9. Hypocrisy in the Church: The deceit of wealth and God's severe punishment

[0:00] Well, if you turn with me to the passage that we read together, we'll be looking at that this morning. Whenever the Holy Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ is at work with power and great grace in his church, there will be trouble.

[0:24] And that's a pattern that's plainly evident throughout the story of Scripture and also throughout the story and the history of the Christian church. And it's a pattern that Jesus tells us about very plainly himself.

[0:37] And he says it will be that until the very end of history. Wherever and whenever the good seed of the gospel is being sown and is growing, we will find ourselves, as the church, saying to our Lord Jesus, why are there so many weeds?

[0:54] Why are there so much mess and muck in your church, Lord? And Jesus will always be saying to us, because an enemy has done this.

[1:07] And you're going to have to be realistic about that and get used to it right till the very end. Well, lots of Christians aren't nearly realistic enough about that.

[1:18] But the Apostle Paul certainly was. He endured it. In fact, he expected it. Do you remember he said when he was writing to Corinth from Ephesus, a wide door for effective work has opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.

[1:37] And we've been seeing that, haven't we, right from the very start in this birth of the New Testament church in the early chapters of Acts. Last time we looked at chapter 4, and we saw the outright hostility and harassment faced by the church from the community, from the culture round about in Jerusalem.

[1:55] In fact, especially from the religious establishment. But we saw how the church countered those threats by simply proclaiming more the gospel of the sovereign God, and by praying all the more to the sovereign God.

[2:10] And the result is there in verse 31 of chapter 4. They were filled with the Spirit, and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness. But of course, behind every adversary that stands against the church's witness is the adversary, is Satan himself.

[2:31] And that's something that's stated plainly and explicitly in our passage today in verse 3 of Acts chapter 5. It's Satan who is at work, says Peter, always seeking to oppose the Holy Spirit of God with his unholy spirit of darkness and disobedience and lies.

[2:52] And one of the things that Luke deliberately wants to teach us by selecting this kind of material for his book is that he wants us to recognize the various tactics of Satan as he mounts his assaults on the church.

[3:07] You see, he's very shrewd. He's very clever. He doesn't always attack in the same way. Nor does he always assault the church from the outside. In fact, some of the most successful and most subtle attacks of all come from within a real and professing and indeed a growing and blessed church.

[3:28] It's a very hard thing to come to terms with, isn't it? But, you know, I think it's probably true to say that throughout the history of the church there has been more harm done to the witness of Jesus from within the professing church than ever has been done to it from outside.

[3:47] That's a very salutary thought, isn't it? It's one we've got to take seriously and pay heed to because if that's true then we are probably more likely to desert Jesus and dishonor Jesus because of sin from within our church fellowship than from direct persecution from outside.

[4:11] That's a very sobering thought, isn't it? And if we don't want to do that then we need to listen to Luke and we need to learn as he exposes for us the tactics of the devil.

[4:23] And as he shows us, therefore, how we must resist him. John Stott says in his book that actually the devil is rather unimaginative and he's still sticking to the same old ways, the same old tactics of working and therefore we can learn from the scriptures how to be forewarned and therefore forearmed against his tactics against us today.

[4:48] That's what we're going to see and focus on in these next few studies in Acts that will take us up to the end of the first movement of the gospel at chapter 6, verse 7 when the gospel has reached the first circle of its mission stated in Acts chapter 1, verse 6 verse 8 rather in other words, it's reached Jerusalem and all the surrounding areas.

[5:10] Then we go on from that later on to Samaria and then to the end of the world. But what we'll see in this section from 4, verse 32 to chapter 6, verse 7 is a story of adversaries from without and from within.

[5:27] And in each case Luke exposes not just the tactics of the enemy but he shows us the way of victory against him in the hands of God. And the first lesson here in our passage today is very clear, isn't it?

[5:41] It's about hypocrisy in the church. It's about the deceitfulness of wealth being met by God's severe punishment.

[5:54] By the way, I want you to notice the careful structure of Luke's material here because it helps us, doesn't it? To be very clear about what he's saying to us. From chapter 4, verse 32 right to the end of chapter 5 there are two clear sections that are parallel.

[6:08] each one begins with a summary of the blessing that the church is seeing the wide open door if you like for effective ministry. So, chapter 4 verses 32 to verse 37 describe the wonderful gospel fellowship don't they?

[6:24] But then comes the but in verse 1 of chapter 5 but there are adversaries that assault that wonderful fellowship. Then in chapter 5 verses 12 to 16 once again we have a short description a summary of the wonderful gospel mission.

[6:40] Verse 14 more than ever believers were being added to their number. Verse 17 but there are adversaries to try and stop the mission.

[6:51] You see, it's very clear isn't it? It's important that you see that. It's important you see what I'm saying is not just my interpretation of all of this. My interpretation is irrelevant so is yours.

[7:02] It's Luke's interpretation under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit that we're interested in. That's why we can be confident that it's God's clear word to us. It's his unambiguous word to us in front of us.

[7:16] So, we'll understand what God is saying to us if we look very carefully at what Luke has written for us and if we listen to him and if we let him be our teacher teaching me and teaching you as we listen to him together.

[7:31] So, let's start where he starts then in verses 32 to 37 of chapter 4 and what he's showing us here is the real mark of the Spirit in the church.

[7:43] That's our first heading and the dominant note you can see is there in verse 33 isn't it? Great grace and great power. With great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all.

[8:01] Now, verse 31 has reminded us that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and here is the evidence of a Spirit-filled church. There's a Spirit's power on their lips they're powerfully testifying to the Lord Jesus but that flows out of the Spirit's presence in their lives.

[8:21] Great grace was upon them all. You see the fruit of the Spirit above all is love isn't it? And if ever there was a fellowship marked by love then surely this must be it.

[8:36] This little section is rather parallel isn't it? To the verses at the end of chapter 2 telling us all about the church's early life and there also we were told that they were all together and that's what we're told again here in verse 32.

[8:51] They were of one heart and soul says Luke. But that wasn't just a vague thing that was evident in tangible ways. Luke says no one as the NIV puts it no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own but they shared everything they had.

[9:12] Now we mustn't misunderstand that or misuse that scripture. Luke is not talking here about some kind of socialism and far less communism. Perfectly obvious from verse 34 that they all did or many of them did own individual property.

[9:31] You read on in Acts it's also very clear that not everyone sold off all their property. They met in certain people's houses and so on. Now people have misused this passage to advocate that kind of thing and to support the discredited mantra that if only we had common ownership of everything then that would lead to oneness of spirit and harmony in society.

[9:53] Now please notice when you read this carefully it is precisely the reverse of that that is described here. Verse 32 is very plain isn't it? The believers were one in heart and soul in devotion to the Lord.

[10:08] They were filled with his spirit and therefore they were devoted to one another. They were united in selfless service in self-sacrificial service for God and for his kingdom for his church.

[10:21] That's very very different isn't it from Marxist ideology. It was Khrushchev himself the leader of Russia who said pointedly that communism has failed utterly to produce the selfless man.

[10:37] Well of course it has because it is a man-centered anti-God ideology. But in contrast to that in very stark contrast to that it is the distinguishing mark of the spirit of God to open the human heart to God and therefore open the human heart to one another.

[10:58] That is the great command at the heart of scripture isn't it? It is the mark of the life of God in the soul of man according to Jesus anyway to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and therefore your neighbor as yourself.

[11:11] and it is the filling of the Holy Spirit as verse 32 tells us that produces these lives of grace and generosity lives which issue in lips of great power.

[11:25] It is not the other way around. Now Jesus is plain about that always isn't he? It is out of the treasure of our hearts that we produce either good or evil from our mouths.

[11:38] It is the tree that makes for the fruit. Read it in Luke chapter 6 in his first volume. That is what is being described here isn't it? The root of the power of that fellowship is very plainly in a selfless attitude of heart.

[11:54] They did not claim what was theirs as theirs. They mirrored the Lord Jesus Christ the Savior who did not grasp and hold on to what was his in the glory of heaven by right but made himself nothing for our sakes.

[12:09] who though he was rich says Paul became poor. That is the mark of the grace of God in the human heart isn't it? The attitude of 1 Chronicles 29 verse 14 when David expresses the joy of giving in order to build the temple of God and he says who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer thus willingly for all things come from you and of your own we have given you.

[12:36] It's that selfless attitude that recognizes that all we have is just just the stewardship from God it's that that leads to the sacrificial actions of verse 34 isn't it?

[12:51] Whenever a need arose from time to time well there was no hesitation a house or land or whatever it is chief capital assets even well they'd be given over to the needs of the kingdom and of the gospel and of the fellow workers of the kingdom.

[13:04] It was a promise wasn't it? From the prophets the promise of the new covenant that the spirit of God would write God's law upon the hearts of his people and of course God's law is all about the abundant generosity and sharing and grace of God isn't it?

[13:24] Read the book of Deuteronomy it's full of the generous compassion of God Rob Gifford has been on at me for ages to preach on Deuteronomy we'll get there one day if I live long enough but if you read Deuteronomy you'll see that the very striking things all through the law of Moses are about God's generosity always in the law of Moses people are far more important than possessions for example needs are always more important than rights that's why for example in Moses law there was never a death penalty for crimes against mere property but there was always a death penalty for crimes that violated the human life because human beings are so much more important to God than houses and fields and cars and bank accounts well you see it was because these believers had it in their hearts to know and to love God and his law that they knew that the needs of their Christian brethren far outweighed their own rights to enjoy their property and their own profits in fact if you look at verse 34

[14:30] Luke is making a very specific allusion to the book of Deuteronomy to Deuteronomy 15 verse 4 when he says there was not a needy person among them in that verse God says of his people's community life there will be no poor among you because God would bless them with enough to share of course it's a fallen world still the world is not redeemed and so Moses said if one of your brothers or sisters should become poor you should not harden your heart against them you should not shut your hand against them you should help them read if you like this afternoon Deuteronomy chapter 15 there's a bit of homework for you you'll see it's all about the liberating rhythms of redeemed life the life of the Sabbath community with its liberating release of generosity right at its very heart and Luke is saying to us here that's what the spirit's anointing brings to his church the liberation of generosity to bring the reality of God's

[15:33] Sabbath community into being a community that overflows with generosity that blesses all together the giver and the receiver because the generous provision of God is shared among his people it's important to realize you know that that is a key part of what it means to honor the whole idea of Sabbath the Sabbath is an expression of God's great generosity and provision for man God made it for man not the other way around that means that part of honoring and keeping Sabbath if you like is to share in that great generosity that God has to share it with others remember that the Sabbath command back in the law even applied to animals so that they would have a day off and be blessed quite ironic actually because sometimes I have found that some of those people who are most obsessed with a kind of legalistic bondage of what they call Sabbath keeping some of them have been some of the most tight-fisted and mean and ungenerous people I have ever met very antithesis of what the whole thing is about you see here here's a community truly living

[16:44] God's Sabbath generosity and there's great power on their lips as a result great grace in their lives they're demonstrating aren't they what it means to be the community of heaven living on earth nothing to do with communism nothing to do with redistributing wealth from the productive to the idle but it's everything to do with selfless genuine Christianity it's easy to read something like that as a kind of vague wish we sort of say to ourselves oh gosh I wish our church was like that you see Luke wants us to see clearly doesn't he that this is not some kind of vague ideal he shows us precisely how a community becomes like this it begins with very real individual people people with real names and backgrounds who actually do this kind of thing in real life he gives us in verse 36 the specific example of

[17:47] Barnabas with his name even with his nickname with his tribe and where he came from a real life living example of selfless detachment totally detached from any kind of covetousness here's a man who actually did sell his field and lay the money at the apostles feet in other words what it really means was to lay it at Jesus feet and his nickname we're told was the son of encouragement isn't that a great name wouldn't you like to be known as John the encourager or Jenny the encourager a lot better than to have a nickname in the church of being Graham the grumbler isn't it or Mary the moaner and what an encouragement it must have been to see a Christian brother using his substance like that for the Lord's work I've seen people do that so have you it's always an amazingly encouraging thing isn't it a hugely humbling thing a wonderful thing you see the reality of God's generous grace at work in these kind of unmissable ways why does

[18:53] Luke single out Barnabas here might seem to be a little bit invidious mightn't it well you see if you read on in the story of Acts you'll see what a significant figure Barnabas is to become in the mission of the gospel chapter 11 we find out that he was sent off to Antioch to encourage the new Gentile church there and he did that wonderfully and then he went off to find Paul Saul of Tarsus to bring him to Antioch and to teach the people there and then of course he became didn't he Paul's right hand man and you see what Luke is doing for us here in this chapter is he's flagging up for us the kind of person that God will use as a great encourager in his church and as a true helper of his people and as a powerful influence in serving his kingdom it's just this kind of man that God is looking for he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith says Acts 11 24 but that's just saying in words isn't it what's demonstrated by his actions here he was selfless in attitude and he was sacrificial in action he didn't hold back his substance as though it was his to control he knew he was simply a steward of what God had given him therefore he was liberated to be a generous giver and that's the kind of person that God can use that God can trust to do great things for his kingdom well I can testify to that

[20:31] I'm sure you can all I would say every single one of the greatest Christians that I've known who've led lives of real faithfulness who've had enormous spiritual influence every one of them has been an extraordinarily personally generous person not just open in heart but opening their home opening their lives and opening their wallets for the sake of the Lord's people whether they've got much or whether they've got little love from the heart and generous open hearted giving that's the real mark of spirit filled Christians the real mark of a spirit filled church it's great generosity that we see here that makes for the great grace of the great power that was exuded by that church but the very attractiveness of such manifest grace and such a powerful fellowship it invites real danger doesn't it because there is an adversary there is an enemy and wherever the real mark of the spirit is present then something else also will be lurking and that leads us to the second part to verses 1 to 10 of chapter 5 and the real menace of Satan and of great grace and great power were the dominant theme in the first section what we have here is a truly dreadful contrast isn't it great deception surely is the theme that overshadows these verses because whereas the spirit's great hallmark is the presence of love in the church then Satan's great trademark is that of lies isn't it that's what

[22:28] Jesus said he's a liar and the father of lies and the reality that we've got to face up to is that wherever there is great grace and power evident in the church there will be those who long to share in the fruit of that grace but aren't truly willing to bear the cost there will be people who want the public recognition and reputation but without the real personal surrender and death to the things of this world that are the only true route to that spiritual power there will always be those within the professing church who want the cheap grace imitation of the real selfless devotion to Jesus of people like Barnabas and they'll be egged on and encouraged by the deceitful lies of Satan himself and that's what these verses are all about and it's very frightening isn't it it's very sobering see I guess on the face of it to everyone in the church it just looked like another couple of

[23:28] Barnabas Christians and a great encouragement it would have seen Ananias and Sapphira we're told they sold a piece of land they brought just like Barnabas the money and they put it at the apostles feet the general culture of generosity that's been spoken of the specific instance of Barnabas well surely that's just another episode of just the same here you can imagine what folk would be saying wouldn't they it's wonderful what a great example again praise God thank God for Ananias and Sapphira that's exactly the point isn't it that's what they wanted they wanted to be like Barnabas they wanted to get a nickname like his no doubt the couple of encouragement they wanted the recognition and the reputation of being really committed and generous and compassionate hearted believers I guess we all want that don't we I do I'm sure you do but you see they wanted their reputation for saintliness without the sacrifice that brings that saintliness they wanted to be thought as generous as Barnabas far more than they actually wanted to be as generous as Barnabas so it says verse 2 they brought only a part of the proceeds not the whole and no one would have known would they the church would have had a jolly good donation and so what was the real harm we might be tempted to think that mightn't we but we read that God exposed them in a most devastating way verse 3

[25:09] Peter said Ananias why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself that word is only used one other place in the New Testament in Titus 2 verse 10 it's translated pilfer to keep back and pilfer steal from God for yourself part of the proceeds of the land I wonder how you would feel if the treasurer came up and said that to you after you had handed in your giving form at the beginning of every year as we do I think I'd be pretty shocked and angry if you said it to me but remember Peter was on the receiving end of that sort of thing once himself wasn't he and Jesus had to say to him Peter what are you doing in league with Satan and he knew I guess didn't he that we were all capable of that kind of thing we don't know how Peter knew maybe God gave him a special revelation I'm not sure maybe not maybe he was just a shrewd pastor he could pretty easily sniff out the difference between the reality and the sham but at any rate however it happened

[26:18] Ananias was exposed notice though notice his sin was not that he gave just one amount and not another Peter's very clear in verse 4 isn't he it was his property it was his money he was under absolutely no obligation at all he could have given nothing or he could have given whatever he wanted but you see his giving was a lie it was a deception it was hypocrisy of the worst kind wasn't it it was an attempt to deceive himself and to deceive others and above all to deceive God you've lied not to men but to God said Peter he was pretending wasn't he to be absolutely behind the church's ministry he was wanting to look to others as though he was totally committed to the church's mission and yet in reality not at all being wholehearted in that support he was guilty of a sham it was an idolatrous sham because that's what idolatry is isn't it not seeking the praise of God but seeking the praise of man to be thought generous to be thought selflessly godly was far more important to

[27:29] Ananias and Sapphira than to actually be generous and godly so that we're seeking the praise of man and not of god and that is idolatry it's the opposite of real worship isn't it what did Jesus say in Matthew 6 beware of practicing your righteousness before men in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who's in heaven you can lie to people and you can deceive even yourself but you see you can't deceive god can you and 1st John 5 verse 16 says this there is a sin that leads to death and I find verse 5 here very frightening indeed and likewise verse 10 when Sapphira suffers the same summary judgment notice by the way it didn't need to be did it verse 8 seems to be an opportunity to repent doesn't it was this really the full price Sapphira Peter says he's almost pleading with her isn't he but but no they had agreed together to test the spirit of the

[28:37] Lord that's a very pregnant phrase isn't it in the bible's terms reminds us doesn't it of the israelites testing god to their limit in the wilderness read hebrews chapter 3 this afternoon and see what god says testing him means it means hardening your heart against him rebelling against him having an evil unbelieving heart hardened says god by the deceitfulness of sin and Peter knew because of that that the lord would unite them in death together just as they had united together in a deception against him so verse 10 says the young men who were on their way back from the cemetery having buried her husband well they found her waiting for them too that's the deceit of wealth isn't it inside a growing and a thriving church but being met with a severe punishment of god a great deception but you can't deceive the spirit of god and to think you can deceive him means that that you have been deceived by the great deceiver himself the father of lies and so verse 11 great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things that brings us to our final point the real message of this scripture for us all of great grace and power with a mark of the spirit in the church and great deception is the mark of satan in the church then surely great fear is the message of the scripture for the church god teaches a lesson to those who would seek to destroy the church from outside by hostility and force as he did very clearly in chapter 4 so also here he teaches the very same lesson to those who could be equally capable of serving the devil's purpose from within the church by hypocrisy and by fraud god and the church here learned a very painful lesson don't you think great fear came upon the whole church and luke must have chosen to record this passage so that we likewise would learn the same lesson because the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom says the bible and for the church that doesn't fear god it's the beginning of the end and luke doesn't want that to be so for us and nor does the holy spirit and that's why this is before us this morning i tell you this i wouldn't choose a passage like this to preach on i can tell you but he's put it here so that we will learn to take god seriously maybe a lot more seriously than we've ever done before so what is the message of this scripture for us well first it's surely this isn't it that the holy spirit of god hates sin and that he hates sin especially when it's among his own people a people called out to be holy and even secret sin secret sin that no one knows anything about in your heart and in my heart it affects others it affects the whole church because it grieves away the spirit of god and perhaps the worst of all such sins against god and against his church is this the sin of hypocrisy and falsehood put away falsehood says paul to the ephesians in chapter four do not grieve away the spirit of god and there's no worse falsehood than the sham and hypocrisy of the believer who creates a reputation for commitment and for godliness and for generosity

[32:37] in the church's work but in fact is just self-serving and reputation serving outwardly you you revel in that reputation but inwardly the truth is that you're keeping back for yourself you're stealing from god what you know you ought to be giving to him and inward reality is not a match for what people's assumptions are about you we can keep back all kinds of things can't we but actually material generosity is often what we're most guilty of holding back isn't it covetousness perhaps is the greatest secret sin that's why Paul had to speak so severely about it to the Colossians put to death therefore whatever is earthly in you he said covetousness which is idolatry you see if I'm like that and if you're like that even if no one really knows the truth well God knows doesn't he and his spirit will not live alongside

[33:45] Satan in his church or in your heart either will grieve him away or Satan's influence must be put away radically sometimes even dramatically God's spirit hates sin especially in his church and therefore second God will expose and judge hidden hypocrisy and sham in his church and you need to know that and so do I hang on a second what are you saying here Mr.

[34:16] preacher are you saying that we're to expect the kind of Ananias and Sapphira treatment now in the 21st century are you saying something like that could happen to us are you really saying that no I'm not saying that what I'm saying is that that or something far worse than that will certainly happen to us to every one of us if we sin against the Holy Spirit of God if we lie to him we pretend to be loving and serving God but in fact deep down we are harding ourselves in unbelief against him and we're idolatrous because of covetousness or whatever else it might be may not happen dramatically may not happen openly it might not even happen soon but it will happen listen to Jesus words that Luke records in chapter 12 in his first book beware the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known apostle Paul is just as plain isn't in Romans chapter 2 where he says true belief is a matter of the heart and the believer is the one who has lived not for the praise of men but solely for the praise of God and it will be exposed says Paul on the day when

[35:40] God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus that's a real warning isn't it if you hold on to secret sin if at heart you're a rebel against the spirit of God the spirit of truth no matter what facade you keep up or I keep up the whole of our lives we cannot fool God and a time will come when it will out with devastating consequences we claim to be disciples and worse if we look like we are keen disciples but at heart we don't really care for Christ's people we don't really love his work we don't really rejoice in his gospel then on the day when God exposes the secrets of our hearts we'll be exposed won't we either either we truly lay all of our lives at Jesus feet or else like Sapphira in the end we will fall down and collapse at Jesus feet that's the message of the gospel third lesson for the church

[36:52] God will build his church and therefore those whoever they are who stand in the way of that and put that in jeopardy they will be swept aside whether they stand against God's church from the inside or the outside whether theirs is the opposition of harassment and force or whether it's hypocrisy and sham it's often pointed out in the commentaries that there's a great parallel here between Acts chapter 5 and the story of Ananias and Sapphira and Joshua chapter 7 and the sin of Achan remember Achan kept back for himself some of the treasures of the defeated enemies that God had said must be given over to destruction the result was that the victorious march of God's people into the land was halted because he brought guilt upon the whole congregation the whole church of Israel and it's amazing even the language that's used is the same he kept back just as they kept back here and the whole church congregation just as it's named in verse 11 here was affected and there too the judgment was very severe and very swift because just as then these were critical days for the church of

[38:10] God weren't they and as one writer says the virus of sin could not have been allowed to exist in these early days of the church's life or else the whole apostolic testimony would have died withered in its infancy and therefore it was not merely the sin of hypocrisy and deceit that brought this terrible judgment it was hypocrisy and deceit at such a crucial time and we can recognize that can't we because we see that all the time we know about the crime of spying we always think that's reprehensible but to be a spy against your own people in time of war in a time when you could bring upon your whole nation absolute catastrophe that is absolutely terrible that's why during wartime the punishment for spying was so very great it was a capital offense and you see there are times in the life of God's church indeed in the life of any individual church when God is at work in such a powerful way and a particular way that to harbor such sin at such a time means that you place yourself against and in opposition to almighty

[39:21] God and his plan and his purpose see if we do that we really are playing with fire because God will not allow anyone to destroy his church and if you think you can or I think I can then we will be swept aside not necessarily in such a dramatic way or a gesture like this but you can't assume that I with my own eyes have seen something perilously similar to exactly what happened here and it made me tremble the Lord will judge his people says Hebrews 10 verse 30 and it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God for our God the God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ our God is a consuming fire the spirit of God hates sin above all he hates it in his church and he will expose sham and hypocrisy in his church sooner or later but he will but he will build his church and all who oppose his plan and purpose it will be cast aside and so finally we can sum up surely the message of the scriptures to the church like this the church of Jesus

[40:47] Christ should fear the church's Lord that's the lesson that the early church learned freshly that day didn't they great fear came upon the whole church I guess we don't like that idea too much but you see not to fear God is to dismiss him it's not to take him seriously at all but God will be taken seriously and to fear God is a healthy thing it's a vital thing for God's people to learn God said at Sinai after he'd given the law through Moses oh that my people always had a mind like this to fear me and to keep my commandments their rights says the Lord to tremble before me doesn't the Lord Jesus gentle Jesus meek and mild doesn't he say the same thing yes of course he says the truth of the gospel drives out fear drives out the fear of man and this world do not fear those who can kill the body and can do nothing more says

[41:53] Jesus but I will tell you who to fear fear him who after he is killed has authority to cast into hell yes I tell you fear him great fear came upon the whole church friends let that be so among us in our church too let us fear the dread leaven of hypocrisy let's drive it far away out of our hearts let's show that we truly do fear God by laying everything everything we are and have at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ let's pray Lord our

[42:56] God save us we pray and go on saving us from all pretending to be what we're not make us true and keep us true for you are the one who desires truth in the innermost parts save us and enable us to cast all at the feet of your son our savior the Lord Jesus Christ that we might though we tremble nevertheless rejoice and great grace and great power may be upon us all Amen Amen