Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts 4:32-5:16

Victory over the Adversary

Introduction:

1.       Satan had failed completely in his attempt to silence the witness of the church.

a.

However, the enemy never gives up; he simply changes his strategy.

b.

His first approach had been to attack the church from the outside, hoping that arrest and threats would frighten the leaders.

2.       When that failed, Satan decided to attack the church /from the inside/ and use people who were a part of the fellowship.

a.

We must face the fact that Satan is a clever foe.

b.

If he does not succeed as the “devouring lion” (1 Peter 5:8), then he attacks again as the “deceiving serpent” or an “angel of light” (2 Cor.

11:3, 13–14).

c.       Satan is both a murderer and a liar (John 8:44), and the church must be prepared for both attacks.

*Acts 4:32-37 "32And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any/ of them/ that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

34Neither 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, 35And laid/ them/ down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

36And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite,/ and/ of the country of Cyprus, 37Having land, sold/ it/, and brought the money, and laid/ it/ at the apostles’ feet."*

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The Generosity of the Believers

1.

The believers had prayed and God’s Spirit had filled them and given them new power.

2.       The church that depends on believing prayer will know the blessing of the Holy Spirit in its ministry.

3.       How can we tell when a local church is really filled with the Spirit?

4.       When you go back to the record of the first filling at Pentecost (Acts 2:44–47), you discover three outstanding characteristics of a Spirit-filled church.

a.       */It is unified (2:44, 46)./*

                                                               i.

This is a God-given spiritual unity, not a man-made organizational uniformity.

ii.

The church is an organism that is held together by life, and that life comes through the Holy Spirit.

Of course, the church must be organized; for if an organism is not organized, it will die.

However, when the organization starts to hinder spiritual life and ministry, then the church becomes just another religious institution that exists to keep itself going.

When the Holy Spirit is at work, God’s people will be united in their doctrinal beliefs, as well as in fellowship, giving, and worship (Acts 4:32).

b.      */A Spirit-filled church is magnified and will have “favor with all the people” (2:47)./*

i.

In spite of the opposition of the rulers, the common people were drawn to the believers because something new and exciting was happening.

ii.

When the religious leaders tried to silence the church, it was their fear of the people that restrained them (Acts 4:21; 5:26).

iii.

Yes, a Spirit-filled church will have its enemies, but what the Lord is doing will attract the attention and the admiration of people who are hungry to know God.

c.       */A Spirit-filled church is multiplied, because the Lord will daily add new believers to the church (2:47)./*

i.

Evangelism will not be the work of a chosen few, but the daily delight and ministry of the whole congregation.

ii.

In the early church, each member sought to be an effective witness for Jesus Christ, no matter where he happened to be.

                                                            iii.

No wonder the church grew from 120 to over 5,000 in just a short time!

5.       Did Satan’s attack affect the spiritual condition of the church?

a.

Not at all!

The fact that Peter and John were arrested, tried, and threatened had absolutely no effect on the spiritual life of the church, for the church was still unified (Acts 4:32), magnified (Acts 4:33), and multiplied!

(Acts 4:32)

b.      Acts 4:32-33 "32And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any/ of them/ that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."

6.

One evidence of the unity of the church was the way they sacrificed and shared with one another.

a.

When the Holy Spirit is at work, giving is a blessing and not a burden.

b.

We must keep in mind that this “Christian communism” was very unlike the political Communism of our day.

c.

What the believers did was purely voluntary (Acts 5:4) and was motivated by love.

d.      Acts 5:4 "4Whiles 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."

e.

No doubt many of the new believers were visitors in Jerusalem, having come for the feasts; and they had to depend on their Christian friends to help meet their daily needs.

f.

Nor should we think that every believer sold all his goods and brought the money to the Apostles.

7.       Joses, nicknamed “Barnabas” (son of consolation), is introduced at this point for several reasons.

a.       First, he was a generous giver and illustrated the very thing Dr. Luke was describing.

b.

Second, his noble act apparently filled Ananias and Sapphira with envy so that they attempted to impress the church with their giving and ended up being killed.

c.       Third, Barnabas had a most important ministry

                                                               i.

His name occurs 24 times in 23 verses in the book of Acts

                                                             ii.

He is mentioned another 5 times in the epistles.

iii.

In fact, it is Barnabas who encouraged Paul in his early service for the Lord (Acts 9:26–27; 11:19–30; 13:1–5), and who gave his cousin *John Mark* the encouragement he needed after his failure (Acts 13:13; 15:36–41; Col. 4:10).

8.       His property was in Cyprus

*Acts 5:1-11 "1But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2And 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.

3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back/ part/ of the price of the land?

4Whiles 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.

5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried/ him/ out, and buried/ him/.

7And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?

And she said, Yea, for so much.

9Then 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.

10Then 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.

11And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things."*

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The Hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira

1.       George MacDonald wrote, “Half of the misery in the world comes from trying to /look, /instead of trying to /be,/what one is not.”

2.       The name that Jesus gave to this practice is “hypocrisy,” which simply means “wearing a mask, playing the actor.”

3.       Poem: \\ They build the front just like St. Mark’s, \\ Or like Westminster Abbey; \\ And then, as if to cheat the Lord, \\ They make the back parts shabby.

\\ That was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira: putting on a lovely “front” in order to conceal the shabby sin in their lives, sin that cost them their lives.

4.       Ananias means “God is gracious,” but he learned that God is also holy; and Sapphira means “beautiful,” but her heart was ugly with sin.

a.

No doubt some people are shocked when they read that God killed two people just because they lied about a business transaction and about their church giving.