Temptation & Truth

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 apostles' feet. Now the implication is that he represented that he gave all. Everyone else was giving all, but he concocted this idea that he was going to keep a part of it and yet represent that he had given all.

But Peter said in verse 3, 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 in thine own power? Remember, you didn't have to give it, you didn't have to give it, there's no requirement, there's no, you know, no church rule or regulation, it was in your power to do whatever you wanted to, you didn't even have to sell it. Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Now it's not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came upon all them that heard these things.

And the young man 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, Yea, for so much.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that you have agreed to gather to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, to test 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 man came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as had heard these things. So we've been talking about a lot of good things, you know, boldness, selling goods. But here's something that's rather sobering and fearful.

When you think about it, something that happened in the early church, and has happened throughout church life for years, ever since the early church. So let's pray, and then we're going to look at these verses here and learn some things about the Lord and how he operates. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the Word of God, I pray for inspiration in my own heart this morning, and Lord what a sobering thought, and Lord may our hearts fear also for you, and tremble as we even heard this morning.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Lord, may you bring the fear of God to each one of our hearts, and we know that the fear of God is a good thing. It's the beginning of wisdom, so may the fear of God rest upon each of our hearts this morning.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, some passages in the Bible are given to us to cause us to have a fear of God. And this is one of them here.

Now I want you to realize that in the early church here in the book of Acts, in the last couple of chapters that we've been looking at, the power of God, the power of God is on the early church. Many evidences, the power of God, the Spirit of God has been poured out, and we've seen the power of God. And the power of God is simply the Holy Ghost.

You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And so God in the person of the Holy Spirit is present in the early church. God is present.

Like he was in the Old Testament temple or tabernacle, the Shekinah glory, God is there. And he's amongst his people. He's in his people.

And you see this as we look at Acts chapter 4, all the testimonies here of power and grace. In chapter 4, verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all. And that grace is the Spirit of grace.

The Spirit of the Lord Jesus was upon them all in a mighty way. Verse 31, when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness. So we have the Spirit of God is moving.

God, help us to have some of that more in our day. Amen. But the Spirit of God is moving.

And one thing, as we've seen already, is the Spirit of God is causing them all to have a boldness in their testimony, a boldness in their witness. It's also causing them to lay aside their excess, lay aside their wealth. And you'll find that when there's revival, revival breaks out.

There's two things that happen in revival. And whenever you see revival, these are the two hallmarks. You know the Spirit of God is moving in a revival when you see people being bold in their witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and you see them laying aside the things of this world and the cares of this life and even selling their goods and saying, enough of this materialism, enough of this vanity.

I want to serve the living God. That's when the Spirit of God is really moving. You find the church today timid, fearful.

The world is full of giants. We're not going to go out there. And you find the church just living for wealth and ease and comfort.

It's not a time of revival. And yet in the early church when the Spirit of God was upon them, they had a bold testimony and they also were cutting loose of their materialism. Of course, Jesus was bold.

He was in them. Jesus was the one who said, if you're going to follow me, I don't have a place to lay my head. He was not one who was building mansions.

He was not one who was driving the finest vehicles or the chariots. He was not one who had the finest horses. He was the one who was giving himself to the kingdom of God.

And so now Jesus is in them, in power. So you're going to see the same life being lived out in each one of them. And so the power of God is amongst the church, and God is really present here.

And I want to emphasize that this morning. So where God's Spirit is, there is power. And we see some evidence of this.

And I see both sides. And here's something I want you to see from this passage. We see the power of God in both sides.

We see Peter. Can you imagine being Peter for a minute? Just maybe a few weeks or a few days earlier, Peter's walking in the temple, and he sees a lame man there. We saw it in Acts 3. And he sees the power of God coming through him.

And he says, in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. Wouldn't it be great if you could do that? You know, you could see a lame man who had been lame all his life rise up and walk. And Peter says, my, the power of God is here.

And the power of God is here to bring life, to bring healing. And in a week or two, he stands in front of two people, and he says, you sold the land for so much, and they saved for so much. And he says, you're tempting the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord, and you're going to die.

That's the same Peter. In one sense, the power of the Lord was appointed to bring life and healing and blessing, and this same Peter now, the same power of God, is bringing about death and judgment. So you see the goodness here and the severity of God.

God is in their midst in a real way, and God is showing the goodness of his nature in blessing and healing and saving and delivering, and he's also showing here the severity of God in his judgment in bringing death here to Ananias and Sapphira. So it's an amazing story. I'd like you to turn with me here.

I'm going to ask you to turn to a couple of places here. I want to read some passages. I want to just teach you to clarify some things about this whole story and this subject.

But in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul mentions the power that he had, not only to edification, the building up of the church, but also to destruction. And he tells the church, even though the church is not willing to repent and the church is having many people living in sin, that he tells them, listen, I'm going to come to you the third time, and I'd really love to come and edify you by the power of the Spirit of God, but I may have to come with a rod and destroy. I don't want to do it.

And I thank God this morning that the Lord is much more into edification. The Lord is much more into salvation and lifting people up and healing and strengthening than he is into destruction. Sometimes the power of God brings destruction.

And we see that here. In 2 Corinthians chapter 13, and I'm not going to read down through this whole thing, but look at verse number 10. Paul writes here, the church is living rather, well, they're not living a very good life.

Christians, verse 10, he says, Therefore I write these things being absent lest being present I should do sharpness according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification and not to destruction. So God has given me power, Paul says, and that power is primarily in God's heart is for edification. I don't think God desires to destroy anything.

As a matter of fact, it says he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But yet there is a time that the Lord brings destruction. If you go back to chapter 13, verse 1, it says, This is the third time I'm coming to you.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time and being absent. Now I write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all others that if I come again I will not spare since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me which to you is not weak but is mighty in you.

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. And so here's a church that's having issues. I'm not going to read about some of the issues.

There's fornication going on. There's debate. There's envy.

There's strife. There's backbiting. By the way, some of these things are pretty serious things.

Backbiting. You know what backbiting is? It's talking evil about people behind their backs. Backbiters.

It's right up there with fornicators. You've got strife and debate, swellings, tumults, people boasting of their abilities, and a lot of this stuff going on. And Paul says, listen, I want to come to you with the power of God.

I want to bring some edification. But I may have to bring some destruction and bring judgment upon sin. And sometimes destruction does come.

And there's a couple of examples of this in the New Testament. Of course, Ananias is a fiery one. But back to 1 Corinthians in chapter number 4. You don't have to turn there.

I'll just read it. In verse 18, there's a man here that's involved in immorality. And he's not repentant.

He's in the church. He claims to be a Christian. In verse 18, it says, now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you.

But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. Again, this idea of power. I'm going to show you some power.

There's someone here in the church who is puffed up about their immorality. As a matter of fact, they're having a sexual relationship with what appears to be the mother-in-law. Ungodly things.

And yet there's a puffed upness about it. They arrogance about it. And Paul is saying, you ought to be careful.

God is going to deal with this situation. Then in chapter 5, in verse number 1, it says, It's reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And you're puffed up, and have not rather mourned.

This is where God is wanting us to be. Mourning over sin. That he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

Now listen to this. For I, verily, as absent in the body, but present in the spirit, have already judged, as though I were present concerning him that hath done this deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we are gathered together, and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the power of the Spirit of God, to deliver such one unto Satan for the destruction.

Here's the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, this whole idea of, you know, the power of God. Oftentimes we think of it, the power of God to preach the gospel of boldness.

The power of God to break us free from our desires for riches, and to sell our goods, and to give them for the kingdom. Great things, we see the power of God. But the power of God is also for chastening and judgment amongst God's people.

And Ananias and Sapphira, unfortunately, found that out. Now this destruction, if you go through the Bible, and you're seeing examples here, but this destruction occurs because of willful, arrogant, flaunting, sinful behavior. Willful behavior.

And with Ananias and Sapphira, it was willful deceiving. They willfully, I mean, they concocted this together, they were of one accord, they agreed, and they came, and they willfully and purposely, with intent, deceived. The apostles are trying to deceive the apostles.

Here in 1 Corinthians 5, the individual is going to go ahead and sin. What shall we say? Shall we continue in sin? I'm going to just go ahead and sin. I don't care.

I'm going to do what I want to do. Better get away from that kind of person. Step back.

It's not a good attitude for any of us to have. So not only does God, by the power of the Spirit, edify His people, He also judges them by that same power. And it's this issue of willfulness, presumption, the presumptuousness the Bible calls it, where we begin to have a hardness of heart.

And I'm going to say this, it's not something that we do overnight, because it seems like our nature is to just begin to compromise and to do things, and pretty soon that compromise leads to a hardened heart. And that hardened heart begins to do things that I don't care anymore. You know that kind of attitude? I just don't care anymore.

I'm just going to go on and live the way I want to live. Yeah, I'm going to claim to be a Christian, I'll go to church, but I'm just going to live the way I want to live, and pretty soon we're never on our knees again and say, Lord, have mercy upon me, and we don't humble ourselves, we don't break our hearts and confess, Lord, I've sinned, I've done wrong, have mercy upon me. The heart becomes hard.

I don't know if you're new here, you haven't visited, but an illustration I've given over the years with regards to hardness of heart, my feet, the bottom of my feet are as soft as anything. They're soft as a baby's. And you take my shoes and socks off in the summertime and ask me to walk 10 feet across our gravel, 57 limestone over there, it's painful, very painful.

And I just can't get it done. I mean, I hate having to walk on gravel with my shoes off because the bottom of my feet are so tender. Now you take Zach and Tommy, they're out there just like it doesn't even matter.

They're just running across that stuff full blast, and I'm trying to figure out how in the world does this happen. And so the Amish kids in our neighborhood, they just have, and I look at the bottom of their feet, and their feet are callous, and they're hard. I look at the bottom of mine, and they're soft.

How did my feet stay soft, and how did their feet get hard? Well, one day, probably Tommy and Zach went out in that gravel and walked on it. Ooh, you know, they had little tiny feet, soft. Ooh, that hurts.

Ooh, that hurts. But because they didn't want to wear shoes, they kept going on it. That hurts.

Another day, that doesn't hurt that bad. Another day, I can hardly feel it. Another day, they just start running.

And what happens is that when you don't respond to the pain, and you just go through the pain and keep going in the direction you want to go and keep walking on those stones, what happens is the skin on the bottom of the feet begins to toughen itself and harden itself against that pain. And pretty soon before you know it, you're running across those 57 limestone, and you're not even hardly feeling anything. That's how the heart gets.

You know? Sin. I'm going to keep going. God convicts you, and ooh, I'm going to keep going.

And God convicts you again, ooh, I'm going to keep going. Again, ooh. Pretty soon there's the ooh.

It's less and less and less until all of a sudden you're sinning, and I haven't been convicted for six months. And it's the hardness of man's heart. And pretty soon people are sinning like it's nothing.

And usually what happens is we start embracing theology that makes it okay for us to be this way. But the way you keep your feet and your heart tender is when you walk out on those 57 limestone and I feel that pain that shoots up my leg, I get off those 57 limestone. I don't like it.

So what happens is when you sin against God and he convicts you, you get off of it. I don't want to do that anymore. The Lord has mercy.

I forgive you. And in doing so, you keep a very tender heart. Hebrews chapter 10, it's all to bring the fear of God to our hearts.

It says this, for if we sin willfully, that means I'm going to go and do it anyway. After that we have received the knowledge of the truth. We know what's right.

There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God.

By the way, this is talking to the people of God. Trodden underfoot the Son of God and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and done despite under the spirit of grace. Now listen to this.

For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people.

I'm not talking about the heathen. The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

And if you don't believe that, just ask Ananias and Sapphira someday if you ever see it. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So this idea of willful sin.

And all of us, we know, I have a heart. You have a heart. We know what it is to be hard-hearted.

We know what it is to be tender. We know what it is when God's Word is preached and maybe we're convicted of something and we break and our hearts are broken. Oh, God, have mercy.

I'm so sorry, Lord. We also know what it's like to sit in here and just tough it up. I'm not going to respond.

I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go forward. We also know what that's like.

I just want to warn you. That's not the direction you want to go. The Bible says, He that hardened himself against the Lord shall not what? Prosper.

Shall not prosper. Who hath hardened himself against God and prospered. But God has made us a way, and we're all familiar with this, for us to deal with sin and transgression.

And that is through confession and repentance. First John 1.9 says, With you confess your sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You know, hardness of heart comes because you're unwilling to get on your knees and say, Lord, forgive me. Lord, save me. There's a beautiful healing thing in confession.

You know what it's like in your relationship, maybe with your husband and wife, or in your children, and somebody does something wrong to the other? It's a healing thing to come and say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Isn't it? If something happens, you humble yourself and say, I'm sorry.

And when you come to God and say, Lord, have mercy, I'm so sorry I did that. I'm so sorry I said that, Lord. The Lord might say, well, go and tell the person that you spoke about evil.

Go tell them. Go clear your name. Confessing your sin is a healing aspect.

As a matter of fact, confession is God's way to bring softness back to your heart. If your heart is hard here this morning, it is hard because it's been months, maybe years since you've truly been on your knees and broken your heart and said, Lord, here's where I'm at. I'm honest with you.

And here's my sin. God, have mercy on me and sincere on me. Amen? And if you haven't been in that place for months or years, I'll just guarantee you've got a hard heart this morning.

Your heart is hard. What good news for you? God can change hard hearts. But it's about confession.

Confession, an honest confession. And even if it takes making things right. Notice here in our story here in Acts chapter 5. Let's go back there.

There's something that Peter does. And I believe he did this also with Ananias. But it says here in Acts chapter 5 verse 7, 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. Now here's Peter saying, I'm giving you a chance. Tell me.

Confess. Just be honest. Did you sell the land for that much? And God gave her an opportunity there to make a confession and to get clear.

She said, yes. And I believe that Peter gave Ananias the record. It doesn't tell us.

It seems you can read in the lines. He asked the same question to Ananias. Ananias, did you sell it for that much? Who knows? He might have brought $50,000 in U.S. money for the land and the house, put it there, but he kept $50,000 back.

And he's just asking, did you sell it for $50,000? I'm giving you a chance. And he said, yeah, $50,000. Boom.

It's gone. So the opportunity was given to Sapphira to confess. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, this man had opportunity to confess, but he was unwilling to do so.

He was puffed up. And he didn't mourn. He didn't mourn his sin.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, you're all familiar with this passage. People come to the Lord's Supper, and they're presumptuous, and they're willful, and they're bold, and they eat and drink like they're drunk, and they disregard the Lord's Supper. And all of a sudden, some of them are getting sick, and some of them even are dying.

It's like Ananias and Sapphira because their attitude of willfulness towards the things of God. You don't have to turn there, but I like to read here in Isaiah, the first chapter, God was teaching the Israelites, telling them this in Isaiah chapter 1, all you sinful nation of people laden with iniquity. He's talking about his own people.

A seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger.

They are going away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore? Now, this is a picture of a father spanking his son. Why do I strike you anymore? You will revolt more and more.

The whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint. From the sole of the feet, even the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.

They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mullified with ointment. Can you imagine? I have been chasing and chasing and chasing, and your whole being is wounded. You're not turning.

You know, when people are chasing and chasing, they're not turning. There's only one thing left. That is, I haven't had an isent fire.

The Bible calls in 1 John 5, there is a sin unto death. There is a sin unto death. And sometimes God has to go to the extreme and to bring death to an individual because of their sin.

I'm going to read to you here, 1 John 5. I'm sure you're probably familiar with it. It says in verse 16, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, there are sins not unto death. What's a sin not unto death? Someone sins and they say, Oh my God, please forgive me, Lord.

I'm so sorry I did that. And they try to make restitution. Let's pray for that person.

It's a sin that does not lead to death. But there is a sin unto death. I do not say that you should pray for it.

All that is righteous is a sin, and there is a sin not unto death. What is a sin unto death? The sin that goes on without confession, without repentance, goes on with presumption, self-will. I'm going to keep doing it.

I don't care what the preacher says. I don't care what the church says. I don't care what God says.

I'm going to keep going this way. And you're going to end up getting chastened, as any good father would do. Would you agree with me there? Your son says, Dad, I'm sorry, but I'm going my own way.

Oh, and we get chastening. I'm still going my own way. And it leads down a road that you don't want to go down.

So here in the book of Acts, God is amongst His people, and He's desiring for their edification. But there are some who are presumptuous. There are some who are self-willed.

And there are some who, in the midst of this great work of God, this great powerful move of the Spirit of God, are actually plotting against the Spirit. That's why Peter says, you're lying against the Holy Ghost. You're tempting the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is going this way. He's all in, and you're going this way. And you're being deceptive.

Well, what was the flagrant sin here of Ananias and Sapphira? Let's keep reading here in this story, chapter 5. Here's their sin. Starting in verse number 1, But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. That was good.

It's amazing. They probably gave a lot of money here. They could at least have said, well, hey, listen, at least we gave half the property value.

Isn't that a good thing? They sold a possession. And they kept that part of the price, his wife also being privy to it. Now, what happened was they represented that they gave it all.

We gave it all. And brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said to Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie? Here's their sin.

They lied. And it's one thing to lie to a person. It's another thing to lie to the Holy Ghost.

They lied to the Holy Ghost. Verse 4, While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but you have lied unto God. Lying.

That's the heart of this issue. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was lying. Lying is bearing false witness.

This is one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not bear a false witness. What did they do? They bore false witness.

Peter said, Did you sell the land for so much? They said, Yea, for so much. They bore a false witness. It was not for so much.

By the way, lying is the grievous sin to the Lord. Do you know why it is? Because the devil is a father of lies. What is Jesus? He's the truth.

The Bible says it's impossible for God to lie. By the way, if you're lying, you ought to question where your heart really is. God is not promoting you to lie about anyone or anything.

But here it's specifically lying to God. So while the Holy Ghost is doing a great work in the hearts and working to have those with extras to sell their goods and to give them to the needy, the Spirit of God is moving in a mighty way. Ananias and Sapphira, they misrepresent in the midst of this the work of the Holy Spirit.

They're lying to the Spirit of God. Yes, the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts and we're selling it all. That's a lie.

So it's in the midst of the power of God. It was not an accident, by the way. It was preplanned.

It was concocted. It was purposeful. Notice what it says here in verse number three.

Why? Peter said to Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? I understand that to mean this, that one day they were there. I don't know what things were happening in the other church. One day Satan came to them and gave them a thought, filled their hearts and said, listen, I got a great idea for you.

Why don't you represent that you're selling all and you'll get all the praise of the church people, you know, and the church people say, boy, you're a great sacrificer. God bless you for your work. And then you keep back a third.

Why don't you do that? And unfortunately, Ananias, probably Ananias, the husband didn't cast that thought down and say nothing doing. I'm not going to go that direction. I'm going to be honest before God and I want to give it all.

But he entertained the thought. And then the next day he got it again. And he kept entertaining it.

And while he was working, whatever his trade was, he'd think about, oh, that's a good idea. Let's see if we can do this. He went home one day and said, Sapphira, what do you think about this? What do we concoct this thing? I'm sure God wouldn't mind.

You know, we'll sell the house or the property for so much and we'll give three quarters of it or two thirds to the church and we'll just kind of secretly keep back part of it. We'll say we're fully surrendered, we sacrificed it all. And she says, sounds like a good idea.

I've always wanted to go on that vacation anyway. And we'll use the money for whatever purpose. So they agreed together to do this thing.

It was not a fly-by-night thought. It was something that Satan kept putting upon their hearts. By the way, that's why it's very important for us, all of us to bring every thought into captivity, onto the obedience of Christ, because the devil is oftentimes suggesting things to you and tempting you to do evil.

So the devil filled their hearts. And it says this thing was conceived. It was given birth in their hearts.

Let me throw something out here, because I'm just going to give you this. I face this a lot on the college campus. Young people listen very carefully.

This is something a lot of young people are messed up in their minds about, and the devil is confusing a lot of them. But I just want to share this with you, because I face it so much when I talk to these kids on a college campus. These children, these young people, 18, 19, 20-year-old kids, they say to me this.

When I was 12, 13, 14 years old, I had desires in my heart that came to me or a relationship immorally with the same sex, homosexual relationships. Therefore, and our society is doing this, therefore because I had a certain desire come to me, a suggestion come to me, to my mind, it must be my nature. It's who I am.

So because I had this temptation when I was a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old or a 14-year-old boy to do this immoral thing, that's who I am. God made me this way. That's what they say.

And I always tell them this. Well, when I was a 10, 11, 12, 13-year-old boy, I was tempted to steal from my parents. So God made me a thief.

And you ought to celebrate the fact that I'm a thief. And let me steal from you, by the way. And there were times in my life where I had this thought to punch my brother in the mouth, because he angered me many times.

So that makes me a hitter, murderer. God made me that way. You should let me do that.

I should be able to punch people in the mouth, because that was desires I had when I was a little boy. But the truth is this, we all face temptations. Young people, you're going to face temptations in your heart and mind, and there's going to be coming thoughts to you and suggestions to you from the enemy.

And I remember as a 15-year-old young man, I was suggested something immoral by another young man that I never even thought was even a possibility, never even entered my mind, and that became a temptation to me simply because the thought was suggested to me. I thought, whoa, that'd be interesting. All of a sudden now, the devil can take that and start to stir up in my heart and conceive, fill my heart.

You know what happens to young people in their sexual life? They're 12, 13, 14. Maybe they're molested. Maybe they have issues that they are facing.

Maybe the devil is suggesting immoral thoughts to them. And now we're living in a society where society comes along and says, oh, that's who you are now. That's who you are.

That's a lie, by the way. It's not who you are. You don't embrace that because it's sin.

You know, when the devil suggested to Jesus there in Matthew chapter 4 to take this stone and turn it to bread, the Lord always said, no, no, no, it is written. My standard for who I am is not the temptations that I face. My standard is the Bible, what's right and what's wrong.

So the Lord always responded with, it is written. Listen, young people and some of you adults know this to be the truth. You're going to be faced with many temptations.

The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in all points like as we. Can you imagine that Jesus was tempted to lust? Jesus was tempted with anger. Jesus was tempted with jealousy.

Jesus was tempted with being a thief. Jesus was tempted, I believe, with all kinds of sexual immorality. He was tempted like we are yet without sin.

He said, no, I've gone there. And so don't think it's strange that you're tempted with issues that are out of the ordinary. And don't take this idea that, well, this must be who I am.

No, it's not who you are. You're a Christian. You ought to live godly and holy.

That's who you are in Christ. So just because you're tempted, I was tempted as a thief, but that doesn't mean I need to be a thief the rest of my life. I was tempted to punch my brother in the mouth, but I haven't punched anybody in the mouth since that time.

I don't have to punch people in the mouth. And you may be tempted with sexual immorality, but you don't have to follow through with it. You can turn your heart away from it.

So Satan suggested this to Ananias and Sapphira, and they embraced it, and they thought about it. They made it their own, and it became a part of who they are. Satan filled their hearts.

But how do you respond to the devil right here? Well, no, that's not a good thing, Satan, because the Bible says I'm not to be involved in that kind of immorality. So no, it's sinful, and I want nothing to do with it. It is written.

A man should not lie with a man. A woman should not lie with a woman. It is written.

It's sin. I reject that thought. I reject that belief system altogether.

Say, I feel a certain way. It doesn't matter how you feel. What matters is what's right or wrong.

Boy, I grew up an unconverted young man, but I tell you what, if all the temptations I had was who I am, I'd be a mess today. So don't say, well, I'm tempted a certain way. I'm tempted with homosexual feelings and thoughts.

Don't say, well, I must be a homosexual. I'm just going to give myself over to it. I'm tempted as a lesbian.

I'm just going to give myself over to it. That's a lie. You're tempted with all manner of sin, but say no to it and turn from it.

Amen? Because it is written. It's not about your feelings. It's about what's right.

Now, when we read this story, a lot of people say, well, was Ananias and Sapphira, were they converted? Are they Christians? I can't make that judgment. It's not for me to judge. You know, the Bible says there are tares among the wheat.

Ananias and Sapphira could have been a tare among the wheat. I do not know. They could be true Christians, and they're severely chastened like those in 1 Corinthians 11, and I may see them in heaven.

I don't know. I may not. But I thank God I'm not the judge of these things.

The Bible says the Lord knows them that are here. Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Well, let's keep reading here in Acts chapter 5, verse number 5. It says, And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost.

And great fear came on all them that heard these things. Look down to verse 11. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

There's a good fear, and that is the fear of God. You know, it's the same fear you feel, you know, when you're driving down the 62 here, you're going 75 miles an hour, and all of a sudden, out of the corner of your eye, you see a policeman sitting off up in the front, and you have a fearful thing happen in your heart. Oh! And you put the brake sign in.

That's a good fear. Probably never happens to any of you all. Just me, probably.

That's a good fear. You know, the Bible says, By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. That kind of fear.

This is the kind of fear that came upon the church. But not only just the church. Look at verse 13.

And the rest, speaking about the unbelievers, Dost no man join himself to them? Boy, I like that. I'm not going to that church. That church has got a fire burning in the midst of it and a holy bush burning, and if you go there and you're not living an honest life, you may not live too long.

And I think that's a good testimony. I think we ought to fear God here. Amen? I think people ought not to have this attitude that I just go out and do whatever I want, live in sin, I'm a Christian, I'll be fine, continue in sin that grace may abound.

These young people nowadays, some of them call themselves Christians, they're saying the very same thing that Paul warned against in the book of Romans. They're saying this. If Jesus died for all of our sins, I should go out and sin just to make it worthwhile for him.

Can you imagine? That's how perverse these things get. So it's good to have the fear of God. If you don't have the fear of God, you probably have some real issues.

I think if you think about deceiving or lying about someone or doing like Ananias does in fire, you ought to have the fear of God come to your heart. I need to speak the truth. By the way, be careful when you hear things from other people that you don't pass it on, because it may not be the truth.

And if you pass on a lie, you become a partaker with liars. Oh, I just heard it. Well, yeah, but is it true? I don't know.

Then you can't pass it on if you don't know it's true, because if you pass on a lie, you become a liar. So that's what's the danger of gossip. I have no idea.

Maybe this is true. The person who told me, I thought he said it was true, but maybe it isn't. And I pass it on.

So before I pass anything on, I want to make sure it's truthful, or else I'm a liar too. So they lie. Verse 6, And the young men arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him.

I wonder if they even had a funeral. Never went to the mortician? Where is the family? Nothing said here about a funeral. Verse 7, 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, Yea, for so much.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that you 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. Wow. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost.

And the young men came in, and found her dead. Can you imagine? They buried the husband, came back to where they were meeting here, and here's another one dead. Boy, I don't know.

We want to join this church or not. And verse 11, Great fear came upon the church, and upon all them that heard these things. Now, I just want to make one comment here about this woman, Sapphira.

Here is a situation where Sapphira should have not been submissive. And I don't know where Sapphira was, what kind of a lady she was. I'm assuming she was a, quote, Christian.

She was a part of the church. But her husband maybe coerced her. She said she'd go along with it.

She agreed to go along with it. But here she had an opportunity to say, I'm not going to go any further. My husband is wrong.

My husband lied. It's not true. I'm getting out of this thing.

And being honest and truthful. And she had an opportunity to do that. You know, I've been in situations in my past where people have taught from the pulpit that a wife is to submit to her husband in everything, even if it's wrong.

I believe that's a lie. You have a higher authority to submit to him. That is the Lord himself.

She didn't do the right thing here. By agreeing and saying, well, my husband's doing it. I need to submit and fall in line.

You know, we're one. Two shall be one. He's going to do it.

I'm going to do it too. She was held accountable for her own lie. I remember the couple up in Wellington.

We tried to help get a church started. There's still a church up there, I believe, in Wellington that we went to, my wife and I, for a couple of years to help them. And there was a young lady there, probably 22 years old, married to a young man.

That young man's heart wasn't in the right place. And this young man asked her to dress in a certain way that was immodest. And she came to me and she said, Brother Jerry, I need some counsel.

What do I do? My husband wants me to dress in an ungodly fashion. Should I submit to him? And I told her that, you know, she has a greater authority to deal with here, and that's the Lord. And he says, he commands you to dress in a modest way.

I would counsel you to dress according to his will and be willing to suffer the consequences that your husband might give you. And she did. Ladies, you have a greater authority than your husband.

And I would encourage you wives to submit yourself to your husband as unto the Lord. And if your husband asks you to do something evil, like Sapphira Ananias here, be truthful and do the right thing, even if it's going to cost you suffering. And so here we have the power of God in the early church to heal, to save, to fill with boldness, but also to destroy, to bring death.

So let's fear God. Behold the goodness and the severity of God. There are probably people here, and I know my own heart, there are people here that are playing around with sin, flagrant with sin.

And I believe God is long-suffering, and he'll chasten you, he'll judge you. Some of you are having chastening maybe in your own life right now, and things aren't going well, even in your own heart. You don't have peace.

Maybe even God is bringing chastening into your life physically. You're never getting ahead. You're always getting, ah, what's going on? I just can't.

Well, the Lord's trying to tell you something. Chasten. Don't keep going this direction.

Don't allow Satan to fill your heart. So I want to encourage you this morning to repent, to come to the Lord and just say, Lord, I need to confess. I need to soften my own heart.

Soften my heart. So let's take the word here and receive it and allow this very sobering story to give direction to our life. Let's close the Word of the Lord.