They're in Acts 5, Acts 5, and verse number 3,
But Peter said, Adonaias, why have Satan filled thine heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost?
Told for the sermon tonight is lying to the Holy Ghost,
lying to the Holy Ghost.
We'll try to understand, what is this?
Why is Adonaias lying to the Holy Ghost?
Why has Satan filled his heart to do so?
Now let's start there in verse number one.
But a certain man named Adonaias,
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 to the apostles' feet.
All right, so they've sold a possession.
They've sold, you know, what we see before.
They, in fact, let's just have a look at it in Acts 4.
Let's just get the context
of what's leading up to this event.
There in Acts 4, just a reminder, verse number 34,
Acts 4-34, it says,
"'Neither was there any among them that lacked,
"'for as many as were possessors of lands
"'or houses sold them,
"'and brought the prices of the things that were sold.'"
All right, so there are certain amongst the believers,
certain disciples there, that have been saved,
and they're, you know,
they're excited for the work of the Lord.
They wanna help others.
And so they sell their lands, they sell their houses,
and it says that,
"'And brought the prices of the things that were sold.'"
So pretend they sold a land for $100,000.
They brought the $100,000 price that they sold it for
there before the apostles.
It says in verse number 35,
"'And laid them down at the apostles' feet,
"'and distribution was made unto every man,
"'according as he had need.'"
All right, so this is a special offering.
This isn't the normal giving
that you'd give to the house of the Lord or to the church.
They're selling their lands, they're selling their houses,
and it's been given to every man according to his need.
So we've seen thousands get saved, right?
3,000 on the day of Pentecost, 5,000 in one day,
with Peter and John there at the temple.
And obviously amongst the thousands,
like we saw the great miracle that took place
of the man who was lame,
and Peter was able to heal him, and he was able to walk.
Obviously amongst the thousands,
there are people who have struggles,
maybe other health problems,
maybe other disabilities of unable to work,
or just whatever financial difficulties people are facing.
There's a special offering amongst all these believers,
selling their lands and houses,
and that's been distributed to everybody
that has any kind of financial need.
And then verse number 36,
"'And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas,
"'which is being interpreted the son of consolation,
"'and Levites, and of the country of Cyprus,
"'having land, sold it, and brought the money,
"'and laid it at the apostles' feet.'"
So Barnabas, a man who becomes a prominent person
later on in this book, sells his land,
brings it once again, lays it to the apostles' feet.
So we're seeing lots of people are doing this, right?
They've got lands and houses,
and they're just bringing their all.
They sell it for 100,000.
They're bringing the 100,000 there to the apostles' feet.
Now, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira,
see this happening as well.
And they're like, well, we wanna be part of this.
We wanna be celebrated, and I guess,
wanna be seen of men, you know?
And so they've got a piece of land.
They've sold a possession.
But what we saw in Acts 5, 2, it says,
"'And kept back part of the price.'"
So pretend they sold land for $100,000.
Well, they said, well, you know what?
Instead of just laying $100,000
at the feet of the apostles, we'll hold back $20,000, right?
We'll keep that for ourselves,
and we'll bring the $80,000 to the apostles' feet.
Now, there's nothing wrong with that in of itself, okay?
We'll soon see.
If they just wanted to do that, that's fine.
But they're going through this procedure
where essentially everybody is given the full amounts
of what the land was sold.
And so they're doing the same thing.
They're being deceptive.
Instead of bringing all the amount of the land
or the house that they sold,
they're bringing back, they're only given a portion
and holding an element back, okay?
And because of this, in verse number three,
and Peter said,
"'Ananias, why have Satan filled thine heart
"'to lie to the Holy Ghost
"'and to keep back part of the price of the land?'"
So Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
has insight.
Look, you're lying to us.
You're lying to the Holy Ghost.
You've kept back a part of the land.
It says here that Satan has filled his heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost.
Well, we'll see that even though Satan
is our enemy, our defeated foe, he wants to destroy us,
Satan is able to do a work in our hearts
when our heart is the basis of our emotions
and even our lusts.
The Bible speaks of the lust of the heart
and things of this nature.
And so instead of just giving the full amount of the land,
they're kind of being deceptive.
They want the perception.
They want people to think.
They want the church, we'll soon see later,
they want the church to think.
They've given everything, but they've held back a part.
And it's because of this lie or this deception
that they've lied to the Holy Ghost.
Now, I want to make it very clear
that selling this house and land
was not a commandment from the Lord, okay?
It's not a commandment of the apostles.
It's just something people decided to do.
There have been times that we've done,
people in this church have done that,
where they give their normal tithes
to the house of the Lord, and maybe they've been blessed.
Maybe they've received much and they want to just,
out of the abundance of the heart, give to a work.
They want to give to the house of the Lord,
or they want to give to a upcoming missions trip.
And they say, here pastor, you can utilize this.
This is some extra that I want to give
for the purpose of going to a Melbourne
or going to a Fiji or whatever it is.
And that's fine.
There's no commandment to have to do this.
And you know what, if someone wants to sell their land
and give to the work of the house of the Lord,
or to give to the necessities of the saints, so be it.
That's something you can decide to do.
And this is why in verse number four, Peter says,
whilst it remained, so whatever they sold,
the possession that they sold,
while it remained, was it not thine own?
He goes, look, you deciding to sell this house
or this land, it's your decision to make an anise.
It's your own, all right?
It's not something we've ever commanded you to do.
And this is an after it was sold.
So when they pocketed the hundred thousand,
pretend it was, right?
A hundred thousand dollars, right?
Because was it not in thine own power?
See, it's not a commandment from God.
God has not told them, come and bring this amount
that you sold a piece of land.
You go, look, this is in your power.
This is in your control.
This is your own decision-making.
If you, whatever you want to do with it,
if you want a pocket of money, fine.
If you want to give it all to the work of the Lord,
that's fine.
It's in your power.
It's in your control.
Then he says, why has thou conceived this thing
in thine heart?
Thou has not lied unto men, but unto God.
So lying to the Holy Ghost is what?
Lying to God.
And anise, hearing these words, fell down
and gave up the ghost.
And great fear came on all them that heard these things.
All right, so yeah, I mean, this is right.
The guy dies, right?
And falls down, gave up the ghost.
He gave up his spirit.
His spirit left the body.
This man is now dead.
God kills him.
God kills this believer, okay,
for lying to the Holy Ghost.
Now, it brought great fear on all them
that heard these things.
And I guess I want to give you great fear tonight.
And you know, when I, as often as I say it,
just because it's true,
the great fear that I have to get behind this pulpit
and open God's word and teach God's words to you,
guess what?
I don't want to lie to you.
I don't even want to accidentally tell a fib.
I'm sure in the seven years that I've been pastor
and I've said some things
that weren't quite 100% correct, all right?
But I don't, I definitely don't want to intentionally
come out here and lie to your face
or to hide, you know, take a portion of the land
or to hide certain things in the scriptures.
Because I don't want you to know what it says,
or I don't want to offend anybody
and I'll hide what the scriptures say.
I don't want to be that kind of person.
You know, open it and speak into the church.
You know, you don't want to be lying to the Holy Ghost.
Look at verse number six.
And the young men arose,
wound him up and carried him out and buried him.
Now, is God always going to kill someone
on the spot like that when they lie to the Holy Ghost?
No, okay?
Many times in the Bible, we see, I mean, not even like,
it's actually rare that we see God just kill a man
suddenly like that, okay?
But the reason for it, okay,
is that it would bring great fear amongst everybody else.
That's the point behind it, okay?
Remember the man back in the, you know,
that picked up sticks on the Sabbath day?
Like, what's the big deal about picking up some sticks
on the Sabbath day?
And they go to God, ask God, what do we do about this man?
It's meant to be a day of rest.
Then he started working, picking up sticks.
God commands him to be killed, okay?
In order for that great fear once again,
to come upon the people, man, we better obey God.
You know, we better do what he's asked us to do.
Many times God would just kill somebody like that.
Not because he's always going to just kill everybody
that commits the same sin,
but that we would recognize how God feels
about that sin.
Lying to the Holy Ghost.
And you'll soon say, you'll say, what does that mean?
Because like, okay, let's say I got a brother,
you know, Oliver, and I just, you know,
in a one-on-one conversation,
I just give him a bold face lie.
You know, brother, I'm six foot tall.
Just a bold face lie, okay, to him.
Have I lied to the Holy Ghost?
Is this the context of what we're understanding
from these scriptures?
What does it mean to lie to the Holy Ghost?
And well, let's continue.
I'll explain to you in a minute what that is.
Verse number seven.
And it was about the space of three hours after
when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
Could you imagine the wife comes in
not knowing she's a widow, right?
Not knowing that her husband's been buried.
And then verse number eight,
and Peter answered unto her,
tell me whether you sold the land for so much.
So did you really sell the land for $80,000?
Peter knows that it got sold for $100,000.
We don't know the figures,
I'm just giving you, you know, the idea there.
And she said, yay, for so much, yeah.
We did sell it for $80,000,
but it really sold for $100,000.
Okay, she's lying.
Verse number nine.
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.
So she also dies, her spirit leaves the body.
And the young men came in and found her dead
and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
Look at verse number 11.
And great fear came upon all the church
and upon as many as heard these things.
Then this story ought to give us great fear.
Great fear came upon all the church.
Brethren, as we study this chapter
and as we read this chapter,
it ought to give us great fear.
We ought to be lying.
We don't want to lie to the Holy Ghost.
What does that mean?
Keep your finger there and come with me to Matthew 18.
Come with me to Matthew 18.
I believe lying to the Holy Ghost is lying to the church.
That's what I believe it is.
Lying to the Holy Ghost is lying to the church.
And of course the apostles or Peter in this scenario
represents that church, okay?
Obviously as a leader of the church, you know,
he is someone that represents the church as a whole.
And so me just telling brother, you know,
all of a bold face lie after service or something,
it's not really, I lied to him.
It's an offense.
It's still wrong.
It's still a sin.
But if I go to church, all right, brethren,
I'm six foot tall.
Let's say I just lie about a doctrine, okay?
Well, actually guys, you know,
and I know that I'm lying, right?
It actually isn't once saved, always saved.
You've got to maintain your salvation by works alone.
At that point, you know, I'm just lying to the church
and I'm lying to the Holy Ghost.
Now I want to show you some of the passages here
in Matthew 18, Matthew 18, verse number 17.
Matthew 18, verse number 17.
Now this is about conflict between two brethren
and then it gets escalated to two or three witnesses
and then it gets escalated to the church.
Matthew 18, verse number 17.
And if he shall neglect to hear them,
tell it unto the church.
But if he neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Now look at this words.
Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven.
And whatsoever you shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.
This demonstrates the importance
and the significance of the church on the earth.
If as a church we make a decision, okay?
Whatever it is between two brethren,
then God makes that decision.
He solidifies that decision in heaven.
As a church, as a church body,
we make a certain decision, all right?
Now Peter, they're represented
because of the authority in the early church.
You know, I want to show you another reference.
If you come with me to John chapter 20, John chapter 20,
John chapter 20, I want to show you how Jesus
uses essentially the same teaching or the same language
when he's speaking to his apostles.
In John 20, verse number 22,
John 20, 22,
and when he had said this, he breathed on them
and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Look at verse number 23.
Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.
And whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Very similar to the kind of teaching or the language
that was used in Matthew 18, referencing the church.
But this time we're looking at the church leaders
that God has put into place.
He breathes upon them the Holy Ghost.
Essentially, what decisions you make will be retained, right?
If someone has committed sin, for example,
and that's been judged to be so by these church leaders,
then that's how God views the matter.
You know, God is essentially telling us
how important the house of the Lord is, the church.
The church is the body of Christ.
And I truly believe that if we lie to the church,
that we're lying to the Holy Ghost.
Like if we publicly declare a lie to this church,
then you're lying to the Holy Ghost.
So let's say, let's just use an example, right?
I mean, we don't all have houses and lands,
but most of you have cars.
And let's say, look, there's a financial need here
at New Life Baptist Church.
And then brother Jason's like, you know what?
I wanna give to the work here in the house of the Lord
and to the brethren, I'm gonna sell my new car.
You know, instead of just driving a car,
I'll just use public transport.
I don't know if you really would on the sunny coast,
public transport's pretty, it's not the best here.
But anyway, he makes a decision, right?
I'm gonna sell my car, he sells it for $10,000, right?
And then he brings $10,000 and puts it here at my feet,
for example.
He says, pastor, this is going to the work.
This is going for our next missions trip.
Or if there's a brother in the Lord struggling financially,
I want you to use that to help them.
All right.
And then brother Oliver goes, you know what?
I'll do the same.
I'm gonna sell my, what do you have Kamri?
Tulsa, for $2,000, let's say.
He brings a 2,000, man, I'm so encouraged
by brother Jason's example, I'll do the same.
I'll just catch public transport.
And then brother Callum does the same.
Sells his car, right?
Man, yeah, I just, why haven't we thought about this?
Let's just catch public transport.
We don't need all this.
Let's use it to further the work of Christ.
And then I'm seeing all my church members doing,
I'm like, oh man.
I can't sell the van, I need to get my family around,
but I've got a Corolla, I'll sell the Corolla, right?
And then I'm like, oh man, okay.
Let's say I sell it for $10,000, the Corolla.
Okay, let's say $5,000, make it more realistic.
I sell it for $5,000.
And I'm like, yeah, but I just don't wanna give it all
to the house of the Lord.
I mean, I've really done enough, haven't I?
I'm the pastor and all that.
You know, but anyway, everyone's given everything
of their vehicle sales and I'll just tell them it's 4,000
and you know, just contribute.
Cause you know, I'm embarrassed if I don't do it, right?
I wanna look good like everybody else does.
I wanna be seen of man.
And I bring $4,000 instead of the $5,000.
I'm lying to the Lord.
I'm lying to the Holy Ghost.
I'm lying to God.
Now, if I took the 5,000, sell it for 5,000 and go,
hey guys, I know you've all done it.
You've given all, everything you've got,
all your car sales to the house of the Lord.
But I need the $1,000.
I've got uses for it.
So I'm gonna give 4,000 instead.
You're being honest.
You're being truthful, right?
That's fine.
All right?
But in this case, Ananias and Sephiroth just lied
to the church.
I sometimes don't like giving like personal stories
in my sermons, especially going back.
And I do sometimes, you know,
to further illustrate truths of the Bible.
But sometimes I'm at home and I'm like,
was that story exactly how it played out?
Because you know how memories start to play up a little bit?
You know, it's like, did I exaggerate that part
a little bit?
Like the story as a whole is true,
but were there elements that maybe did not play out
correctly and I might've embellished it a little bit
or something like that?
And it gives, it just, it upsets me a little bit.
Like, oh, I don't know.
So I just rather not tell too many of personal stories
in my Bible.
Let's just keep it to the word of God.
I know God's word's right.
It's always a hundred percent right.
And so let's try to use stories of the Bible
to illustrate truths of the Bible,
rather than, you know, tell my own personal stories.
Cause sometimes you forget your memory
doesn't remember perfectly.
And you know, I think that's a healthy fear to have,
you know, in the house of the Lord.
Not to lie.
Cause we see how God hates it to the points
that he would kill you.
Can you come with me to Acts 13, Acts 13, Acts 13.
Acts 13.
The house of the Lord is super important.
The church is so important in the eyes of the Lord.
The Holy ghost is here tonight,
working in our hearts and our minds, in our ears,
trying to help us not be distracted
with everything else that goes on in life.
Wants our attention and focus on his word.
He wants us to be fed, the spiritual man within us
to be fed with his word.
And you know, I hope one day that we can send a man out
to do a work or deign somebody into the ministry.
You know, if the Lord allows in his time,
I would like that to play out.
But in Acts 13, verse number one, it says,
now there were in the church that was an Antioch,
certain prophets and teachers.
So obviously prophets and teachers here,
you'd say it's the authority, the leaders in the church.
As Barnabas and Simeon, that was called Niagara
and Lucius of Cyrene and Manian,
which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul.
And they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
And the Holy ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work where unto I have called them.
And when they had fasted and prayed,
they laid their hands on them
and they sent them away.
So they being sent forth by the Holy ghost,
departed unto Seleucia and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
So in verse number four, who sent them?
The Holy ghost.
But who actually sent them in verse number three?
They laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
The leaders, the leaders of the church,
they'd gotten together, right?
And they decided amongst themselves,
we're sending Saul and Barnabas.
And as they make that decision,
it's also the decision of the Holy ghost.
You know, if you get sent or you get ordained
by New Life Baptist Church one day in the future,
that is confirmed by the Holy ghost
to be the right decision made by the church.
I wanna show you that church decisions
are Holy ghost decisions.
Come with me to Acts 20.
Acts 20, verse number 17.
There are some people that believe the apostle Paul
was this like, just a do it yourself kind of guy.
No, he was sent by his church.
Okay, the proper process.
He was, the Holy ghost decided to send him out
and he did that through the church there in Antioch.
In Acts 20, verse number 17.
And from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus, look at this,
and called the elders of the church.
So those are the pastors, the bishops,
and drop down to verse number 28.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over the which the Holy ghost have made you overseers
to feed the church of God,
which he have purchased with his own blood.
So who made them overseers?
Who made them bishops?
The Holy ghost, but the elders of the church.
And as we saw earlier in Acts,
when someone's been ordained and sent,
they've been sent by a local church.
And we also know when Paul instructed,
Timothy and Titus to ordain elders,
okay, we see the process of the ordain of elders.
And we see that it's therefore the Holy ghost
that makes that decision.
But all of these decisions have been made
through the local church.
We do not teach self-ordained men,
self-ordained pastors or anything like that.
It's not that I'm special and I've got to,
somehow my hands are special to ordain a man,
but that is the process.
And as a church leader makes that decision
on behalf of the church,
that is a decision being made by the Holy ghost.
So I truly believe lying to the Holy ghost
is lying to the church body,
lying to the church body.
And so this ought to give us great fear.
And men, whoever get up here to preach,
even whoever puts their hand up for 10 minutes next week,
I want you to have fear of God and say, man,
I better speak the truth and only the truth.
And look, if you don't know, it's fine.
You know, there are elements of scriptures
that I just don't know.
And I try my best to tell you, look,
this is what some people say.
This is, I'm not really sure.
I might line more toward this area right now.
And this is why.
You know, once I was told once by somebody,
pastor, you need to just preach with more authority.
I'm like, well, give me an example and give me an example.
I'm like, yeah, but cause I don't know.
I'm teaching for that chapter.
I'm teaching that verse,
but I don't know if my thoughts toward that verse is true.
So I'm not going to teach it.
No, no, you've just got to do it.
You've got to teach it with authority.
But I don't know.
What if I don't have the confidence that that scripture
is saying what you think it says?
And I go before God's people
and I might very well be lying to God's people,
telling a fib, how would God take that?
I don't want to lie to the Holy Ghost.
If my method of preaching is too cautious for you,
I don't think it should be.
I think I preach the whole counsel of God.
I don't think I'm purposely trying to avoid anything.
But if you feel there are times that I've been too cautious,
I want you to understand it's not that I don't have,
I don't know, a backbone or whatever.
It's I don't want to lie to the Holy Ghost.
I don't want to lie to God's people.
I want to be able to speak truth
when I know it's 100% truth.
Fear.
Man, we need a fear of God in our lives.
Church needs a fear of God.
Back to Acts five, please.
Acts five, verse number 12.
Acts five and verse number 12.
And by the hands of the apostles,
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people.
And they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
So Solomon's porch is a reference
to a certain area of the temple.
So they're still in Jerusalem, right?
They're still operating out of Jerusalem.
And it says,
All right, verse number 13 just demonstrates
that there were two groups of people
as they're preaching in the temple.
There are some that don't want anything to do
with the apostles and the people getting saved.
And others are magnifying, they're praising the leaders,
they're praising the apostles, right?
For the great work that they're doing.
Verse number 14 says,
So obviously believers are added to the Lord.
That's why I believe verse number 13.
And the rest does no man join himself to them.
I believe that's referencing the unbelievers, right?
Believers versus the unbelievers.
So what we see as they're preaching there in the temple,
a clear division, a clear distinction
between the two groups of people.
The believers, they're excited for Peter
and the apostles' work and the unbelievers.
We want nothing to do with that.
Even though great miracles are taking place.
We saw that, right?
Many signs and wonders wrought among the people.
Verse number 15,
So they're so excited, they're like,
we want to see more miracles.
You know, they're just hoping that his shadow,
I don't know, right?
Falls upon these sick people.
Verse number 16.
So you can see clear miracles taking place,
great preaching, people getting saved.
Then verse number 17,
All right, so this is like, you know,
part two of the fight between the high priest
and the leaders of the temple versus the apostles.
You know, we saw originally they had a argument
with Peter and John and they threw him into prison
overnight and now they're taking the apostles.
I assume all 12 apostles that are operating
at this point in time, okay?
But it doesn't make it very clear,
but it seems to be the case, all right?
Now what's interesting about this in verse number 17,
the reason they did this at the end of verse number 17,
it says, and they were filled with indignation, all right?
So obviously indignation means anger,
like wrath and anger, okay?
But it's got a more, it's got a different type of meaning.
It's anger over something deemed unfair,
unjust or unworthy, okay?
It's anger over something deemed unfair,
unjust or unworthy.
Now there can be righteous indignation.
You know, when the Lord God sees the people of Israel,
his covenant to people in the Old Testament
worship other gods, the Bible speaks of his indignation.
Because there is something unfair, unjust.
They're meant to be serving him.
They're meant to be worshiping the Lord God of the Bible,
and they're worshiping false gods.
But when you've got the high priest and the Sadducees
being filled with indignation, what does that mean?
They think something's unfair, something's unworthy, right?
Like they're watching the apostles,
get all these people saved,
doing these amazing miracles of God.
And they're like, what about us?
Where's our attention?
Why doesn't anybody come and ask us Bible questions?
It's like, so it's like an envy that's taking place, right?
They've been envious of the work and the words
that these apostles are doing.
And so they take them and thrust them into prison.
Verse number 19, but the angel of the Lord by night
opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said,
go stand and speak in the temple of the people,
all the words of this life.
So another miracle takes place.
An angel comes into the prison house,
opens the door, hey, go out and start,
continue your preaching.
Don't stop, continue preaching.
Look at what happens, verse 21.
And when they heard that,
they entered into the temple early in the morning.
So I guess they got some sleep,
but then early in the morning, they're back up
and they're back in the temple and taught.
But the high priest came and they that were with him
and called the council together
and all the Senate of the children of Israel
and sent to the prison to have them brought.
So they're like, all right, let's have this,
we've got a meeting, we're ready to have a meeting,
we have everybody we need,
now go get the prisoners out of the prison,
not realizing they've already come out.
And they're already teaching the people early
in the temple.
Now this is what's really interesting, verse number 22.
But when the officers came and found them not in the prison,
they returned and told, saying,
the prison truly found we shut with all safety.
Because look, the prison's like locked, okay?
It's locked.
And the keepers standing without before the doors,
even the guards are all there.
But when they had opened, we found no man within.
So really interesting.
Not only does this angel open the doors
and take them out of the prison,
but even the guards that are there,
they didn't realize this happens.
Like, can you imagine just walking out of prison?
Like you see these guards and like you're just walking out
and they're not even responding.
It's like the angel had just blinded them.
They can't even tell.
They can't even perceive that people have left the prison.
So this amazing miracle takes place, right?
It's like, man, everything's locked.
Everything's in place.
The guards are all there, but the apostles, they're gone.
I really hope that, you know, and I believe the Lord.
Man, when we get to heaven, I think we'll really know
just how many times we've been able to do a work for God.
And there might've been enemies seeking to stop us,
seeking to frustrate, stop the work.
And somehow like, I wouldn't be surprised like in Fiji,
someone hates our guts, wants to stop our work.
We might be preaching the gospel right next to them
and they don't even realize.
They don't even realize.
They can't even perceive what's happening
because some angel comes
and just blocks their ability to understand.
Who knows?
Who knows what the Lord God has done
for a new life at this church?
You know, just making people blind,
not even realizing what's taking place
as we serve the Lord.
Verse number 24.
Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple
and the chief priest heard these things,
they doubted of them where unto this would grow.
They're like, man, how do we keep a lid on this?
This is going to, like, everyone's gonna hear about this.
Like, they saw us arrest them.
And now they're seeing them out there
preaching in the temple.
Like, man, how are we gonna keep a lid on this?
How are we gonna control the narrative?
Verse number 25.
Then came one and told them, saying,
behold, the men whom ye put in prison
are standing in the temple and teaching the people.
Then went the captain with the officers
and brought them without violence,
for they feared the people
lest they should have been stoned.
So they send the captains and the guards again,
hey, go and arrest them again,
but do it without violence.
Just make it, just ask them to come nicely.
Okay, we don't want to cause any kind of commotion,
any kind of riot here, all right?
Verse number 27.
And when they had brought them,
they set them before the council.
And the high priest asked them, saying,
did we not straightly command you
that ye should not teach in this name?
That's the name of Jesus.
And behold, ye filled Jerusalem with your doctrine
and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
We've told you, don't preach in the name of Jesus.
Don't talk about this man.
You're filling Jerusalem with this teaching,
with this doctrine.
And you're making everybody look like
we're the bad guys for killing him, which they did.
They are the bad guys.
But you're making us look bad.
You're making us look like murderers.
Verse number 29, then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men.
Now, of course, that was a direct command by the angel.
When he let him out, hey,
continue preaching all the words of life.
Okay, so they know, hey, look,
God's told us to preach in his name
and we're gonna continue preaching in this name.
Now, without repeating the same points that I had last week,
but obviously if our government or someone in authority
ever says to us, you are not allowed to preach
in Jesus' name, you're not allowed to talk about Jesus,
then we must obey God rather than man, right?
Oh, you can preach about Allah, but not Jesus.
You can preach about Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva,
the Hindu gods, but not Jesus.
You can use the name Yeshua,
but don't use the name of Jesus.
You can preach about the Antichrist,
but not about Jesus Christ.
Then we obey God rather than man.
Okay, this is something that we clearly must disobey
all of man's authority on this earth.
Okay, we are commanded to preach
in the name of Jesus Christ.
And again, I'm thankful that we live in a country
that we can do this.
I'm thankful right now.
Right now, are you worried about some gunmen
walking in here and just killing us and arresting us?
Man, I'm just thankful for this nation
that God has given us the blessings
to be able to speak the name of Jesus,
to have a live recording right now on YouTube.
We can speak the name of Jesus.
And I'm gonna go home tonight and sleep peaceably
on my pillow without any persecution.
What a blessing that we live here in Australia.
Let's not take it for granted either,
you know, that we have this privilege
because we can see believers of other times
where the pressure was put on them, right?
They were arrested, they were thrown into prison
for preaching the name of Jesus.
Now very quickly, I'll just read it to you.
1 Peter 2.13, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man
for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme
or unto governors as unto them that are sent by him
for the punishment of the evil doers
and for the praise of them that do well.
Not long ago, I preached a sermon
on submitting to the government.
And again, I'm not taking away from that, okay?
But who has the higher power?
Who has the great authority?
Our government or our Lord God?
Our Lord God.
In fact, the government, the Bible says,
are ministers of God.
So they're under God's authority themselves.
So if God says preach in the name of Jesus
and the government says, do not use the name of Jesus,
do not speak of him, we must always obey the Lord God.
Even at the expense of being thrown into prison,
who knows what miracle could take place?
Prison doors open and you're just able to walk out
and continue preaching in the name of Christ.
Verse number 30.
The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
They're like, you're making us guilty of his blood.
It's like, yeah, you killed him.
You crucified him.
They're not backing down.
This is the gospel message.
I mean, every time you're preaching the gospel,
every time you're preaching Christ died on the cross,
you're essentially saying there are wicked Jews
that took him, Christ rejecting Jews
that took him and killed the son of God.
That's part of the gospel message.
That's not being anti-Semitic.
Isn't that what they say?
Oh, if you say the Jews killed Jesus, that's anti-Semitic.
That's the gospel.
He died on the cross and he's victorious.
He rose again from the dead.
So look, sometimes this message is gonna offend people.
It offends the Jews for some reason.
Who cares?
We obey God rather than man.
Verse number 31.
With his right hand to be a prince and a savior,
but to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
Now this is important, verse number 32.
And we are his witnesses of these things.
So of course the apostles are witnesses, right?
We know that's an important part of this book.
They've witnessed from the baptism to his teachings,
his death, his burial, his resurrection.
They're constantly speaking about them being witnesses.
But what about you and I?
We did not walk on the earth 2000 years ago.
We went there in Jerusalem when they took him.
We went there at Golgotha when they crucified him.
We were not there when the stone was rolled away.
We've not seen the empty tomb.
So are we witnesses?
Now I believe we all agree
that we should preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And when we preach the gospel, what are we doing?
We are witnessing.
We are called to this ministry to witness of Christ.
Say, but pastor, how are we witnesses
if we've not witnessed?
And the next passage, the next words explains it.
So verse number 32.
And we are his witnesses of these things.
And so is also the Holy Ghost
whom God had given to them that obey him.
Who else was a witness of Christ?
The Holy Ghost.
Has God given you the Holy Ghost?
Of course.
So when we go out and we preach the gospel,
the witness is the Holy Ghost in us.
Like, I know what you guys,
you guys knock doors and you guys speak
of something that took place.
Look how crazy you are.
You speak about things that took place 2000 years ago
and you weren't even there.
And yet you speak about it and I speak about it
like we saw it ourselves.
With confidence and boldness
and with love and appreciation.
And somehow, even though our eyes,
our physical eyes have never seen Christ,
we have seen him.
The Holy Ghost bears witness to our spirits
that these things are true.
And I've said it before, just like I see you guys tonight,
I'm preaching to you guys tonight,
I'm even more confident than what I see with these own eyes.
I'm even more confident that Jesus Christ died for my sins.
Like think about how crazy we are to the world.
Let me tell you about what happened 2000 years ago.
It's like, you weren't there.
How would you know?
Well, I've got the Holy Ghost,
I've got the sword of the spirit,
I've got the word of God and faith comes by hearing.
So you listen up and you too can be a witness of Christ.
Isn't that wonderful that God's given us his Holy Spirit?
We can have the same confidence that Peter had,
preaching the gospel.
We obey God rather than man.
We're gonna speak of Christ no matter what.
Who cares if everyone else thinks we're crazy?
Man, I know what took place 2000 years ago.
In faith, I've seen Christ crucified
and resurrected from the dead.
If there's anything I know 100% in this world, it's that.
He's my savior, he loves me, he died for me.
Verse number, by the way,
and so like Holy Ghost,
when we go and we preach the gospel,
we knock doors and we go on a missions trip
and we go to Melbourne and we go to WA
and we go to Fiji and we do whatever we need to do,
the Holy Ghost is with us.
None of this, where is the Holy Ghost?
In us, as we witness because he is the witness.
We're witness of Christ in the Holy Ghost,
in his power, in his ability.
There's the Holy Ghost.
Verse number 33, when they heard that,
they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them.
Like, man, you keep telling us we killed him.
You know, you keep speaking about Jesus.
And now they're like, man, we need to kill these guys.
Like how else are we gonna stop this?
We got to kill them.
Verse number 34, then stood there up one in the council,
a Pharisee named Gamaliel.
By the way, that's Apostle Paul's teacher.
We'll learn about that later on.
A doctor of the law had in reputation among all the people
and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space.
So this guy's more mature.
This guy's a little bit tempered.
He's got more experience about the matter.
He's like, we just can't go around and keep killing people.
This isn't like, you know, we try to kill Jesus.
Look what happened.
We can't just keep going around killing other people,
right, about this.
Verse number 35, and said unto them,
ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves
what ye intend to do as touching these men.
He's like, guys, listen to what you're saying.
Like, we can't just kill these people.
That's crazy.
That's crazy talk, right?
They've done nothing wrong.
They've done nothing worthy of death penalty, all right?
Verse number 36, and before these days,
rose up Thetis, Bosten himself to be somebody
to whom a number of men, about 400 joined themselves,
who was slain and all as many as obeyed him
were scattered and brought to naught.
So it brings up something that took place in the past.
This guy Thetis, Bosten of himself,
and as some guy that thought himself,
I don't know, to be something.
He had 400 followers.
I guess there were a bit of troublemakers at some point.
And he's like, come on, remember when he died,
the guy died and all the men just scattered
and it became nothing.
You know, this thing that we were worried about,
it became nothing.
So he's reminding them about what happened in the past.
Verse number 37, after this man
rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing
and drew away much people after him.
I'm assuming this Judas of Galilee
probably protested against paying taxes.
I'm assuming because it's during the taxing, right?
And drew away much people after him.
He also perished and all,
even as many as obeyed him were dispersed.
So it gives two examples of the past, right?
Of men who rise up, who have a following,
but then just dies away.
Verse number, sorry guys, what am I up to?
38, yeah.
And now I say unto you, refrain from these men
and let them alone.
For if this counsel or this work be of men,
it will come to naught.
Because if we've learned anything,
you know, this whole thing about Jesus,
it's all gonna die away if it's nothing.
If it's not of God, if it's just of men,
which is what they think it is,
it's all gonna die away and go away.
Like this time next year,
we're not even thinking about Jesus.
We're not thinking about Peter and these apostles.
It's all gonna disappear.
Verse number 39.
But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it,
lest happily ye be found even to fight against God.
He's like, look, just in case God is involved in this,
let's not fight against God, all right?
If it's not of God, it's going to die away.
But just in case it is of God, let's not fight.
Otherwise you're fighting against God.
Verse number 40.
And to him they agreed.
Because obviously they think it's of men.
They think it's just gonna fail, okay?
And when they had called the apostles and beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak
in the name of Jesus and let them go.
So like, all right, we won't kill them.
But let's beat them.
Let's just bruise them.
Let's just get our guards to hear it.
Like, we're so angry at these people.
All right, let's just beat them up.
And then they, once again,
commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus.
Verse number 41.
And they departed from the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name.
And daily in the temple and in every house,
they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
So I want you to notice there,
when you are persecuted in the name of Christ,
for the name of Christ, it ought to bring us rejoicing
that we can share in the suffering of Christ.
Now, this man, Gamaliel, all right?
You know, he's not a believer, okay?
But one thing we can see from here
is at least some level of experience.
All right?
There's a controversy.
All right, there are these guys preaching about Jesus.
Everyone's getting flustered about it.
All right?
And it's like, well, just let it be.
Let it be.
If it's of man, it's gonna fail.
If it's God, if it's of God, it's gonna succeed.
Now, this isn't teaching us,
this is how we evaluate success in the eyes of God.
These are just words being captured by an unbelieving man,
but a man with wisdom.
Like if we were to take that principle,
then we would conclude the Hillsong churches
must be of God.
Look at their numbers, look at their success,
look at the years they've been operating,
or we'd be looking at the Roman Catholic church.
Look at the gold, look at their buildings.
They've been going for centuries.
This must be of God rather than man.
But he's essentially teaching us two things.
Number one, if things fail,
let's say we send, I won't use the real name here.
Brother Toby at church.
He's ready to be a pastor and we ordain him as a man.
Brother Toby, we're sending you to Tamworth
to go start a church.
He gets there and he quits after three months.
It all falls apart in six months.
That's a bit, I would say, I don't know about you,
but I would say that wasn't of the Lord
because Jesus built his church.
Okay.
And the thing about this is I've seen men
go and start churches, fails, didn't work out.
I'll go start another church, fail.
Let's start another church, fail.
Boy, I don't think you're getting your message.
Brother, I do not believe this is of the Lord.
Look, New Life Baptist Church isn't the biggest church.
Not even close.
It's average size for an independent
fundamental Baptist Church.
But we've been going seven years.
And I don't know how.
Honestly, I have no idea how,
except to say that it's of the Lord.
This church is of the Lord.
It's his work.
He's been building this church.
So we learn a few principles.
Number one, if you're just, I'm gonna go and start a church,
I'm gonna be a pastor, this is fail, fail, fail.
Dude, stop.
You're doing that out of your own strength.
You're being self-willed.
It's not of the Lord.
It's not of the Holy Ghost.
The other thing we see with Gamaliel is like,
look, this is not our business.
These men going about preaching about Jesus,
we're arresting, we're bringing them to judgment.
Look, just let it play out.
Just leave it alone.
And if it's not of the Lord, it's gonna fail.
I feel like telling that to people
that have been posting a lot on social media
in the last few weeks.
Leave it alone.
Leave it to God.
So they get flustered.
What side do we have to take?
Who do we have to kill?
Oh, we can't kill, let's just beat them up.
People passing judgment,
where it's not their place to pass judgment.
Something I've been talking about lately.
Now again, this man is not a believer.
I'm not saying that everything he says is perfect
and that's exactly what, it's recorded for us
so we can learn a few things.
There's a man of wisdom.
A man of old age.
A man who has seen a lot of his life.
A man who's seen other men rise and fail
and rise and fail.
And it's like, look, just sometimes just leave things alone.
It's none of our business.
Anyway, brethren, title of the sermon today was,
Lie into the Holy Ghost.
Please understand how important church is.
New Life Baptist Church is an important church.
All churches that name Christ in faith alone.
True churches that have been started by other churches.
We've ordained men in leadership.
Those are churches.
These things, you know, it's not a game.
We're not just mucking around here.
Church is serious business.
The Holy Ghost is operating here at New Life Baptist Church.
So let's be sure that when we speak,
and I don't think we've ever been put in a situation
where we are selling our cars and our houses
and all that, right?
But if anything like that ever comes up,
let's make sure that whatever we speak
and announce to the house of God is always in truth.
Let's pray.