Liar Liar
Acts 5:1-11
A single man named Jerry had a pet cat that he loved very much.
One year, he decided to take a vacation to England, so he left his cat with his brother Dan.
As soon as Jerry got to England, he called his brother Dan.
“How is my cat?” he asked.
“Your cat is dead,” Dan said.
“Oh my!” he shouted. “I’m in shock! Did you have to tell me that way?”
“How else can I tell you that your cat is dead?” asked Dan.
“You could have led me up to it gradually.
First, you could have told me that the cat was on the roof,
But the fire department was coming to get her down.
Then, the next day when I called, you could have told me that the fire department accidentally dropped my cat
Broke his back, and he was taken to the veterinarian.
Then, on the third day, you could have told me that the vet did all he could for my dear cat
But she quietly passed away.
That way, it wouldn’t have been such a shock.
That would have been much easier on me.”
“By the way,” he continued, “How’s mother?”
“Mother?” answered Dan.
“Oh, she’s up on the roof, but the Fire Department is coming to get her down.”
Ephesians 4:25 tells us
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.
We are to be truthful in everything we do
In today’s politically correct society we can’t always tell the truth
Political correctness at its core can be a good thing
It is not P.C. to call someone retarded or to use racial slurs when referring to people with a different skin color
And that’s good
But sometimes people try to hide the truth by using politically correct language
A few examples
Instead of saying “I’m lazy,” they say “I’m motivationally deficient.”
Instead of saying, “I’m fat,” they say “I’m horizontally-challenged.”
Or instead of saying “I’m short,” they say “I’m vertically challenged.”
Instead of saying, “I’m wrong,” they say, “I’m logically different.”
Instead of saying, “I’m ignorant,” they say, “I’m knowledge-impaired.”
Instead of saying, “I’m a liar,” they say, “I misspoke the truth.”
But the truth is the truth
It is always best to just tell the truth
Honesty and integrity should be characteristics of all Christians
Honesty is being truthful in your relationships
And integrity is being true to yourself, true to your convictions
In our passage we read of a married couple, Ananias and Sapphira
Who display no honesty, and no integrity
Read Acts 5:1-11
Things were going great in the early church
In the previous chapter we read in v 33
Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
The church was in the midst of a great revival
As I hope our church is right now
But let me warn you
When God’s church is experiencing revival, that is when Satan is at his worst
That is when Satan attacks
Satan is always the enemy of God’s plans
And he was persecuting the church from the outside
Using civil and religious authorities
But this tactic had proven ineffective in stopping the advance of the Gospel
So he tried a different strategy and attacked from within
It is always tragic when Satan can use Christians to wreck the church
One thing that can be encouraging to us today is the fact that even the early church had problems
It goes without saying that every Baptist church ever founded was had its share of trouble
Most of them from within
But we should learn from the early church leaders
To keep our focus on what is most important
Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ
For some background on this passage we look to vs. 36-37 of chapter 4
Acts 4:36-37 And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, [37] Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Barnabus, Joseph’s nickname means Son of Encouragement
Was singled out among the many who had sold their possessions and gave the money to the church
Barnabus plays a huge role in the N.T.
God used his relationship with Paul at one point and with Mark at another to keep these men going when either might have failed
Barnabus was responsible for convincing the church of Paul’s conversion
We can only wonder what might have happened to Paul without Barnabus
In contrast to Barnabus’ behavior we learn of Ananias and Sapphira
They had beautiful names, but they had crooked and deformed natures
We see five things that serve as a warning to all who would live godly lives
First they were full of
I. Human Deceitfulness
Like the other disciples they sold their possession
But unlike the others they kept back part of the price
Now we need to get one thing straight here
The sin they committed was not stinginess or holding back part of the money
It was their choice whether or not to sell the land
And how much to give
Their sin was lying to God and God’s people
Saying they gave the whole amount but holding back for themselves
And trying to make themselves appear more generous than they really were
They were looking for the praise of others
And tried to not only deceive the church
But God Himself
That is where their sinned lied
In their deception
Their human deceitfulness had dire consequences
They went a long way in the Christian life in laying a part at the apostles’ feet
But they went the wrong way in pretending that they were giving all
Their lack of honesty and integrity was on full display
All lying is bad, but when we lie to try to deceive God and His people
About our relationship to Him
We destroy our testimony about Christ
Secondly they had
II. Satanic Influence
“Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie against the Holy Ghost?”
Peter here is indicating that it was in Ananias’ power, or choice to have prevented such a thing
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
It is such sin that responsible children of God are to resist steadfastly in the faith
Satan, the father of lies, incites such things into our sinful nature
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And the fact that peter pointed out that he was lying to the Holy Spirit makes it so much worse
When a pledge, vow or holy commitment has been made for the cause of Christ
It is to be kept, or honestly and openly confessed
Not covered up
Satan was alive and well in the early church
And influenced this man in a strong way
And he is alive and well today
We as a church need be on guard against the attacks of the devil
He will do all he can to destroy what God is doing, what God has planned for this church
He will do all he can to keep people from coming to know the Lord
And he will hinder our efforts only if we allow him to
It was in Ananias power to resist the devil and his temptation
And it is our power to do the same
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
This satanic influence leads us to our next point
III. Unexpected Detection
It must have been an awful awaking to Ananias when he had laid the money at the apostles’ feet
Expecting their praise to hear instead
Why did you let Satan take control of your heart
And make you lie to the Holy Spirit?
Can you see the shock on his face?
This isn’t at all how it was supposed to happen
He expected to walk out of the service with a big cigar in his mouth saying
“I love it when a plan comes together”
The sins of the heart cannot be hidden from God
Any more than the blood of a murdered Abel
Men, filled with the Holy Spirit like Peter, are quick to detect the lying spirit of the devil in a false professor
I was sitting at my desk the other day at home and I heard this crackling sound coming from behind my leather chair across the room
I said “Caleb, what do you have?”
Nothing he said
Come here I told him and he came out with his hand behind his back, hiding his nothing
He was sneaking a piece of candy
Just the same way you can not deceive the Holy Spirit
But still we are shocked and amazed when we are discovered
We sometimes act like we are hiding behind that chair and no one can see us
No one can hear us
No one knows we are sinning
But we can not fool the Holy Spirit
He is the very reason we are hiding behind the chair in the first place
He is convicting us of our sin
Don’t try to lie to the Holy Spirit
It is a losing effort every time
And will be easily detected
Ananias’ lie was which led to
IV. Divine Judgment
V 5 “Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost”
He fell over dead OUCH!
Talk about shock
He sinned, his sin was discovered and BOOM! he’s dead
We can be thankful that by the grace of God He does not deal with us in like manner today
Otherwise we would have much larger cemeteries and much smaller church rolls
What had started out with good intentions as a good thing turned into a tragedy
This spiritual deceptions was spiritually disciplined
It is interesting to see that Jesus, who usually treated even the vilest of sinners with gentleness
Who ate with sinners, who forgave sins, always got angry with one sin in particular.
That was the sin of Hypocrisy.
The word hypocrite come to us from the world of Greek drama.
The actor in a drama, one who pretended to be someone he was not, was called a hypocritus.
Jesus called the Pharisees, “white-washed tombs,” looking clean on the outside but inside full of corruption and dead bones.
The reason why Jesus hated this sin in particular was that it is the sin the misguides people away from God.
It stands in the way of people who want to know God, but instead get someone saying, “look at me.”
Can you see what hypocrisy would do the church in its infancy.
If this sin where left un-judged the church would end up looking like the Pharisees.
And how did v 5 and v 11 both end
“and great fear came on all them that heard these things.”
It shook up the church in a good way
The fear of God is a good thing
One of the deterrents, which should be probably the number one reason for not sinning is the fear of God
This event should teach us how serious God is when it come to sinning against Him
God hates sin, He despises every thing about it
Proverbs 6:17-19 tells us of 7 things that God hates
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, [18] A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, [19] A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
A false witness, also known as lying is mentioned
Its like when Andy caught Barney sleeping in church and asked him if he enjoyed the service
Barney said yes
Andy asked What did the preacher preach about?
Sin answered Barney
Andy then asked what about sin
Barney quickly answered , He’s against it
God is against it
And God was greatly disappointed with Ananias and Sapphira both
V. Fatal Disappointment
It is extremely sorrowful to think of Ananias’ wife coming in about three hours after not knowing what was done
You can imagine her coming in expecting her husband to be exalted to a place of honor
As she looked around the room hoping to find him sitting in a place of respect
A huge smile was on her face just waiting for the same accolades
But she entered with the same lie on her lips and in her heart
To be met with the same sudden and overwhelming retribution
God is no respecter of persons
The same sin meets with the same condemnation
Sapphira may have been a beautiful woman, as her name indicates
But outward attractiveness is no shelter for inward deceit
Peter asks “tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
Peter is giving her an out
One last chance to confess, to speak the truth
There was man who wanted to paint his house, but he couldn’t afford to buy any paint.
So he came up with an plan.
He would volunteer to paint the church for free-if the church would buy the paint.
He would then secretly thin the paint with water, which would give him enough paint to cover both the church and his house.
The pastor agreed to let him paint the church, so the man went ahead with his plan.
He bought the paint and thinned it down.
Sure enough, he had enough paint left over to paint his house.
Everything seemed to work out fine.
But a few days later, a huge rain storm washed the paint off both the church and the man’s house.
The paint was so thin, it just didn’t stick.
The man went to the church, got down on his knees and begged God to forgive him for what he had done.
He heard a voice from heaven say,
"You are forgiven, my son.
Now repaint and thin no more."
How many times have you tried to get away with something you knew was wrong?
If you are like most people, you’ve probably learned that it just doesn’t pay to be dishonest.
Sooner or later, the truth always comes to the surface.
Something like a big rain is certain to come along and it will expose you for who you are.
It’s always better to do the right thing from the start.
Then you don’t have to worry about getting caught later on.
Isn’t that a better way to live?
"But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23
Sapphira had a chance to repent
But her answer was yes that is the price
Here it comes, she thought
I will certainly receive much praise and reward for this deed
They will bring out Ananias and together we will stand before the congregation to a thunderous standing ovation
But Peter’s words shot down all her hopes and dreams
How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Look the men who have buried your husband are waiting at the door
And they will carry you out as well
She sinned, her sin was discovered and BOOM!
She fell over dead
She was likewise carried out and buried next to her husband
All went well as long as all were filled with the Spirit
But this depraved nature that we retain
Even after we are saved, allows Satan to ensnare us
Such a pattern of church life isn’t seen in the churches as they began to multiply
This plan of deception was devised by people
Not by the command of God
We need to be constantly on guard lest we begin to think that our plans are God-given
Our plans are not without error and mistakes
But the plans of God as clearly presented in His Word are infallible
These can be followed with confidence
But man’s wisdom can be questioned
Ananias and Sapphira’s plan was full of dishonesty
They showed no integrity at all
Remember integrity is being true to your convictions
They knew this was wrong, but they went through with it anyway
You have heard of Corrie Ten Boom, she was arrested and put into a Nazi concentration camp during W.W. II
Well her 84 year old father was arrested too
As he was interrogated, the Gestapo told him they would release him because of his age so that he could "die in his own bed".
It is said the Gestapo asked him “Do you promise not to have any more dealings with the Jews”
He replied: "If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door to anyone who knocks for help".
On March 10, Casper died at the Hague Municipal Hospital at the age of 84 after only 10 days in Scheveningen Prison.
When Casper was asked if he knew he could die for helping Jews, he replied,
"It would be an honor to give my life for God’s chosen people."
Casper Ten Boom will always be a hero of the faith
A Jesus Freak I guess you could say
Because he held on to his integrity
The Nazis could take his life
But they couldn’t take his soul.
What a great example for us
Honesty and integrity should be characteristics of a Christian
Now if you are not saved do not let this story be a hindrance to your coming to Jesus
Oh no if I sin God will strike we dead
I and all of us here are proof to the contrary, we all sin
We probably have all lied at least once, and we are still here
Here only by the grace of God
Grace can be defined as not getting what you deserve
We all deserve death, but through God’s grace we live on
We must be forgiven of our sins, and God promises to do that
God’s stern dealing with hypocrisy and lying in the church had become common knowledge
And as we find in the following verses outsiders were afraid to join with the church
But the ultimate result was that the church continued to grow by leaps and bounds
As people fell under conviction for sin and were saved
And that is what we can experience right here
People coming to the Savior for forgiveness
I tell you what, I liked filling that baptistery this past week
I’m looking forward to doing that again real soon
If you are here today and you haven’t given your heart to Christ
If you are being convicted for the wrong things you have done, what we refer to as sin
And haven’t asked for forgiveness
Do it before it is to late
Ananias and Sapphira, I don’t know if they were saved
But I do know they didn’t have a chance to seek forgiveness for their deceit
Come to Jesus, before you run out of chances
He will forgive those sins
And you can know you are a child of God
