The account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11 teaches us several things, chief among them perhaps is that the Lord judges sin in His people. This account answers several questions for us. Does God take note of a believer’s sins? Yes, indeed, He does. Does God take action against a believer’s sins? Yes, indeed, He does. Just because a believer doesn’t immediately drop dead upon telling a lie does not mean the Lord has overlooked that sin. Perhaps the only punishment suffered is that our prayers are immediately hindered, if not totally ignored unless and until that sin is confessed and forsaken! In Jeremiah 5:25, we read “Your sins have withholden good things from you.” That is often the punishment for a believer’s sins. Something they could have had and enjoyed is withheld from them due to some sin!
Long ago God warned His elect, “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for ALL your sins” (See Amos 3:2). We can’t say we weren’t warned. Of course many preachers tell their congregations they don’t get their doctrine out of the Hebrew scriptures, so their congregations remain ignorant of many of God’s warnings!
Every believer would do well to read slowly and carefully the 9th and 10th chapters of Ezekiel. They will see that in judging sin God BEGINS at His sanctuary! They must also ask themselves this question: If God will depart from a stone temple due to the gross and continued sin of His people, will He depart from a temple of flesh for the same reason? God warns that there are some things that will drive Him far from His temple. (See Ezekiel 8:6).
Had Ananias and Sapphira been acquainted with the Hebrew scriptures they would have known that through His prophet Malachi God had long ago warned, “Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing.” (See Malachi 1:14). In a manner of speaking, that is what Ananias and Sapphira did when they deceived Peter when they said they had received a given amount of money for their possession when in reality they had received more, maybe much more.
The pastor that does not use the entirety of God’s inspired Word to instruct his congregation does them a great disservice, and He leads them into gross deception if and when he implies or states matter-of-factly that we are not to glean our doctrine from the Hebrew scriptures. That’s where the apostles gleaned their doctrine! They had no New Testament. Ananias and Sapphira lived at a time when not one word of the New Testament had been written. All they had to guide them in their beliefs and conduct were the Old Testament scriptures. (To be continued….)
Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley