of their hearts before it's too late. You don't want to miss the blessing.

You don't want to be out on a limb. You know, I'm sure every family goes through this. I'm every family. You plan and you go off on vacation and you spend money and you purchase this and you buy that and you do all the other kinds of things and you get there and one family member is all out of whack with everything else.

It's kind of, you say, now get a life here. What is the matter with you? You know, you look around at the blessings of God. You look around at this church and you look around at our homes and you see what's going on. I tell you, that's what concerns me, folks.

Whenever I see big massive issues come up, when I see people begin to argue and fuss and fight and feud and sometimes it's just a little thing that starts out there, some little issue of discontentment, but never let that spoil what God is doing in the overall picture. I tell you what a blessing. I'm going to make a statement this morning. I'm going to make a statement here, Steve, just like that.

Boom. Do you know something folks? I do not know of anybody in this church who's out of sorts right now. I don't know of anybody. I'm not saying that to impress anybody. What a statement for a pastor to make in a congregation that is right on 6,000 people.

I do not know, and I'm going to make this announcement today on television with over 200,000 people. I'm going to tell you that at First Baptist Church today, God is on the move. This pastor, I do not know of any individual or group of people who are out of sorts and who are upset and who are trying to do their own thing and who are motivated by power struggles and all the other things. I do not know that, but I am going to say to you that man looks on the outward appearance.

God looks on the heart. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton. Don't go away. He'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment, but if you haven't been, that's tomorrow's message here on The Encouraging Word. Between now and then, let's stay connected on our website, tewonline.org. Before we get away, closing thoughts from Dr. Don Wilton, our chief encourager here on The Encouraging Word. You know, I'd love to be a part of your daily devotional, love to be able to send you The Encouraging Word daily devotional and be a part of what God says to each one of us through His Word every day. You can become part of that and receive one yourself from me.

Just go online to tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org and get your copy of The Encouraging Word Bible Devotion today. We're talking about a spiritual matter here. I want to say to you, this story is about the faithfulness of many people.

I wish that God could let me just stop right there. I'd like to just preach about the faithfulness of God's people. I'd like to just commend, listen, I'm a positive person. I don't like talking about negative stuff, but there's a second thing about this story. This story is about two people who were not.

That's what this sad story is about. God, for some reason, pulls out Ananias and Sapphira. In the midst of all of this, verse 32, all the believers were one in heart and mind. God is moving, but Ananias and Sapphira.

I wonder if I could just walk out this so. Just come down here just for a little bit and walk up here and find out, is there anybody here, is there anybody in church today? I mean, is there anybody here today in God's house who is missing a blessing? Is there anybody here today hiding? Is there anybody here today who is so deeply hurt or somebody today who's got an ax to grind or somebody today in a church like this, is there, excuse me, is there a teenager here today that's running from God? You're missing this.

Maybe you're about to become a senior and you're just missing all the blessings. Youth choir tour comes up, man, you're not going to go on that. Spring retreat comes, man, you're not going to go on that. Who wants Kentucky? Oh, who wants to do that?

Oh, man, I don't want to do that. It's like dragging you kicking and screaming to do anything with the church. I mean, you're here because you have to be here and you just, is it possible? I mean, is there anybody here who's missing a blessing? Is there someone in the choir today and you sing, you hear, you're doing it all, people can see you, but you're missing the blessing.

I was just wondering. I want to tell you something, my friend, you are precious and you are not lost in the crowd and you are not irrelevant. You are very important and we love you with all of our hearts and we, we want you to have and to be the absolute best. We want you to be complete and fulfilled. Well, the story is not only about the faithfulness of many people, but the story is about two people who were not. There's a third thing. The story is about the relentless activities of Satan.

Now folks, let's just understand this. That's what the apostle says right there in verse three. Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit? What is God trying to say to us here, my friends? God is trying to say to us, you can be a believer in the midst of an incredible congregation, in the midst of untold action on the part of God's people and yet Satan will penetrate your life and sin will enter your life and he will grab ahold of you and he will be relentless and he will begin to drag you down and he's going to want to throw you in the gutter where he wants you to be. Seth, is it possible for us to have a youth ministry like this and for one of these young people's lives to go down the drink? Is it possible to grow up in a wonderful home with a mother and father who love you? Is it possible to be in a church like this and go on quiet tours and Kentucky missions and to build and to partner and to be in everything that goes on and yet for Satan to get hold of someone's lives and just destroy it just like that?

Is it possible? Is it even conceivable that there might be a marriage that Satan has got ahold of your marriage? I don't mind telling you this because this couple is sitting here looking at me and if I went and asked them permission they would tell me past to use our names but I'm not going to do that because I never do that but I speak to them often. There's a couple sitting here looking at me right now.

About six years ago they'll tell you in a heartbeat. They came to see me. They were not members of this church. They were elsewhere in our community. They came to see me because they knew that I knew nothing about them and so they felt like I would be able to help them without any kind of background. Well when they came to see me, boy was their marriage in trouble. I mean it was over folks. They were, they all just had to go sign divorce papers and I looked at that couple that day and I told them, I said folks listen I'm not a marriage and family counselor but I am going to tell you that Satan has got into your marriage and I am going to tell you that he is relentless and he is going to tear you apart and I am going to tell you that I've seen enough damage done by these things to children and to loved ones and to everybody concerned and I'm going to beg you to turn back to the Lord and I'm going to beg you to repent and I'm going to beg you to invite Jesus Christ to intervene. You know what? They did that and to this day this couple are still together.

They genuinely love one another and their family is just most precious you could ever imagine. God did that. God did that. I believe in that.

I just believe in that. Satan is relentless. Satan wants to get a hold of our families. He wants to get into our congregation. He wants to get into our communities. He wants to destroy us. He's going to do whatever he wants to do in order to bring us to our knees. He wants you and me flat on our backs. He wants us in the gutter where he wants us to begin with and he's going to tempt us. He's going to tempt us with things to put in our bodies with drinking and alcohol and drugs and immorality and everything you could ever imagine. He is relentless and he's going to do whatever he can and friend, listen to me, just because you're in a church where God is moving doesn't mean to say you are automatically exempt from what Satan intends to do with every one of us.

In fact, I think you and I become prime targets. There's a fourth thing about the story. It's about the person of the Holy Spirit.

The story is about the person of the Holy Spirit. Peter said to Ananias, you haven't lied to man. You've lied to God. You've lied to the Holy Spirit. Most of the time, my friends in our lives, we play this little game with God. We pretend. You know, there are words that we don't like to use here, but really folks, what God is talking to us about is hypocrisy, isn't he? He's talking about a couple who are playing a kind of spiritual pretense.

They look the part. Ananias and Sapphira even did what everybody else was doing, but in their hearts, in the practice and outworking of that, they did the very opposite. They tried to deceive man.

And Peter comes up and says, hold on a minute. You're lying to the Holy Spirit who is God. You see, this sad story is about the person of the Holy Spirit. But number five, I want to tell you this story is about the wages of sin. I don't like to preach about that, but folks listen, two things. The Bible says that be sure your sin will find you out. That's a biblical guarantee, absolute biblical guarantee.

It's amazing. I've learned that sometimes the hard way. You can masquerade and you can pull the wool over everybody's eyes and you can play a spiritual game.

You can volunteer for everything, including cleaning the kitchen sink. But I'll tell you, if it is not pleasing to God, it is going to come to the top at some time. The second thing is that the wages of sin is death. Bible says God will not tolerate our sin. See, this story is about the wages of sin. God is using Ananias and Sapphira to get our attention. And I love the way God does that in the midst of such an incredible, incredible time in the life of the New Testament church.

But there is a sixth point and I want to close with this. This story is about learning from the lessons of life. It's about learning from the lessons of life. Verse 11 particularly stands out.

Great fear sees the whole church and all who heard about these events. If I can do anything as one individual to help another individual not make the same mistakes, I want to do it, don't you? I do not have the slightest desire to see some families go through what I've seen other families go through.

I have no desire to see anybody get unduly hurt and maimed for life. So I'm going to do whatever I have. Where do we draw our nourishment from the lessons of life? What is God saying here about Ananias and Sapphira?

What a sad story. What God is saying is, listen, thank the Lord for what He's doing. Never take people for granted. Don't assume that everything is just always good. Understand that some people are going through some very deep pain, folks, some very deep pain.

It's not always a bad thing. There are some painful things that make a lot of sense. There are some people who have withdrawn and they are living in their rabbit holes of life because they are so wounded and so hurt and they're missing the blessings of life as a result of that. Some people are living in sin. We may not know about it, but God does.

That's what you need to do. Number one, you need to acknowledge your sin before God. Remember Peter called sin, sin.

He didn't beat around the bush. Sin is separating you from God. You need to fess up. You need to confess, acknowledge your sin before the Lord. That's number one.

If you don't do that, you can make all the resolutions you want. You are never going to get on board that blessing, my friend. It's got to begin in the heart of God. Number two, you need to confess that sin to the ones you love most of all. Number three, you need to resolve in the heart of God that you're going to come out of that rabbit hole of sin.

Oh, but the good news is there's a way out of that hole of sin. I pray that as you've been listening to Dr. Don preach, you would now open your heart to him as he steps into the studio to just share from his heart. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now?

Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart in Jesus name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Christ praying along with Dr. Wilton or you have questions, we are ready to meet you at 866-899-WORD to talk, to pray, to connect with free resources Dr. Wilton wants you to have. Our phone number again is 866-899-9673. Our time's gone for today, but tomorrow Dr. Wilton talks about glorifying God.

That's his message from the book of Jude. I hope you'll join us and invite a friend. Till then, stay connected on our website at TEWOnline.org. That's TEWOnline.org. The Encouraging Word.