The Movement is Purged
“The fear of God will help us be faithful to God.”
In this chapter, I want us to learn about the deity of the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit is God, we must fear Him the same way we have a reverential fear of God the Father.
Remember that the book of Acts is the story of the early church. This is the first sinful event in the life of the early church. In fact, it is in this text that we have the word “church” (Gk. Ekklesia) is used for the first time in the book of Acts.
This is the first public discipline of sin within the Movement. In order to get a full sense of what happened here in chapter 5, it’s important to set this text in context. Let’s review what happened so far.
On the Day of Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit came and the church was born (Acts 2). There were miraculous evidence that God is at work and that something remarkable was happening. Then the gospel is preached and 3,000 people believe and were baptized on the same day. Then we met the lame beggars in chapter 3 who was miraculously healed by Peter and John, and then gospel was preached, and another 5,000 men were added to the church and it’s all flourishing, and it’s all joyful. Then persecution erupted in chapter 4, in response, the whole church prayed and they were filled again with the Holy Spirit. And you remember the result? The Holy Spirit filled the entire church resulting in two things:
Outreach - boldness in sharing the gospel to outsiders
Enrich - gladness in sharing their goods with each other
Now, I want us to focus on the second result, the Enrich part. This is “Koinonia,” the sense of community, oneness of the church.
According to John Piper, there are two of the effects of believing in Jesus:
The heart is tightened in its relationship with people, and
The heart is loosened in relationship to things
We see this in verse 32:
Acts 4:32
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
Notice the word “believed.” This is the key: believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord, trusting him for all you need, being satisfied with all that God is for you in Jesus—that's the key, that's the root of what's happening in Acts. Everything good comes from that.
Now this authentic believing in Jesus has two effects:
The heart is tightened in its relationship to people - “those who believed were of one heart and soul,”
When you become united to Jesus by faith, you have this spirit of Koinonia with other believers, you become united to people by love.
The heart is loosened in relationship to things - “no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”
And what Luke does to make this real for us is to give us two examples—Barnabas, a genuinely converted man whose heart is really tightened in its relationship to people and loosened in relationship to things in v.37.
Acts 4:37
Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
And the other example is Ananias and Sapphira stand for the exact opposite of Barnabas, namely, hypocrisy, they were not genuinely converted. Instead of hearts loosened in relationship to things, their hearts were tightened to things. And to make matters worse, this is all in relation to the Holy Spirit.
Hypocrisy is ablatant sin again God. Jesus judged the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. It is devastating. It is exposed. It is exposed because the Lord exposes it. Normally, it’s not exposed. It normally survives for a very long time, a very long time. But here, the Holy Spirit exposed it and purged it out.
This is where I want us to focus our study this morning. I want us to learn 4 lessons about the danger of lying against the Holy Spirit. Here God wants His church to be faithful to Him, so He is teaching them to be fearful of Him.
Four Things to Cultivate to Fear of God
I. BE CAUTIOUS OF A SUPERFICIAL DEVOTION
Acts 5:1
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
V.1 begins with “But,” which is a word of contrast. We know something is up. In contrast to the genuine change and generosity of Barnabas in Acts 4:37 comes Ananias and Sapphira, who probably saw what Barnabas had done, and so decided to sell property as well.
Ananias’ name means “the Lord is gracious” and Sapphira’s name means “sapphire, beautiful, jewel.” So their names mean gracious and beautiful. But their deeds were anything but gracious and beautiful.
Acts 5:2
and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Obviously, they had publicly declared they were going to give it all. That was what others were doing back in chapter 4. In rich generosity, there’s gratitude. There’s affection. There’s love. There’s honor. There’s praise being heaped on the people making the sacrifice, and Ananias and Sapphira want to get in on this. So they decide they’re going to sell a piece of property, and they make a public declaration that they’re going to give all the proceeds, that it’s all going to go for God, but this is a complete pretense. They are like Pharisees, Matthew 6, “Doing their alms before men,” to be seen.
But they “Kept back,” (Gk. nosphizō) means “to embezzle,” “to put aside for oneself, to keep back” in a secret and dishonest way. It is an uncommon word, which was used also in the Septuagint in the story of Achan (Josh. 7:1), who received a sentence of death for holding back some of the spoils from Ai that were dedicated to God.
Ananias and Sapphira made a pretense of giving all the proceeds, but when they realized that the money was so big, they changed their minds. This was a pretended devotion. Ananias and Sapphira’s sin was not that they failed to give everything, but that they were pretending to have a devotion to God that they did not have.
Remember, God did not command that they give it all. People were giving as a result of the Holy Spirit filling their lives.
What we do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants for God loves what? A cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7).
Are you pretending a devotion to God that you cannot support and sustain?
Be cautious of a pretending devotion.
II. BE AWARE OF A SHREWD DECEPTION
Acts 5:2
and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
This wasn’t an honest mistake but a premeditated deception. Why? Notice what Peter said.
Acts 5:3
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
Did you think you could fool the Holy Spirit? This is so ugly in God’s eyes, so ugly. To paint spiritual devotion where it doesn’t exist, to paint generosity where it doesn’t exist, but it happens in the church all the time.
Brethren, it’s not wrong not to give everything you have. It’s not wrong to hang onto your property. That’s a choice God allows you to make. The Lord has given us richly all things to enjoy. It’s just wrong to lie. It’s wrong to pretend you’re generous when you’re not. Why? Because you’re lying to the Holy Spirit.
Ananias and Sapphira are both guilty of premeditated lying. And Peter somehow traces back this lying to Satan. Every lie originates with Satan.
John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
According to Jesus, whenever we tell a lie, we are acting like the devil. But what made this lying so severe and contemptuous was that Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit (v.3). And according to Peter in v.4
Acts 5:4
“…You have not lied to man but to God.”
The Holy Spirit revealed the seriousness of this premeditated deception. God the Holy Spirit told Peter that Ananias and Sapphira were lying. Lying is a serious sin, but it is most serious to lie to God.
Not only is it most serious, but it is also foolish to lie to God because the Holy Spirit was there from the beginning and saw it all. This premeditating deception was a direct assault on the Holy Spirit.
III. BE SURE OF A SPIRITUAL DETECTION
Peter, under the direction of the Holy Spirit immediately detected their deception.
Acts 5:3-4
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
Peter imagines that this might be the way you would act if there were some external pressures on you, if this were not a matter of freedom. So he tells Ananias that there is no such pressure in giving to the Church. These people were acting out of freedom, moved by the Holy Spirit. That's what true faith means—an authentic change of where your heart is, so that your acts of love are free—they are what you want to do, not what you feel coerced to do.
So Peter says in verse 4: "While [your property] remained unsold, did it not remain your own?" There aren't any church rules here that say you have to sell your property . . . that it's not yours anymore. Ananias, if people around you are saying: "My possessions are not mine anymore," this is not because they have to say this. It's because they want to say this. They've been changed from the inside out by trusting in Jesus. They're free.
Then he goes on (v. 4b): "And after [your property] was sold, was it not at your disposal?" In other words, nobody coerced you to bring any of your money in here. If your heart doesn't tell you bring it, don't bring it.
What the Holy Spirit is describing for us here in this story is the radically freeing effect of true faith in Jesus with the filling of the Holy Spirit.
“Christianity is not a matter of external conformity to religious expectations. It is a matter of internal liberty. It is not a matter of force and law. It's a matter of freedom and love. Being a Christian means being changed from the inside out so that you fall in love with people and fall out of love with things.” (John Piper)
Four Things Wrong with Ananias and Sapphira
They wanted to look more generous than they really were. They wanted the apostles to think that they were like Barnabas perhaps. They wanted external religious approval. They not only loved money, they loved the praise of men—the two almost always go together (Luke 16:14–15).
They loved their money. They made the sale, they looked at all that cash, and they couldn't bear the thought of giving it all away. So they kept some back (v. 2).
They lied (vv. 3–4). To cover their covetousness, and to give the impression of generosity, they lied. They lied to the Holy Spirit. Verse 4 says they lied not to man but to God. Verse 9 says they tempted the Lord.
And this always comes with hypocrisy—they discredited the Holy Spirit. If you love possessions and you love the praise of men, your love for truth will dissolve into deception and fraud. That's the meaning of hypocrisy.
IV. BE WARNED OF A SANCTIFIED DESTRUCTION
Acts 5:5a
When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
Just imagine the heart of Ananias after Peter exposed his sin. Peter says, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You blatant Satan-influenced liar,” in front of the whole church. His conscience went into immediate tremors. His heart surely began to beat fiercely as he was trapped in the horrors of his hypocrisy. You could say he died of a ruptured heart, or you could say God killed him, but whatever happened, no doubt he was so literally terrified of that moment that he must have been horror-stricken. And he immediately died.
And notice the result of this incident.
Acts 5:5b
…And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
This death serves as an object lesson for everyone— to fear God.
“The fear of God will help us be faithful to God.”
Fear (Gk. Phobos) in response to a manifestation of God’s presence involves both reverent awe and a healthy fear of God’s displeasure and discipline.
Acts 5:6
The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
The Jews did not embalm but, customarily, buried the dead the same day, especially someone who died by divine judgment (see Deut. 21:22, 23). Remember, touching dead bodies makes them unclean, so they have to get rid of them immediately.
Acts 5:7-11
After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
This discipline was a severe judgment. Both Ananias and Sapphira died.
This is an example of “sin unto death” in the Bible.
The reason they drop dead is not that this happens to all hypocrites. For example, it doesn't happen to Simon the Magician in Acts 8:20–24. The reason they drop dead is to give a stunning warning to the whole church that hypocrisy will all end up this way, sooner or later.
God means for his people to fear hypocrisy. He means for us to be afraid of treating the Holy Spirit with contempt. Notice at the end of verse 5, after Ananias had died: "And great fear came upon all who heard of it." Then again in verse 11 after Sapphira died, "And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things." This is the lesson Luke wants us to get: faking faith in the presence of God is a fearful thing.
Acts 9:31
"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied."
The fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit bring peace and growth to the church. Treating the Lord with contempt by religious fakery should remain a fearful prospect in the church. God is not mocked. And the Holy Spirit is great comfort here, because it is precisely by his indwelling power that we become real and authentic.
There will be severe judgment if we challenge God; if it is a premeditated conspiracy and confrontation between that which Satan has placed in the heart and that which the Holy Spirit has warned against.
1 John 5:16
There comes a time when a child of God can so challenge God that they go to Heaven sooner than they should. Moses died prematurely.
It was a saving judgment.
It saved Ananias and Sapphira from further sin. God is loving and kind, and He did this in mercy. (2) 1 Corinthians 5:5. God is more interested in the spirit of man than his body.
It saved the early church from the pollution of hypocrisy.
It brought salvation to the lost.
The worst thing that could happen to a church would be for the church to be so filled with hypocrisy and superficiality that unsaved people can see no difference between it and the world. (Acts 5:14)
It saved succeeding generations from hypocrisy.
God will do certain things in the physical world as an example of how He feels about it in the spiritual. (a) Jude 1:7
CONCLUSION
Sin among the saints is more serious than sin among the lost. Sin against the Holy Spirit is very serious. Be on guard against hypocrisy in your life.
Ask God to search your heart.
Do not pretend a devotion greater than you have.
Do not let a hypocrite keep you away from Jesus Christ.
People often say that they do not want to be a member of a church because it’s so full of hypocrites. It is better to be in a church with a few of them than be in hell with all of them forever.
A church filled with the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped by superficiality. The church in Acts 5 continued to grow.
Do not be superficial
Do not be shrewd
Be real, and God will guide you.
God desires you to be saved today. Do you know Jesus personally? If not, you can pray to Him today by asking Him to come into your life. Call upon Jesus today. Repent (turn) from your sins, and turn to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life.
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