Sermon: The Danger Of Deception Series

Sermon: The Danger of Deception

Scripture: Acts 5:1-11 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. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, 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 heard these things.”

Introduction: The Church of God, filled with the Holy Spirit and power was experiencing tremendous growth and unity. Observers could see demonstration of unity and love among them. This new movement was the talk of the town. Even the religious leaders were impressed by this new sect. yet as with any new, fast-growing movement problems will surface. Acts 4 ends with the story of Barnabas, a devout, dedicated Christian, who sold a parcel of land and lay the money at the apostles’ feet to provide for the needy. It is such a blessing to have that kind of people in the church. Our gifts of finances, service, and participation are a part of our worship to God. We give because love God and support his righteous cause. God needs nothing from us yet welcomes our acts of worship. Acts 5 begins immediately after Barnabas act of pure worship followed by the contrasting actions of a man named Ananias. Now the Church must face a new hazard the seeks to pollute the worship of the church. We all like to think of ourselves as somewhat intelligent, and we are often hesitant to admit that sometimes others have taken advantage of us. Maybe we were sold something that didn’t turn out to be what was advertised, or maybe we got something other than what we paid for, or maybe we were even sold something that was represented as trustworthy, but full of defects. When we discovered the truth, we were angry, and we felt cheated. We did not get what we bargained for, and we often were worse off than if we had never had anything to do with the thing.

The church that began so holy, pure and charitable is now invaded by the sins of deception, greed, hypocrisy, and lying. Satan’s attempt to pollute God’s worship. Please don’t misunderstand me, riches are not evil, but they can be dangerous to our souls. Paul warns (Ephesians 5) that no greedy person will inherit the kingdom of God. Greed pollutes everything. Greedy people may even do the right thing for the wrong reason. One may be greedy for recognition, attention, praise, or money, it always pollutes. One can give to the church or to charity commendable deeds for the wrong reason. Greed and deception reveal the true content of the heart. Acceptable worship must come from a pure heart. At a time when standards are changing, the text remind us that God has not changed.

This sin in the church was exposed and judged. Jesus warned us that the last days would be filled with deceivers within the church and without the church. Even though deception is still practiced often but should never be tolerated. Deception is a form of lying, but with the purpose of misleading others. Deception is dangerous and has been the cause of death, wars and fighting. Many campaigns are guided by deception; candidates manipulate the masses through deception, yet in the church it is more deadly. We, as believers of God and His word, should be on the lookout for deception in the realm of religion, for we are warned about it many times in the Scriptures. The opposition and external deceivers were easily recognized by the Church leadership, yet the Holy Spirit must alert the leadership to the internal deception.