A spiritually critical business deal - Vern Peterman, or, How to...

Good morning. We will be moving into this passage that Randy read for us, Acts 5, 1-16. Now this is one that's fairly well known, so it's got all sorts of things that pop and sizzle, and we'll make sure that it does. The big picture here, we've seen the book of Acts, this is a phenomenal record. of the Acts of the Apostles. Particularly, it's focused early on on the apostleship of Peter and then the latter part of it, the apostleship of Paul. But nonetheless, it's a fascinating account and it's inspired too, so that makes a huge difference. As we've also seen and we've also said, the book of Acts is a book of many transitions. And what we're reading today with the account of Ananias and Sapphira is one of those transitions and typical of a transitional time.

We've also seen that Dr. Luke summarized the character and activities of the church at certain intervals, for example, Acts 2, 42 through 47. was one of those points at which he characterized the transitional period, you know, in its stages. And then again in Acts 4, 32 through 37 is another place where he characterized the transition as it was at the time. And particularly between events, and that's Acts chapter 2, which is the day of Pentecost, the beginning day of the church. And then healing the man who was born lame when he was more than 40 years old. Acts 3 and 4.

And so we have these kind of transitional points and transitional periods where he's done a summary description there. Here, for example, and as a preface to today's account, in Acts 2, 42 through 47, Verse 45, Dr. Luke recorded, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. So what is happening in the account we're looking at today, that began a little bit before, right after the Day of Pentecost. So they began selling their property and they continued to do so on into the time that we're looking at here. So what we're going to see is we've begun taking a look at last week. First is a good example and then a bad one. And so the example that's good is the one of Barnabas. We saw that in Acts 4, 36 and 37, so two verses. His given name was Joseph. He was nicknamed Barnabas. You remember what he was nicknamed Barnabas for? That word, that name, that nickname means son of encouragement, right?

He shows what it looked like when a believer just simply sold their property and just gave the proceeds to the apostles and didn't complicate it as we'll see Ananias and Sapphira did. Today's passage we're going to see an example of a couple giving money from the sale of land, both Ananias and his wife Sapphira misrepresented the amount of the sale.

That was the problem. But the problem was not just, oops, we got the wrong number, but it came from an intent to commit sin, an intent to deceive. So it's a good thing, as we point out here in the next slide. It's a good thing we have a bad example, because we can learn from it. Though what Ananias and Sapphira did was a bad thing, actually, on several levels.

It wasn't just, hey, you oopsed here in this one area. We're going to see that the lessons to be learned and the principles to be drawn from that are going to be very good for us to learn from. So by God's doing, we're going to have an opportunity as we step our way through the passage to learn some good lessons from this inspired account. Do you know that the Holy Spirit inspired Dr. Luke to write what's in here? It's not like, oh boy, he could have skipped over that. No, this is inspired by God for your benefit.

So it's an inspired account of a really bad thing that Ananias and Sapphira did And they said, and they thought, right? And that's good. All right. Here's Acts 5, 1 and 2. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. Not bad so far, eh? Okay. Verse 2.

And kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet. So, was the problem that he only gave a part? Was that the problem? No. We're going to find that out. All right. But here's what he goes through. Sell the property, bring the wife in on what the facts are, and here's what we're going to tell them, right?

So, nice names, by the way. The name Ananias is sort of a nickname from Cananiah. which is a Hebrew name. You'll find it multiple times in the Old Testament. It means Yahweh, which is the Hebrew name for God, is gracious. So God is gracious. What's wrong with that? Couldn't be any better. Sapphira was an Aramaic name. Aramaic, by the way, is a language, not a disease, okay? It's an Aramaic name. It means beautiful, okay? So, God is gracious and beautiful. I mean, those are lovely names, really, aren't they? I mean, even you would say so, right? The names Ananias and Sapphira were lovely names, were godly, and even spiritual names, okay? Reality is a little different for these two, okay? and something quite different from the meaning of the names, from the inside out. In other words, the problem started inside, right? So, we got a... Oh, but Vern, were Ananias and Sapphira saved?

Well, I'm glad you asked that question. That's very insightful of you to ask that, and perceptive. So I'm glad you asked it. Just hang on, we'll get there, okay? All right. So, Now, first of all, it said they kept back some of the price. Now, that's an important thing for us to look at here. Ananias, with full knowledge of his wife Sapphira, kept back some of the proceeds from the sale of the land for himself. All right, we're going to take this and divide it up. Some for us, some for them.

So this Greek word that's translated kept back was actually a rare word in the New Testament. It's used three times, twice in this passage. only once more outside of this passage. It is also rare in the Old Testament, but Joshua 7.1 is one of the places where it turns out that shows up again with the account of Achan. That's not aching like, oh, I'm Achan, but Achan, A-C-H-A-N, right?

Here Achan kept back some of the valuable items So Joshua 7.21, from conquering of the city of Jericho, even though the Jews were not to take anything from Jericho for their personal possession. He said, it won't hurt if I take this, and so what did he do? He hid it underneath his tent. Nobody will know. It won't be a big deal. But I'll enjoy these things. It's nice. Kind of a bonus.

So we'll keep an eye on Achan here. to go through the account of Ananias and Sapphira. This account then is in Joshua chapter 7. So what happened with Achan was, here's a comparison contrast, was under the law of Moses, and this principle of grace is the account here that we're seeing for Ananias and Sapphira.

So under a different principle, but something similar happens, that's what compares, what contrasts is the principle law versus grace. So what is the same between the accounts? That's what we compare. And what is different between the two? That's contrast.

Now, they laid it at the apostles' feet. On the outside, everything that Ananias and Sapphira had done was fully biblical. Sell the property? Sure, you could do that. Give the money to the apostles? Yeah, you could do that. It's in the details where something goes wrong. We'll see more of those details as we go through here.

So far, all of the externals fit with the pattern, the externals fit with the pattern described in those two summary sections in Acts 2.42-47 and 4.32-37, where the focus is on the apostles teaching and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayer, right? So the sale of the property was going to turn out so well for Ananias and Sapphira and everybody else, right? And we wink at that. Okay.

Here's Acts 5, 3 and 4, but Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the price of the land? There's that word, keep back, right? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?

You have not lied to men, but to God. Before we proceed into this, I want you to notice something. In verse 3, Peter says that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. In verse 4, he says, you've not lied to men, but to God. What does that tell you about the identity of the Holy Spirit? It is that the Holy Spirit is a personal being, as God is, three persons. that you can't lie to something that is not personal. Other than laying down on it, can you lie to the pew that you're sitting on? You cannot. You can lie to some other person.

So here it says, but Peter said, Peter has an apostolic role, so he's not just responding, hey, that's great money, thank you, we can use that, thank you very much, and see you later, Ananias. He could have done that, but that's not what he did, did he?

Instead, he has an apostolic role, having knowledge of things that is given to him miraculously. So by the power of the Holy Spirit, He is carrying out this apostolic role with apostolic spiritual insights into the heart and intent of Ananias and Sapphira, and he knows how it's going to turn out. So Peter begins, so far as we can tell, by asking questions. Four of them, to be exact. And his questions are not because he doesn't know the answers to the questions.

Now that's an interesting pattern in the Bible. For example, you may reflect back on here is Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve have been accustomed to meeting with the Lord in the cool of the day, right? Meeting with the Lord and walking with the Lord. And then one day, the Lord comes and begins asking questions.

Adam, where are you? Right? Now, just like this situation, God asked the questions in Genesis 3, just like with Peter, not because he doesn't know the answers. That's very important for us to recognize. When God said to Adam, Adam, where are you? It wasn't because he didn't know the answer. He asked it for Adam's benefit.

The same thing here. It was a question, a series of questions. to bring about realization and understanding, not because Peter, in this case, Peter, asking the questions, didn't know the answers to the questions. And one of the things that's going to become clear is that the giving Here in this passage, under grace, with Ananias and Sapphira, is very much like what 2 Corinthians 9, 7, Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, says, each one must do as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. That same set of principles applies here. Very interesting, even though it's early in the church, the same statement fits. So, Ananias, and then begins why. Okay? Now, Peter's not being a three-year-old, right? Asking why forever, but why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back a price of the land? Some of the price of the land.

So now comes a stunning contrast. Remember we talked about comparison and contrast? Instead of being filled with the Holy Spirit, Satan filled Ananias' heart to the end that he lied to the Holy Spirit, keeping back the price of the land. So this is a contrast because up to this time it talked about this and that believer being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, We have Satan filling Ananias' heart with the motivation to lie here. On the face of it, that wasn't actually a bad thing to do, to keep back something, but the lie from the father of lies, that was a different matter altogether.

So Peter has some continuing good questions. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? So this is a very important insight. We'll take a look at that in a minute. And after it was sold, was it not under your control? That is, the money that came from it. So as property, it was yours. Once you sold it, you still had the money. That was yours. So Peter's good questions actually end up giving us some good answers.

Those include socialism, which means I need to even out the income to everybody, and communism, which says I don't get to own anything, but everything is owned in common. Neither of those are what the book of Acts is supporting here. It's not a governmental and mandated requirement, but nor legalism. This isn't a, you better do this in order to be holy. Peter said, it was unsold, it was your own. Until you sold it, it was yours. Once you got the money, it was still yours and under your control. So it isn't a, you'd better sell your land if you want to be holy.

Ananias and Sapphira are not bound by political ideology here, and Christianity is not a religious form of socialism. Nor are they bound by a legal principle that says that Ananias and Sapphira have to sell the land, nor must they give all or any of the money to the apostles. They were under no obligation with these funds. You don't have to sell it. If you sell it, the money is yours. So this is a heart-based deed that they did. Lying about the amount of money made on the sale of the land was not necessary.

However, what was it intended to do? It was intended to press everyone else about how generous Ananias and Sapphira were. That's the reason for the misrepresentation, the provarication, otherwise known as a lie. People can attempt to lie to others, but it actually never works out very well. I did lie to Nancy once though.

I did. And she knows it. She found out when I pulled up because I had pretended it was something else and it was actually her bachelorette party. And I was dropping her off. So anyway, that was the only time it worked out. But anyway, after she forgave me for that, then I never went to that anymore.

So one cannot say something to God that will fool Him. Do that. He knows the facts, and the heart, and the heart's intent. He knows all that. You can even try to fool yourself, and that still doesn't fool God. Right? So now, oh, but Vern, we really need to know. We're Antioch and Sapphira saved. That's an excellent question. I'm so glad you thought of it. It shows a lot of insight and perception on your part, but we'll get to it.

So Acts 5, 5 and 6, And he heard these words, and Ananias fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came over all who heard of it, I'll say. And the young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. So, this certainly is not a game you can win at that. Ananias did two things, real simple. One, he fell down and breathed his last. That was on the to-do list for today, right? And that rather short, truncated account, just that's it. Breathe down. He fell down, breathed his last. That's it. He was done, right?

One of the things is everything in life is about what God knows and thinks first. It only matters what others think after that. Maybe. What mistake were Ananias and Sapphira doing? They were thinking what others think matters first. Is it what matters first? No. It's what God thinks matters first. That fundamental error that they made. If I can make other people think I'm holy, generous, whatever, then I've accomplished nothing. It might even be a negative. But if I first consider what God thinks, then I can easily deal with what everybody else thinks. This may seem terribly abrupt and awfully intense, and in fact it is. Matter of fact, you could ask the question, is what Peter and God did with Ananias and Sapphira, is it fair? Was it fair? What do you think? Was it fair? Yes? No?

Well, think about fair here. If God was fair, we'd all be toast. If God was fair, we'd all be toast. But God isn't just fair. He's also merciful and gracious. That's much better than fair. One of the things that is key, though, is God's justice will always happen sooner or later, and sometimes much sooner, as with Ananias and Sapphira. Here's Acts 5, 7, and 8. Now, there elapsed an interval of about three hours. His wife came in not knowing what had happened.

And Peter responded, tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price, And she said, yes, that was the price. So didn't exactly name it here, but apparently they knew between them. So the question is, will Sapphira tell the truth? So Peter asks about the price of the land they sold, not because he doesn't know the price. In fact, he does know the price, but because he does know the price, right? Not because he doesn't know. Peter's question is intended to give Sapphira a chance to tell the truth.

Would it have been possible for Ananias to have died that day, but Sapphira comes in and says, Peter, I tell you what, this is the price. Would she have gone home that day? No, I think not. So he gave her a chance to tell the truth. She went along, however, with the party line. This is the way we say it. This is how we're going to talk.

Acts 5, 9 and 10, Then Peter said to her, Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well. Again? Yeah, again, "...and immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband." What a day, right? What a day. Out she goes. But Vern, wait! Wait! Wait Vern! Wait! Wait! Where Ananias and Sapphira saved? You won't have to wait much longer. OK, we'll get there. All right.

So first of all, we see that putting the Lord to the test is equivalent to lying to the Spirit or lying to God, as we saw in the earlier part of the passage, verses 3 and 4. We can also say that these actions put the Spirit of the Lord to the test. That is, When we say, to the test, it presumes about what the Lord will do and what character He will show. That's what it is when we say, put the Lord to the test.

It's presumptuous. The truth is that God is merciful and gracious many, many times and in lots and lots of different ways. We can, however, presume upon His mercy and grace. As Paul put it in Romans 6, verse 1, shall we sin that grace may abound? I heard one fellow one time, and he says, well, here's the way it works. It's God's job to forgive and my job to sin.

No, not a good idea, right? It presumes upon God forgiving and being merciful and gracious, but it could very well be, as happened here with Ananias and Sapphira, that God says, okay, that's enough. You've been a bit presumptuous here, right? If we are presumptuous instead of thankful for God's mercy and God's grace, There may be times when we find ourselves surprised. Oh! I cannot presume upon God's mercy and God's grace. Of course, for Ananias and Sapphira, they didn't get any earthly explanations of that. The Lord had to explain that to them when they were done here.

So, Acts 5.11, and great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things.

And this begins a very interesting set of words. We'll be taking a look next Sunday about the words church and brethren. This is the first time the church is brought up in the book of Acts. the first time that church is brought up in the book of Acts, that word, and continues to be used all the way towards the end of the book of Revelation. The next word we'll have alongside that is brethren, which gets used in the beginning of the next chapter. Two other words or terms will be used, and we'll be looking at that in a few weeks out, and that is in chapter 6, we have the word disciple or disciples. And we also have the term the faith, which gets used in Acts chapter 6 all the way into the book of Revelation.

So great fear came upon those who heard about this, Acts 5.5, and upon the whole church, here's this word, and all who heard about this Given that this was the beginning of the church, that's a good thing. And so that's one of the things that we see in the beginning of the conquest with Achan.

Things were dealt with very quickly and very seriously. Similarly here. You may recognize my son-in-law Kurt. He is pretending to be fearful. But anyway, so here's both Achan at the beginning of the conquest of Israel and here at the beginning of the church.

Hypocrisy was met with truth and then instant death. All sin results in a kind of death. That is, there's sometimes physical death, and that's what we're referring to here in terms of instant death. If I am a believer, however, Romans 6.23, the wages of sin as death is not for unbelievers. That's for believers. The wages the sin nature pays is a death of separation of fellowship from God. That's what that's talking about. All sin results in a kind of death. You just need to look at what does it mean by that in different instances.

Here's Acts 5.12. At the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. So there's the accord, right? So they're all with one accord, and there it is. And it looks a lot like Randy's, but, you know, Not exactly. Okay. So one of the things to point out is this passage is very Jewish. And what do we mean by that? The apostles were the ones making the many signs and wonders take place.

Acts 2.22.43 and Acts 4.30 make it clear that God is the one doing it through the apostles. So here it describes the apostles doing signs and wonders, but in the end, as Dr. Luke properly denotes here, in the end it is God who gets the credit. Furthermore, we get these quotes from 1 and 2 Corinthians. For indeed, Jews ask for signs, and so there's your Jewish stop sign there in the picture. In Greek, search for wisdom.

In 2 Corinthians 12.12, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles. So this is something that the apostles did. It is not something that God expects that we will do in the same character.

One of the things you have here on the screen, as well as in the bottom of page 3 of your handout, this shows where the believers hung out often, especially what Dr. Luke is referring to here. What you see here is a view of Jerusalem, specifically pointing out the Temple Mount, as it was during the time of Acts.

And so one of the things it points to is Solomon's portico. Solomon's portico was the colonnade or porch, this series of double columns and the roof structure that went along the east side of the Temple Mount. It was substantial. Christ was recorded as being in Solomon's portico. in John 10, 22, and 23, when he last observed what we now call Hanukkah, the feast or festival of lights.

This eastern gate that's shown there is where Christ went through on the so-called triumphal entry. That will also be the place that he will go through on his return, his second coming, through that eastern gate there. So just so you can kind of get a perspective. So here they were hanging around the place where Jesus had taught before, where Jesus had come through on his triumphal entry, and where he will come again at his second coming, which could be as soon as seven years from today.

Here is a model of Solomon's portico, or colonnade, or porch as it's sometimes alternatively called. And this would be the same thing with the accord there with the crowd of believers, the multitude of believers gathered together in Solomon's portico.

Now here's the surprising thing in Acts 5.13, but none of the rest dared to associate with them.

However, the people held them in high esteem. So we kind of put this in colloquial terms here, you guys are awesome, but stay away from me. Right? That was kind of like, you guys are really something and we highly regard you. But this Peter guy is kind of scary. And you know, all that Ananias and Sapphira did was tell a little lie and now they're dead. I've done that probably six times since Sun Up. So I don't want to die like him. You guys stay away from me, right? Okay. So stay away even though I hold you in high esteem is an interesting contradiction or paradox as we would call it. On the one hand, people are now afraid of being around the believers who are in Christ.

And after the Ananias and Sapphira incident, Nonetheless, they also held them in high respect, and for these reasons. One, there were signs and wonders that were phenomenal. Many of them had seen this lame man who was now healed. By the way, this guy, can you imagine him going around and walking and leaping around the temple yard every day and remembering that for decades this guy was lame? Same guy. So this is phenomenal stuff. Boldness in the name of Jesus. Here are these guys who stood up against the Sanhedrin And they continued to proclaim the name of Jesus. They continued to testify of the resurrection.

The Acts 2.42-47 and Acts 4.32-37 kinds of things continued to go on, right? Here's Acts 5, 14, and 15. All the more, believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number. And by the way, the numbers that we heard before were the men. Now it talks about multitudes of men and women. Verse 15, "...to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them."

So you can imagine, here's twelve apostles, they're going about Jerusalem, and nobody's on the cell phone saying, hey, you know, he's right over here at the corner of David and Habib. You know, no, he's over here right at the eastern, no, none of that. So nobody's calling around with their cell phones. So he really had no idea who was going to go where when except for might be some customarily he goes by this place, right?

And so the best you could do is try to get somewhere where they would typically be expected to go by and maybe they'll happen to walk by, right? So that was as good as you got. They even carried their sick into the streets, laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least a shadow might fall on any one of them." So what you have is, okay, here's Peter, he happens to walk by, and so someone is healed as a result. Very interestingly, that's an act of faith. That's an act of faith.

First of all, we see added to their number. This is not the first time we've seen that phrase come up. Multitudes of men and women were coming to believe in the Lord. Not just a few here and a few there, but multitudes are coming to believe in the Lord. If we look at the book of Acts, it is the people who came to the Lord, they gather together with the church right away.

That's one of the things we see as an outcome. It was becoming difficult for the Apostles, with the number of people that were there, to address people individually in many cases, so that people acting in faith were just hoping for any one of the Apostles to come close, close enough that someone might be healed.

And that was close enough. Okay? Horseshoes, hand grenades, and Apostles. Right? That's the way close enough works. So, but it was really an act of faith, and it was also based upon, I know that they come by here, I just don't know when or exactly which one.

Acts 5.16, also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem are coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed. So people were coming from the surrounding cities. So it wasn't just, you know, hey, I live in town here. But people were coming from surrounding cities and villages and whatnot, and bringing the apostles, those who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, that is demons or otherwise called demon-possessed.

And they were all being healed, every one. It wasn't, you know, a percentage, a high percentage. Every one of them was being healed. So these healings were not to just simply impress people. It wasn't to say, boy, that Peter sure is a powerful guy, right? But to validate the truth of the message of the apostles, also to draw people to the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That was the purpose in these healings. So by that burn were Ananias and Sapphira saved. You ask an excellent question. I just, I commend you for thinking of that. That's just great. Now let's take a look at it here.

So were Ananias and Sapphira unsaved deceivers or deceptive believers? So there have actually been those who have argued both ways, and certainly this is an unchristian behavior that they displayed and exhibited. In Acts 4, 32-37, take note of the repeated use of all. So these behaviors included all repeatedly.

So that's very interesting. Another thing to point to, discipline can go as far as a sin unto death. Discipline for a believer. A couple examples of that, we have the reference to a sin unto death in 1 John 5.16, but also 1 Corinthians 11.30, the believers of the church at Corinth were carrying out the Lord's table in a sinful way, and there were those who were sick and even those who had died as a result of their sin in apostolic times. So this also may point in that direction. The ministry of the Holy Spirit to unbelievers is to convict regarding sin and righteousness and judgment. Ananias and Sapphira, however, lied to the Spirit of Truth, who was God Himself.

That Spirit of Truth phrase shows up in John 14.17, 15.26, and 16.13. All three chapters there in a series.

So, while the evidence is not absolutely definitive with the statement, it does fit with that, yes, they were believers that went home real early. And it is possible that that is the case. Nonetheless, this is definitely not believer behavior that the Holy Spirit would bring about. Another perspective, however, for us to have is in the eternal perspective, God will deal with everything justly. As we looked at here, we said, wow, that's pretty abrupt to take home Ananias and Sapphira just after a few questions for Ananias and one question for Sapphira. I think that's all she got. And then they're both taken away, right? Both gone.

But just for us to reckon that, I know in my own life I can testify, as a younger guy, I had a huge problem with rage. A massive problem with rage. And a lot of it was situations you'd look at and say, well, you're certainly justified. But I mean, I had really seriously dangerous rage. And what was worse is I was, at that age, I was weightlifting and all that sort of thing. So that got pretty dangerous to be a guy with rage.

But what I had to do was ultimately just settle in my perspective that God's going to deal with everything. God's going to deal with everything justly. And just to realize once in a while justice happens on this earth, and quite often what people get angry about, frustrated about, bitter about, Exasperated is they see injustice in the world, but it's important to recognize justice is rarely, once in a while, justice is rarely carried out properly here. We should not expect that that's the case. Between the cross, by the way, how many sins were taken care of at the cross? All sins were paid for at the cross. Here on earth in the judgment of everyone, all justice will be served totally.

One of the fascinating things about social media is you end up coming back in contact with people you hadn't seen in years or even decades. At least that's the case for me. And so there was a fellow that I got along very, very bad with very, very badly in high school. He and I did not get along at all.

Years later, years later, and he had been through a whole bunch, three wives and bottles and bottles and bottles of alcohol, but he had become a believer. God had changed him. So he contacted me and he said, Vern, if you don't want to be friends, I understand. Our relationship was changed. I looked and I said, you know, he was a nasty guy and I didn't like him and it was a really awful guy. But you know what?

God changed him. And I immediately had to forgive him. He called me on January 15th, 2014. He said, Vern, I just want to let you know And he only called myself and one other guy he'd gone to high school with. He said, I just want to let you know I'm going home to meet my father. And so May 9th that year he did.

But what a neat thing to see God had dealt with the things that were unjust between he and I. And that he could be a very special brother because of that. Really cool. justice will be served totally in eternity. There will be nothing to settle out. I didn't need to get outraged. God will deal with it. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you as we look at this. What an amazing account. What an astounding account this is, is we see the great error of Ananias and Sapphira, and their people who committed sins that you died for. Lord, what wonderful things we can learn from it, and to learn of your sovereignty, and to learn that you know what's right here. And in fact, you were just in what you did in the life of Ananias and Sapphira.

And we can count on that. As a matter of fact, we can count on that with everything. Our own lives, the lives of those we love and care about, and the lives of those we have difficulty loving and caring about. I'm trusting it all to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.