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Acts 5:1-13 Revival brings Judgment REVIEW: After Christ’s life, teachings, crucifixion & resurrection it wasn’t the end of the story… It was actually the beginning of God’s next move… The Old Covenant of Law was REPLACED by a New Covenant of Grace… • No longer was there that hopeless struggle to be right with God through works or obedience. • Now, forgiveness of sin & Salvation was available through faith in Christ’s work on the cross… (dependent upon God’s ability not ours) The Apostles, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit on the day of were changed forever… Now they have new hope, new vision, new power… • - Peter & John, on the way to prayer encountered a lame man & healed in ’ name. • As the crowds gathered they preached the G… • - Arrested by powerful religious leaders of that time they were put in jail over night. • But as soon as they gained an audience with these leaders they preached the Gospel again… • The apostles seemed unstoppable because they were filled with the Holy Spirit! (4:8) … • The religious Jews who were visiting for Pentecost and got saved didn’t want to go home… Solution - 4:32-35…

Page 1 of 7 And that’s where our story picks up. Acts 4:36-37 (READ & EXPLAIN) … • Undoubtedly people like were highly esteemed for their great sacrifice… • Possibly so esteemed that Ananias & Sapphira (Chapter 5 were envious and sought attention, approval or praise from the church…) • But as we will see, it didn’t turn out so well… READ Acts 5:1-13… PRAY • After they saw the great generosity of Barnabas and how well he was respected (Acts 4:36-37), decided they wanted to receive the similar recognition and admiration. o There is a great danger of doing even a good thing for the wrong motive… o Why do YOU do the things you do? For the Lord? Or for recognition? … Pride… • Test: Does it bother you when people don’t notice? Are you hurt, jealous or angry when people don’t notice your hard work or great worth? … Only God knows our heart. And God knows our true motives and attitudes… “…O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my every thought when far away. You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to know! I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!” Psalms 139:1-7, NLT.

Page 2 of 7 You can fool others. But you can never fool God! … V:2 “Kept back”? … The ancient Greek word for kept back is nosphizomai, which means “to misappropriate.” • The same word was used of Achan’s theft in the Greek translation of the OT (Joshua 7:21). • The only other time nosphizomai is used in the NT, it means to “steal” or “embezzle” (Titus 2:10).

“The story of Ananias is to the Book of Acts what the story of Achan is to the book of Joshua. In both narratives an act of deceit interrupts the victorious progress of the people of God.” (Bruce) V:2b Also tells us that Ananias was not doing this behind his wife’s back or without her knowledge… • Did they come up with this plan together or was Sapphira a reluctant partner? … • Did they start out with the right heart but once they had all that cash in hand somehow changed? • We may never know for sure the answers… But oh how the love of money can corrupt… “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:9-12, NKJV.

Page 3 of 7 V:3-4 Peter receives a “word of knowledge” … “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,” 1 Corinthians 12:7, 8, NKJV. Peter asks several important questions… 1. (V:3) Why has Satan filled your heart to lie? • Understand that Peter received insight that this act of deception was demonically inspired. (explain...) • But also understand that Ananias had responsibility and choice in this matter as well… 2. V:4b “Why have you conceived this thing in your heart”? (EXPLAIN) … (Personal responsibility)… V:4 More revealing questions… • While it remained was it not your own? • After it was sold, was it not in your control? • We see here that nobody was forcing them to perform this act… • This was NOT the requirement of the church… • This was simply a selfish act disguised as an act of godliness to make them look good AND $$$... So THEIR SIN was NOT, “Not giving all to God”… THEIR SIN was GREED & DECEPTION… But perhaps their GREATEST SIN was PRIDE… The sin that led to Satan’s fall… (Is 14:12-15)

Page 4 of 7 Their sin is imitated in many ways today. We can create or allow the impression that we are people of reading or prayer when we are not. We can create or allow the impression that we have it all together when we do not. We can exaggerate our spiritual accomplishments or effectiveness to appear something we are not. It is too easy to be happy with the image of spirituality without the reality of spiritual life. - Guzik READ V:3-4 AGAIN… • There are many temptations for us today… o Money, sex, fame, reputation… • And then there is Satan to tempt us… o V:3 “…SATAN filled your heart to lie”… • But YOU have the final say… o V:4b “YOU conceived this thing in your heart” Don’t miss ONE MORE THING (theological) … WHO did Ananias lie to? V:3b “…To lie to the Holy Spirit”. V:4b “You have lied… to God” (EXPLAIN) V:5 Peter was probably surprised… • No intention to kill… • But notice the result of true revival… (V:5) o With great power, great grace, (4:33) comes great responsibility and great judgment. o Do you really want to go back to the days of the early church? … o Do you really want “revival”? o I wonder who would survive?

Page 5 of 7 What Ananias did must be seen in the context of its time. This was a critical stage for the early church and such impurity, sin, scandal and satanic infiltration could have corrupted the entire church at its root. “The Church has never been harmed or hindered by opposition from without; it has been perpetually harmed and hindered by perils from within.” (Morgan) “The Church’s administration to-day is not what it was, or there might be many dead men and women at the end of some services.” V:6-7 Explain same day burial custom… V:8 This was Sapphira’s big chance to tell truth… V:9-10 You don’t have to take part in your spouse’s sin. You don’t have to lie, cheat, steal… (sexual sin) You don’t have to partner in any way with sin… V:11 This was a GOOD FEAR… “Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.” 1 Samuel 12:24, NKJV. “Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” Psalms 34:9, NKJV. “You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.” Psalms 115:11, NKJV. “He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great.” Psalms 115:13, NKJV. “Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.” Proverbs 3:7, NKJV. Dr. J. Edwin Orr’s last sermon was titled Revival is Like Judgment Day. In it, he describes how the coming of revival is almost always marked by a radical work of God in dealing with the sins of believers.

Page 6 of 7 We see in V:11 that this fear extended even to the unbelievers and true were “esteemed” … • What a difference sin & scandal makes in the church. (Impotence) The world points and laughs… • But Revival brings Judgment brings respect… “Revival means judgment day. Judgment on missionaries, pastors, people, and then fear falls on the world and God’s name is glorified. People have such a wrong idea of what revival means… They think of revival as something triumphant and, shall we say, an overflow of great blessing. It’s judgment day for the church. But after the judgment, and after things are settled, it is blessing abounding.” (Orr) Q. Did Ananias and Sapphira go to heaven? It is impossible to say for certain, for only God knows. But we can see that it is possible for a Christian to sin unto death (1John 5:16-17), and we have examples of saved Christians being judged by being “brought home” in death (1Corinthians 11:27-32). “True Christians do not lose their salvation by sinning. The punishment of Ananias and Sapphira, though extreme, was for this life only.” (Boice) The real Question is: Dare WE pray for revival? A. Only if we also pray for forgiveness and holiness! For we cannot expect TRUE REVIVAL without TRUE REPENTANCE! PRAY

(pray potluck)

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