12. Why Has Satan Filled Thine Heart?

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Hymns: RHC 401 Yield Not to Temptation 414 Is Your All On the Altar? 247 Cleanse Me

Acts 5:1-14

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 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. 3 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? 4 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. 5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. 6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 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. 10 Then fell she 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. 11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. 13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

Why Has Satan Filled Thine Heart?

OUTLINE

  • Purity Compromised (v1-9)
  • Purity Restored (v5-6, 7b, 10-14)

INTRODUCTION

Acts 5:1-14. Why Has Satan Filled Thine Heart? Sin did not begin when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. Sin began in heaven when the most beautiful of God’s created angelic being Lucifer, the archangel, decided that his beauty and perfection did not come from the God who made him but filled with pride wanted to lift himself up to be like God. By five thoughts of rebellion against the rule and reign of God in his heart, he was cast down from heaven.

The prophet Isaiah recorded for us this account of how sin first polluted the purity of God’s created world.

Isaiah 14:12-15 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart,

  • I will ascend into heaven,
  •  I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: 
  •  I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 
  •  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; 
  • I will be like the most High. 

15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

God reads the heart. Rebellion against the rule of God in our hearts begins, as we see, in the heart. The paradise that God created, He pronounced to be very good. There was no sin to taint and come in-between the Creator and His creature until Lucifer or Satan fell!

That is how the Serpent, Satan himself, came to the Garden of Eden to deceive Adam and Eve to rebel against the commandment of God to partake of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God said to Adam and Eve “Thou shalt surely die” “To die you shall die” (Genesis 2:17) but Satan said to Adam and Eve, “Thou shalt not surely die!” (Genesis 3:4)

In 12 verses from Genesis 2:17 to Genesis 3:4, mankind through their representative head Adam fell into the condemnation of sin and death. That is why when we reached Genesis 5, the Spirit of God gave a chronology of death and will continue to be the curse upon mankind because of sin!

What was the sin of Lucifer or Satan that caused him to be cast down from heaven? It was the sin of pride!

Ponder this statement, “Pride is the ground in which all other sin grow, and the parent from which all the other sins come.” 

And also Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

It was the sin of pride, the haughty spirit that caused the most beautiful and perfect of God’s creature, the “anointed cherub” to fall. 

This is found in Isaiah 14:11 “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.” 

Sin did not first take place on earth. Sin first took place in heaven. It was an angel who sinned first, not man. The word of God says in a parallel passage to our Scripture text in Ezekiel 28:15 “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” 

The iniquity by which Lucifer fell was pride, or his being lifted up by reason of his superlative beauty and brightness. 

Ezekiel 28:17 “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”

The Christian writer Andrew Murray also observes that pride is ‘the root of every sin and evil.”

The root cause of Satan’s sin was his pride. The center of the word “PRIDE” is the letter “I”. Sin begins in the heart and we want us to know that God judged first our heart!

The cure for pride is humility when we humble ourselves before God, repenting of our sins, receiving God’s Son Jesus Christ by His death and resurrection from the dead three days, to be our Lord and Saviour!

The infant church in Jerusalem experienced great stirrings of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit filled the hearts of the Apostles and the Word of God was mightily declared ushering thousands of souls into the kingdom of God.

The writer William MacDonald observed very well when he said, “When God is working in power, Satan is on hand to counterfeit, corrupt, and contend. But where there is real spiritual power, deceit and hypocrisy will be readily exposed.”

This was the experience of the infant church. Two thoughts for your consideration from our text in Acts 5:1-14:

  • Purity Compromised (v1-9)
  • Purity Restored (v5, 7b, 10-14)

(1) Purity Compromised (v1-10)

What happened? A couple called Ananias and Sapphira lied pretending that they were giving to God in fact, they did not! They painted the front that they had given but our text in verse 2 tells us “they kept back part of the price”.

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2 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.

Does it not remind you the scene in the Garden of Eden when the serpent came to beguile Adam and Eve into disobeying God? Remember sin has not compromised the purity of the created earth. Adam and Eve’s heart were right in God’s sight until they believed the lie of Satan and ate of the forbidden fruit!

3 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? 

Are they not believers? Can Satan fill the heart of the believer? Yes, when we yield to the lie of Satan. Satan will come to tempt us to betray the purity of our relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

The Lord wants us to beware of a pretended devotion of an external piety. The scribes and Pharisees were the classic practitioners’ of an external piety but their hearts are far from God.

Matthew 15:7-9 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

At the end of Acts 4, we saw the man called Barnabas who sold his land and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. He was truly generous. He was not doing this to impress anyone. It was his devotion to God. He did so with the pure heart to glorify God. He was called the “son of consolation”. His act of generosity encouraged the hearts of the many in the infant church. He was not even a resident of Jerusalem. He lived in the country of Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Israel. He was a gift of love that came from his heart to support the needs of the infant church. 

But for Ananias and Sapphira, it was not an act of true devotion, they wanted to be praised, this is the disease of pride in the heart. Peter said to Ananias, “Why has Satan filled thine heart?”

Why did you allow the serpent to beguile you? 

4 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. 

You really do not have to lie. God will not be displeased with you if you just give what He has laid upon your heart to give. After all, the land is yours. It’s up to you whether you want to give as God has moved your heart.

Dear friends, whenever we lie, we are acting like the devil. Whether you are a student, or a working adult, whenever we allow Satan to entice us into falsehood, we betray the trust that God has given to us as His children.

Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

James 1:13-16 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Peter is calling the believers to the urgent duty of spiritual alertness. Your enemy the devil seeks to devour, prowling around, like a roaring lion seeking to ruin your Christian witness. The “restless energy” of the evil one is the emphasis here in search for victims. It speaks of a persistent search for the total destruction of its victims! Satan’s aim is not merely to harass and injure, his true desire is to kill his victims by destroying their faith.[1]

1 Peter 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

We are to firmly resist the attack of Satan. To resist is “to stand against”. To trust God and His Word!

God says to Adam and Eve do not eat, Satan says eat! To resist is to trust or obey God’s Word and not eat. Realize that you are not the only one who are under the onslaught of the evil one. You brethren, the fellow believers have been tempted too! 

You remember the biblical character Job? God said that he was a man who fear God and hated evil. When God allowed Satan to tempt him, he did not buckle under the pressure of the affliction that Satan was allowed to hurl at him. He remained faithful to his God!

Steve Cole said well, “To avoid hypocrisy, you must live daily with the aim of pleasing God above all else. The minute you start trying to look good to others, without being concerned about what God thinks, you are into hypocrisy.”[2]

7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. 8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?… 

This is our first thought purity compromised. Our second thought purity restored.

(2) Purity Restored (v5-6, 7b, 11-14)

5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. 6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. 7 …behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out…10 Then fell she 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. 

How was purity restored in the infant church? God’s discipline, God’s judgment came swiftly upon Ananias and Sapphira. God struck them dead immediately. Their sin was not in withholding part of the money. Their sin was in deception and a false claim to generosity. They lied to men but more! They lied to God! Let us be careful how we make claim to sacrifice. It was a conspiracy to tempt the Spirit of the Lord (v9).[3]

Satan does not like the Christian who is generous. He wants them to be selfish. He hated the spirit of generosity and unity among the early Christians.[4]

We observe how Satan is not allowed to deceive because God knows what’s going on. He exposed the falsehood and deception. He restored purity in the early church.

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

When we spend time in prayer and His Word, God gives us the strength to submit to the truth and resist the devil.

When the church is so blessed by God be sure that Satan is there to thwart the effort. But God is still overall in charge. He overruled. The devil and his willing agents were stopped!

11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. 12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. 13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. 14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

We see persecution when the infant church began to evangelise and we see Satan seeking to create disunity and contempt within the body of believers. We have a glimpse of the tactics of Satan here and must beware of it! The litmus test is the Word of God!

There was a time of self-examination and reflection in the infant church as its members examined their piety before God and man. 

As one pastor puts it, “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... a church that is filled with the Holy Ghost, a church that has the Word of God, a church that will live pure and clean and righteous and holy cannot, will not be stopped by superficiality and hypocrisy on the part of some. You want to know how strong a church is, you see what it takes to stop it. All hell could not stop this church and it continued to grow”[5]

You recall our message on the House of God during our church camp, we spoke of godly behavior in the church – the “one another” principles. It begins with the heart, it is seen in our words and our actions.

In Our Heart (Affections) – 1 Peter 1:22 (love one another); 1 Peter 3:8 (compassion one to another); Ephesians 4:2 (forgiving one another); James 5:16 (confessing to one another, praying for one another)

In Our Words (Conversation, Words) – Col. 3:16 Admonishing, Teaching; 1 Thess. 5:11 Comforting and Edifying

In Our Work (Ministering, Labour, Hands) – 1 Peter 4:10 (Minister one to another); 1 Peter 4:9 hospitality one to another; 1 Peter 5:5 (Submit one to another); Galatians 6:2 (Bear each other’s burdens)

CONCLUSION

May the Lord help us to grow in generosity and integrity! Purity Compromised (v1-9), Purity Restored (v5-6, 7b, 10-14)! Amen.

[1] D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, BMH Books, 1992, 314-315.

[2] http://www.fcfonline.org/content/1/sermons/123100m.pdf

[3] John R. Rice, Filled with the Spirit, Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1963, 144.

[4] James Montgomery Boice, An Expositional Commentary – Acts, Baker Books, 2006, 98.

[5] The Adrian Rogers Legacy Collection – The Adrian Rogers Legacy Collection – Sermons.