- 5 days ago
Please enjoy this message delivered by Pastor Mark Hudson.
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00:00So a local church asked its members if they would donate money for a building project.
00:05So the building committee decided that they were going to make one stipulation,
00:10and that is there would be no plaques or no honoring statements anywhere about who gave what.
00:18It was going to be all anonymous donations.
00:21Well, guess what?
00:22The giving was mediocre at best.
00:26So the building committee decided, okay, well, we'll change our tactics.
00:29We'll say we're going to honor plaques, and we're going to put honoring things all over the auditorium if you give money.
00:35And guess what?
00:36They appealed to the ego of the people, and they got all the money that they needed.
00:44Didn't Jesus warn us about how we give?
00:49That we're supposed to give not for our own self-glory, but for God's glory?
00:55I mean, in the sermon that we call the Sermon on the Mount, he spoke about this idea of giving,
01:00that it wasn't just about the amount, but it was about your heart and your giving.
01:07It's not about being seen of other people.
01:10In fact, he mentioned in Matthew 6, in that sermon we call Sermon on the Mount,
01:13this is what he said in Matthew 6.
01:15He says,
01:15Could you imagine that, though?
01:30Someone goes,
01:31Hey, I'm about ready to give money to somebody in need.
01:33Do-do-do-do-do.
01:34Check me out.
01:35I mean, I can't even imagine someone would want to do that.
01:38Sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.
01:42Look at me, look at me, that they may be praised by others.
01:47Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
01:50But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
01:55It's anonymous.
01:56So that your giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
02:03It's not about the honor.
02:05We don't give for the honor of other people.
02:07We give to glorify God, to honor, not ourselves.
02:11In this text today, that's exactly what happened with Ananias and Sapphira.
02:17It's a hard text.
02:18It's a hard text.
02:19But this is what happened to them.
02:21It appears that they were more focused on what the community, the Christian community, thought about them
02:27than their willingness to give for the glory of God to meet the needs of the people in the Christian community.
02:32It was more about what they could get out of it.
02:35Acts chapter 5, this is what we're going to be looking at, starting in verse number 1.
02:41And what we're going to see here is that which is devoted to God, that which we say, this is yours, God.
02:47I devote this completely to you.
02:48I pledge it to you completely.
02:50Must not be taken back to consume on oneself.
02:53Now, I have to say up front, this really isn't about giving money in this text.
02:59So this is not going to be focused on giving money.
03:01It's not about giving money.
03:02That's not the purpose of the text.
03:04It's something completely different.
03:05Money happens to be involved, but it's not about giving money.
03:09It's about devoting something to God and then taking that which I've pledged to him completely
03:15back for myself to consume on myself.
03:18That's what this text is about.
03:19I mean, somehow, do we really think that God doesn't care about our heart status?
03:26He would care much more about our heart than what we give, the amount of money or dedicate
03:31time for a vacation Bible school.
03:33He's more concerned with our heart than our outward.
03:38This text here underscores the importance of taking our commitments to God seriously.
03:44That which I've completely given to him, I don't take back to consume for myself.
03:48I've devoted it.
03:50I've pledged it to him.
03:51It's his.
03:51In other words, I've released it and given it to him.
03:54It belongs to him.
03:55And then you come along and you kind of just take it back like that.
03:57It's never a good thing.
03:59I learned that in the physical world.
04:01It's never a good thing to take back something you've devoted.
04:04When I was about five, kids in the neighborhood, next door neighbor had an Alaskan elk hound.
04:08A little bit wiry.
04:10A little bit tense.
04:11So we were all eating marshmallows.
04:13So we put marshmallows in the dog bowl.
04:16And then we're eating our marshmallows.
04:17Well, I finished all my marshmallows and I looked down in the dog bowl and I realized
04:21the dog hadn't eaten all of his marshmallows.
04:24So I reached in the dog bowl to grab the marshmallows and the dog did not like it.
04:27And I have two scars right here on my face showing he doesn't like.
04:31I took back that which I devoted.
04:33Now that's in the physical world.
04:35But in the spiritual realm, that which we devote to God, we give completely to him,
04:40whether it's your life or whatever you dedicate and devote to him.
04:43And then we pull part of it back to consume on ourself.
04:46That's the issue that's going on right here.
04:48So look at verse number one.
04:51So hopefully you have your Bibles.
04:52If not, there's one in the chair in front of you.
04:54A biblical device.
04:55Turn it on.
04:56This is God's word.
04:57We want to look at it together.
04:58So chapter five, verse one.
05:00But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira, so a husband and wife, believers, sold a piece
05:08of property and with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself some of the proceeds
05:13and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
05:18So they sold some goods, possessions, and they had devoted all of it to God, but instead
05:25they said, no, I think we're going to keep a portion of it ourselves and we're just going
05:28to give a small portion.
05:33But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to
05:40keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
05:44While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
05:47In other words, this was a voluntary thing.
05:49It wasn't a communism where they come and took it.
05:51They came and took it.
05:52It was a voluntary thing.
05:53He could have said, I'm going to give you 25% of the proceeds or I devote 50% of the
05:58proceeds.
05:58Instead, he said, I devote 100% of the proceeds.
06:03And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?
06:06Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?
06:10It's a heart issue.
06:12You have not lied to man, but to God.
06:14Of course, the Christian community thought that they gave it all.
06:16They didn't know.
06:17So they're lying to the Christian community as well.
06:19But it's to God that the lie, the real lie is.
06:22It says, when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last.
06:27That is a euphemism.
06:28It says he died.
06:30He died.
06:33And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
06:37The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
06:44Again, this is not an easy passage.
06:46This is a hard passage.
06:47Chapter 4 that we looked at, remember Barnabas sold some piece of property, a field, and
06:54he came and deposited it at the apostles' feet to help the Christian community, those in need.
06:59So I mentioned that last week, this is a transition into what's taking place here.
07:03Barnabas did it, and now Ananias and Sapphira have done too, just like Barnabas did.
07:07Except for Barnabas devoted everything that he promised to God.
07:11They held back some of it.
07:12The act of dedicating the money was voluntary.
07:17Ananias was under no obligation to give the full amount of the sale, but he lied and he
07:21said that he did.
07:23It was in his control.
07:24He didn't have to give it all.
07:25He could have just gave a small portion of it, but he said, I gave it all, and he lied.
07:30It wasn't true.
07:32They kept back some for themselves.
07:34And what a contrast that Barnabas sacrificed at the end of chapter 4.
07:37He laid it all at the apostles' feet.
07:39They took back some for themselves, that which was devoted to God, given to him.
07:46An unknown author said, men make counterfeit money, and in many cases, money makes counterfeit
07:52men.
07:53He was being a fake.
07:55He was being duplicit.
07:56He was being a hypocrite here.
07:58Said one thing and did come completely different.
08:01And because he promised the full amount, the money belonged to the common Christian fund.
08:07It was to help those in need, anyone who had a need.
08:09Remember, there was needy people, and they needed to help them.
08:12We talked about there should be no need among us here in the body.
08:15We should help each other out.
08:16There should be no needs.
08:19Belonged to the...
08:20It was devoted to God for sacred use, but no, they kept back part for themselves.
08:25Instead of giving all his pledge, Ananias embezzled.
08:29That's what the word means.
08:30They embezzled the money.
08:32They kept back part of the money.
08:34If you think of it like this, you cannot embezzle your own money.
08:38Makes no sense.
08:40You embezzle other people's money.
08:41So this was money that was devoted to God, and they embezzled, that they took back to
08:45consume on themselves part of it.
08:49Ananias, it seems, again, I don't know what's in his heart.
08:52It seems he's motivated by money, kind of like Judas was motivated by money.
08:56Kept the money bag, his hand, his hat in it, the money bag.
08:59Seems to be motivated like Judas for about money.
09:01It's interesting, as you read the Old Testament, there's multiple times when God is beginning
09:07something new among his people, that a divine judgment happens to get his people's attention
09:13so that they pay attention to what he has to say.
09:15A divine judgment happens.
09:17If you think about it, when the tabernacle was completed, Moses received the tabernacle
09:20from God in heaven.
09:21He made it according to the pattern that was shown him in heaven.
09:24And once it was dedicated, there was two guys named Nadab and Abihu who offered unprescribed
09:29fire.
09:30They offered strange fire on the altar, that which God did not prescribe, and God killed
09:34him.
09:35That got everyone's attention.
09:37What God prescribes is important.
09:39You can't just do your own thing.
09:40That which is committed to God is God's.
09:43And then if you remember when the Israelites came into the promised land, they came into
09:47the promised land and they went through Jericho and everything in Jericho was called, it was
09:51said devoted to destruction.
09:52The idea is devoted for sacrifice.
09:55Everything in Jericho was to be an offering to God.
09:58But Achan takes a little bit to himself and hides it in his tent.
10:05That which was devoted to God, Achan took.
10:11That which was set aside for God for sacred use, Achan takes it.
10:15But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, that which is devoted
10:20to sacred use.
10:22For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, or Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,
10:29took some of the devoted things.
10:30Now, I want you to mark that word took.
10:32We're going to come back to that word took here in a little bit.
10:34He took some of the devoted things, and the anger of the Lord burned against the people
10:40of Israel.
10:41After all is said and done, Achan received the judgment of death from God himself, and
10:49the people of Israel stoned them to death.
10:52Verses 25 and 26 of chapter 7.
10:55And Joshua said, why did you bring trouble on us?
10:58The Lord bring trouble on you today.
11:00And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with
11:04stones, and they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
11:09Then the Lord turned from his burning anger.
11:13Therefore, to this day, the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.
11:17So imagine in your mind, for the city of Jericho, everything's devoted to God for his sacred
11:21use.
11:22You're not to take anything.
11:23He takes something that's devoted to God and uses it for himself.
11:26That's exactly what happened here with Ananias and Sapphira.
11:29As a matter of fact, the word kept back here in chapter 5 is a very rare verb.
11:36It's used in the Old Testament, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
11:40It's used in that, the same exact word as took in relationship to Achan.
11:46Exact same word.
11:47Very rare word.
11:48Not used very often.
11:49Here it's kept back.
11:50In the Septuagint version, it says he took.
11:53Exact same word.
11:54Remember, these people are all Jewish believers, most of them.
11:59There's very few Gentiles.
12:00They know the story of Achan.
12:02They know this story.
12:04And as soon as that word popped up, I'm sure in their minds they're thinking, that's exactly
12:08what happened to Achan.
12:10Achan took that which was devoted to God for God's sacred use and pulled it back for himself
12:14to consume on himself.
12:15They remembered that story of Achan.
12:17It got their attention.
12:18In fact, twice we're told in the text, great fear came upon them all.
12:24Don't lie to God.
12:31Don't take what's devoted to him.
12:33Fall into the hands of a living God.
12:35Yes, it's fall into the hands of a living God.
12:37Yes, it is.
12:38It's a fearful thing.
12:40We don't fear that God's going to crush us like we're little tiny ants because he's our
12:44father and loves us.
12:45I understand that.
12:46But we ought to have a reverential fear of God.
12:50He is so other than we are.
12:52If he appeared right now, I don't think any of us would stand upright and say, oh, look,
12:56here's God.
12:57I think all of us would be on our face if the Shekinah glory filled this place right
13:00now.
13:02It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
13:06See, once the money had been pledged, that's devoted for sacred work, it became a wholly
13:12different matter.
13:13Again, if he would have said, hey, listen, we're going to sell a piece of property.
13:15We're going to give you 50%.
13:17We're going to keep 50%.
13:18That would have been perfectly fine.
13:20But they promised to give it all, devote all of it to God, and then took back part of
13:24it to consume on themselves.
13:26They embezzled what was sacred, was God's, belonged to the Christian community.
13:33It wasn't theirs any longer.
13:34Once they released it, it wasn't theirs, that they took it back to themselves.
13:38The only way that Peter knew what happened is the spirit had to have told him.
13:41I mean, that's the only way.
13:43The spirit would have had to tell him because no one knew what was going on.
13:45It was a secret.
13:46The spirit would have had to tell him what was going on.
13:50We were told earlier that the whole Christian community was of one heart and one soul.
13:55But here the text says that Satan filled the heart of Ananias.
14:00What?
14:04Ananias' heart was divided.
14:07He's supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which is the exact same word.
14:10Instead, he's filled with Satan.
14:12Satan is now inside the church.
14:14This new church that God has established.
14:19His heart was divided, having one foot in the Christian community and one foot in the
14:23worldly security of earthly possessions.
14:25I need to have part of that.
14:27Well, then you shouldn't have promised it to God.
14:28You promised it to God.
14:29You devoted it to him.
14:32An anonymous author wrote,
14:34Satan's primary strategy is deception.
14:36He tries to deceive us.
14:38He's the father of lies.
14:39Okay?
14:39We know that.
14:39He will introduce his thoughts and ideas into your mind and deceive you into believing that
14:44they're yours.
14:45We call them temptations.
14:49It happened to King David, remember?
14:51Satan moved David to number Israel.
14:53First Chronicles 21.
14:54Satan moved him to number Israel.
14:57Did Satan walk up to David one day and say, hey, I think you should number Israel?
15:00Of course not.
15:00David, being a godly man, would have said, get out of my face.
15:03I'm not going to do that.
15:05Instead, Satan came along and convinced him it was his idea.
15:09Hey, I need to know how large my army is.
15:12I think I'll count the troops.
15:14So if Satan can place a thought in your mind, and he can, it isn't much more of a trick for
15:19him to make you think it's your idea.
15:22If you knew it was Satan, you'd reject the thought.
15:24Of course, temptation coming.
15:26Ah, no, I don't want to do anything to do that.
15:27But we think it's our thought coming into our head.
15:30But when he disguises his suggestion as your idea, you're more likely to accept it.
15:34That is his primary deception.
15:36If you knew where the thought came from, you would reject it immediately.
15:41Ananias and Sapphira might have thought it was their idea to withhold some of their offering
15:45while getting the strokes and attention from others who believed they had given everything.
15:49If they knew that it was Satan's idea, they probably wouldn't have done it.
15:52If Satan can get you to believe a lie, he can control your life.
16:00That's why the truth is what sets us free.
16:06So the Holy Spirit, he's supposed to fill our hearts.
16:10Ephesians 5.18.
16:11Instead, Satan fills Ananias' heart.
16:16Satan filled his heart.
16:17Same word.
16:18Should be the Holy Spirit filling our hearts.
16:19It was Satan that filled his heart.
16:21And when Satan, when your heart is filled with the Holy Spirit, it will not be filled with Satan.
16:27They were letting Satan have his way in their life.
16:31D. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote,
16:32Believing the devil's lie always leads to selfishness.
16:36The cause of the tragedy in the human race.
16:39Always.
16:40Always leads to selfishness.
16:43So Satan had entered the young Christian church for the first time.
16:47Remember he was outside with the persecution?
16:49Chapter 4.
16:50Now he's inside the church.
16:52And when Satan is inside the church, there is greater danger than when he's persecuting us from the outside.
16:59If it happened in the first century brand new church, don't you think it could happen today?
17:05Yeah.
17:06Satan can come and fill a church as well today as he did here by working in the hearts of people who attend a church.
17:13So, they didn't resist the temptation of Satan.
17:17James told us what to do.
17:19Submit yourself therefore to God.
17:20Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
17:22Instead, they said, okay, that sounds like a great idea.
17:24So, let's do it.
17:25And to think that they thought they could deceive God.
17:30They thought they could deceive God.
17:32The one who knows all things.
17:34He knows our hearts.
17:35He knows everything.
17:36How could they think that they could deceive God?
17:39And then I thought, I have done the same thing.
17:43I've done the same thing.
17:45I thought I could get away with something.
17:47Thinking that the father doesn't see what I'm doing.
17:50How could we ever deceive God?
17:51He knows everything.
17:52He sees all things.
17:55In fact, Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says this in Chapter 4.
17:58And no creature is hidden from his sight.
18:01But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him whom we must give an account.
18:06We can't deceive God.
18:07He sees it all.
18:10And they had betrayed the Christian community.
18:12They promised something and they didn't fulfill their promise to them.
18:16And the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian community who gives it life and unity.
18:22They're disrupting the unity of the church at this point.
18:25See, God will not tolerate hypocrisy and deception in his church.
18:31He won't.
18:32He won't.
18:33His church is supposed to be holy.
18:36It's supposed to be unlike this world.
18:38We come here as a refuge to this world.
18:41You don't find the attitudes that people have in this church in your workplace unless the person is a believer.
18:46We come here for a refuge.
18:48This is to be our family place we come to.
18:52Kingdom ethics rule in our hearts.
18:55Where we forgive one another and we encourage one another and we love one another.
18:58We live out the kingdom in this.
19:00His church is to be set apart and holy.
19:04Satan is now here.
19:061 Peter 1.
19:07As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.
19:11But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy.
19:15Set apart in all your conduct.
19:17Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.
19:21But Satan is now in the midst of the church.
19:25We don't know.
19:30Divine judgment.
19:31I don't know how he died.
19:32The text doesn't say he just fell down dead.
19:34But they, the people, saw it as divine judgment.
19:37Because twice it says the fear of them came upon all.
19:40Fear of them came upon them all.
19:42Divine judgment.
19:44So they take him out and they bury him.
19:46Now, in the Middle East, you bury people quickly.
19:49Why?
19:49Because it's hot.
19:50Bodies bloat.
19:51Okay, you got the point.
19:52Okay, kind of gross.
19:53You got the point.
19:53This one was unusually fast.
19:57They don't usually bury people this fast unless you're criminals or under the divine judgment of God.
20:03So they see him as under the divine judgment of God.
20:08Ananias' name means God is gracious.
20:12But he also learned that God is holy.
20:16God is holy.
20:17You've taken that which was devoted to him for sacred use to consume upon yourself.
20:26So now Sapphira returns to find her husband dead.
20:30She's not even at the funeral.
20:34She comes back after they bury him.
20:36She's not even present when they bury her husband.
20:39Look, verse number seven.
20:42After an interval of about three hours, so they've gone out.
20:45They buried him.
20:46It took him three hours.
20:47Okay, now, it's not like they dug a hole.
20:49It's typically in the side of a mountain.
20:51Stone, you know, stone, tomb.
20:53You got it.
20:53It's not like digging a hole.
20:54But it took three hours.
20:57After an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened.
21:01She didn't know her husband was dead.
21:03And Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much.
21:07So he's giving her an out.
21:09And she said, yes, for so much.
21:11But Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of
21:17the Lord, to test him?
21:21He lied, yes, but they're testing the spirit of the Lord.
21:24Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will
21:28carry you out.
21:30Immediately, she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.
21:33Again, metaphor for she died.
21:35When the young men came in, they just finished three hours burying.
21:39They come in, they find her dead.
21:41The young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside
21:47her husband.
21:47They're kind of going, really, again?
21:49I mean, we just did this, again?
21:52I mean, they got to go out and they buried her right by, at least they buried her by her
21:55husband, which was nice.
21:56And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
22:01Not just the believers, but anyone that heard the story, great fear came upon them as
22:05well.
22:06Well, Sapphira, three hours later, she arrives, not even at her husband's funeral.
22:12He gives her a chance to come clean.
22:14She doubles down on the lie.
22:15He says, yes, for this much.
22:17That's it.
22:19They were lying to God.
22:20They were lying to the believers.
22:22Did they claim, did they do this to claim a greater status in the church?
22:25I don't know.
22:25Maybe.
22:26Text doesn't say.
22:27I'm not sure.
22:28Seems like it.
22:29I mean, why else would you do it?
22:30But it doesn't say.
22:31But they were lying to the Holy Spirit.
22:35They were lying to God.
22:36That's the same thing.
22:37It's a trinity.
22:38Triune, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
22:41So they're lying to the Spirit, lying to God.
22:42Same thing.
22:43They're lying.
22:45Peter offered her a chance for repentance.
22:49He didn't just say, okay, now you die.
22:51He gave her an out.
22:53He said, listen, tell me the truth.
22:55Tell me the truth.
22:56What really happened?
22:57Yep.
22:57Double down.
22:58Exactly what happened.
22:59And this time, it was not a matter of lying, but of testing the Lord, tempting the Lord,
23:06testing Him.
23:07That is, tempting Him to see how tolerant He would be.
23:11And in this case, not very tolerant.
23:16Deuteronomy 6, 16 says, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested
23:22Him at Massa.
23:23Don't test the Lord.
23:26Stanley Toussaint wrote, to test the Holy Spirit is to see
23:29how much one can get away with before He judges.
23:35Now, we don't ever do that, do we?
23:39I've looked at my Christian experience when I was reading this quote, and I thought, you
23:42know, I have played this game before.
23:46How much can I get away with before He judges me?
23:48I've played this game before.
23:51It's a terrible game to play.
23:52It's wrong.
23:54It means to presume on Him to see if He will perform His word.
23:58Okay, God, will you really do this?
24:00Or stretch Him to the limits of judgment, testing Him to see how much He's going to get.
24:06Oh, yeah, I can just do this little sin.
24:08It's okay.
24:09How much can I get away with?
24:10That's the idea, testing Him.
24:15The irony here is that money was supposed to be laid at the apostles' feet, but these
24:20two fell down dead at the apostles' feet.
24:24That's the irony.
24:25Verse 11 mirrors verse 5.
24:29Great fear came upon all who heard it, both the church and those outside the church.
24:36See, the Holy Spirit is not to be taken lightly.
24:39It's not to be taken lightly.
24:40He must be viewed with holy fear, a reverent awe, and respect.
24:45Don't test the Holy Spirit.
24:47Don't test God.
24:49Don't say, how much can I get away with before He judges?
24:51Don't test Him.
24:52Don't test Him.
24:54Now, this is one that some don't know, and it's a tough one, too.
24:59It's a tough passage.
25:01This is a case of a sin that leads to death.
25:05You say, what?
25:06Yeah, there is a sin that leads to death.
25:09Really?
25:10Yeah, there really is a sin that leads to death.
25:13John, in his first letter, said this, 1 John 5.
25:16If anyone sees his brother committing a sin, not leading to death,
25:20he shall ask, and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.
25:26There is a sin that leads to death.
25:29I do not say that one should pray for that.
25:31I don't know what the sin that leads to death is.
25:33He didn't tell me.
25:34I don't know.
25:35But there is a sin that leads to death.
25:37There is a sin that God could come with divine judgment on a believer and bring us home to heaven.
25:42It happened in the church of Corinth.
25:47Same thing happened in the church of Corinth.
25:49If you remember, they got together for the agape feast, the love feast,
25:53and they brought a potluck, and the rich people would bring all of their food and their wine,
25:57and they'd set it up on the table, and they'd sit there and consume it,
26:00and kind of garden it like that.
26:02And their poor brother and sister over here, who doesn't have very much,
26:05is sitting looking on saying,
26:06I don't have anything.
26:08Are you going to share with me?
26:10And the believer goes,
26:11No, I don't care about you.
26:13I'm only concerned about myself.
26:16How did God respond?
26:17Listen.
26:19He said,
26:20Let a person examine himself then,
26:22and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
26:24He's talking about the Lord's table that they did after they had the agape feast.
26:28For if anyone who drinks, or eats and drinks without discerning the body,
26:32eats and drinks judgment on himself.
26:35Again, these are believers.
26:37That is why many of you are weak,
26:39and ill,
26:41and some have died.
26:46There is a sin that leads to death.
26:48I don't know what it is.
26:49He didn't mention it.
26:50But the people in Corinth experienced God's judgment,
26:53because of what they were doing,
26:54and not discerning the body of Christ.
26:56Both his body that was broken for them,
26:59and the body of Christ which we were a part of.
27:01And their death brought fear on all the church.
27:08All the church.
27:09Do you think God got the church's attention?
27:12Do you think God is trying to say,
27:13this is a holy place?
27:14This isn't a place that we play games like the world does.
27:17We don't do stuff like the world does.
27:19This is my church.
27:22He was at work.
27:23God was at work in his church,
27:25purifying it,
27:25disciplining it.
27:26This is my church.
27:28This is not man's church.
27:29This is not some man's organization.
27:31This is God's church.
27:33God established it.
27:35As a matter of fact,
27:36God loves the church
27:37because he bought it with his own blood.
27:41That's right.
27:43We are a blood-bought people.
27:45He bought us with his own blood.
27:48Acts 20,
27:49Paul is talking to the Ephesian elders.
27:52He says this,
27:54Pay careful attention to yourselves
27:55and to all the flock
27:56in which the Holy Spirit
27:58has made you overseers
28:00to care for the church of God
28:02which he obtained with his own blood.
28:05God loves the church.
28:07He will purify his church.
28:09He will discipline his church.
28:10We are to be lights to this world.
28:12He will work within his church.
28:16You're probably wondering,
28:17I remember your wheels are turning.
28:19I can see it right now.
28:20Smoke's coming up.
28:20No, I guess it's the heat.
28:21Smoke's coming out of your head.
28:24You say,
28:24does God still do this today?
28:28Well, it doesn't seem to be.
28:30I mean, it doesn't happen again
28:31in the book of Acts.
28:32It doesn't seem to be
28:34that God does this today.
28:36Could God do this today?
28:38Absolutely.
28:40Absolutely.
28:41But I'm saying
28:42that he doesn't do it today.
28:43And you know why
28:44he doesn't do it today?
28:45How I know
28:46he doesn't do it today?
28:47We're all alive.
28:52We're all alive.
28:57The church,
28:58his body flourishes
28:59when there is unity
29:00and trust
29:02and openness,
29:03a oneness of heart,
29:05empowerment by the Holy Spirit.
29:08You and I,
29:09we are the family of God
29:10and by the power
29:11and grace of God,
29:12we seek to maintain
29:13this family trust
29:14by keeping our commitments
29:16to the Father
29:16as well as to each other.
29:19Let's pray.
29:19Father, thank you.
29:21It's a hard text, Father.
29:22It's a difficult text.
29:25And I thank you
29:26that you are holy
29:27and you want your people
29:28to be holy people.
29:30You want us
29:31not to be hypocrites.
29:32And I know
29:32at some level, Father,
29:33all of us are hypocrites.
29:34We desire one thing
29:35and often we don't do
29:36what we desire to.
29:38I understand that.
29:39But this was open duplicity,
29:41open hypocrisy.
29:42So, Father, I pray
29:44as you purify your church,
29:46as you enliven your church
29:48by your spirit,
29:48as you bond us together
29:50into this tight-knit family,
29:53may the unity of trust
29:54be among us.
29:56May the desire
29:57to honor one another
29:59and to love one another
30:00and be committed
30:00to one another,
30:01to serve one another
30:03be evident in our lives.
30:05For this is a church
30:06that you bought
30:07with your own blood.
30:09It is yours.
30:10And you want us
30:11to be holy.
30:13We thank you
30:13in Jesus' name.
30:14Amen.
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