Adrian Rogers - Living Supernaturally or Superficially
Find the Book of Acts, and, turn if you will to chapter five. When you've found it, look up here and let me tell you there are two great forces that are working against your life and the life of this church. They are orchestrated by Satan himself. One is persecution. The other is hypocrisy. And these forces are working against every church. The early church faced both of these, huh, and we will face both of these. Now the devil with the early church at first had tried intimidation. And that did not work. He tried to persecute the early church and all that did was to drive these Christian to their knees. And so he came back again and he said, "Well, if I cannot attack from the outside, I will attack from the inside".
If intimidation and persecution doesn't work, then I'll get inside and I will attack the church with hypocrisy and superficiality. And I want to say that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the early church, and this church has been hurt far more by hypocrisy, lukewarmness, and superficiality than by persecution. Do you believe that? I believe that with all of my heart. Did you know that the Lord had rather have you out and out against him than lukewarm pretending to be for him? Jesus said, "I would that you were hot or cold so then because you're neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, I will spew thee out of my mouth". Ha, ha, now, I don't want to upset your equilibrium this morning, but that literally means you make me sick at my stomach, enough to vomit.
"Because you're neither hot nor cold but lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth". The Lord had rather have you out and out against him than to have you pretending to be for him and yet truly, really denying him. Today I want to lift up a red flag of warning against superficial religion. I believe that Satan is in the corner smiling when people put doubts in the minds of little children concerning the Word of God. Read the book of Genesis. When Satan first crawled his slimy, corroding path onto the pages of history, he put a question mark after the Word of God and said, "Yea, hath God said? Hath God said? Ha, ha, ha, well, you don't really just have to take his word for it".
Now friend, anybody, whether he's a pastor, or professor, whether he is a political leader, anybody who puts a question mark after the Word of God is doing the work of Satan. I thank God for Bible-believing churches. But if you're a member of a church that doubts the Word of God, you need to saturate that church with your absence. You say, "Well, grandma's buried in the back yard". Well, she'd get up and leave too if she could, I'll guarantee you. The Book of Acts is the story of the early church. And the early church believed in the Word of God. Now, in our message this morning I want to give you two things to beware of and two things to be sure of. Ok? Number one: beware of the pretended devotion of superficial religion.
Now let's begin to read, "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, t, to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? While 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. And the young men arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, 'tell me whether ye sold the land for so much'? And she said, 'yea, for so much'. Then Peter said unto her, 'how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out'. Then fell she straight, then fell she down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church and as many as heard these things".
Now, beware of pretended devotion. Let me give you the background for this passage of scripture. There was a man named old Barney, did good. Barney had made a gift to the church. He was a very, generous man, a great hearted soul. The word "Barnabas" means encourager. And he was also wealthy. He had some property and he sold it because there was persecution. There was a great financial need to the church. Well, you can read about it in acts chapter four. Look if you will in verse 36 and 37, "And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is, being interpreted, the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet". Barnabas had a piece of property. He sold it. He took all the money. He said, "Here you are, Peter, James, John, take this money. Do with it as you will. There it is. Use it".
Magnanimous. He wasn't doing it to show off. It was a gift motivated by love. Now he was letting his light shine, however, before men. And men saw his good works and they glorified God in heaven. Now Ananias and Sapphira were there. They saw what Barnabas had done. They saw how the people glorified God. They saw how the people talked about Barney and what a great guy he was. They said, "You know, we'd like to bask in some of that sunlight. Uh, Sapphira, we have a piece of property. Why don't we sell this piece of property and, and, we'll take the money and bring it to the church. Well, huh, do you think we ought to give all of it"?
"Well, they don't know how much we sold it for". "Huh, we can, we'll tell them that's all we got for the property and we can keep part of it. But we'll get credit for giving everything. Nobody knows how much we sold it for. So, we'll, we'll just say, 'hey Pete, here's the money we got from the property. It's all there. We're giving everything to the Lord'". Well it was a lie. It was a lie. It was a pretended devotion. It was a devotion they did not have. Now what made them do that? What is behind all superficial and hypocritical religion? P-R-I-D-E, pride, pride. They wanted to be praised. They wanted to be petted. They wanted to be adulated. They wanted to be looked up to and it was pride that did this.
Now, the Bible says, "Why hath Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost"? Satan's chief tool is pride. Now listen to me very carefully. Pride is such a dangerous thing. The root of their sin was pride. The fruit of their sin was hypocrisy. They wanted credit for giving all. They pretended a devotion they did not have. Now listen to me carefully. Their sin was not that they failed to give everything. They didn't have to give everything. There was no command that they should give everything. Peter makes that very clear. Look if you will in verse four of this chapter. Watch it. Peter says, "While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own power"?
You could do with it what you wanted. You didn't have to give it all. What was their problem? Not that they failed to give it all. Their problem was they pretended a devotion they did not have. Question: are you sitting in this church this morning pretending a devotion to Jesus Christ that you do not have? God did not command that they give it all. What you do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants. Say, amen. What you do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants. You're not helping God out. God owns the world. God is not going to extort anything from you. Peter said, "Look, it was in your hands. You could give it, or you could withhold it".
Now, it was their right to keep back some if they wanted to. But they pre, they played the hypocrite. Jesus' sternest words were given to the hypocrites. Now I wonder about us in this congregation this morning, and I've asked myself this question sincerely as I prepared this message, "Adrian, do you pretend a devotion to Jesus Christ that you do not have"? I've settled that in my own heart. We sing, brother Jim, "All to Jesus I surrender: all to him I freely give". You sing that: is it true? Or have you sung, "Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold". And we hold it with all our might. That's the Ananias and Sapphira sin. Have you sung, "Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee till death". And then deny the Lord Jesus Christ by our actions, our lives. Not even faithful to the house of God when it's worship time. "We'll be true to thee till death".
I believe there are a lot of modern day Ananias' and Sapphiras in our congregation. Amen? Perhaps, oh me. Second point. Now look, beware of the pretended devotion of superficial religions. Number two: beware of the premeditated deception of superficial religion. Now the key word is premeditated. Now all of us sometimes have said things that we ought not to have said. All of us sometimes have spoken of devotion that we do not have. All of us sometimes have told an untruth. Later on we have to confess it. We, we didn't think about it. Somebody called in the middle of the night, or maybe early in the morning, about 5:30 and they say, "Did I wake you up"? "Oh, oh no, no, no, no". Liar. Ha, ha, ha, but I mean you weren't thinking about it.
And you just said, "No, no, no, no you didn't". That's not a premeditated lie. I'm not saying there's anything good about that. But I want you to notice what we're talking about here. We're talking about premeditated deception. Look in verses three and four, "But Peter and Ananias, 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? While it remained was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God'". Now, he had lied to the Holy Ghost. Now this was not a casual lie. Satan put the lie in their heart, but they made room for the lie. Satan said, "Hey, Ananias, Sapphira, tell them you gave everything". Satan put that in their heart.
Now what the Holy Spirit is doing now is revealing the seriousness of this premeditated deception. Uh, uh verse three, Peter said, "Why has Satan put it in your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost"? Look up here and let me tell you something. It is serious to tell a lie. It is more serious to tell a lie to a judge. It is most serious to lie to God. Now if you're going to tell a lie, don't lie to God. You see, not only is it, it, it is serious when you lie to the Holy Ghost, but it's foolish. You can't lie to him. Premeditated deception. I wouldn't advise you to try that.
Pretended devotion, premeditated deception, now here's the third thing. Two things to beware of, here are two things to be sure of: be sure of the penetrating detection of superficial religion. God the Holy Spirit told Peter that Ananias and Sapphira were lying. Now Peter was different than we. Peter was an apostle. And God spoke to Peter and Peter declared the Word of God. The Word of God was in the mouths of these apostles. And you know the Bible says in Hebrews 4:12, "The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing asunder between soul and spirit, penetrating, penetrating, to the thoughts and the intents of the heart". Oh there is the penetrating power of the Word of God.
Now, listen, Peter with penetrating insight saw that sin. It's only a matter of time, listen, it is only a matter of time until hypocritical and half-hearted religion and pretended devotion will be made manifest. Paul said, when our Lord comes he's gonna make known the hidden counsels of men's hearts. Perhaps there are things in your heart you don't even know are, are there. Do you know what I do not want in my heart and in my life? I don't want hypocrisy. I do not want to preach something I don't practice. I don't want to say something I don't believe. And constantly I'm saying, "Oh God, I want to be real. I want to be true. I want to be pure". And therefore, I put myself at, at, at God's x-ray in the mornings. Do you do that? "Search me, o God, and know my heart, try me and see if there be some wicked way in me". There is, dear friend, the penetrating detection. If not now, later on.
Now here's the fourth and final thing I want you to be sure of. Two things to beware of, two things to be sure of. You can be sure of the purifying discipline of superficial religion. What happened? They told a lie. They told a premeditated lie. It was detected. And notice what happened beginning in verse five, "And Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost," that means he's, he dead, he died. "And great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, 'tell me whether ye sold the land for so much'? And she said, 'yea, for so much'".
Three hours later. Don't you ever complain about a long church service, o.K.? Huh, she's just getting there and the service has been going for three hours. "Then Peter said unto her, 'how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord'"? You see, this was a conspiracy. This was not an off-handed thing. "To tempt," that means to test the Spirit of God. It was a challenge to God: you agreed, you conspired to tempt the Spirit of the Lord. "Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. And she fell down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and as many as heard these things".
I want to say two things about this uh, uh about this discipline, this judgment. Number one, it was a severe judgment. They both died. It's almost humorous. It's almost like, they had in the church, you know, various kind of committees and they have a blanket committee to bury the dead. They said, "Well, Ananias died. Wrap him up, carry him out, and bury him. Hey, committee we got another one. Get this one. Wrap her up, carry her out". Talk about grandma buried in the back yard, no wonder they had cemeteries so close to those churches in those days. She, they died. It was very severe. Now, question: were Ananias and Sapphira saved? I believe they were. Uh, will God judge his own children? Certainly. Certainly. I believe I'll meet Ananias and Sapphira in heaven. God loved Ananias and Sapphira.
Put down Hebrews chapter 12 verses five thru seven. And, and, the writer of Hebrews says, whom, incidentally I believe was Paul, "Have ye forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children? My son," now listen, this is sons, "Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not"? You say, "But, but they died". Yes. This judgment is a severe judgment, especially when you challenge God: when it is premeditated: when it is a conspiracy: when it is a confrontation between that which Satan has put in your heart and that which the Holy Spirit of God has warned you against. Now listen. Not only was it a severe judgment, but it was a saving judgment.
You say, "God is cruel. God is vindictive". No, God is loving and God is kind. Uh, number one, it was to save Ananias and Sapphira from further sin. God, God did this, I believe, in mercy. Now not only was it saving to Ananias and Sapphira, it was to save the early church from pollution. God doesn't want hypocrites in the church, so God took them out because there was such a holiness there, such a fire, such a revival: God would not let them spoil it. And, the Bible says in this same chapter in verse 11, "And great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things". Therefore, this was a blessing to the church.
Number three, it was a, a blessing because it saved lost people from hell. The worst thing could happen to a church would be for the church to be so filled with hypocrites and superficiality that unsaved people can see no difference. It's good when God brings judgment like this upon a church. The Bible says in Acts chapter five verse 14, "And believers were more added to the church, multitudes both of men and women". The home going of Ananias and Sapphira brought fear to the church, and it brought salvation to many people. And where Satan ruled, God overruled. And I'll tell you another reason God may have done it: to save succeeding generations from hypocrisy.
Now there's a big question right here. If God took Ananias and Sapphira to heaven early, why doesn't God do that today? I mean, why doesn't God go through the congregation and say, "You're one of them, you're outta here. You're one, you're outta here. You're one, you're outta here". One preacher said, "If God were to kill all the people who did that where would I be"? They all laughed. He said, "I'd be preaching to an empty house". Huh. Why doesn't God do that today? You're going to find there's a principle in the Bible: God will do certain things as an example in the physical world about how he feels in the spiritual world.
For example, Sodom and Gomorrah. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone. Well why doesn't God destroy cities today that are given over to Sodomy with fire and brimstone? Answer: Jude one verse seven, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth a, for an example, for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire". When God eradicated Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and left their smoking ruins, God said that is an example. That's an example. You want to know how I feel about it? There's an example.
Now, what is the lesson? The lesson is this: love Jesus with all of your heart. If you're weak, say, "Lord help me". Uh, ye, ye, if you can't give all to the Lord Jesus Christ and haven't given all to the Lord Jesus, say, "Lord, I want to: help me". While it is in your power, it's your own. Just don't pretend a devotion that you do not have. Say, "Lord, here's where I am. Here's where I want to be. Help me to grow". And God will start with you where you are. And God will bring you to where you need to be.
Just don't stonewall God. Don't be a big pretender. Don't be superficial. Don't be hypocritical. Be real, and God'll love you. God'll help you. God'll strengthen you. God will guard you. God will guide you, and he'll take you where you are and make you what you ought to be. He's still working on me. He's still working on me. I was thinking about that, if you could see my heart up there on that big screen. I'm kinda glad you can't. I'll tell you one thing, and I can say this sincerely and I know God is listening. I'm real. I'm real. I know I'm not all I ought to be, but I'm real. You say, "You're boasting". No, I'm not. I'd be a fool to stand up here and not be real. Be real. Let God start with you where you are. And God will bring you, just don't Stonewall God. Don't lie to the Holy Ghost. Don't be superficial and hypocritical. Amen? Father God, seal the message to our hearts. In Jesus' holy name, amen.