[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. I'm just looking around to
see who would whether the rain and come out. Interesting choice
of a worship song, Holy Spirit Rain
Falling Like a Flood. I thought it was particularly
appropriate for tonight. Whenever it rains
like this-- and I'm one of those people
who say bring it on. I love this weather. I love this rain, but I think
of what the prophet Isaiah said. In chapter 55 when
he said, as the rain comes down and the
snow from heaven, and do not return there
but water the earth that it might bring forth and bud. So that it gives seed to this
sower and bread to the eater, so is my word that goes
forth from my mouth. It shall not return
to me void, but it will accomplish that which I
have sent it to accomplish. So that's what
we're about tonight. We're in the book of
Acts, the word of God. We want to sow that
into our hearts. So turn in your Bibles. I hope you brought one. It's important as we study the
Bible-- thank you for raising that Bible up like that. It's important to follow along. If you don't have a Bible,
you've got to remedy that. You've got to get a Bible,
and we can steer you in that direction, but we're
in the book of Acts, chapter 4. I'm always-- well, I'm
positive in thinking that we're going to make it
through an entire chapter, which we should be
able to do by now. I've grown up. So you'd think I could
make it through a chapter, but I slow down a little bit. So we're going to pick it up in
verse 23-24 of Acts chapter 4 and see how far we get. Let's just leave it at that. Let's pray. Father, we want to
now bring to You, in prayer, our bodies
as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, which
is our reasonable service. We're not beginning this with
prayer simply as a formality, or because we feel
it's our duty, but because we have a
relationship with You. That has been
established at the moment we placed our trust
in the Lord Jesus to pay our sin, our penalty. And make us right with You,
so that the righteousness of Christ has been
imputed to us, and we are now Your
children by faith. And so we can freely talk to
You, knowing that You hear us. And Father, we pray that,
just like Isaiah predicted, the word of God, like rain,
would water our hearts and would strengthen our lives,
and it would bring forth, our life would
bring forth and bud. So that we might produce
seed for this sower and bread to eater, we would be satisfied,
and we would strengthen others with it. We pray, Lord, that we
would have ears to hear, as Jesus said. It's in his name we pray, amen. As we pick back up, in
chapter 4 of the book of Acts, there's just a couple
of incidences in my life I wanted to tell you about. When I think of understanding,
as a young believer, that not everybody liked
what I believed in. And I was so excited,
thinking I'm going to tell everybody about Jesus. They're going to be so
happy that their sins can be forgiven, and they
can go to heaven. People are just going to
get so excited with this, and I couldn't be more wrong. People really weren't excited
about getting their sins forgiven or having a new life. They didn't really want anything
to do with what I believed in. And it was a rude awakening
when I was a new believer, and I was a bass player
in a Christian band, and we were doing an opening
concert of evangelism in the city that I grew up in. And there were a
group of kids who hated what we were standing
for, and they hated it so much, they thought it
would be a good idea to set the building we were
meeting in, that concert, on fire that night. So they decided to go take a
motorcycle, out in the parking lot, put a T-shirt in the
gas tank, light it on fire, put the motorcycle against
the wall of the building. The motorcycle blew up, and the
walls started catching on fire. Now, to make matters worse,
not only was I in the band, but that was my motorcycle
that they blew up in trying to start it on fire. So that was like the
first time I realize, there's people out
there who don't like us. Then, another incident that
sort of drove this home to me is, a few years later, I
was in the country of India. We were down in southern India. I was out with some brothers
and sisters, Christian brothers and sisters, out in the field
doing street evangelism, and we were
surrounded by a group. Our group was
surrounded by a group, and the group surrounding us-- our group was like this. Their group was like
this, and they just had those foreboding looks and
angry intense countenances, and they moved closer
and closer to us. And I started getting
nervous, and so I said to one of our brothers,
smiling, from India I said, what's happening? He goes, I think we are
going to get beat up. And I'm thinking,
this is not good. So here's my reaction
to those two incidences. My reaction to
incident number one is understanding
for the first time that the world doesn't
like the Christian, doesn't like the message
of the Christian. And I was really
bummed out, because it was a great 450 Honda
double overhead cam, and that just went up in flames. But the second
incident, my reaction was I'm going to get
physically hurt, perhaps. And it didn't happen,
because if I don't say that, you're going to say,
oh, what happened? The Lord, we prayed and the
Lord dispersed that angry crowd, but it doesn't always happen. There's a lot of our
brothers and sisters in the world who
suffered tremendously for the cause of Christ. So with that in mind,
what is the Christian to do when threatened,
hassled, treated poorly, billed too much, whatever it might be? What are we to do? Well, when we come to
verse 23 of chapter 4, we get some insight. And being let go-- this is after they
were threatened, after they were treated poorly,
after they were persecuted. Being let go, they went
to their own companions and reported all that the
chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard that,
they raised their voice to God with one accord
and said, Lord, You are God who made the heaven,
the earth, the sea and all that is in them. Who by the mouth of Your
servant David have said, why did the nations rage and
the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth
took their stand, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly, against
Your holy servant, Jesus, whom You anointed both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel, were gathered together
to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose
determined before to be done. And now, Lord, look on
their threats, and grant to Your servants that,
with all boldness. They may speak Your word
by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that
signs and wonders may be done through the name
of Your holy servant, Jesus. And when they had
prayed, the place where they were assembled
together was shaken, and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word
of God with boldness. Notice that verse 23 does
not say, then being let go, they gathered together,
rallied together, stormed the Antonia
Fortress, wrote a letter to the editor of
the Jerusalem Post. They didn't protest,
they prayed. They gathered together,
and they appealed to God. They immediately went to prayer. Their reaction,
against the world, was to pray for the world. Now, that to me is striking,
because that would not be in my natural makeup. That would not be
my first reaction. I would think of retaliation. How can I get back at them, or
how can I put a stop to them? How can I get a law passed? And those, especially
that last one, may have its place
in the right context, but what I want you to see
is that, first and foremost, the early church were a
group of spiritual activists, spiritual activists. They were active. They were activists, but they
were spiritual activists. They got together, and
they prayed to the Lord for the world that
had persecuted them, and we're going to
examine this prayer. We're eavesdropping on it. We started looking
at it last time, and then we closed it off. But if you've never read any
of the writings of our R.A. Torrey, Reuben Torrey, I
just commend them to you. R.A. Torrey has a great quote. He has many great
quotes, but R.A. Torrey said, pray for great things. Expect great things. Work for great things, but
first and foremost, pray. And so that's what they did. They prayed, and we looked
just briefly last time, and now we want to look a little
more deeply, as we finish off this chapter, at their prayer. First of all, their
prayer had backing. They're appealing to
God, and they're not just throwing up words. They're not just
spouting out words. They're not just
talking into the air. They have the backing of heaven. It says that they raised
their voice and said, Lord You are God. And the last time, I told you
the word Lord is the Greek word despota or despote, the
autocrat of the universe, the ruler of everything. And I may have even mentioned
the prayer of Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 32, and
he said, ah, Lord God, You made the Heavens
and the Earth with Your great strength
and Your outstretched arm, and there is nothing
too hard for You. And what I want you to see
is that, when you pray, the first thing
you and I must do is recognize to
whom we're speaking. We're not speaking to
somebody who is weak. We're not talking into the air. We're not talking to somebody
with even earthly authority. We're talking to the
sovereign God, of whom nothing, nothing is too hard. Nothing is too hard. So when you elevate your prayer
by recognizing to whom you're praying, it inspires faith. If you go, God, I don't
know if You're up there. You're not going to really
be praying with faith. When it's like, Lord, You made
the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. Oh, OK. Now, I just framed it with
the framework of faith. I put God in the
right perspective, and it's important to do that,
because too often, you and I, we carry our limitations
over onto God. What is hard and impossible for
us is so easy, breezy for God. We have faith when it's a cold. Our faith diminishes when the
sea is a cancer, not a cold. Oh Lord, this person
has inoperable cancer. Well, I can tell you that,
to God, He would look at both and go, so? I can fix a cold or cancer. I created the human body. I made everything on Earth. So it's first of all important
to have backing in your prayer. Second, they had basis. Notice that they quote Psalm 2. Who by, verse 25, the mouth of
Your servant, David, has said. Now, it's a direct
quote out of Psalm 2, but I'm going to show
you a little difference. They quote, why did the
nations rage and the people plot vain things. The kings of the earth
took their stand, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against His Christ. If you were to look at
the actual translation in your Bible, in
Psalm 2 it says, they've gathered
together against the Lord and against His anointed. Here they use the word Christ
because it's the same word. The Hebrew word, in the
second Psalm, for anointed is moshiach or messiah. And Christ is the
English equivalent of Christos in the Greek, which
is the equivalent of the Hebrew moshiach. So anointed, messiah, Christos,
Christ, it's all the same. They quote a messianic Psalm,
the first of the psalms that is considered messianic. So they have a basis now
for what they're praying. They're praying
realizing that God is the autocrat of the universe,
controls everything, made everything, and even
predicted that what is happening in
Jerusalem that day was predicted in the scripture. They've gathered together,
like the Psalmist said they would gather
together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, like
the Psalmist said would happen. Even though that Psalm will
have its ultimate fulfillment in the kingdom age, at the
second coming of Jesus Christ, Revelation 19. When He takes all the kings
of the earth that really were against Him, will be
against Him at the end of the great tribulation
period, judge them, and usher in the millennial kingdom. It also has an in the
meantime application, and that is what was
happening in Jerusalem that day was predicted. So it elevates prayer. Prayer is being elevate. They're coming to
God with a request. Before they get there, they
realize who they're talking to. So it has backing. They're quoting the scripture. So it has a basis for
what they're asking. The third thing about their
prayer is it has balance. Notice how they
begin their prayer, and they move from adoration,
worship, ascribing things to God, to their petition. The prayer moves from
adoration to petition. Any good prayer has balance. Sometimes, we talk to God only-- well, we talk to God. We come to God like we
go to an emergency room. You know, as you
drive by a hospital, that there's doctors
in the emergency room, but you don't feel compelled
to go in and talk to the doctor every time you drive
by the hospital. You know they're there, but
you'll go to the emergency room if there's an emergency. Some people, they know God's
up there, but why bother him. But if there's an
emergency in my life, if I need an aspirin or
medication or a prescription, I'll go to God. So their communication to
God is so often imbalanced, almost like an emergency
room physician. Wouldn't it be nice for you
to call your emergency room physician, out of the blue,
and just say, hey doc, you saw me a year ago. I just wanted to see
how you're doing. You're just awesome. I just want to
let you know that. Now, that probably
never will happen. It should, but it
probably never will. But I wonder what God
must think or feel like, and I don't even want to presume
that, when his children can find communication
only to petition, rather than adoration
mixed with petition. How did Jesus teach us to pray? He didn't say, now when you
pray, say our Father in Heaven, gimme, gimme, gimme. That's how you pray, and, then
throw on an amen at the end because that sounds good. So when you pray,
begin like this. Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread. Adoration before
petition, so this prayer has balance as well, not only
basis, but it as balance. Now verse 29, now therefore,
Lord, look on their threats. Grant to Your servants
that with all boldness, they may speak Your
word by stretching out Your hand to heal. That signs and wonders may
be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. Fourth characteristic about
this prayer, it has bearing. It has bearing. They're not just throwing
out dusty, overused, ambiguous phrases like bless,
lead, guide, and direct. They're very, very
specific about what they're asking from God. Number one, they're
asking God for boldness. By stretching out
Your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may
be done through the name of Your servant Jesus. Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I missed it. Verse 29, grant Your servants
that with all boldness they may speak Your word. Now, I find this
absolutely amazing. What got them into
trouble to begin with? They're boldness. Going the streets of
Jerusalem, being very bold about what they believe in. That got them arrested. Now, they're asking
God to fill them with more of what got them
in trouble to begin with. Lord, we got in trouble
for our boldness. Give us more. That's very, very specific. Number two, they are asking
God for changed lives, stretching out
Your hand to heal. That signs and wonders may
be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus. Verse 31, and when
they had prayed, the place where they were
assembled together was shaken. This has always intrigued me. Don't know exactly what
caused the shaking, not going to even try to guess. Other than to say it was
a physical manifestation for the apostles,
probably to bolster the faith of the
early church, just like there were accompanying
signs on the day of Pentecost. So the place shook, and
it says, they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit, notice that, and they spoke the word
of God with boldness. He answered their prayer. Notice the correspondence. Boldness comes when you are
filled with the Holy Spirit. I've told you plenty of times
about my own first encounters with witnessing. I told the Lord, I'm
not a verbal person. I don't like to talk to people
about what I believe in. Most people don't want to
hear about what I believe in, and then I started
reading the book of Acts, and I read this correlation. So I said, Lord,
give me boldness. I don't know what to say,
but give me boldness. Make me unafraid. And so I remember
talking to a guy that everybody thought was the
coolest kid in high school. This is after I graduated. That's when I got
saved, that summer. I was about 18, and I
remember walking up to him to talk to him, and
I was like shaking. And I thought, man,
I don't know where the fulfillment of that promise
is, because I'm not bold. I asked him for it,
but I'm still scared. But as soon as I
started talking, I took the step of
faith to actually say a few words, that's when
the boldness kicked in. That's when the words came. It was a little awkward, at
first, kind of a rough start, but then it got
like really good. And then I started actually
thinking, hey, that's good. What I just said, that was good,
and I knew it was the Lord. I asked him to fill me with his
spirit and give me boldness, and he did. Now, the multitude, verse
32, of those who believed were of one heart. Look at this
beautiful description of the first Christians
in Jerusalem. The multitude of
those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that
any of the things he possessed was his own, but they
had all things in common, similar to chapter 2. And with great power,
the apostles gave witness to the Resurrection
of the Lord Jesus, and great grace
was upon them all. Nor was there any one
among them who lacked. For all who were possessors
of lands or houses, sold them and brought the
proceeds of the things that were sold and laid
them at the apostles feet. And they distributed to
each as any one had need. Now, I want to just
reinforce something I told you a few weeks back. Some love to wear rose-colored
glasses when reading the Bible, and look at this through
the eyes of socialism. And say, see the
early church, this was the pure form of communism. They couldn't be more wrong. This is not communism. This is common-ism, and
there is a huge difference, a massive disparity between
communism and common-ism. Communism is enforced. Common-ism is voluntary. Communism says,
what's yours is mine. Common-ism says,
what's mine is yours. That was the early church. It was a temporary fix. Why? Well, most of the
jobs in Jerusalem were related to the temple. Who in Jerusalem ran the
business of the temple? The Sadducees. The Sadducees are the
enemies of the early church. Remember, I told you that
the Pharisees and Sadducees were the two groups? The Sadducees are
the ones that are hostile toward the apostles. Why? Because the apostles say that
Jesus rose from the dead. The Sadducees didn't
believe in any spirits, didn't believe in heaven,
didn't believe in hell, did not believe
in a Resurrection. So all of those temple related
jobs, all of those people who believed in Christ, were
no doubt fired from their jobs. It was difficult to live
their lives, having no income. So the church got together
to support one another during this difficult
time, and it gets so bad that Paul will even
take an offering of Gentile churches, that he visits on
his first second missionary journeys. Take up a collection,
and bring the money to the poor saints who are
struggling through this, at the earliest
church in Jerusalem. So it was all purely
voluntary, as they shared what they had with one another. Now, notice this, verse 36. In the light of that spirit
of giving, and Joses-- and I have an
asterisk in my Bible, and it says, or Joseph, some
of the newer translations see. His name was Joe. That was his name, Joseph. So we'll think of him as Joe. A guy named Joe in the
early church, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles. So his name is Joe,
but the apostles decided to give him a nickname. Now, why did they do that? Why do you think that
the disciples said, hey, we have the
right and the freedom to just sort of name
people whatever we want. Why do you figure? Here's my take on it,
because Jesus did that. He said to Simon, hey Simon,
I'm giving you a new name. Your name means hearing, but
you don't hear all that well. I'm going to call you Peter. Not as in a big massive
stone, you're not like rocky, but you're like a little tiny
pebble, your pebble boy, little rocky. So Jesus had the
freedom to do that. He also did that with the
sons of thunder, right? He named the James and
John, the sons of thunder. He did that on a few
different occasions. Matthew he called Levi. So I think that friendly
nicknaming caught on as a practice. He said, we're
going to name Joe. So let's call Joe
Barnabas, because Barnabas means the son of encouragement,
or one who encourages. And wherever Joe went,
he would go up to people, go hey, my name's Joe. What's your name? Hey, how can I help you? How can I further your faith? How can I bolster your belief? So he is called a
son of encouragement by the apostles,
which is translated son of encouragement. Now, notice this. He is a Levite of the
country of Cyprus. Having land, he sold it
and brought the money and laid it at the
apostles' feet. Now, if you are shrewd Bible
students, you read this, and you go, hmm. What's a Levite doing
owning land privately? Because I know my Bible
in the Old Testament. In the book of Numbers,
where it talks about Levites not having any portion
of the land of Israel, because God is their
portion, numbers 18 tells us. So what's with this? It this a backslidden Levite? You know, we like to get very,
pharisaical with our Bible characters. Well, you're right,
shrewed Bible student. It says that they're
not to own land, but own land in
the land of Israel. It says nothing about owning
land on the island of Cyprus, which is where he's from. So he could own land on
Cyprus, or perhaps he's married to his wife, whose
family owns land in Cyprus. And they passed it on,
and they gave it to him. There's a couple of
different ways this could go. Don't take this and demean
his character as somebody who is a backslidden Levite. It had nothing to do
with the priesthood. It just said he owned land. But the good thing, having
sold it, he brought the money, and he laid it at
the apostles' feet. So Barnabas-- and you'll
read more of him in the book of Acts-- he encouraged people. He first encouraged
people by finances. Have you ever thought of
your finances as a way to encourage someone? I know you're thinking,
well, somebody could feel free to encourage
me tonight, in that respect. I could always use a little
encouragement with that. But it can be. As Barnabas believed that
what God had given to him, God has shared with him,
he could give to others. That he was a Steward, he
was a conduit of a blessing that God had done
for him, and he knew that his brothers
and sisters were in need. So I'm living here. I don't need the land in Cyprus. Let's sell it and give the
money to those who need it. There's an important
principle in the New Testament about financial giving. In the book of Philippians, and
we're studying that on Sunday morning. We'll get to it in chapter
4, but Lord knows when. So in that book, Paul writes
to the Philippian church, and he says, when I
departed from Macedonia, there was no other
church that shared with me concerning giving and
receiving, except you only. That's a way to say, no
other group, no other church, financially supported
me, but you did. I was on your missions role. You supported me as one of
your sent out missionaries, but then he said this. Not that I seek
the gift, but I'm seeking fruit that would
abound to your account. See, he understood the
principle that when you give for the
Lord's work, that God keeps the account books in
heaven, and you will get fruit. The Lord will reward you,
one day openly in heaven, and he'll reward you. And so he says, not that
I'm looking for the gift. You supported me, and
I thank you for that, but it's not like
I want the gift as much as I want
the fruit that God will write on his account books
for you and reward you for it. So we need to start looking
at what have, what we own, as we're stewards
of God, and he's keeping his own set
of books, and he will hold us accountable
for how we stewarded what he placed in our hands. So Barnabas thought it
was good to encourage, and he was the son
of encouragement. He first encouraged by
giving his finances. Now, that's the
end of chapter 4. We're, going to
get into chapter 5 but let me just throw
something out at you. So far, in the book
of Acts, we have seen the Lord adding to the church. Right? Acts 247, the Lord added
to the church daily those who were being saved. That's what the text says. The Lord has added
so far, chapter 2. We've also seen
the Lord multiply. In chapter 4 verse 4,
thousands upon thousands more were added to those
who were initially saved on the day of Pentecost. So we go from adding to
the Lord multiplying. Now, we're about to see the Lord
perform another math function, subtracting. Two people in the
church, he's going to subtract, as Alan Redpath
call it, a blessed subtraction. And the Lord does add, and
the Lord does multiply, and the Lord does subtract. There's one thing the Lord
never does, he never divides. He never divides a church. People do that. We're good enough at doing that. We're good enough at creating
division and animosity. God never does. He'll add. He'll multiply, and
yes, he will subtract. So verse 1 chapter 5, but-- not a good word to
begin, after reading about a son of encouragement,
such an awesome dude. Gave his finances. Joe was Barnabas,
but a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira,
his wife, sold a possession and 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, a certain part. The word Ananias,
in Hebrew, the name means God is gracious,
beautiful name. Sapphira is an Aramaic
word that means beautiful. Talk about two people
that really didn't live up to their names,
mister gracious really isn't so gracious in his
lie here, and miss beautiful does something that's
not so beautiful. Now, when I read about
Ananias and Sapphira, can I just play with
this a little bit? Could you just go
back in your mind and think of them meeting
for the first time? And then, as they
courted together, the butterflies
they would get when they were around each other. As their relationship
blossomed and grew, and they had those
puppy love eyes. As Ananias, mister gracious,
looked at miss beautiful, and she swooned, not knowing
how they would end up. And as they said their
vows to one another on their wedding day,
especially that part, till death do us
part, they had no idea that they would die within
a few hours of each other on the same day. And that their names would
go down in history as the two that the Lord subtracted from
the church to make it pure. Well, that's what this first
part of the story is about. Acts chapter 5 is the third
miracle in the book of Acts. Do you remember the first? The first miracle was a
man by the gate beautiful who was lame from birth. That's the first miracle. He was healed. Peter raised him up. Peter and John going
into the temple. He was walking and
leaping and praising God. That's the first miracle
recorded in the book of Acts. Second miracle recorded
in the book of Acts is in chapter 4, when
the building shook. It was miraculous. This is the third miracle. Now, why am I bringing this up? Because do you know how
often I hear people say, man, I wish we could
see more miracles, like they had in
the book of Acts. Do you really? Because you're about to read
of another miracle in the book of Acts, but I bet this is one
miracle you're thankful to God that you don't see. Interesting story, some
of you will know the name, if you're read in biblical
commentaries, the name Donald Grey Barnhouse. Donald Gray Barnhouse,
many years ago, was the pastor at the
10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Donald Barnhouse
felt very strongly, he had deep convictions,
about the hymns that his church would sing. And there were certain hymns,
certain verses of hymns, that he did not want
his church to sing, because he knew that
you couldn't sing them without being a hypocrite. And Barnhouse use to say,
if God, if the Holy Spirit, acted today in the same manner
he acted in the book of Acts, that you'd need a morgue in
the basement of every church and a mortician on staff. Imagine if we were
singing, I surrender all, but if God the Holy
Spirit we're acting with the same level of
purity that he did here. Because if you're
not surrendering all at that moment, if you're
holding something back, and you're really not
surrendering all of your life, but you sing it, just
one person, boom, down. And you could hear the security
guards, yep, row three, she's down. Boom. Oh man, that couple's
down in the back. Wow, a whole bunch of
people are falling over, not slain in the Spirit,
slain by the spirit. I mean flat out dead, killed. Well, let's see it. They sold a possession,
verse 1, and kept back part of the proceeds. Now, at first, as we
get into this chapter, it would seem like Ananias
and Sapphira were doing the same thing Barnabas did. Barnabas sold land, laid
it at the apostles' feet. Ananias and Sapphira
perhaps even had good intentions at first,
and said, you know honey, we ought to do that. We've got some land
we're not using. Let's sell it in, and
let's give it away. Let's give them money. No problem. It's just like Barnabas. The failure here that
you're about to read, that we're about to
see, was not that they didn't give the right amount. Like well God is
going to kill you, because you didn't give
a big enough offering. It has nothing to
do at all with that. It's they misrepresented
what they gave. They said they gave one number,
but they were giving far less. They were both lying, so
that people would think, wow, so extravagant, such a
huge gift, like Barnabas. I'm certain that when Ananias
and Sapphira watched Barnabas sell land and give the
money to the apostles, they thought, notice how
the people are responding to what Barnabas just did. Did you hear the banter that
we are hearing in church? They're saying,
man Barnabas, what an awesome, amazing,
encouraging person. So spiritual is Barnabas,
and Ananias and Sapphira thought, man, and I want to
hear them say that about us. So let's sell the land. Let's not give it all. Let's just say we're giving it
all, but we'll keep back some. Now, that wouldn't be a problem. Peter's going to point
out, not a problem. All you'd have to say
is, hey Peter, you know, my wife and I sold some land. We sold it for this much. Our intention was to give it all
to the people in the church who could use the money, but we
just can't do that right now. We got to take
care of some bills, and we just need some
money to live on. So we're going to
give this much. That would be honest. The problem was their
dishonesty with it. So they kept back
part of the proceeds, and Peter said, Ananias, why
has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? Now, Peter's not
smiling at this point. Don't think of Peter, the
big old fisherman, Ananias. No, it's very, very somber here. 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? While it remained,
was it not your own, and after it was sold, was
it not in your own control? Why have you conceived
this thing in your heart? Notice this. You have not lied
to men, but to God. Did you notice, in the
first sentence, he says, you lied to the Holy Spirit. In the second, he
said, you lied to God. OK, so it's easy to
put those two together. What he means then is
the Holy Spirit is God. Please notice that. You've lied to the Holy Spirit. You've lied to God. If you lie to him,
you lie to Him. The Holy Spirit is not
an ambiguous force, as we talked about. It's a real person. It's the third person
of the Trinity. I speak to people
all the time who say, you Christians,
you evangelicals, you talk about trinity. The word trinity
isn't in the Bible. So the word rapture
isn't in the Bible, but the doctrine of the
rapture is in the Bible. The word Millennium
isn't in the Bible, but the doctrine of
the Millennial Kingdom is in the Bible. The word Bible isn't in the
Bible, but I've got one. The word trinity
isn't in the Bible, but the teaching of the
Trinity goes all the way back to Genesis 1:1, in the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God is the Hebrew
word Elohim, plural in meaning, singular and usage. In the beginning, Elohim,
that compound plurality, created the heavens
and the earth. Verse 2, the spirit of God
was hovering over the waters. The first time a distinct
personality of God is drawn up, it's in the second
verse of Genesis, and it's the Holy Spirit
hovering over the waters. Same chapter, I think down
around verse 26 or 27, God said, let us make
man in our image. So in the image of
God, He made man. The interchangeable use of
the plural and the singular let us make man. God made-- He made him. So the doctrine of the Trinity
begins all the way back as far as Genesis
and is developed and fully revealed
in the new covenant. So you've not lied to man. You've lied to the Holy Spirit,
so you have lied to God. Then Ananias,
hearing these words-- I don't know what the
look on his face is like-- fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all
those who heard these things. I can imagine. Can you picture
what this is like? Ananias walks up in
front of the meeting with his offering of money. The organist softly
playing I Surrender All. Anonias puts that offering
down, but suddenly he feels something in his chest
grabs, and his breath is short and just, bam, falls
over, breathes his last. He kicks the bucket. He's deader than a doornail. And so great fear
came upon all who heard these things and the young
men arose and wrapped him up and carried him
out and buried him. When I read about
it, and I don't want you to think that Anonias
went to hell, he just died. I think he was a true believer. My opinion, he is a
believer in Christ, because he had faith in Jesus. He's not saved by works. He's not saved by selling
land and giving the money. He's saved by faith
through grace, period. It's like, do not pass go. Do not collect $200,
just boom, die, heaven. But God removed
him, a subtraction, and I think about somebody
else who was not saved, and that is Judas Iscariot. Who also pretended to really
be a caring individual. When that woman broke that vase
of costly ointment, and Judas protested, and
said, what a waste. This could have been sold
and given to the poor, and he said this because
he was a hypocrite. And he kept the money, and he
was taking from it for himself, without any accountability. Anonias was a hypocrite, and his
wife was party to it as well. So verse 7, 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, yeah, for so much. 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, breathes her last. And the young men came in and
found her dead, carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear--
there it is again-- came upon all the
church and upon all who heard these things. What kind of a
meeting with this be? One dies, another dies,
and then the young men who bury those two are looking
around like, OK, who's next? You're just like, I
ain't saying a word. I'm not given a thing. I'm just watching. Sad when you consider that the
very first Christian funeral in the book of Acts
was for a hypocrite. Two of them, just a few
hours apart, on the same day. Now, how should we give? When we give, we should
give simply and honestly. As Paul writes, not
grudgingly, nor of necessity, but every man should give as he
purposes in his heart, for God loves a cheerful giver. Anonias and Sapphira, just
be honest, come clean, say what you want to give. It doesn't matter how much. It should be done simply. It should be done sincerely. It should be done
for the glory of God. All these things were
not present in this gift. Now, I want to just focus
on something for a moment, because we read this and we
go, man, people actually died? That's kind of harsh. Well, if they went to heaven-- if you wake up in heaven, would
you go, man, that was harsh. Yeah, this is harsh. Awesome, but harsh. Totally cool, but harsh. No, I don't think so. It seems to those left,
yeah, this is harsh. We know them. We're going to miss them, but
why would the Lord do this? Well, let me make this even
a little harder for you. Not only does this
happen here, but it would seem that physical
death, in the form of God judging believers
in the early church, was not unheard of, even
as the church developed. When Paul writes
to the Corinthians, do you remember when he
talks about the Lord's supper and people gathered together? They don't take it with
the right intention, the right motivation,
mixed motivations. And he said, for this
reason, many among you are sick and have died. So it wasn't unheard of,
even in other congregations besides Jerusalem. And then what about when Paul
writes to the Corinthians and he said, concerning
unrepentant ones in the church, deliver them to Satan, for
the destruction of the flesh that their spirit might be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus. Remember that in
first Corinthians 5? I think that's the text. If you look at it later,
that's the text, and that's it. So he says, you deliver one to
Satan, to the realm of Satan. You deliver that
believer to the world, that their flesh
may be destroyed, that the spirit would be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus, perhaps meaning that the
physical death was in punishing them for being an unbeliever. But because they were believers,
lest they fall any further and influence any more, that
the Lord would take them off this earth. That their spirit would be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps, that's what
he was referring to. So great fear, verse 11,
came upon all the church and upon all who
heard these things. And through the hands
of the apostles, many signs and wonders
were done among the people, and they were all with one
accord in Solomon's porch, not the coffee shop, the temple. Yet, none of the
rest dared join them. You can't blame them. I'm not going to that church. I know it's welcome weekend, but
I ain't going to that church. People die there. None of the rest,
probably meaning the rest of onlookers, mixed
motive people, unbelievers, didn't dare join them, but the
people esteemed them highly. Hi, God bless you. Stay away from me. And believers were increasingly
added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. See on one hand,
you have people who are not going to
join the bandwagon, and just do it
because they have-- It's something other than
the purest of motives, but on the other hand,
true believers did join. They were increasingly
added to the Lord. Multitudes, so the
Lord's multiplying after he has subtracted. And I have discovered
that when God subtracts, he does it in order
that he might multiply. The Lord adds. The Lord multiplies. The Lord subtracts, but
when he subtracts here, he does it that
he might multiply. So multitudes were coming,
both men and women. So they brought the sick
out into the streets and lay them on
beds and couches, that at least the shadow
of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also, a multitude gathered
from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing
sick people and those who were tormented
by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. What's up with Peter's shadow? Was it mystical
and magical shadow? Who knows what evil lurks
in the hearts of men. Only the shadow knows. Do you remember that
television show? You're dating yourself
if you know it. See, I remember it. You remember it? On what? Radio plays, yes, so it's an
old black and white thing, isn't it? So I think it might have
even been before my time, but I saw reruns, how's that? Peter's shadow, I believe,
provided a point of contact for people who had a disease
to release their faith, nothing magical about
Peter's shadow, nothing mystical about Peter's shadow. But people thought if
Peter's shadow falls on me, I'm going to be healed. So when Peter walked by
in the shadow hit them, they released their faith,
and they were healed. That's what I
believe is happening. I think it's much like
the hem of Jesus' garment. The woman said, if I can just
touch the hem of his garment. Is it because he had
a magical garment? Is it because he
had mystical powers? No, because she believed
there was power with Jesus. She believed that Jesus
wanted to heal her, and all she had to do
is touch the garment, and I believe now is the time. This is the rationale behind
pouring oil or putting oil on somebody who is sick. The Bible tells us the elders
of the church lay hands on them. There's nothing
magical about my hands. It doesn't have anything
in it, except germs. There's nothing
magical about oil. It's just that we do it,
and it's a point of contact. The laying on of
hands, the smearing are pouring on of oil, for
you to release your faith. And we do that in obedience to
what the Bible tells us to do, and we have seen the Lord in
the affirmative heal people, not without
exception, but often. And so we do that. And so the Peter-- the Peter of shadow-- the
shadow of Peter falling somewhere healed. Verse 17, then the
high priest rose up, and all who were
with him, witches of the sect of the Sadducees,
and they laid their hands on the apostles. Put them in the common
prison, but at night, an angel of the Lord
opened the prison doors and brought them out and
said, go stand in the temple and speak to the people
all the words of this life. So this is the first
jail break, and it's the angel who sprung them. And when they heard this,
they entered the temple, early in the morning and taught. But the high priest,
and those with him, came and called the
council together. That's the Sanhedrin
that we talked about, with all the elders,
the children of Israel, and sent to the prison
to have them brought. But when the officers
came, and did not find them in the prison, they returned
and reported saying, indeed we have found the
person securely shut, and the guards standing
outside before the doors. But when we opened them,
we found no one inside. When the high priest, the
captain of the temple, and the chief priests
heard these things, they wondered what
the outcome would be. Man, where is this
all going to lead? Just when we're getting
our council together to put an end to
this, it gets worse. So one came and told
them saying, look, the men whom you
put in prison are standing in the temple
teaching the people. Then, the captain
went with the officers and brought them notices
without violence. They're smiling this time. For they feared the people,
lest they should be stoned. There's people being healed. You're not going to easily
brush this into a corner. And when they had
brought them, they set them before the council,
and the high priest asked them, did we not strictly command
you not to teach in this name? Remember back in chapter 4? A law was passed not to preach
in Jesus' name in Jerusalem. Now, listen to this. And look, you have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine. Oh, that the enemies of God
today would say that about us. That we might have an accusation
from the people in Albuquerque, man, you filled Albuquerque, in,
New Mexico with this doctrine. I want them to say that. I want to fill this
place up with truth. I want to let everybody
hear the gospel. You say, well, how
is that possible? Just get filled with the spirit
and preach the word of God with boldness. They'll hear. Now, listen to this. Probably have to end here. And look you have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring
this man's blood on us. Interesting thing to say. You're trying to bring this
man's blood on us, like it's our fault. It's interesting,
because they asked specifically that this would happen,
just a few weeks ago. I'm going to read to you, out
of Matthew chapter 27, the trial of Jesus before Pilate. This is Matthew 27 verse 20,
the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes that
they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and
said to them, which of the two do you want me to
release to you? They said Barabbas, and
Pilate said to them, what shall I do with Jesus
who is called Christ? They said to him,
let him be crucified. Then the governor said, why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more
saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he
could not prevail at all, but rather a tumult
was rising, he took water, washed his hands
before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the
blood of this just person. You see to it,
and all the people answered and said, his blood
be on us and our children. Then, he released
Barabbas to them, and when he scourged Jesus, he
delivered him to be crucified. A few weeks later, in
the same temple area, they're saying, what
are you trying to do, bring this man's blood on us? They asked for that. Now, they're trying to
kind of worm their way out of what they asked for. But Peter and the other
apostles answered and said, we ought to obey
God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom you murdered. This is almost a repetition
of what he said in chapter 2, at that first message. Him God exalted
to the right hand to be Prince and Savior, to
give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit. Notice the relationship they
have, cognizant of that person. The Holy Spirit, whom God has
given to those who obey him. When they heard this
they, were furious, and they plotted to kill them. And one in the council
stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a
teacher of the law, held in respect
by all the people, and commanded them
to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to
them, men of Israel, take heed to yourselves
what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago, Theudas stood
up, claiming to be someone, a number of about
400 joined him. He was slain, all who
obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this man,
Judas of Galilee, rose up in the
days of the census and drew away many
people after him, he also perished, and all who
obeyed him were dispersed. Let me just say that
what he is saying here about two previous uprisings
are both corroborated by Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian
in his historical works, with a little bit of
variety, a little bit of different details. I say to you now, keep
away from these men. Let them alone. For if this plan or
this work is of men, it will come to nothing,
but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest
you even be found to fight against God. And they agreed with him, and
they called for the apostles, and they beat him
up, roughed him up. Told them that they should
not speak any more of Jesus, and they let them go. So they departed from the
presence of the council, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. That's what I should have done
when my motorcycle was burned, but seeing that double overhead
cam 450 Honda, which I still wish I had to this day, go up
in flames, never to be replaced. It was hard for me to
rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus. And I'll tell you
what, in India, I rejoiced when God answered
our prayer and they dispersed. But I don't know how to rejoice
if I'd have gotten beat up. They got beat up, and they're
just happy that they did it for the right reason, or it
happened for the right reason. And daily in the temple,
verse 42, now we close. We got through the end. And in every house, in the
temple and in every house, they did not cease
teaching and preaching that Jesus is the Christ. As we close, understand that
the guy who stood up, Gamaliel, he was speaking
to the Sadducees. But Gamaliel was a Pharisee,
very respected teacher in Israel, the grandson
of the respected Hillel, if you know Jewish history. Hillel was a very esteemed
rabbinical scholar. This is the grandson
of Hillel Gamaliel, and he was the mentor
of Paul the Apostle. And according to
ancient Jewish writings, Gamaliel had only one problem,
he said, with Paul the Apostle. And that is he couldn't supply
this man, Saul of Tarsus, with enough books to read. He was such a voracious
reader of books. He wanted to learn. He want to understand. Anything that was committed
to writing, he wanted. He asked Timothy, or when he
wrote to the second Timothy, bring the books
and the parchments. The guy was a
reader, and the Lord used him as one who spoke
to a variety of audiences. So just a little
FYI, we're over time. Let's pray. Father, thank you that we could
consider the whole chapter of this incredible book
of Acts, part of chapter 4 and all of chapter 5. And Lord, to really be
amazed at the example that is set by early believers
on what they thought was important when they
come to approach God. Like the pattern that was
given by Jesus when he said, pray this way. Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Your name. And so they said,
Lord, you are God. You made the heavens,
the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them. Who by the mouth of
Your servant David. Lord, such a beautiful
example of having all the right elements. Adoration as well as petition,
peppered with scripture, so we have a basis
of faith to believe that You the sovereign
autocratic ruler of the universe can do anything. Being very specific in
what we ask for, and then to see, not only did
you answer that prayer by giving them boldness,
but you shook the very place where they assembled. Lord, shake us up. Shake our lives. Make us bold that we might
fill this city, our state, this country with your doctrine. In Jesus' name, we pray, and
all God's people said, amen. Let's all stand. For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org. [MUSIC PLAYING]
