The Danger Of Deception

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. Acts 5 begins with a contrasting figure, a man named Ananias who was not so devout. . Now the Church must face a new enemy called deception.

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.

Deception is one of the first sins exposed in the Church. Since then, it is still practiced often but should never be tolerated. Deception is another form of lying, but with a stronger degree of wrong because the deceiver purposefully misleads others into believing that a lie is really what is true. In many cases deception is dangerous and has been the cause of death for many who have been the unknowing victims of deception. Wars are caused, won and lost on deception. Many campaigns are guided by deception; candidates manipulate through deception, yet in the church it is more deadly.

Deception is dangerous in the Church. Deception, as used in the Bible, means either a purposeful misleading or a leading away (from the right way). 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 several times in the Scriptures. And if it is such a danger, we need to know what forms of deception may be used against us and prepare ourselves. The opposition and external deception could easily be recognized by the Church l leadership, yet the Holy Spirit must alert the leadership to the internal deception.

The Spirited-filled church will be confronted with trouble, persecution, and confusion. Yet, it seems so surprising that gifts of charity could be the seedbed of jealous and envy within the early church. Never underestimate the power of praise of men and how our egos respond to celebration. Ananias and Sapphira were moved by the celebration Barnabas received. They became overly concerned about making a good appearance. For many today, life is all about appearances. We live in an age where people want to appear one way but in reality, they are just the opposite of their appearance. Today, many are giving out false impressions. They appear to be one thing and are really something else.