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Acts chapter number five. Acts chapter number five verse one, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold the 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 had Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and 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. The young men arose wound him up and carried him out and buried him. 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. 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. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them but the people magnified them. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem bringing sick folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits. And they were healed every one. Then the high priest rose up and all that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation and laid their hands on the Apostles and put them in the common prison. 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 to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that they entered into the temple early in the morning 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. 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 and the keepers standing without before the doors. But when we had opened, we found no man with them. Now, when the high priests and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them where unto this would grow. Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence, where they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. When they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior or to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost, and God hath given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them and stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space and said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men. But before these days rose up Theudas, boasting 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. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and drew away much people after him. He also perished and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this council or this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest haply he be found even to fighting its God. And to him they agreed, 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. 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. Fire heads in a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for your word. I ask now that you feel passionate and hear with your spirit as it preaches your word and give us attentiveness as we do this in the Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. All right. We are in Acts chapter five this evening. And Acts chapter number five is a pretty popular chapter because of the fact that it has two significant things in here that a lot of people know about. Number one, of course, is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. And the second being, not necessarily an event, more so a statement that's made in verse 29 where the apostles say that we ought to obey God rather than man. And of course, that is a significant statement for many sermons on that. And it's a very powerful statement that's made there. And really, both of these things have an underlying common principle behind both of them. And we'll get into that in just a little bit. But before we do that, let me go ahead and just review a little bit towards the latter end of chapter number four. If you look at chapter four and verse 32, we're going to see what's taking place here and how that segues into chapter number five. Look at verse 32, it says, And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 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 and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by the apostles was certain in Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, the Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. And so what we actually see here at the latter end of chapter number four is that a free will offering is being taken place, is being given here, not to be confused with a tithe. Of course, we know that a tithe is 10% of your gross income. That's something that's commanded by God, both Old and New Testament, to be given to the local church. But this is referring to a free will offering. In other words, it's an offering that's given by the estimation of the giver. It doesn't have necessarily a specific amount. It really is determined based upon the person and what the amount they want to give, okay? The amount that the Lord lays on their heart, the amount that they feel they should give. And the reason they're doing this is to provide for the lack of the disciples. So there's people there who have a need, they have a specific lack. And so what they're doing is they're providing this free will offering. And what we see here is that there's a lot of generous disciples. I mean, people are selling their possessions even to the point that they're giving up their real estate in order to provide for the needs of the disciples. Now, this event is taking place, it's something that's pretty public because of the fact that we see that when they're selling their possessions, they're selling their land, their real estate, they're bringing the price of that, they're bringing the money, and they're laying it at the apostles' feet. So this is something that everyone is witnessing, everyone can see, everyone is viewing this firsthand right here. Now, there's a reason why I'm mentioning that. Look at verse number 1, let's get into chapter 5, verse number 1. It says, "'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." In other words, she knew that this was basically something that they both conspired to do and brought a certain part and laid at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "'Ananias, why had Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land?'" Now, I believe that both Ananias and Sapphira are both safe, okay? And it doesn't necessarily state that they were filled with Satan, but rather that Satan filled their heart to lie against the Holy Ghost. I believe this is proof of the fact that people, although they can't be possessed by Satan, they can be oppressed, and in some instances, they can even be influenced by Satan. You know, any Christian who's not walking in the Spirit, they're not being yielded to the Holy Ghost, they're not filled with the Spirit, they can often get influenced by a satanic means. And I believe that's exactly what's taking place here, is that Satan is filling their heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, basically to grieve the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land that they sold. Verse 4 says, "'Whiles it remain, 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 man 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.' Jesus 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 man came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, and buried her by her husband." Okay, so what we see here is, it's a great exploit. You know, and this is a good way to scare the congregation into making sure that they're honest, right? You know, hey, if you're going to bring a free will offering, if you're going to claim that you're bringing in the entire price of the possession that you've sold, make sure you're completely honest and give everything. Don't just give lip service to what you're doing, right? And great fear comes upon the disciples because they see that these people, they just fall straightway and they die. Now, a couple of things that we can learn from this is, first and foremost, this shows us that God is still killing people in the New Testament, right? I mean, there's this misconception out there amongst Christians that the God of the Old Testament, you know, he's wrathful, he's mean, he's judgmental, he's killing people left and right. But the God of the New Testament, you know, he's different. You know, Jesus Christ, the God, the Holy Spirit, they just take on this different character, different attribute in the New Testament. You know, in the New Testament, he's more merciful, he's more kind, you know, he's more loving. But, you know, what people fail to realize is that he's both, right? You know, he expresses both mercy and judgment in both Old and New Testament. And people have this dispensational view of the Bible sometimes where they think, well, God stopped killing people in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it's completely different. You know, he's just meek and lowly of heart, and, you know, he's just very merciful. Well, he was meek and lonely of heart in the Old Testament. You know, he was merciful and lovingly kind even in the Old Testament. He doesn't change. And in fact, the Bible specifically tells us in Malachi 3 verse 6, for I am the Lord, I change not. You know, and by the way, that's also in reference to his salvation, amen? You know, his salvation does not change. His attributes and his divine nature does not change. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 8, Jesus Christ is saying yesterday, today, and forevermore. And so people who have this weird view of God, that he was just slaying people left and right in the Old Testament, but bless God, he's completely changed in the New Testament, he's completely... You know, obviously, they're not reading the book of Revelation because, you know what, more people are going to die in that time period when the book of Revelation is being carried out than any other time in history. You know, it's where his wrath comes upon the entire world. And folks, that is New Testament, amen? The Bible tells us not only that in Hebrews chapter 13, but also in Jeremiah chapter 9. The Bible says, let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exerciseth lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things, I delight, saith the Lord. God says, I delight in all these things. You know, he delights in being lovingly kind. He delights in mercy, but guess what? He also delights in judgment. He delights in righteousness. He delights in his specific nature that he is expressing throughout the ages. He doesn't change, you know? And so, you know, when we read the Old Testament, obviously, there's a lot of instances where people are dying left and right. God is killing people left and right, you know? But one thing we have to understand is that in the Old Testament, God often basically accentuates the best parts of Old Testament history, right? You know, when we see the miracles, when we see God slaying people, when we see him doing these great exploits, you know, this happens over a time period of hundreds of years, okay? And when we see these miracles and all that, that's happened over a time period of hundreds of years. And so, you know, obviously, he's not just slaying people left and right every single day. You know, this is something, obviously, that he would do sparingly, but can't say that he's different from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Just as he killed and destroyed people in the Old Testament for various reasons, you know, that ministry continues today. And I'm talking about today as in today, 2020. You know, God is still killing people in 2020. Now, obviously, he's not going to, you know, there's times he may not reach down and smite people the way he smote people in the Old Testament, but he could if he wanted to. And, you know, I'm sure there's stories out there of people who have died at the hand of the Lord over some miraculous event that took place in their lives where people can only say, well, that was God who killed that person. But you know what? You know, God can kill people different ways. He can allow you to get into a severe car accident. He can allow you to get some severe sickness. He can allow you to fall in the hands of your enemies, whatever it may be. You know, God can be the one credible for the one doing those things, especially if you're not right with God. But here's the thing is, you know, God kills people in the Old Testament, he kills people in the New Testament. Go to 1 John 5, if you would, 1 John 5. And this should obviously strike fear in the hearts of people, you know. This should help us to stay right with God, to live a life that is pleasing unto him because of the fact that we know that God at any moment can take our lives away. He can remove that hedge of protection and allow us to fall at the hands of Satan, of our enemies, or anybody else for that matter. He holds that power in his hands. Fear not in which he can kill the body, but fear in which he can kill the body and soul in hell. Now, obviously, we understand we can't lose our salvation, but that very verse should show us that his power extends not only to the physical body, but even to the spiritual realm itself, right? Ezekiel 18, 24 says, But when the righteous churneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass, that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned. In them, he shall die. God says, if you want to continue in sin, for the wages of sin is death, you will die. Look at 1 John 5, verse 16. Let's see if 1 John 5 works in tandem with Ezekiel 18, and says in verse 16, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death, I do not say, that he shall pray for it. All unrighteous is a sin, and there is a sin not unto death. You know, people can stray away from God. They can backslide and get to a point where God says you're done. You are what the Bible would refer to as a cast away. You're like a branch that has been broken off of the vine. You're no longer useful to the Lord, and you're getting so far to the point where God says, all right, well, you know what? If you don't want to live for me, you don't want to serve me, you don't want to go out and preach the gospel, you don't want to be used to me, then I'm just going to take you home early, and that happens. Or there's times when people get excommunicated from the congregation, from the church, and they're given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. They refuse to repent, and what happens? They're destroyed of Satan. You know, God sent serpents in the Old Testament to kill people who were in disobedience to God, and in the New Testament, the way he does that is by excommunicating people from the church. You know, when people are involved in fornication, drunkenness, extortion, idolatry, these forms of sin that merit being excommunicated from the church, the Bible tells us specifically that they're given over to Satan in order to destroy their flesh with the means, with the hope that they would get right with God. You know, we would hope that when people are excommunicated and you're given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that they would recognize the error of their ways, they would make straight paths for their feet, that they would correct and mend their ways and get right with God, draw nigh to him so he can draw nigh unto them. But sometimes that's not the case. You know, some people die in their sin, and at that point, it's too late for them. And in fact, the Bible even says, you know, I do not say that he shall pray for it. You know, some people could get to a point where it's just not enough prayer can be said to save that person from the destruction that is coming upon their lives, whether that's it's self-inflicted, it's their suffering, the consequences of their action, et cetera. But make no mistake about it, God still kills people. And then go to 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, and Ananias and Sapphira are an example of that. Even in the New Testament, he's just laying people out, he's killing them. And, you know, this is proof, in my opinion, that Ananias and Sapphira are saved, because this is the chastisement of the Lord. You know, if there were some unsaved people, you know, they were just unregenerated, you know, God wouldn't chastise them, they're none of his. But because they're children of God, you know, they committed this great sin that merited a chastisement unto death. Look at 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 and verse number 1, it says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all of our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. What is that referring to? In other words, they were killed in the wilderness. You know, it says, Now these things were our, what, examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. So they say, look, the reason that happened to them is to be an example unto us, so we wouldn't repeat history. So we wouldn't repeat the same mistakes that they made and receive the same consequences that they received. They sinned against God, and God overthrew them in the wilderness, and God is saying, hey, if you don't want to be overthrown like these people, you need to make sure that you are not guilty of those same sins so you don't suffer the same consequences that they did. It says in verse, I think we need to turn that down a little bit. Verse number seven, neither be ye idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and 20,000. Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. So he's giving examples of the Old Testament people that were destroyed, they were destroyed, they fell in one day, they were smitten, they were overthrown, and he's saying these things happened to them for an example and to us, showing us that God is not changing on these things. He can still destroy people today as he did back then. And so what's the lesson there? The lesson is this, is that, oh, look at verse 11. Now, all these things happened unto them for our examples, and they are written for our admonition. Well, that's referring to just, you know, the New Testament where Paul is during this time. Well, it says, written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. So these principles are not only, you know, valid for the time being here in the book of Corinthians, it transcends all the way up into 2020. You know, it is applicable even today in 2020 because of the fact that God doesn't change, you know. God does not change. He has the same nature. He still hates sin. He still has the same view in regards to fornication. He still views idolatry the same. He still views all these things the same, okay? Go back to Acts 5, if you would. So, Ananias and Sapphira, they die, and we can basically deduct that the reason they died, the reason God killed them is to make an example of them, you know. And you know what? It worked because what happened? Great fear came upon all the company of believers, right? You know, they that sin rebuke before all that others may fear. And I'm sure maybe there's someone out there who was tempted to, you know, sell their possessions and keep back just a little bit, you know, and maybe do the same thing that Ananias and Sapphira did. But, you know, after they died, I'm sure they were like, well, I'm not going to be doing that. You know, might as well just give the entire free will offering, not be like Ananias and Sapphira. God is killing people here, and I don't want to be another example of that. Now, the question is, why did they lie about their offering? You know, why is it that they lied? Well, here is the reason why I believe that they lied, okay? The reason I believe they lied is because they were just man-pleasers. Now, if you remember at the latter end of Chapter 4, all this is being laid at the apostles' feet. And so, as I mentioned, this is an open event. Everyone is witnessing, you know, oh, man, this person sold their real estate, all this person sold their possessions, and they're laying everything at the apostles' feet. And, you know, that's being an example to other people. And I'm sure it's challenging others to up their giving or to, you know, step out in faith or whatever it may be. And so, Ananias and Sapphira, you know, I believe they were probably doing the same thing. They wanted the acclamations of the crowd. They wanted to please people. So, it wasn't necessary that they cared that their brothers and sisters lacked. They didn't care to serve the Lord. What they cared for was the praise of man more than the praise of God, okay? And this obviously is wicked. And look, the Bible warns against having this type of motive, okay? Go with me if you went to Matthew Chapter 6, Matthew Chapter Number 6. So, what they did was they sold their possessions, and they conspired together. And basically, Ananias was just like, hey, you know, I'm going to say that we're giving this much, okay, and that our property is worth this much, you know, but in actuality, it's worth more than that. So, therefore, we're just going to, you know, take a little bit off the top, keep it for ourselves because we got a good deal or something, and then people will think we're godly or some people think we're spiritual, you know, and they were lying about this. Now, you know, obviously, this is not referring to tithing. This is just a free will offering, as I mentioned. But, you know, I wonder how many people would actually start tithing if people would just drop dead every time someone did in tithing or acted like they were tithing, right? Look what it says in Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 1. Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Barely I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. So the warning here is this. Hey, make sure that when you're doing a good work, when you're giving alms, you're not sounding a trumpet, you're not putting an announcement out there, you're not trying to just, like, grandstand and show how godly you are by doing these things. No, you know, obviously, if you have that motive, then the motive is this, not to help people, the motive is to be seen of men. Okay? And this is proof that not only unsaved people do this, but saved people do it as well. You know, saved people can have wrong motives of doing things. They can partake in certain ministries or give certain alms in order to be seen of men. That is a temptation for human beings to have because of the fact that every human being lights a pat on the back for something that they do, right? They want to be recognized for the things that they do. And there's nothing wrong with that, right? There's nothing wrong with wanting to be recognized for a work that you do. The Bible says, let another man praise thee and not thine own lips, the Bible says, right? So it's okay to be praised for the things that you do, but you shouldn't have that as your primary motive as to why you do things. You know, we should have the love of Christ that constrains us to do these things. And if you say, well, you know, I struggle with that, I like when people watch me do things, then here's the thing that you just need to get your heart right. You know, you need to read the Bible, check your heart, and ask God for wisdom, and ask God to help you to love Him more in order for that love to be the primary source and motive as to why that you do the things that you do. Obviously, we want to do things to help people. You know, that's not a bad motive. If you see your brother or sister be naked or destitute of daily food and you say, be warmed and filled, but give not those things that are needful to the body, you know, can faith save that person? Obviously, not. You know, we want to make sure that we're a blessing to other people, that we're helping them, but the motive should never be so that people can see how godly I am, so people can see what a great Christian I am, so people can see how great of an example I am to the believers. No, that's a bad reason to do things, to be seen of men. And Jesus said, hey, take heed. Take heed. Make sure you are aware of this. Now, someone who...a group of people who were a prime example of being guilty of the sin were the Pharisees, right? The Bible tells us that the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, all therefore, whatever they bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all of their works they do to be seen of men, the Bible says. They make broader phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments. You see, everything that the Pharisees did were literally just to receive the acclamations of men, you know, to receive the applause of men, to receive the recognition of men. And in fact, the Bible even says that there were some that believed, right, referring to the Pharisees, but they confessed them not, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. I mean, they were so worried about what other people thought. They chose not to confess Jesus Christ before the people. Shows you how important other people's opinions were to them. And look, may that be a lesson to us that we should not care what other people think about us, amen? And I'm not saying, you know, just be careless because, you know, the Bible talks about having a good reputation, right? And making sure that we have a good reputation, it's like silver and gold, and we should do our best to live a life that's above reproach. But may that never be the driving force as to why you do the things that you do. You know, you should be the same person in church that you are at home, that you are at your job, because at the end of the day, the person that sees you all around is God himself, right? Now, when I think of this, this type of attitude, this type of spirit, I think of Pentecostals, right? You know, a lot of the things that they do, they do to be seen of men. You know, I mean, you go into a Pentecostal service, and I don't recommend it. You know, you have people dancing, and hala shalabaling, and doing all these kinds of crazy things, and shaking, and looking like sizzling bacon, you know? And why? Because they want to be seen of men. They want people to look upon them and say, wow, this person is filled with the Spirit. This person, God is really...this person is being slain in the Spirit, or something, you know? And that's what they do it for. They don't do it so that they can, you know, have closer communion with God. They don't do it because they're, you know, actually, they love the Lord. They're doing it to be seen of men. That's exactly what they do these things for. And obviously, we can apply this in many different areas. I think of, for example, one of the reasons why we don't do altar calls, because sometimes altar calls are done to be seen of men. Now, we don't do altar calls because of the fact that altar calls is just a way of making people make vows that they don't keep. And ultimately, what happens is, you know, they suffer the consequences of that. I don't think that's right. But, you know, I know people that literally go to the altar, or they would go to the altar just to be seen of men, you know? Oh, man, that guy's always going down to the altar. He's always praying. He's always doing these things. And he must be so godly. He's doing it to be seen of men. It's not because he's making a right decision. It's not because, you know, he actually wants to clean up his life. He wants everyone to see him walking down the aisle from all the way in the back of the auditorium, and he's getting right with God. Oh, look, he's crying. Oh, he's old guy-ing, and oh, Lord, and oh, this, you know? Those type of things, people do to be seen of men. And you think to yourself, well, that's ridiculous. People actually do that? Yeah, they actually do that. You know, and unfortunately, you know, the old IFB has created that type of ambience in the church where, you know, it's important for people to see you do right instead of it's important for God to see you do right. You know, the Bible says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. The Bible says, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He made himself of what? No reputation. So God says, look, if you want an example of someone who is just perfectly balanced in this area, Jesus Christ, you know, he is God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet he himself made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant that was made in the likeness of man. I mean, if there's anyone who deserved the reputation as Jesus Christ when he was here on this earth, he's God, right? But yet he himself was not about that vainglory, he was about being lowly in mind. He was not about thinking much of himself. He made himself of no reputation, he was a servant. The Bible says that he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich, the Bible tells us. And so, you know, what we see Ananias and Sapphira doing is they're just partaking in vainglory. They just want to be seen of the apostles as being that power couple, you know, who are just, they're just, man, they're so godly and they sold their real estate. But you know what? Peter, he knew what's up. He was just like, you know, God has revealed this unto me, you know. Flesh and blood have not revealed this unto me, but my Father, which is in heaven, you guys lied what you did. You kept back part of the price and now you're going to pay the price. You know, that should have been the title for this evening, you know. Keep back part of the price or pay the price. Well, it was the latter with them. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1-10, for do I now persuade men or God? You see, when we do things, when we serve God, when we go out there sowing, when we preach, whatever it is that we do, are we trying to persuade men or are we trying to persuade God? You know, it should be that we're seeking to persuade God in a sense of we want to show him that we love him. We want to show him that we love people. We want to prove ourselves unto the Lord, right? He says, do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ, the Bible says. And I believe this is something that everyone's going to struggle with, okay? I believe this is a normal sin that people struggle with, where they want to be seen of men. You know, they want people to think highly of them. And we, and myself included, we need to make sure that we constantly check ourselves and make sure that we check our ego at the door and say, Lord, help me to just serve you in purity of heart, in purity of spirit, to do things because the love of Christ constrains me to do them, okay? Don't be a man pleaser. Now, another thing that we can learn from this is that Sapphira should have just disobeyed her husband, okay? This is an instance where disobedience to authority is right. You know, if Sapphira was a godly woman, she would have said, you know what? I can't do this. You know, I can't lie about this. I can't lie to the Holy Ghost. I can't lie to the apostles. This is not right. We should just give everything unto the Lord, everything that we sold, you know, the price that we got for it, we should just give it all. But instead, she actually went along with it. Now, this is an instance, as I mentioned, where disobedience to authority, you know, is right. And it's because of the fact that, you know, her authority was causing her to sin. And obviously, we understand that by default, we should always submit to our authorities, right? Do what our authorities tell us to do. And authority is set there by God. I mean, children have their parents as the authority. A woman has her husband as the authority. Church members have the pastors as an authority. Citizens of a city have the government as their authority. And the default setting when it comes to our attitude is, well, we're just going to submit, you know, unless they tell us to do something that's unbiblical, unrighteous, sinful. At that point, we don't obey the authority. So, God expects us to obey, you know, our authorities. And in fact, the Bible says, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, you know, as they must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. And although that's in context of a pastor, that can be applied through, you know, with every authority, because that's what authorities are there for. But the exception to the rule is if the authority is trying to get you to do something that's unbiblical, unrighteous. And it's interesting because we have that example in this very chapter, right, where the apostles, they're being arrested, and these religious leaders come, and they say, don't speak anymore in this name, and they're trying to threaten them. And what do they say? We ought to obey God rather than man. And, you know, these religious leaders, these authorities, and these guys aren't even an authority, actually, you know. They make themselves to have the authority, but they don't really have any religious authority over the apostles, period, you know. It's like, well, you need to submit to some other pastor. It's like, what in the world? I don't even attend that church. That's not my authority, you know. You need to submit yourselves to this. It's like, no, we don't, okay? And it's not for a good reason why they're trying to get them to stop preaching in Jesus' name, right? It's not like, well, you know, there's a disease that's killing a bunch of people we shouldn't be, you know, out and about, right? It's more like they just don't like Jesus. They just hate Jesus Christ. They hate the message of the gospel. They are seeing that the doctrine is spreading throughout all Jerusalem. Their authority is being undermined. You know, their old listeners are leaving them and enjoining themselves to the apostles and the disciples to Christianity, and they don't like that, you know. So the next best thing is this. Well, we just need to make sure that we threaten them and tell them not to speak anymore in this name. And they said, well, we're going to obey God rather than man. It doesn't matter what you say. Now, how do we apply that to ourselves today? Well, obviously, we need to give authority to the benefit of the doubt, right? And just automatically assume, well, they have our best interests in mind. Now, we can't really do that with the government too much because obviously the government is corrupt. But here's the thing is that sometimes, and I'm getting kind of ahead of myself, is that, you know, people have this attitude that they don't give the government a whole lot of credibility, but they kind of do give them a lot of credibility. What I mean by that is this. You know, they think, well, the government's corrupt and, you know, we can never trust them, but yet they feel threatened by the government. In other words, they're giving the government credibility as if the government can actually do something to them. You understand? And so that's the weird paradox that you see with people is they're like, well, the government is corrupt, and I believe that. But at the same time, you know, they think they need to protest. They think they need to do all these things because they think the government actually has power over their lives. Folks, the government doesn't have any power over our lives, okay? You know, they're like, well, we need to move to a different state. Well, the same government, the corrupt government that you're talking about, has power over there. So it just doesn't make any sense. You know, they discredit the government, but yet on the other hand, they're giving them a whole lot of credit because they believe that the government actually has some sort of power over their lives. They don't, okay? And that's not a well-balanced view. You know, we use the government, the government should not use us, you know? And if the government mandates something that's anti-Biblical, where they say, you guys can't go sowing anymore, where they can go jump in the lake of fire, obviously. And my view is this, is that the government doesn't have any power over us. I don't care how much muscle they flex. I don't care what mandates they give out. At the end of the day, the government that I'm for is the government of the Bible, right? This is my governor right here, is the Word of God. And I'm going to submit myself to the higher powers as long as they don't try to mandate something that's going to cause me to sin against God. And it's going to happen, obviously, one day, right? Where sowing becomes illegal, preaching the Word of God becomes illegal. And at that point, well, we ought to obey God rather than man. And I don't want to get too ahead of myself because that's another point that I have in my sermon. So, this is an example here of the authority crossing the line. So, we have Ananias and Sapphira, and, you know, they lie to the Holy Ghost, they pay the price, they die. This great exploit that's done causes people to be afraid. And they're just like, man, you know, great fear comes upon the company, but a bunch of people get right with God. More people are added to the church because of this, right? And more exploits are done. The religious leaders take heed to this. They try to stop them, doesn't work. They're still obeying God rather than man. They're trying to overstep their boundaries and command them to not to preach the gospel, etc. Let's see here. Skip down to verse number... Well, let's read a couple of verses here. Look at verse 25. Then came one and told them, saying, behold, the men whom he put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people. So, they put them in the hold, and then the angel come and basically releases them. This great miracle is done, releases them, and they're just like, hey, they're still preaching out there. And it says in verse 26, then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people lest they should have been stoned. They go out there, you know, because the guy tells them, hey, they're out there preaching. They're not in their cells. They're not arrested. They're not in prison. They're back where they originally were, preaching the word of God. So, they go out there, and they bring them without violence. They're just like, hey, come on, guys, you know, you're supposed to be in prison. What are you guys doing out here? Because they understand that if they try to get violent with these people, or if they try to get violent with the apostles, the people who are adhering to the message have already seen and these wonders have been confirmed that this is from God, they're afraid that the mob is going to turn on them, and they're going to pay the price for that as well. It says in verse 27, and when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? Well, sorry. I mean, who are you? Behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Yeah, of course we are. We're trying to bring the blood of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world so they can receive the full remission of sins, and they're trying to bring the blood upon the Jews because they said his blood be on us and on our children. You know? One, they're trying to redeem. The other ones, they're trying to show that they're responsible for the death of Christ. You know, Peter just keeps driving in the same point, right? That they're responsible for the death of Christ. But I like what he says. He says, you've filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. You know, sometimes people's criticisms, we actually take them and say, well, thanks. We take it as a compliment. To them, it's a criticism. To us, it's a compliment. You've filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. I was like, man, well, thanks for that. It looks like I'm doing my job. Amen? Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom he slew, and hanged on a tree. You know, he could have just stopped that, raised Jesus, but he just wants to throw that in there. By the way, you slew him. You hanged him on the tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them, that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. Now, notice the difference between what we saw in Acts 2 and what we're seeing in Acts 5. You see, when the Apostle Peter was preaching the gospel in Acts chapter 2, they were also cut to the heart. You know, they were pricked in their hearts, the Bible says, and they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? So we see that the word of God, you know, has power, is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces even to the dividing of the center of the soul and the spirit joints of the marrow. But we see two different responses to that, right? To one, in the Acts chapter 2, they say, men and brethren, what shall we do? And a bunch of people get saved. But to the other, they take counsel to slay them. So the word of God hits both of their hearts. One of them, it compels them to get saved. The other one, they just harden their hearts, and in fact, they try to conspire to kill these apostles. It shows you that, you know, people have a free will, right? God doesn't choose certain people to go to heaven, choose certain people to go to hell. The word of God affects everyone equally, but it's the response of the person to the word of God. Look at verse 34. Then stood there one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, commanded to put the apostles forth a little space, and said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. Says, for before these days, rose up Thetis, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of taxing, and drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone, for if this council or this word be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. Remember, when I first read this as a new Christian, people would often interpret this as saying, basically stating that Gamaliel was actually a good Pharisee, because he basically wasstood the persecuting hand of the Pharisees by saying, hey, leave them alone, if this be of God, then you can't bring it to naught, and all these things. But actually it's the exact opposite. Now what he said is true, but the attitude and the disposition wherewith he said it was not right. Because basically what he's saying is this, hey, leave them alone, because remember those two other guys who tried to do the same thing that these guys are doing, those guys died, and their work came to naught. Thedas came, and he drew away a bunch of people, he died, remember, he was slain, his work was brought to naught. Now I don't think these guys were preaching the gospel, but he's basically, he's lumping the apostles in with these people who are creating this uprising. And then he says, and then there arose Judas of Galilee, and that guy also died, and everyone else who obeyed him. And basically what he's saying is this, these apostles are just going to be just like them. They're going to die, it's going to come to naught, just leave them alone. Not a right attitude to have, but actually what he said is true. Because he says in verse 38, for this counsel, for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. In other words, it's going to come to nothing. And then he says, but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest happily be found even to fight against God. I want to read this, I'm encouraged to be honest with you, because of the fact when you think of the local New Testament church, nothing can overthrow the local New Testament church, nothing. There is no outside force that can destroy the local New Testament church. I don't care how powerful they may be, how much influence they may have, how many articles and how many videos they make, it doesn't matter. They cannot overthrow it if it be of God. The only person who can overthrow a church is Jesus Christ himself. The only one, he's the one who has the authority to remove the candlestick, right? He said, thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Satan and his minions, Satan and his people and his principalities and powers and his rulers of darkness, they could try to fight against us, fight against local assemblies and try to tear us down and destroy us, but at the end of the day, no weapon formed against thee shall prosper, the Bible says. Because God didn't give authority to any human being in this world to destroy the local New Testament church. The only one who can do that is God himself, okay? Now obviously, a church can implode from the inside out, right? If we allow sin to permeate the church and just allow it to just leaven up and have a bunch of leaven in it, a bunch of sin and heresy and false doctrine. If we stop doing what God has called us to do, we just completely negate the great commission, we're no longer preaching the word of God, we just become lazy, at that point we implode, but it's still God who comes and removes that candlestick. Still God is the one who comes and says, okay, you're no longer a church, right? But you know what? Attacks from the outside actually strengthen us. Criticisms from the outside actually strengthen us. They want to weaken us, they want to hinder us and slow us down, but you can't stop us. Yeah, you can maybe slow us down a little bit, cause us to go from fourth gear to first gear for a short time, but you can't stop us. You won't cause us to put it in park and take the keys out of the ignition and just leave it at that. No, we're still going to be going forward. And it doesn't matter how many videos you can make, whatever YouTube channels you have, how many slanders you can put out there, how much dirt you're trying to dig up on church members or the pastor. You can say whatever you want, no weapon formed against thee shall prosper. You will not be able to take down first works Baptist church, period. And I'm not saying that based upon, oh, I'm just such a great leader, I'm a great pastor. No, it's the fact that the only one who has that authority is Jesus Christ himself. And as long as we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, we're in good hands, amen. I mean, you know, 10,000 shall fall on my right hand, 10,000 shall fall on my left. It shall not come dying to me. The world can be falling apart to the left and to the right of me, but God's heads of protection is still there. He can keep us. He's the one that determines whether our church exists or doesn't. And let me just tell you, God's not going to listen to the prayers of these wicked reparations who want to destroy our church. You know, he's not going to give them any ground. He's going to give them enough, you know, a robe to hang themselves is what he's going to do. He's going to give them enough robe to make them think like they're making some sort of progress because they're not going to be able to stop us. Oh, we're going to shut you down and we're going to shut down YouTube. Yeah, you could shut down a YouTube channel, but the church still exists. And you know what? YouTube is not the one that gets the word out, it's God who gets the word out because the word has gotten out for thousands of years without YouTube. Influence has been permeating throughout cities, states, and countries. The message of the gospel, the message of the Bible has always permeated societies without technology. Now, we'll use technology, amen? And we're going to continue to utilize it, but if they try to shut us down in that area, God's just going to open up another door somewhere else for us to be able to propagate the word of God because he's the one who allows us to prosper. He's the one that gives the word of God a free course, right? There's wicked and unreasonable men who want to hinder us and stop us by criticizing us, by trying to wear us down, but you can't stop us. It's impossible. It is impossible. You know, the Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 3 in verse number 8, I know thy works, and behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. Did you get that? I have set before thee an open door, and no one's going to shut it. You know? And this is why I find it so funny when people try to give the government more power than they actually have. It's just like, yeah, well, we've got to fight against the government. Why? Do you think they can shut the door? No man can shut it. Please God, serve God, serve Jesus, and you know what? He has a door that he can open for you, and no one can shut it, not even the government. No sodomite, no reprobate, no wicked person, no stupid church member can ever shut the door that God opens. No man can shut it. This is why this whole thing is so ridiculous for people to say, well, the government's so corrupt, and I can't believe it, but at the same time, they're still giving them credit, thinking that they're capable of just destroying our lives. They can't destroy our lives, you know? They can't shut us down, and look, and if they do shut us down, I'll take it as it's from God, but it's not going to happen, folks, because God wants this church to exist. God wants the word of God to be preached. God wants us to continue to win souls until the end of the world. He says, behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. Thou hast a little strain that has kept my word, and has not denied my name, the Bible says. You know, he closes the door, and no man can open it. You know, there's people out there that are still trying to be a pastor, or they're still trying to start a church, and that door's already closed, and I don't care if you put Baptist on the front of your sign there, and you have your services, and you have your website, and you have your YouTube channel, and you claim to be a pastor, and you have the title, that door's shut, no matter who you are. If you're a person who's teaching wicked false heresy, if you're out there doing wicked things, if you are, you know, unqualified, you know, Mr. Tim DeLaylo out there, you know, he's an unqualified, oh, I'm still a pastor, though, what's the other guy from Canada? Josh Kander. No pastor, no one's ever qualified, you idiot. First Timothy chapter three, you know, is more like a schoolmaster, you have to teach you, you can't be a pastor, okay. That's what it's there for. You know, no one is qualified to be a pastor, oh, yeah, because like no man has ever married, had one wife, you idiot, like, well, this is just like a, you know, it's just to show us that we fall short, and no man is able to keep all these things, what are you talking about? You know, there's unsaved people who are able to have one wife throughout their entire life, it doesn't even take a saved person to have one wife for their entire life, yet this idiot wants to get up and say, well, this is, it's like a schoolmaster to just show us how short we fall, you know, what an idiot. You know, so are you trying to say that you're given to wine? Are you trying to say that you're greedy of filthy lucre? Are you trying to say that you're covetous? Are you trying to say that you're going to leave your wife sometime soon or something or what? But this is the kind of nonsense that spews out of these unqualified idiots who God has shut the door, and they're just like, open up. They're trying to like bang on the door and knock on the door, and God's like, I've already closed that door, it's not going to open up for you anymore. That opportunity is gone. You're preaching stupid stuff. You're an idiot, you know, you're unlearned and unstable, and you're resting the scriptures because of it, okay? That door has been shut, folks. Well yeah, but they still have a, I mean, he calls himself a church. He can call himself a church all he wants, he's not a church. He can call himself a pastor all he wants, he's not a pastor. Because here's the thing, are you saying that people call you a pastor, or is it God who's the one who says that you're the pastor, right? You know, but hey, if you're a pleaser, man, who cares what God says, right? Who cares what God says, as long as you can have your YouTube channel and preach your stupid doctrines and say all this nonsense. You know, that door is shut, folks. You know, unqualified pastors should just humble themselves, step down, and just keep serving God, you know, sowing, you know, just serve God at their capacity. There's nothing wrong with that. But they're just trying to force that door open. You know, they're trying every single key on their key chain, and it's just, if you look at the door knob, it just has scratches all over it because they're not going to get it open. It's done. You're done. You're through, okay? But when God opens the door, you know, rest assured, no man can shut it. And that is assuring for us, amen? That's great. That gives me great consolation and comfort that no matter how powerful the institution or organization is that is trying to come against us, you know, if God's opened that door, God doesn't care who you are. You know, they're not going to be able to shut it. It says in verse 40, and to him, they agreed, 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. It's funny. So they don't really believe them 100% because they still have to beat them up, you know, and they're just like, yeah, you're right, come over here. Just to kind of add insult to injury. 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, in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. In other words, they're just like, beat me all you want, but you're not going to keep me down. We're going to keep preaching and teaching Jesus Christ no matter what happens. And that's pretty much it. Let's go ahead and bow our heads in our word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the open doors, Lord, that you've set before us. And we understand that there's always a great and effectual door, and there's always many adversaries on the other end of that. And Lord, they can slow us down sometimes, they can hinder us, but they'll never stop us. And Lord, I pray God that when that happens and we feel as though we're being hindered and we're slowing down or things aren't going the way we planned, help us to just wait upon the Lord. Help us to do more study, just try the best that we can to grow during this time. But recognize that the door's still open, it hasn't closed. And we shouldn't give credit to organizations and institutions and allow them to strike fear in our hearts as if they can change our manner of life. Because in actuality, they can. You can change our manner of life. You can take away our health. You can take away our speech, our sight, our hearing, our legs, Lord. You can remove our talents, our gifts, our abilities, our resources if you want. Help us to please you, to serve you so that we can continue to serve you to the best of our abilities. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.