Beware Of Apostasy

in the end of Acts chapter 4 and end of chapter 5. As you remember, if you've been with us, back up in verse 33 of chapter 4, the disciples had been praying, the believers had been praying that God would stand against the threats of the Sanhedrin of the religious community, and God gave them, verse 33, great power, and they continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and also much grace or great grace was upon them all. And in the light of the great power of God being poured out and the great grace that was being poured out upon this first century church, you look at chapter 5, and we should be appalled at this and say in the same kind of urgency, how could this happen this early in the church?

I mean, the church is fresh and new at this time in chapter 5. They are exploding with growth as the Spirit of God is just pouring out in tremendous power and grace, and they're seeing His hand in such marvelous ways, and the needs of the people are being met by the believers themselves seeing the needs and reaching out to meet the needs, and we'll look at that this morning. God's power and His awesomeness, His grace, in such a tremendous fashion being poured out, how could such deceit occur in the lives of people in that circumstance? Well, I want to seek to answer that this morning by asking and answering three more questions, which helps us in our study, when you study the Word, ask questions of the text.

First of all, I want us to ask, what's the setting that this all happens in? What's the setting of this incident? We'll examine that and answer that. And secondly, what's the true nature of their sin, of Ananias and Sapphira? What's the true nature of their sin? Now, and I mentioned this to first service, immediately, if you're familiar with the story, there's a word that flies to your attention,

and you know that word, and I'll mention it in a minute, but I want to challenge you that I think there's more to this than just that particular idea that you think you have about this section. So we'll seek to examine the true nature of their sin, and then thirdly, what's the application for us today? This is obviously a warning, so what's the warning to us as the church in this day and age? So first of all, let's look at the setting.

Let's answer the question, what is the setting of this particular incident? If you kind of look back at the beginning of chapter 4 and just kind of give a cursory glance to it, as I mentioned, this, if you remember, is the area where Peter and John in chapter 3 have been coming into the temple to pray, and they've seen this lame man. God has made him evident to them. They've seen him before, but on this particular day, they see him, and God prompts them to go over to this man, and through the set of circumstances of their conversation, they grab hold of his hand that's reaching out for some money, and they, in the name of Jesus, raise him to his feet.

God heals him. He comes into the temple area with Peter and John. A crowd gathers, and Peter and John take the opportunity to say this is nothing that they did. This is something that God has done, and then as we come into chapter 4, they continue teaching for several hours the resurrection in the name of Jesus Christ. The religious leaders don't like this.

They see the gathering around the temple area, and they come over, and they hear Peter and John teaching in this name, and they arrest them. The next morning, they bring them before their council, and Peter and John tell them what they've been talking about, what they've been teaching about, and the council warns them not to teach, and the phrase in the Greek literally means not even speak. Don't even breathe this name of Jesus. Don't teach in this name.

Don't even speak it anymore. And they more or less refuse, appealing to their allegiance to a higher authority that they have to be obedient to God, and so you judge. If it's right for us to obey you, we've got to obey God. They threaten them again and let them go, and Peter and John come back to their people, it says in verse 23. They come back to their own people, probably the home where they're based.

All the church right now is really meeting in the homes, with the exception of the time that they go to the temple to pray, and they share what's going on and the threats of these leaders, and the church goes into prayer right there, and they begin praying, acknowledging God's sovereignty, down in verse 25, 24, honoring and affirming again His creative power, His creative everything in heaven and earth. They affirm again the prophecies that had been given through the word, that this kind of a persecution would happen to Jesus and to those that followed Him. And then down in verse 29, they say, Now Lord, you've heard their threats, consider them and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

Verse 30, stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And God begins to do that, verse 31, the place where they are, shakes. And then in verses 32 and 33, we see that, again, with great power, He anoints them, they proclaim the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection through Christ boldly, and great grace is upon them all. And verses 34 and 35 tell us that this grace was evident because the people began meeting each other's needs.

There was none who was in need because those who owned lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet. And so now we're brought to verse 36 and 37, this example of that. We see this man and he is an example of this great grace that God is pouring out on the church at this particular time. Now, it tells us that he was a man named Joseph.

Now, if you've read this for a while, it's easy to overlook that because we know him as Barnabas, it says so in the text. You've got to remember that his name was Joseph, that was his given name. It says he was a Levite. You have to stop there and think about that. A Levite means he was a priest. He was from the priestly tribe of Levi. That meant he had authority. He was in the line of the priests.

He was a religious leader along the lines of those other guys that had been persecuting. He'd evidently listened to Peter and John and believed and come over to the church, a part of the church, but he was a religious leader, probably affluent, probably well-to-do. Then it tells us whom the apostles called Barnabas. Barnabas, and Luke tells us, Luke writes the book of Acts, and Luke says, which means son of encouragement, son of encouragement.

So Barnabas is a nickname. Now, what do nicknames do? It depends on what kind of nickname, right? If you had a nickname and you were small fry, you know, that wasn't too cool, but you live with it. Some of you may have been called slim because you were red, whatever. A nickname usually has something to do with your character or your appearance. It's something to do with you. It's something that people see you and it's a comfortable name.

It's something that identifies your particular character. Luke tells us that they call this guy Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. And so we can denote from that that his actions, even though he was a Levite and had been a religious leader, were gracious, that he was a gracious man, a giving individual. And whatever he did, the things that he did were encouraging to the body of Christ.

And they just called him Barnabas, the encouraging one, the son of encouragement, because of his actions, because of his attitude. It shows us here what he did as a result of, or that probably brought about that name. It says that he sold the field that he owned and he brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. Now, if you have a study Bible, you probably have a little reference there, either by the word Levite or he sold a piece of property.

And you may have a little letter up off to the side of your word there that should refer you to either your center text or your footnotes down below. And you'll probably have a reference back to Deuteronomy. You don't have to do that right now, but if you go back there and look, you'd be referenced to a place that tells you that Levites, the priestly tribe, were not to possess land. They weren't to own any land.

When they came into the promised land, Moses laid out for Joshua. When Joshua took him in, he said, okay, now here's the areas of land, the sections of land that each tribe is supposed to get. They get a certain size piece of land according to the size of each tribe. But Levi doesn't get a piece of land. They're the priests. They minister unto me. I am their inheritance, says the Lord.

So they're to live in different sections around Israel, around the promised land, and certain cities were designated for the Levites. So they could go in and have a home and have some ground, and they could farm the ground and raise food and stuff, take care of their needs, but they couldn't own it. It was just granted to them. So here we have this Levite named Joseph who has a piece of ground, and so we could surmise either that he had it illegally and he was convicted by his sin, as now he's a brother and God prompts his heart to get rid of it, or it says he was from Cyprus here, so he could have received it from an inheritance in Cyprus or whatever.

But just some interesting things to consider, to think about as you're looking at this. Whatever it was, he sold the land and he brought the money and he laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was a genuine act of love in doing this. He brought it to the apostles for distribution among the people, because of the need of the people at that particular time. It was a genuine act of love on his part.

Now as you look at chapter 5, as we look at verse 1 in chapter 5, there's an obvious contrast that's here. Luke is obviously contrasting Barnabas with Ananias and Sapphira. Now unfortunately, it's fortunate that our study Bibles have chapters and verses, because it helps us find stuff. But in the original text, the chapter and the verse markings aren't there.

So this is all one epistle, it just keeps reading one thing right after the other, and it would be more easily understood that the thought is carrying over. He's not changing subjects, he's not changing topics. As a matter of fact, if you're reading a King James Bible, the first word in verse 1 of chapter 5 is but. So he's contrasting what's just happened in the verses before, in the previous verses.

This is what Barnabas did, but a man named Ananias together with his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property. So he's contrasting Ananias and Sapphira with Barnabas. Why? Well, he's obviously wanting us to see something in this contrast, to understand it, and to emulate one, to follow one and avoid the other. So let's look at who Ananias and Sapphira were.

First of all, Ananias' name means God is gracious, or the Lord the gracious one. The Lord is the gracious one. God is gracious, God is gracious. Well, again, realizing that names denote character, just like Barnabas denotes what Barnabas' actions were, the Jews named their children that way, to denote character, to denote qualities. Ananias, the Lord is gracious.

Obviously, the parents were grateful to God for this child. The Lord has been gracious. Maybe this is how God had been gracious to the family throughout, and now Ananias is just a blessed addition to that. The Lord is gracious. Ananias very probably had a good upbringing, a good childhood, just as we look at his name. He was evidently affluent. He owned land as well.

They had a piece of property that they sold. So we'll assume that he was blessed by God in every way physically that you could be blessed. Then look at the name Sapphira. Sapphira in the Greek means beautiful, beautiful. And again, probably denoting her physical characteristics. She was probably a beautiful woman. Very, again, probably a well-to-do family, had a good upbringing.

And so as they are together now, they probably had everything that this life could offer. She had good looks. Guy had a good-looking wife. He had a good upbringing, good property. They had some wealth behind him. They had everything that this life had to offer. But let's look at what the Bible tells us they did. They owned this land, verse 1, and they sold it,

and they conspired together to keep back a part of the money for themselves, and they brought the rest, and they laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, according to Peter, in verse 3 here, it says that they lied to the Holy Spirit. In verse 4, he says that they had not lied to men. You have not lied to men, but to God. And then if you look down in verse 9, it says Peter talking to Sapphira

after Ananias has already died and been carried out. She comes in, says the same thing, agrees the same price, that that's what they'd done. And Peter says to her in verse 9, How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Now, let me ask you a question. Well, first of all, let me point out something. Maybe you've already seen this, maybe you haven't,

but in verse 3 where he says you've lied to the Holy Spirit, in verse 4 he says you've not lied to men, but to God. That's a good text to prove that the Holy Spirit is God. You've lied to the Spirit, he says, in verse 3. In verse 4, you've lied to God. They're one and the same. He's not just some essence. He's not just some ooey, gooey energy out there that you plug into.

He is God. But let me ask you a question. Why twice in this section, in verse 3 and verse 9, does he say that you've lied to the Holy Spirit, or you've agreed to test the Holy Spirit? He's shown us that the Spirit is God. Why doesn't he say, why the double emphasis? Remember, whenever you're reading the Word and you see something emphasized more than once, God has a specific reason there

and wants us to look at that a little bit more. Why does it say that they tested the Spirit, or they lied to the Holy Spirit? We'll look at that in just a minute. In either case, both of them dropped dead and were carried out and were buried, and verse 11 tells us that great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. That's the setting.

That's the background for this particular text, this particular setting. So the second question I wanted to ask and answer, in answering the idea of how could this have happened, is what was the nature now of their sin? We've seen the setting. We've seen the blessing of God, the outpouring of His power and of His grace. We've seen this setting transpire, and Ananias and Sapphira have conspired together

to sell this piece of property and to hold back a part and to bring it to the apostles' feet, this certain portion, for distribution. Now, what was the nature then of their sin that we are to consider? Now, I mentioned earlier that if you've read this before, probably immediately to your mind's eye comes the word hypocrisy. This is dealing with hypocrisy. And most of the commentaries agree.

They bring this section to bear on the area of hypocrisy. Hypocrites in the Greek. It's a term referring to acting. It's a term where the actors on stage would carry the stick with the mask on it and they would put the mask in front of their face when they were acting like another person, acting like another character. They were themselves, but they were acting like another character.

They were hypocrites. They were hypocrites. It was an acting term. They were putting on appearances. And so the commentators all say that this is a section that's dealing specifically with hypocrisy,

and it would be the entire amount of the sale of the land, which was like Barnabas had done, but in reality they were keeping some back. And so this is the area of hypocrisy. And we all deal with hypocrisy. We all... I mean, I think it's easy for us to look at this and excuse it. You know, this is hypocrisy in the church. And yeah, that's right, we got to be aware of them hypocrites.

You know, don't let hypocrisy take over and we're hypocrites every day. You walked in this morning. Somebody inevitably asked you the question, how are you today? And some of you are feeling lousy. And you said, I'm fine. Hupokrites. You're acting. Those of you that are single and dating, God bless you. Gee. So afraid at times for people to see the real us.

You know, we want to put on airs on a date. And yes, I've water skied lots of times, been out there on a boat with a slalom skier, hit the pylon one time and broke my leg, haven't been skiing since. Reality, you've never been on a pair of skis in your life. But we like to come across. You know, we want to... You ever driven one of these things? Oh, I've driven them lots of times.

Stick shift. You ever driven a standard? Oh yeah, I've driven them all the time. Boom. Hupokrites. We're acting. We're putting on appearances. So we're all guilty of that. And yes, this text deals with hypocrisy, but I think we missed something here. I think there's something that we need to grasp that is a little deeper than that. And this morning, rather than us emphasizing in this text what was done,

I think the contrast of these two texts, of these two stories asks us to see how it was done. What are the attitudes of the individuals that are being contrasted? So I want to look at that this morning and answering what was the nature of the sin? What was the real nature? Yes, hypocrisy,

I think it does. I want to talk to us about that.

Seen by the people as a loving individual. When he sold his land and gave the finances, it was not to gain attention for himself. It was not for the people to think he was great. It was an action motivated by God's love in his heart that was reflected in the desire to minister to others. It was an others-centered action. It was a love for the church, which is the obedience to the commandment

that Jesus gave in John chapter 13. Remember? I'm going to hit on this a lot because I'm seeing it more and more evident throughout Scripture. The new commandment that Jesus gave, by which all men would know that we are his disciples, is not that we wear a tie. It's not that we've memorized scores of Scripture. It's not that we go to this or that church on a hill

or in the valley or whatever. It's that we have love one for another, the way that he loved us so we love one another. And that was Barnabas' action. That was the attitude behind why he gave what he gave. Ananias and Sapphira, on the other hand, the text implies that were obviously jealous of the attention paid to Barnabas. And though they were blessed with the grace of God and beauty,

they wanted that attention. They wanted the people to marvel at their generosity, to marvel at their goodness. And so what they did was not motivated by God's love so that they'd love the people and show that love by their gracious giving. It was a self-centered love. It was based upon pride. It was based upon selfishness and self-centeredness. They wanted the type of attention that Barnabas got

that they weren't getting. And so I come again to then, bringing us this far, why does Luke write here that they lied to the Holy Spirit and that they've agreed to test the Spirit of the Lord? Well, so far in these chapters of Acts, in these first four, moving into chapter 5 here, these first four chapters are showing us the difference that has happened in the lives of these believers as a result of the giving of the Holy Spirit. Remember in chapter 1, as Jesus was ascending, the disciples were nervous.

When are you going to bring the kingdom? Well, it's not for you to know. You wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the Father is given. And they go and they wait and they pray. In chapter 2, the promise is given, the tahara of God. Remember that study? The holiness of God that they have been seeking and praying for as Jews for centuries at the time of Pentecost.

Now the tahara, the Spirit of God, falls, and they are empowered. They are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and now they have a new relationship with God that's given to them by the indwelling Holy Spirit. They have a new access into His presence. No longer do they have to come by the priests and the sacrifices. The sacrifice has been made, and they can come boldly now into the presence of the Lord.

Their worship is ignited anew as a result of that. And there is now a new love that's been generated in them by the Spirit of God. And the Spirit now flows through them with this new love generated that Jesus said would mark them as His disciples. You'll love each other in the same way that I loved you.

hermeneutical interpretation, laws of repetition. When God repeats Himself, it's for emphasis and purpose. Well, if God said that a couple of times in the Gospels, it means it probably happened quite a bit. They're probably always after each other. Who is the greatest? There's this contention happening among them. Then they bring Matthew in, this tax collector.

I mean, you know, everybody's got to keep an eye on Matthew. You've got to watch this guy. He said he's changed. You know, he's following Jesus, but you've got to watch this guy. This guy's a tax collector. Then we've got this zealot over here. He's just going to want to use the program here to promote his own gain. There's all this hostility among the twelve.

Eleven now, twelve now added Matthews, and then all these other guys are gathered around in the upper room. But all of a sudden, after the Spirit is poured out in Acts chapter 2, there's this newness, this love that flows freely and freshly. There's the great boldness that's come upon the church. They're proclaiming boldly the resurrection in the name of Jesus Christ.

And there's the great grace of God that's come as a result of God's Spirit pouring His love out through the believers to one another. Now, when Barnabas gave his money, it was an action prompted by the Holy Spirit. It was out of the love that the Holy Spirit had generated in his heart that he was ministering to others with. It was an others-centered move motivated by the love of God.

And the people saw that. That's why he was called Barnabas, the son of encouragement. It was evident in his life. But when Ananias and Sapphira gave, now follow me with this. When Ananias and Sapphira gave, it was self-centered. It wasn't directed out. It was directed in. It was a selfish, self-love attitude. But they sought to manifest it as Holy Spirit generated, like Barnabas.

They sought to let people think that what they were doing was generated by the Spirit of God. For the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians said, Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and gentleness and mercy and self-control. But it wasn't. A few verses back there in Galatians 5, it says, But the works of the flesh are these. And that's what this was.

It was a work of the flesh seeking to manifest itself as a fruit of the Spirit. And that was defaming the name of God, specifically defaming the name of the Spirit of God, specifically defaming the work of the Holy Spirit. And God said, Uh, uh, uh, uh, can't do that. Not going to do that. Why? Let me present to you the idea that this is hypocrisy, yes. It was indeed hypocrisy, yes.

But it was the first step toward apostasy. It was the first step of the church already here in Acts 4-5 toward apostasy. Apostasy. What's apostasy? Apostasia is the Greek word. It means to turn from the truth. To turn from the truth. Thayer's Lexicon expands that and says it's to turn from true religion. A turning from true religion. In the light of the text here, if we look at it as a step towards apostasy,

it's a turning from the truth, which the truth here represented is the identifying mark of a believer. The love of God working through you, loving others as Christ has loved you. That's the identifying mark of a believer. This is a step turning away from that truth. The only way you can love one another as God has loved you, as Christ has loved you, is that you first love the Lord with all your heart.

Remember Jesus told that in the Gospels. He just quoted that from Deuteronomy. When the lawyer came up and asked him what's the greatest commandment, he said the first and greatest commandment is this, that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is like it. He asked him for the second one, that you love your neighbor as yourself.

On these hang all the law and the prophets. So when Jesus said to the disciples, a new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you, he was saying if you do that, you'll fulfill all the rest. And so here, as Ananias and Sapphira are doing this, mocking the spirit really, they're taking a step towards apostasy. They're turning from the truth, which is all a part of love one another as I have loved you.

Turning from that is apostasy, and it's what's evidenced here in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira. Now the Bible has a lot to say about apostasy, this turning from the truth. As a matter of fact, as I got into this, it's about all the New Testament has to say. Hold your finger here and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. If that indeed is the greatest commandment,

then that's the one the enemy is going to attack, to attack the hardest in the body of Christ. If loving one another as Christ has loved us is the mark of what a true Christian is, then the enemy is going to seek to smudge that mark, to keep the witness of the gospel down, so that people don't want to come to that. And you as well as I know that in this generation, a lot of people don't want anything to do with church, because of them people are there that are hypocrites. The enemy's done a good job.

Back in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus takes the disciples past the temple on the way out of the east gate towards the Mount of Olives, and as they walk by the temple, the disciples marvel at the temple, and Jesus says, truly I tell you that very soon there's not going to be one stone left standing on top of another. And as they come in verse 3 of Matthew chapter 24, the disciples ask, when's that going to happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus says here, the very first thing he says, the very first thing he says that we are to take note of, specifically this is written to the Jews, I know that, but it's to all of us as well.

The very first thing that people need to watch out for as the signs of the coming of all of this is going to happen, now I know the temple was torn down in 70 AD, don't follow me with this, is deceit. Watch out that no one deceives you, for many are going to come in my name claiming that I am the Christ. Down in verse 11, again he says, many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Again, deceit.

Down in verse 24, he says again, for false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect, if that were possible. So the first and the greatest sign that these things are about to happen is deceit. Deceitfulness, the false testimonies, the false prophets that are going to what? They are going to seek to lead you away from the truth, which is what?

Well, it's yes, the resurrection of Christ, it's the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, absolutely, but the result of that is his love in us for each other and he's going to seek to distort that, he's going to seek to deceive people and according to the way the church in this country looks today, he's done a good job. Along with this deceit, he says down in verse 12, because of the increase of wickedness, of what? The love of most will grow cold. Literally, it's the love of the many will grow cold.

Because of why? Because of the increase of wickedness. Let me ask you, why does wickedness increase? According to the Bible, it's because of a lack of the understanding and knowledge of God, it's why wickedness increases. Wickedness increases as it does the love of the many grows cold. Is that true for the church as well? Absolutely. So as we look at these things that I mentioned in the articles

at the beginning of the study, how these mothers and parents could treat their kids that way, it's evident, it's easy to understand, we have a people in a society that is turned away from God, we have a church that is taking the steps of apostasy, turning away from the truth, which is that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. And we have an impotent church as a result, as a marked absence of love. Turn with me now to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. You've got to go back past Acts and Romans and Corinthians, and the prison epistles, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, into 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. In 2 Thessalonians, the church at Thessalonica is afraid that the rapture has already happened, that the day of the Lord is already at hand,

Paul talked to Timothy, in 2nd Timothy chapter 3, and said, in the last days, these things will happen. Men will become, and be becoming, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. Brutal, and I've come back to that a lot, reading articles like this, seeing that thing on the news the other night. That's brutality. We've become brutal. We are in the midst of apostasy,

and listen, unbelievers are already lost, okay? The only ones who can apostasize, are those who know the truth. Those who have a knowledge of the truth, whether they're saved or not, they have a knowledge of the truth, and they turn away from that, and that indicates believers, as well as those who claim to be believers. They can turn, apostasize. I believe the apostasy is going on right now.

People are turning from the truth. The evidence of that fact is, a non-loving church. People get fed up with each other, they don't work it out, they don't work through, they go someplace else. And eventually they'll get fed up there, and they'll go someplace else.

That's apostasy. That's a church taking a step towards apostasy, and if you feel that way in your heart, brother or sister, you're in the midst of it, and there's a warning to us, where that's concerned. You see, I believe the Bible tells us, if you look at, take time to go through, all of the epistles in the New Testament, and virtually every epistle, deals with this, and warns about this apostasy, this turning away from the truth, turning away from true religion, which is, Christ loving others through us. It's based on the cross, it's based on the resurrection, I'm not taking away from doctrine, I'm saying, if you believe that Jesus died for you, if you believe that he rose again for you, then you will be loving others,

with him loving them through you, or you're not saved, or you're in the midst of apostasy, and every epistle seems to deal with this. What is true religion? James says, chapter 1, verse 27, true religion, that God our Father accepts, as pure and faultless as this, to look after the orphans, and widows, and their distress, and to keep oneself, from being polluted by the world, it's an other-centered love, it's a Christ loving others through us, it's seeking to meet others' needs, before our own, and that comes from the indwelling power, of the Holy Spirit. I mentioned that, I think every epistle deals with this, in Acts, we're seeing it here in chapter 5, we're going to see it several more times, through this book, through this epistle,

we'll see that, Demas forsakes Paul, why? For the cares of the world, he apostatizes, he steps out,

those are two epistles, that are admonishing, the Corinthian church, because of their lack of love, you come to Galatians, Galatians is Paul's admonition, to the church at Galatia, that stepped back, from God's wonderful great grace, that's being poured out, and loving one another, back into legalism, saying I'm going to keep the law, I'm going to be circumcised, I've got to get to God, by all of this, and they've moved, from the love of the brethren, into competition with each other, the book of Ephesians, Paul takes us through, the first three chapters of Ephesians, showing us, what God has done for us, and in four through six, he says now, walk worthy of that calling, and love one another, you get to the book of Revelation, one of the churches,

the first church, matter of fact, that John deals with, is the church at Ephesus, and they had what, left their first love, how was that evident, they'd left Christ, how was that evident, they were doing a lot of functional things, there's no love in it, they're just cranking out the ministry, here I am to crank out the ministry, it's time to make the doughnuts, there's no love, Philippians, Robbie just did chapter two, a couple of weeks ago, the book of Philippians is, here is this love, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who what, laid aside his robes and glory, sacrificed himself, let this mind be in you, you get to the book of Colossians, he commends Colossi for their love, you get to Thessalonica,

first and second Thessalonians, he commends them again, for their love, it's been noised abroad,

who had once owned Onesimus, as a slave, to receive him back, as a brother in the Lord, in the love of Christ, you get to the book of Hebrews, and the writer of the Hebrews, writes about all of the examples, of the sacrifices, and the elements, and the priesthood of the Old Testament, were an example of what God's love, was going to demonstrate, through our great high priest Melchizedek, after the line of Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ, in chapter 13 of Hebrews, he ends that chapter, with the admonition for us, to love one another, because you never know, when you might be, entertaining angels unawares, moving to the book of James, and all of James, deals with the section of, if it doesn't work out of your life, it's not real faith,

and you come to the end, of the book of James, and he's dealing with, the area of loving one another, and he says, even at the end of James, in chapter 5, James says, if you see a brother, wander away from the faith, you who turn him back, saves him from death, now we get back to, the Ananias and Sapphira thing, John even says that, in first John chapter 5, he's talking about prayer, and the love of the fellowship, and he's sick among you, let him pray, let him come to the elders, and let the elders pray, and anoint him with oil, let him confess his sins, and be healed, now there is a sin unto death, he says in first John 5 16, and I would not, that you pray for that, we get that so messed up, we kind of ignore that, and go on, but there is a sin,

which is not unto death, and you should pray for that, what is a sin unto death, why does he say not to pray for it,

there he went, he is gone, no, he is saying you go, if he is apostatizing, come on, wrap your arm around him, bring him back, that's what he is telling the church in Galatians chapter 6, restore such a one, it's an activity we got to do, it means we got to love each other, and bring him back together, Peter talks about the same kind of thing, in both of his epistles, matter of fact, the one section that everybody loves to quote is, beware for your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, roams about seeking whom he may devour, read the text right before that, what's he talking about, he is talking about the love of the brethren, and you are not going through any kind of suffering, that's not common to the brethren over there, and be careful,

because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour, what's he talking about, devouring you in self-centered love, in your love of self, and a lack of care for the other, and he moves us into that area of apostasy, and he got us, and the church is impotent, and the church can't reach out,

deceivers are going to enter in, and Jude's seeing it, on a great scale, and he says, these are guys that are going to be like, Sodom and Gomorrah, like the angels that didn't keep their first estate, what did they do? They went after their own pleasure seeking, they sought to take care of their own lustful desires, they sought to minister to themselves first, and he says, these guys are like clouds without water, they look like, you hypocrites, there's no water, there's no refreshing, there's no rain, there's no love of the brethren, what does Jude say at the very end of his epistle? Therefore brethren, keep yourselves in the love of God. Why?

That love will flow through you, and flow to the body, and you'll have that generating power, of God's spirit moving, which was not happening with Ananias and Sapphira. So as we close, how does this affect us? What's the warning to the church today? Well hopefully it's obvious, we have been called to be witnesses, that's what our entire study, the book of Acts, that's the title for our overall study, we've been called to be witnesses,

he's given you a tremendous power to share it, and you have access to this great grace, that he pours out upon you, and he has given you the ability to love others, when you don't want to, when you can't stand them, love them through me Lord, and he will, because that power is there, for that reason, that's what marks us as his disciples, if that love is growing cold in us, if you're sitting here this morning,