Acts 5:1-5

Acts 5:1-5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. Yesterday we discovered that the New Testament church took care of one another. Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, sold a piece of land and brought the money that they had made to the apostles. But they lied to the apostles. They said that they were giving all of the money that they had sold the land for to the church. But they hadn’t. They agreed to keep back part of the money for themselves. And that was O.K. The land was theirs and the money from the land was theirs. But the problem was that they had lied about the land and the money. And that was wrong. Peter told them that they hadn’t just lied to them, the apostles, they had lied to the Holy Spirit – they had lied to God. And that was a big deal! God killed Ananias right there on the spot. In the next verses, his wife, Sapphira came in to the apostles and told the same lie. And she fell down dead too! God was showing the new church that honesty before God was important. Being honest with God is still important!