Sermon Central
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The Deceit Of Ananias And Sapphira Series
Contributed by John Lowe on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: “His wife also being privy to it . . .” tells us that this was not a sin committed on the spur of the moment. Ananias and his wife had talked it over between themselves and agreed to do it; they planned what they would say to cover up this fraud.
I am well aware that some Bible scholars believe that Ananias and Sapphira committed the sin unto death, but I disagree. In the light of the Scriptures, I do not believe they were ever genuinely born again. I do not doubt that they were meeting with the local assembly—this is evidenced by the fact that they knew about the gifts being brought in by the believers and presented to the Church to be distributed to other believers who had little of this worlds goods. Unity of the spirit among these new Christians was one of the most outstanding characteristics of these early Christians.
But how can I know that this couple were not born again Christians? Here’s how. Notice the question Peter asked Ananias: “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost.” He did not ask, “Ananias, why did Satan lead you to lie?” According to Peter’s words Satan filled the heart of Ananias—which means that he completely possessed and controlled his heart. We know that a born again believer could not be possessed and controlled by the devil, nor could the devil fill the heart of a believer. The Bible is very clear on this subject. Ananias and Sapphira were not Christians.
Believers are led by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8.14 ), possessors of divine nature (2 Pe. 1.4 ), and new creations in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5.17 ). Therefore if Ananias had been a true Christian Satan could not have filled his heart. He might have tempted him, but he could not have filled and possessed his heart with the scheme to rob God and commit a sin that would bring terrible reproach upon the Church and upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the head and foundation of the Church. Paul clearly declared, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8.14). Certainly, if Ananias and Sapphira were children of God, they would have been led by the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit would not have led them to lie to Himself. Born again believers can grieve the Spirit or quench the Spirit, but no born again Christian will attempt to lie to the Spirit. The true believer possesses divine nature through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
During the first days of Christianity the Church was as God intended His Church to be. The discerning Spirit was surely and clearly at work, and the atmosphere in that Church was such that it was impossible for a man to come into the assembly with a lie in his heart and a false profession on his lips. Such a person would almost assuredly be detected.
What so overwhelms me is not that Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead for their sin, but the fact that the Church was so pure, so completely controlled by the Spirit of God, that the purity of the church compelled the deaths of those two who lied to the Holy Ghost.
Certainly the Holy Spirit does not operate in the church today as He did when the Church of the living God was so pure and holy that a hypocrite like Ananias could not enter without being detected and judged. If those who lied to God in our Churches today were to drop down dead, we would have a lot of funerals. The undertakers would be doing a land-office business. It is interesting to note that this is the first time that the word “Church” appears in Acts, although it is the most common word used to describe the assembly of those who believed. From now on it becomes the regular word to describe the followers of Jesus. Church appears twenty-two more times in Acts.
