We do desire to see Thee in Thy temple. Lord, if we see this, we will be awed. We will experience Thy grace. We will hear Thy voice. We will see Thy holiness.
Lord, we just pray that this may be our desire before Thee, and ask Thee to reveal this to us afresh this morning through Thy Word. Lord, we do desire to worship Thee for Who Thou art and for what Thou art.
We commit this time into Thy hands. We ask Thee to anoint us with Thy Spirit, that whether we speak or hear, we may be quickened by the same Spirit—Thy Spirit, Holy Spirit. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Will you please turn to the Book of Acts? We will read from Acts 4:32 and continue into Acts 5.
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
And with great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
and laid them at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need.
And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of exhortation), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race,
having a field, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.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 thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy 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 upon all that heard it.
And the young men arose and wrapped him round, and they 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.
But Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to try the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them that have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out.
And she fell down immediately at his feet, and gave up the ghost: and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her by her husband.
And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things.
Last night, we mentioned how the early church was in full profession of this wonderful name of our Lord Jesus. That name was very real to them.
Even though they did not have many other things, yet they had the name of the Lord Jesus. And in that day, great things were done.
But remember: for this name to be rightly borne and backed up by the One Who has that name, there needed to be a commitment on their part. They were a people fully committed to that name. They had no other name. They owned no other name but that one name.
And because of that, when they used that name, the One behind that name was there. So, brothers and sisters, that is the real meaning of the church.
The church is a people gathered together unto that Name, who have placed themselves under the authority of that Name. And the Lord says, “There am I in the midst of them.”
Now, this morning, we would like to go on and see another aspect of life in the early church: the reality of the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit in the early church.
On the day of resurrection, when our Lord Jesus met His disciples—as recorded in John 20—the Lord breathed into them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”
Through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit is given. Those who believe in Him receive the Holy Spirit into them. The Holy Spirit comes into them to dwell in them. He makes His home within them.
Now, brothers and sisters, everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus has the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell within. He is the permanent Resident.
He is the Comforter, the Guardian, the Helper, the One Who is fully responsible to bring us into God’s full purpose. We each have the Holy Spirit within, and He is given to us forever. He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
But on the day of Pentecost, something more happened. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, and they were all baptized into one body.
The one hundred and twenty individual believers were baptized into one body. The Holy Spirit came to indwell that body.
On the day of resurrection, the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in each believer. But on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in the body.
I hope you can see the difference here. The Holy Spirit does not only dwell in each one of us as Comforter and Guardian, but the Holy Spirit dwells in the midst of us, representing the Lord Himself.
In typology, as you look back, you find that after Moses had built the tabernacle in Exodus 40, everything was made and arranged according to God’s order. All the pieces of furniture were placed in the tabernacle, and everything was fitted.
Then the cloud of God covered the tabernacle, so that even Moses could not enter it. In other words, God came and took possession of that house.
After Solomon finished the temple, you remember that he prayed. When he finished his prayer, the glory of the Lord came and filled the temple, and even the priests could not remain there. They had to cease ministering because the glory of the Lord filled that house.
In other words, God came and took possession of that temple. The same thing happened on the day of Pentecost.
Here you find that the living house—the spiritual house, the temple, the living temple of God—was formed on the day of Pentecost. Immediately after it was formed, the Holy Spirit came and took possession of that spiritual house.
The house was there. The tabernacle was ready. The temple was built. But without the cloud, without the glory, it was empty.
In Ezekiel, you find that the glory of the Lord gradually left the temple. The glory of the Lord came out of the holiest place and rested on the threshold of the temple, as if He lingered. Then He left, went out through the east gate, and stayed on the mountain opposite.
The glory of the Lord left the house. And when the glory of the Lord left the house, that house was empty—and finally destroyed.
Brothers and sisters, that is the church: the house of God. It is a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
As you read Ephesians 2, you find that the house is built as a habitation for God in the Spirit. This is the real meaning of the church.
The Holy Spirit dwells in the church—not only in each member of the body individually, but in the body as a whole. He comes in to take possession of the body, and He is the authority in the body.
Whether it is truly the church of God depends mainly on this: Is there the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit?
If the Holy Spirit is not present, if His authority is not respected, and everything becomes a matter of human opinion, human decisions, and human activity—everything arranged by man—then it becomes an organization and no longer a living church.
How we need to go back to the early days and try to see what is the real meaning of the church of God. What makes the church different from all other groups or associations is the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit.
This is demonstrated very vividly in Acts 5. Sometimes, when we read Acts 5, our feeling is, “What a tragedy.” Our whole mind may be occupied with that tragedy.
But why was this particular incident recorded? For what purpose? There is a positive lesson here, because the whole incident illustrates one point: the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit in the church.
When the Holy Spirit is present and when His authority is known, things will happen one way or another. When nothing happens, something is wrong.
So let us go into this incident and try to look at it positively, not negatively, and try to learn some lessons through it.
In those days, the Bible says that the heart and soul of the believers were one. The grace of God was such that they were all delivered from that native, natural thing of self-possessiveness.
As we mentioned before, there is in us a natural instinct of self-possessiveness. We like to possess something. We like to say, “This is mine.” It makes us feel important and secure.
But the grace of God was such that they were totally delivered from this native instinct of self-possessiveness. No one said, “This is mine.” They had all things in common. They really lived as members of one body.
It was not a communal life; it was a community life. They lived as one family. They lived as members of one body.
Of course, we do not say that they lived a communal life, because God emphasizes family life very much. In a communal life, family life is often broken. But the family is a unit created by God.
So even in the life of the church, family life remains. The family life supports the church life; it is not removed by church life. Therefore, we say it was not a communal life, but a community life.
They really lived as one community. They loved one another. They shared everything. Nobody said that anything was his own.
They really lived in the resurrection life of our Lord. No wonder the apostles were so mighty in testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
When you speak of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, where is the power behind your speech? Look at these brothers and sisters. They literally lived on resurrection ground.
Humanly speaking, this was impossible. They were delivered from self-possessiveness. They shared everything. They loved one another. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was demonstrated by the life of these people.
So, no wonder the apostles were mighty in testifying to the resurrection of our Lord.
Some people who had lands or houses saw the need of other members. They sold their land and houses and laid the money at the feet of the apostles, to be distributed to each according to need.
Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus. He sold his land, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. He was moved by the love of Christ. He was willing to share with his brothers and sisters.
But after he did that, people may have said, “Look at this brother. What a good brother. He really loves the Lord and loves the church.”
Then another brother heard about it. Perhaps Ananias was moved, not by the need of the saints, but by the reaction of the people toward Barnabas. Secretly, he desired to receive the same praise and glory.
He was not moved by the Spirit of God. He was motivated by the praise of men. He wanted to have a place in the church. He wanted to show himself, so that people would say, “Here is a marvelous brother.”
In order to do that, he sold a possession. I wonder whether he had more than one possession. The Scripture says that he sold a possession. Perhaps he thought, “I will sell one possession.”
You see, he was not ready to part with all his possessions, yet he desired to have the praise that came from such an offering. So he was willing to sell a possession, a piece of property.
Together with his wife, he sold it. Then he kept back part of the money and brought the rest to the feet of the apostles.
He thought that he was merely dealing with men. He did not know that he was dealing with the Holy Spirit. He came and laid the money at the apostles’ feet, waiting to be praised by all the brothers and sisters and for people to say that he was such a marvelous brother.
But Peter did not know this because he had some natural sixth sense. Peter was used as a vessel of the Holy Spirit.
Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart? Why do you deceive the Holy Spirit? You are not deceiving men.”
While the land was in your hand, it was yours. Nobody compelled you to sell your land or property. It was voluntary, as moved by the Holy Spirit.
When the property was yours, it was rightfully yours. There was nothing wrong with keeping it. Even after you sold it, the money was yours. You did not have to give any of it. If you kept it all, there would have been nothing wrong with that.
But why was it that you wanted to deceive? Peter said, “You are lying to the Holy Spirit. You are lying to God, not to me.”
When Peter finished these words, Ananias fell down and died. The reality of the Holy Spirit was manifested.
Then, after about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her whether they had sold the land for that amount, and she said, “Yes, for so much.”
Peter said, “Why have you agreed together with your husband to test the Spirit of the Lord?” She too fell down and died. The young men came in, found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.
Then the whole church heard about it, and great fear came upon them.
Now, brothers and sisters, do not look at this incident negatively. Try to look at it positively.
When the presence of the Holy Spirit is very real and His authority is truly recognized in the church, we are all dealing with the Holy Spirit and not merely with men.
Today, people can do almost anything they like in the church, and nothing happens. Has God changed? No.
The real reason is that today the presence of the Holy Spirit is not so manifest. If His authority is recognized, He will manifest Himself in one way or another.
We are not dealing with men. We are dealing with God. Where the Holy Spirit is in the church, there will be discipline. He will make Himself known to us in many ways.
But today, just look: people seem able to get by with everything in the so-called church, and nothing happens. That does not mean that we have done everything right.
It only means that, although we may have the Holy Spirit individually, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church has been diminished.
It is almost like the picture in Ezekiel. The glory of the Lord gradually left the temple. It became an empty house, and then destruction took over.
Brothers and sisters, I feel there is a very deep lesson for us to learn here. As we are approaching the end, this is the time that we should look back and see the real meaning of the church.
Why should there be a gathering of God’s people? Why should there be an assembly, the house of God?
It is for God to dwell by the Spirit. It is that the Holy Spirit may make His presence known and that His authority may be respected.
Brothers and sisters, the more we come together and learn to submit ourselves to the name of the Lord Jesus, the more the Holy Spirit will be manifested in reality.
Many things you could get by with before. Many things you could do before, and nothing happened. But when the Holy Spirit is very real and living in the body, everything that touches that body matters.
Whenever we see the Holy Spirit giving discipline, we should bow our heads and worship the Lord. This is not something bad. This is something good.
If the Holy Spirit were not there on that day, Ananias and Sapphira would not have died. Nothing would have happened. They would have been looked upon by the other brothers and sisters as a marvelous brother and sister who loved the church so much.
You would have had a completely different picture. And this is what you see today—a completely different picture.
But thank God, the Holy Spirit was present, and He manifested Himself on that day. That kept the church living. That is the meaning of the church.
There was a holy fear because they were in the presence of God, in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, is the Holy Spirit so real and so living today with us? Perhaps, as individuals, more or less, we know how real He is.
You know He dwells in you. You know that if you say or do something wrong, He checks you and restrains you. If you continue in it and are stubborn, He disciplines you.
You know that the Holy Spirit is very real in your individual life. But what if the Holy Spirit is not real in your individual life? There is no Christian life in that sense.
We may live our lives on this earth doing things we think are right, good, beneficial, and profitable to us. We may get by with many things. We may think that is good, but we know that it is tragic.
Many people complain, “Why can other people do things that I cannot do? Look at other Christians. They can do many things and nothing happens to them. They can get by very easily. But if I do the same thing, God’s hand comes upon me. Why is God so strict with me?”
Brothers and sisters, you do not know what you are talking about. Other people may be able to do certain things, but you cannot, because you are specially loved by Him.
The closer you live with the Lord, the stricter He will be with you. He will manifest Himself to you. He will not let you go your own way. He will hold you to Himself. As your Father, He will discipline and chasten you.
If this is true individually, how much more ought it to be true corporately?
The Holy Spirit is no less present in the church than in individual people. The authority of the Holy Spirit should not be less manifest in the church than in individuals.
If this is true with us individually, surely it ought to be true corporately. But do you see it today?
You may see the working of the Holy Spirit in individual lives, and thank God for that. But how much do you see the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit in the church corporately?
This is the time, I believe, when we should really go back to the Word of God and see that this is real.
When God’s people come together, they dare not and cannot do anything they like. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is there.
We are not dealing with men. We are not dealing merely with one another. We are dealing with the Holy Spirit. He is in charge. He manifests Himself.
This was very manifest in the early church. I believe that as God’s people really come together and put themselves under the name of the Lord Jesus, the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit will be manifested.
Thank God that the Lord is there. It is not a bad thing. Thank God for that.
Everybody knows when the Holy Spirit is there. They recognize His operation. They dare not do anything presumptuously.
As you read on, you find that the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit are not only known in the church; they are also known in the world through the church.
The apostles went early into the temple area and preached the gospel. The next morning, the council sent men to bring them out of the prison. The doors were closed, everything was secure, but the apostles were not there.
Then someone came and said, “These men are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” So they brought them before the council and said, “Did we not strictly charge you not to teach in this name?”
They thought they were dealing with ordinary people—with unlearned fishermen and men who had never attended their schools. Yet Peter answered, “We must obey God.”
“What we have seen and heard, we must speak. We are witnesses, and the Holy Spirit bears witness.”
The council did not know what to do with them. They threatened them, but they could not do anything.
It was the council against the Holy Spirit in the church. What could the Holy Spirit not do through the church?
These fishermen knew that, naturally speaking, the council was the highest authority. They could imprison them and even put them to death. Certainly, they could have been frightened. But they did not know that they were dealing with the Holy Spirit in the church.
The authority of the Holy Spirit was very real in the lives of these people.
On the one hand, they were submissive to the council. When they were arrested, they did not resist. When they were put in prison, they went to prison. They submitted. They did not rise up and rebel.
Even when they spoke to the council, they spoke respectfully, because the council was an authority on earth. Yet they obeyed God. They obeyed God because the Holy Spirit was in control of their lives.
When the Holy Spirit is in control of our lives, no man can dominate us. The world does not know what to do with the church—not because the people in it are clever or different, but because the Holy Spirit is there.
So, brothers and sisters, I do hope that through this incident in this chapter, God will show us something very real.
Is the Holy Spirit real? Are we living so under His authority that even the world has to recognize it and find that it is no match for the Holy Spirit?
We are now approaching the end, and you find that history repeats itself. The world is trying to crush the church.
If it were not for the Holy Spirit in the church, the church would long ago have been eliminated. But because the Holy Spirit is there, you find the testimony going on.
On the one hand, there is submission to earthly authority; on the other hand, there is obedience to God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So we do believe that, no matter what happens, the church will remain. The testimony of Jesus will be maintained until He comes.
I hope that this morning, briefly, we have had fellowship on this point as an encouragement to us. We need to look to the Lord that the Holy Spirit may be very, very real and living in the midst of His people.
Shall we pray?
O our Father, we thank Thee because Thy Holy Spirit dwells not only in each of us individually, but Thy Holy Spirit lives in the church. This is Thy habitation.
Thou art able to manifest Thyself in many ways, proving that Thou art living and that Thou art here. Our Father, we do pray that more and more Thy people will enter into this reality.
We pray that as we come together, it may not be merely a formality, but that we may really put ourselves under Thy name and that Thy Holy Spirit may be in charge.
O Lord, manifest Thyself in glory. We ask Thee that we may learn these lessons and take these lessons to heart.
May the presence and authority of the Holy Spirit be known among Thy people everywhere. To Thee we give the praise and the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.