Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message.
Here's Adrian Rogers. We are orchestrated by Satan himself. One is persecution. The other is hypocrisy. And these forces are working against every church. The early church faced both of these, and we will face both of these. Now, the devil with the early church at first had tried intimidation, and that did not work. He tried to persecute the early church, and all that did was to drive these Christians to their knees.
And so he came back again, and he said, well, if I cannot attack from the outside, I will attack from the inside. If intimidation and persecution doesn't work, then I'll get inside, and I will attack the church with hypocrisy and superficiality. And I want to say that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the early church and this church, has been hurt far more by hypocrisy, lukewarmness, and so on. The Lord Jesus Christ is more by superficiality than by persecution. Do you believe that?
I believe that with all of my heart. Did you know that the Lord had rather have you out and out against him than lukewarm, pretending to be for him? Jesus said, I would that you were hot or cold. So then, because you're neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I will spew thee out of my mouth. That literally means you make me sick at my stomach enough to vomit.
Because you're neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. I will spew you out and out against him than to have you pretending to be for him, and yet truly, really denying him. I read in our local newspaper an article that broke my heart. Here's what it said. It's an article about a church. And it says, the title of the story, Church Sensitive to Gaze Ends Scout's Sponsorship. And then it told a tragic story about a ceremony in this church, and it was called a separation ceremony. It's a church in Denver. And this church in Denver was separating itself from Boy Scout Troop 89. Here was a prayer that they prayed. This was in our local newspaper. Oh Lord, we come together in memory and appreciation of the good times afforded by Troop 89 in days gone by.
But diversity is to be celebrated. Then the 125 members replied in unison, quote, with utmost humility, we stand in opposition to the Boy Scout of America's discriminatory policy against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. In 20 minutes, it was over. Troop 89 was no longer sponsored by the 75-year-old congregation. They called the Boy Scouts to bar homosexuals from leadership. Now that's sad, but here's the saddest part. Listen to this. On Sunday, second graders were invited together at the front of the church where they heard a children's sermon about love and where each was presented with Bibles accompanied by a gentle cautionary note. Now listen to what they told these second graders. You don't have to agree with everything in it. It's got some great stories. Now they're giving the second graders Bibles, but now kids, you don't have to agree with everything in it.
It's got some great stories. Does that not make you sad? I mean, that makes me sad, so sad. Today I want to lift up a red flag of warning against superficial religion. I believe that Satan is in the corner smiling when people put doubts in the minds of little children concerning the Word of God.
Read the book of Genesis. When Satan first crawled his slimy, corroding path onto the pages of history, he put a question mark after the Word of God and said, yea, hath God said? You just have to take his word for it. Now, friend, anybody, whether he's a pastor, a professor, whether he is a political leader, anybody who puts a question mark after the Word of God is doing the work of Satan. I thank God for Bible-believing churches. But if you're a member of a church that doubts the Word of God, you need to saturate that church with your absence. You can come up and leave, too, if she could.
I'll guarantee you. The book of Acts is the story of the early church, and the early church believed in the Word of God. Now, I want to give you two things to be aware of and two things to be sure of, okay? Number one, beware of the pretended devotion of superficial religion.
Now, let's begin to read. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own?
And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much.
And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in, found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband, and great fear came upon all the church, and as many as heard these things. Now, beware of pretended devotion.
Let me give you the background for this passage of scripture. There was a man named Barnabas. Old Barney did good. Barney had made a gift to the church. He was a very generous man, a great-hearted soul. The word Barnabas means encourager.
And he was also wealthy. He had some property, and he sold it because there was persecution. There was a great financial need to the church. Well, you can read about it in Acts chapter 4.
Look, if you will, in verse 36 and 37. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. Barnabas had a piece of property. He sold it. He took all the money.
He said, Here you are, Peter, James, John. Take this money. Do with it as you will. There it is.
Use it. Barnabas had a piece, magnanimous. He wasn't doing it to show off. It was a gift motivated by love. Now, he was letting his light shine, however, before men. And men saw his good works, and they glorified God in heaven. Now, Ananias and Sapphira were there. They saw what Barnabas had done. They saw how the people glorified God.
They saw how the people talked about Barney and what a great guy he was. They said, You know, we like to bask in some of that sunlight. Sapphira, we have a piece of property. We've got this piece of property, and we'll take the money and bring it to the church. Well, do you think we ought to give all of it? Well, they don't know how much we sold it for. We'll tell them that's all we got for the property, and we can keep part of it, but we'll get credit for giving everything. Nobody knows how much we sold it for, so we'll just say, Hey, Pete, here's the money we got from the property. It's all there. We're giving everything to the Lord.
Why? It was a pretended devotion. It was a devotion they did not have. Now, what made them do that?
What is behind all superficial and hypocritical religion? P-R-I-D-E, pride. Pride. They wanted to be praised. They wanted to be petted.
They wanted to be adulated. They wanted to be looked up to, and it was pride that did this. Now, the Bible says, Why hath Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Satan's chief tool is pride.
Now, listen to me very carefully. Pride is such a dangerous thing. The root of their sin was pride.
The fruit of their sin was hypocrisy. Now, I want to give you two scriptures. First Peter, chapter five, verse five.
Peter says, Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud. But gives grace to the humble. What is grace? Grace is the desire and the ability to do the will of God. That's what grace is, both the desire and the ability to do the will of God. Now, when a man is filled with pride, do you know what happens to him? He does not receive the grace of God because God gives grace to the humble. Now, when a man is full of pride, grace is withdrawn, and God sets up a barricade against that man. God resists the proud.
Now, that's bad enough. But now, go down to verse eight, First Peter five, verse eight. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
Can you imagine an individual like this? Devoid of the grace of God, God resisting him, Satan circling to devour him. That's what pride does. Nothing puts a person more out of the reach of Satan than genuine humility.
But what happened to Ananias and Sapphira? How could Satan fill their hearts to lie to the Holy Ghost? Pride. The root of their sin was pride. The fruit of their sin was hypocrisy.
Now, listen to me carefully. Their sin was not that they failed to give everything. They didn't have to give everything.
There was no command that they should give everything. Peter makes that very clear. Look, if you will, in verse four of this chapter.
Watch it. Peter said, While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own power?
You could do with it what you wanted. You didn't have to give it all. What was their problem? Not that they failed to give everything. They failed to give it all. Their problem was they pretended a devotion they did not have.
Question, are you sitting in this church this morning pretending a devotion to Jesus Christ that you do not have? God did not command that they give it all. What you do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants. What you do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants. God is not going to extort anything from you.
Peter said, Look, it was in your hands. You could give it or you could withhold it. Now, it was their right to keep back some if they wanted to. But they played the hypocrite. Jesus' sternest words were given to the hypocrites. And I've asked myself this question sincerely as I prepared this message. Adrian, do you pretend a devotion to Jesus Christ that you do not have? I've settled that in my own heart. All to Jesus I surrender. All to him I freely give. You sing that.
Is it true? Or have you sung take my silver and my gold? Not a mite would I withhold. And we hold it with all our might. That's the Ananias and Sapphira sin. Have you sung faith of our Father's holy faith? We will be true to thee till death. And then deny the Lord Jesus Christ by our actions, our lives, not even faithful to the house of God when it's worship time. We will be true to thee till death. I believe there are a lot of modern day Ananias and Sapphira in our congregation. Amen?
Perhaps so may. Second point. Now look, beware of the pretended devotion of superficial religion. Number two, beware of the premeditated deception of superficial religion.
Now the key word is premeditated. Now all of us sometimes have said things that we ought not to have said. All of us sometimes have spoken of devotion that we do not have. All of us sometimes have told an untruth. Later on we have to confess it. We didn't think about it.
Somebody would call in the middle of the night or maybe early in the morning about 5.30 and they'd say, did I wake you up? Oh, no, no, no, no. Liar. But I mean, you weren't thinking about it. And you just said, no, no, no, no, you didn't. That's not a premeditated lie.
I'm not saying there's anything good about that. But I want you to notice what we're talking about here. We're talking about premeditated deception. Look in verses three and four. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own?
And after it was sold, was it not thine own? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Now he had lied to the Holy Ghost.
Now this was not a casual thing. This was a lie. Satan put the lie in their heart, but they made room for the lie. Satan said, hey, Ananias, Sapphira, tell them you gave everything.
Satan put that in their heart. Did you know every lie originates with Satan? Every lie originates with Satan.
You ever tell a lie? Satan, in superficial religion, said, you are of your father the devil. The lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. He is the spawner of all lies. He, Satan, is a liar and he's the father of it. Whenever you tell a lie, listen to me. Teenagers, listen to me.
Businessman, listen to me. Whenever you tell a lie, you're acting like the devil. Proof, John 8, 44. He is a liar and he is the father of it. Now what the Holy Spirit is doing now is revealing the seriousness of this premeditated deception. Verse three, Peter said, why has Satan put it in your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? It is serious to tell a lie.
It is more serious to tell a lie to a judge. It is more serious to lie to God. Now, if you can tell a lie, don't lie to God. You see, not only is it serious when you lie to the Holy Ghost, but it's foolish. You see, the Holy Spirit was there when the plot was hatched. The Holy Spirit was there when the land was sold. The Holy Spirit was there when the money was counted. The Holy Spirit was there when the gift was made. He saw it all and now they are liars. They are lying to the Holy Ghost. Not only did the Holy Ghost see it, but friend, it was a conspiracy. It was premeditated. Later on, Peter asked Sapphira, did you agree to this?
She said, yes. What this was, listen, it was a direct challenge to God. A direct challenge to the Holy Ghost. That's the reason that Peter said, you've not lied unto me. You've lied to me again.
But unto God, I would not advise you to try this. I told our forerunners, the seniors in our church at a lovely banquet we had a little while ago about something I recently read about a woman out in San Diego. She was sitting out in front of the supermarket. The windows in a car rolled up, a very hot day, the engine off. She's sitting there with her car doors locked, her hands behind her head like this, her eyes closed. Somebody looked at it and thought, well, perhaps I should have, she's meditating, relaxing, but she's sitting there for an inordinately long time. They thought maybe she's in trouble. Somebody pecked on the window and said, madam, do you need any help? She nodded her head. Said, are you in trouble? She nodded her head. They said, would you unlock the door? She said, no. Shook her head this way. Do you want us to break in?
She nodded her head. They got an ax, broke the window and said, what's wrong? She said, I have been shot. She said, I have been shot.
I'm holding my hands behind my head to keep my brains in. They investigated. She had bought a can of Pillsbury biscuits, put them in the back of the car. The heat caused them to explode. It sounded like a gunshot, a wad of biscuit dough. It hit her in the back of the head.
She has her hands around a biscuit, holding her brains in. Listen, if you think you can lie to God and get away with it, you've got biscuits for brains. I'm going to tell you something. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? You can't lie to him.
I wouldn't advise you to try that. Pretended devotion, premeditated deception. Here's the third thing. Two things to be aware of.
Here are two things to be sure of. Be sure of the penetrating detection of superficial religion. God, the Holy Spirit told Peter that Ananias and Sapphira were lying. Now Peter was different than we. Peter was an apostle. And God spoke to Peter, and Peter declared the Word of God. The Word of God was in the mouths of these apostles. You know, the Bible says in Hebrews 4-12, the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing asunder between soul and spirit, penetrating, penetrating to the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Oh, there's the penetrating power of the Word of God. If my heart were on display, if you could see, I'm talking about my spiritual heart.
There it is. There is every secret in his heart. There are the things that nobody else knows about, but they're right up there. Would you want your heart up there for everybody to see? No secrets. Now the Bible teaches one of these days that's going to happen. The Bible says one of these days our hearts are going to be put on display. There's nothing hidden that will not be revealed. Things that are spoken in secret will be shouted from the housetop, and one of these days those things are going to be made known. Now, listen. Peter, with penetrating insight, saw that sin. It's only a matter of time.
Listen. It is only a matter of time until hypocritical and half-hearted religion and pretended devotion will be made manifest. Paul said when our Lord comes, he's going to make known the hidden counsels of men's hearts.
Perhaps there are things in your heart you don't even know are there. Joyce and I went to Moscow, Russia. I was on a preaching mission, preached on Easter in Red Square shortly after communism imploded. The Iron Curtain came down. Things were strange in Moscow in those days.
I went to Moscow and I preached in Soundstage in Red Square, preached on nationwide television across the nation. I thought, well, I need to bring a souvenir home from Moscow. I saw a little boy on the street. He had a piece of cardboard, and on this cardboard he had pinned some war medals.
I saw one. It was made of silver or pewter. Inside it had a ruby red stone. I couldn't read the Russian on it, but I thought, I'd like to have that. I said, son, will you sell me that?
He said, yes. I gave him a few dollars for it. Took it and I said, you know, that's really a very interesting souvenir. A Russian war medal.
Put it in my suitcase. Joyce and I are going through customs, and the man says, do you have any of this and this and this? Nope, nope, nope.
You have any of this and this? Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Fine. He said, mister, would you open your suitcase?
Sure. That man with guided hands reached right down in the suitcase where that medal was and plucked it out. He said, what is this? I said, well, I'd forgotten about this. It's a medal.
It's something I bought on the street. He said to me, why are you trying to take our history out of the country? I said, well, I'm just a souvenir.
He said, stand here. Two other men come in uniforms. They hold up that medal. They have a conference. They lay it down, some more come.
They hold it up. He said, you come with me. I said, what? Yes. Can she come?
No. You come. I said, Joyce, I'll be back.
I'll be back, I hope. I walk over there. There's an office. There's a guard that said, you stand by her. Inside that office was a woman.
I mean a big old gal. And she has that medal on the desk, and she's writing and writing and writing and writing and writing and writing like that. Then she takes a big old stamp and goes, stamps it. Brings out this thing written in Russian and says, sign it. Said, I'm not going to sign that.
I can't even read it. She said, sign it. I said, not.
I'm not going to sign it. Standoff. I thought, you know, here goes the Cold War starting all over again. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what was happening.
I saw a soldier. I said, you speak English. He said, a little. I said, can you tell me what all this is about? He read it and he laughed.
I didn't think it was funny. He said, that is a receipt they're asking you to sign. They're saying you cannot take this medal out of the country, but they admit that it is yours. They're going to hold it for you. And anytime you want it, you can come get it within three months, but you cannot take it out of the country. I said, man, I'll sign it. That's worth whatever I paid for the medal just to have the experience. I haven't seen it since then.
Point to that whole story. Friend, I had forgotten I'd even put that in the suitcase. One of these days, God's x-ray vision is going to look into your heart and my heart and the things perhaps we don't even know that are there. But I'm telling you, there is a penetrating insight that God has. Are you willing? Are you willing to ask God, the Holy Spirit, to put the searchlight into your heart right now?
And just like that x-ray scanner that man had to look into your heart. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and see if there'd be some wicked way into it.
Is there a wicked way in me? Do you know what I do not want in my heart and in my life? I don't want hypocrisy. I do not want to preach something I don't practice.
I don't want to say something I don't believe. And constantly I'm saying, oh God, I want to be real. I want to be true. I want to be pure. And therefore, I put myself at God's x-ray in the mornings.
Do you do that? Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and see if there'd be some wicked way in me. I want you to be sure of this, dear friend, the penetrating detection.
If not now, later on. Now here's the fourth and final thing I want you to be sure of. Two things to be aware of. Two things to be sure of.
You can be sure of the purifying discipline of superficial religion. What happened? They told a lie. They told a premeditated lie. It was detected. And notice what happened beginning in verse five. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost. That means he died. And great fear came on all them that heard these things.
And the young men arose, wound him up and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she said, yeah, for so much.
Three hours later, don't you ever complain about a long church service, okay? And Peter said unto her, how is it that you have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord? You see, this was a conspiracy.
This is not an offhanded thing. To tempt, that means to test the spirit of God. It was a challenge to God. You agreed, you conspired to tempt the spirit of the Lord. Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out.
And she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost. She buried her by her husband and great fear came upon all the church and as many as heard these things. I want to say two things about this discipline, this judgment. Number one, it was a severe judgment. They both died.
It's almost humorous. It's almost like they had in the church, you know, various kind of committees and they have a blanket committee to bury the dead. You get this one, wrap her up, carry her out. Talk about grandma buried in the backyard. No wonder they had cemeteries so close to those churches in those days. They died. It was very severe. Now, question, were Ananias and Sapphira saved?
I believe they were. Will God judge his own children? Certainly. I believe I'll meet Ananias and Sapphira in heaven. I've told you before, there are three kinds of judges. There is our judgment. There is our judgment as a sinner. There's our judgment as a servant, and there's our judgment as a son. Our judgment as a sinner takes place at Calvary. When Jesus Christ died, he took the judgment for our sins. That is the judicial judgment. And we'll never face that again. Romans 8 and 1, there's therefore now no condemnation, no judgment to those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank God we've settled out of court. Amen.
Amen. But there's also our judgment as a servant. That's the judgment seat of Christ. Where we're going to receive the rewards for the things that we've done. And he's going to say, well done, good and faithful servant, if you've been a good and faithful servant.
That's our judgment as servants. Now, that takes place at the judgment seat of Christ after the rapture. But there's a third judgment, and that's our judgment as sons, and that takes place day by day. Do you think that if you get saved, that you can sin and get away with it?
No. If you get saved, that means if you sin, you won't get away with it. An unsaved sinner, God does not deal with him in this life like he does one of his own children. The Bible says, whom the Lord loves, he chastens.
God loved Ananias and Sapphira. Put down Hebrews chapter 12, verses five through seven. Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children? My son, now listen, this is sons, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? You say, but they died.
Yes. This judgment is a severe judgment, especially when you challenge God, when it is premeditated, when it is a conspiracy, when it is a confrontation between that which Satan has put in your heart and that which the Holy Spirit of God has warned you of. That's what I'm against. Paul warned the church at Corinth about the way they were taking the Lord's supper. First Corinthians chapter 11, verses 29 and 30. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself. The word damnation means judgment, not discerning the Lord's body.
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and some sleep. Some had died like Ananias and Sapphira in the Corinthian church because of the judgment of God upon them. They were children of God, and they died prematurely. Again, the Bible says in 1 John chapter 5, verse 16. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. What is a sin not unto death?
It is not premeditated. It is not tempting God. It is not challenging God. And then he goes on to say, there is a sin unto death.
I do not say you should pray for it. There comes a time when you as a child of God can so challenge God that you sign your own death warrant. It doesn't mean you're not going to heaven. It means you're going to heaven sooner than you should. Now, it was a severe judgment.
I believe I've seen this in my years in the ministry. I believe I've seen people who've challenged God, living hypocritical superficially, yet with a name in the Lamb's book of life, who check out and go to heaven too soon, like Ananias and Sapphira did, which incidentally like Moses did. When Moses died, his thigh was not dim nor his strength abated. Moses died prematurely because he challenged God. Now listen, not only was it a severe judgment, but it was a saving judgment. You say God is cruel. God is vindictive.
No, God is loving and God is kind. Number one, it was to save Ananias and Sapphira from further sin. God did this, I believe, in mercy. There was a man in the church at Corinth who was living in open sin, a brother. In 1 Corinthians 5, 5, this man was living in sexual immorality.
He had been warned he would not repent. Paul said, deliver such a one, this is 1 Corinthians 5, 5, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You see, God is far more interested in your spirit than he is in your body.
Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, could it be that God in mercy brought Ananias and Sapphira home to keep them from further sin? Now, not only was it saving Ananias and Sapphira, it was to save the early church from pollution. God doesn't want hypocrites in the church. So God took them out because there was such a holiness there, such a fire, such a revival.
God would not let them spoil it. And the Bible says in this same chapter in verse 11, and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things. Therefore, this was a blessing to the church. Number three, it was a blessing because it saved lost people from hell. The worst thing could happen to a church would be for the church to be so filled with hypocrites and superficiality that unsaved people can see no difference. It's good when God brings judgment like this upon a church.
Now, there's a big question right here. If God took Ananias and Sapphira to heaven early, they all laughed. He said, I'd be preaching to an empty house. Why doesn't God do that today? You're going to find there's a principle in the Bible.
God will do certain things as an example in the physical world about how he feels in the spiritual world. For example, Sodom and Gomorrah. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone. Well, why doesn't God destroy cities today that are given over to Sodom with fire and brimstone?
Answer, Jude 1 verse 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth an example, for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. When God eradicated Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and left their smoking ruins, God said, that is an example. That's an example.
You want to know how I feel about it? There's an example. In the wilderness, when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt, going to Canaan, they lived in sin. They fell into idolatry and God destroyed many of them. Now listen to 2 Corinthians 10 verses 10 and 11.
Neither murmured ye as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now, all these things happened unto them for examples that are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. God does certain things as examples. God says, look, you want to know how I feel about sodomy? There's an example.
You want to know how I feel about murmuring? There's an example. God says, you want to know how I feel about hypocrisy and superficiality in the church? There is an example. God does these things sometimes as examples. You have five thoughts.
Very quickly, just click them off. Sin among the saints is more serious than sin among the lost. Number two, sin against the Holy Spirit is very serious. All sin is serious, but sin against the Holy Ghost is very serious. Number three, be on guard against hypocrisy in your life.
Ask God to search you. Make certain that your heart is clean and pure. And above all, do not pretend a devotion greater than you have. Number four, don't let some hypocrite keep you away from Jesus Christ. There have always been hypocrites. There always will be hypocrites. One of the 12 apostles was not even saved at all.
Don't you let some hypocrite keep you from Jesus? And last of all, a church that is filled with the Holy Ghost, a church that has the Word of God, a church that will live pure and clean and righteous and holy, cannot, will not be stopped by superficiality and hypocrisy on the part of some. If you want to know how strong a church is, you see what it takes to stop it.
All hell could not stop this church, and it continued to grow. Now, what is the lesson? The lesson is this. Love Jesus with all of your heart. If you're weak, say, Lord, help me. If you can't give all to the Lord Jesus Christ and haven't given all to the Lord Jesus, say, Lord, I want to help me.
While it is in your power, it's your own. Just don't pretend a devotion that you do not have. Say, Lord, here's where I am. Here's where I want to be. Help me to grow.
And God will start with you where you are, and God will bring you to where you need to be. Just don't stonewall God. Don't be a big pretender. Don't be superficial. Don't be hypocritical.
Be real. God will love you. God will help you. God will strengthen you. God will guard you. God will guide you, and he'll take you where you are and make you what you ought to be.
Let God start with you where you are, and God will bring you. Just don't stonewall God. Don't lie to the Holy Ghost.
Just don't be superficial and hypocritical. Amen? Father God, seal the message to our hearts in Jesus' holy name. Amen. Amen.
