We are reading today, again, in the book of Acts, so please turn with me to Acts chapter 4, and also enter into Acts chapter 5, and chapter 4 will begin today with verse 32, Acts chapter 4, verse 32, and we'll read into chapter 5 and verse 16, so please follow with me in the reading, and I begin from chapter 4 and verse 32. And a multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common, and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua. And great grace was upon them all.

neither was there any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the price of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had the need. And Yosef, who by the apostles was surnamed Bar-Nabba, which is being interpreted the son of comfort, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. But a certain man named Hananiah with Shafira his wife sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being private to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.

But Peter said, Hanania, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land, whilst 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 Hananiah hearing these words fell down and gave up the spirit and great fear came on all them that heard these things and the young man 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, Yes, 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 down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the spirit. And the young man came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things and by the hand of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch and of the rest there is no man joined himself to them but the people magnified them and believers were the more added to the lord multitudes both men and women in so much that they brought forth the sick into the street and laid them on beds and couches that at the least the shadow of peter passing by might overshadow some of them there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirit, and they were healed every one.

I'll stop here with the reading of this passage. What a solemn passage, this passage in Acts chapter 4 from verse 32 into chapter 5 And verse 16, this is very serious verses to show us, beloved brothers and sisters, what the condition that existed in the first century, the assembly in Yerushalayim, there was a movement of the Holy Spirit of God, and that there were an amazing results when the Spirit of God was moving and working in the midst of the people of God in first century in the city of Jerusalem.

and here we see first of all in these verses there is a result an effect that occurred here in jerusalem when the spirit of god have empowered the apostles when the spirit of god was moving in the midst of the people of god there were things that were happening that are not happening today because of the movement of the holy spirit of god notice in the prior verse 31 of acts 4 we read in our last session together and when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the holy spirit and they speak the word of god with boldness here we see the refilling of

the holy spirit of god the holy spirit of god was already given to the assembly to the believers in the city of jerusalem already earlier in the feast of shavuot the feast of weeks the feast of pentacles the holy spirit of god descended and united the believers and the spirit of god indwelled every believer who have acknowledged yeshua the messiah and now we can see as time moving on that not only that the spirit of god resided in every believer united the believers to be one body but the holy spirit of god empowered the believers gave them the boldness to speak there was a movement of the holy spirit of god and i would like

you to see in this text that we have read today from verse 32 of chapter 4 to verse 16 of chapter 5 that in these texts in this portion of the scripture the power of the spirit of god was not merely an external show you know today when you hear of people who say i was moved by the spirit the movement of the spirit of god that have occurred here is so much different with some of the things that we see today that is claimed to be the movement of the spirit of god now while it is the spirit of god that enabled the early believers to speak in other languages when he first came

and indwell them but here we see the issue is not the external the ability to speak in other languages or leshonot tongues as we say in hebrew but here we see the ability of the spirit of God to make a change in lives and so we learn here that if a person is being moved by the Holy Spirit of God the issue is not what he or she say externally but how does that change their behavior and lives to follow after Yeshua the Messiah how do you and I today know that we are not in the spirit is by the things sometimes that we say or do or think we know that we know it

is not the movement of the spirit of god and it is the old nature the flesh because of some of the things that we do and say and think and you have that problem and i have that problem but when we see a practical change it is evident that there is a move of the holy spirit of god yeshua said in john chapter 16 verse 14 15 that the spirit of god he will come and he will dwell in you and he will not speak of himself but he will speak of me he will take of mine and he will show it unto you and here beloved brothers and sisters we see the spirit of

god taking that which is of yeshua the messiah and showing it to the believers and here the believers now practice what the spirit of god has been doing in their lives in the epistles in ephesians for example ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30 the apostle paul said to the believers at ephesus grieve not the holy spirit of god because when we grieve the spirit there is no liberty to be used by the spirit this is an individual practice not to grieve the holy spirit of god ephesians 4 and verse 30 on the other hand the same apostle shaul paul said in first thessalonian in chapter 5 and verse 19 he says quench not the holy

spirit of god not only don't grieve him individually but not quench him collectively you know when you quench somebody when you squeeze him down and you don't let him liberty to use you what happened is that he cannot manifest the evidence that he want to show us of yeshua the messiah and so we are exhorted not to grieve him and not to quench him but also in ephesians we are exhorted in chapter 5 to be filled with the holy spirit of god and that the holy spirit of god will fill us in occupying us with yeshua our blessed mashiach the messiah the savior and i have said it before and i say it again you

show me a person who walk with the lord and i show you a person who is filled with the holy spirit of god whether it is a brother or whether it is a sister now look at the first thing that we find out in verses 32 to verse 37 we see the care for one another that have happened in the first century in the city of jerusalem in the assembly among the believers look what we read the first thing we find out that they had one heart and one soul it says here in verse 32 and the multitude of them that believed these are believers they were of one heart and of one soul neither

said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things in common this is unbelievable you see in the first century, when there was a real movement of the Spirit of God in the midst of the believers in Jerusalem, there was a unity that was unique.

It was so precious to see the unity of these believers together united and caring for each other. This expression, one soul, one heart.

we read earlier psalm 133 and that verse is clearly showing to us david said the king of israel he says behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity in hebrew we say hine ma tov umanaim shevet achim gam yachad when they the brethren are sitting together and uniting together in one mind in one purpose in one desire what a beautiful pictures to see can you imagine how effective we would be if there would be a one soul one heart one mind to please the Lord to be a blessing to one another can you imagine you know most of the division existing among believers are because we don't have

one mind are because we don't have one heart are because we don't have one soul and that's why the people of god are scattered not all the divisions that existed throughout the 2000 years of the history of the church of the assembly are the cause of doctrine some of them were the cause of teaching and of course if there is a false teaching wrong doctrine we need to move to that where is the right teaching and right doctrine but much of the division that existed in the last two thousand years of the church history is because of simply there is no one heart one mind one soul it is a personality conflict power conflict authority

conflict way conflict we are struggling with it we have constantly this friction that existed and there are so many divisions because there is not one minds and here you see how beautiful it says the multitude of them that believe there was one heart and one soul neither said any of them that out of the things which he possessed was his but they had all things in common now again i want to say that this is something very unique we cannot copy this today in many ways but the uniqueness that they have had they were a smaller group obviously it was the early part of the church there were not millions and millions believers there were

a few thousands as we have read three thousand plus five thousand and a few most aware maybe twenty thousand so they were under a lot of pressure and the spirit of god movement and you can see now that there is the unity of the believer caring for each other one soul and there were many needs and apparently they were supporting one another and encouraging one another you can see how precious this thing one heart one soul and all things in common this is the practical unity of god's people notice here nobody talking about speaking in languages nobody's speaking here about the big things to do it was very practical the needs of the people you

see were met the needs of the people of god the care for one another was existing there beautiful to see that in chapter 1 verse 14 chapter 2 verse 1 verse 46 chapter 4 verse 24 as we have read you can see they were in one accord they had one mind they had one purpose you can see that again and again the early assembly in jerusalem was united not to say that there were no problems coming you will see that but nevertheless the bible does teach us that they had one heart and one soul in verse 32 well in verse 33 another evident of the feeling of the spirit of god there was the preaching

of the word the preaching of the resurrection of yeshua the messiah when we have an opportunity to share the word of god on a personal level or in a public level whatever level the necessity or just to be faithful to the truth of the word of God.

It's not our own. We didn't imagine it in our own mind. Peter didn't imagine and the apostles didn't imagine what happened with Yeshua the Messiah. They didn't bring it out of their sleeve. It was not their idea. It was God who was speaking about his son. And so notice in verse 33, with great power, it gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Yeshua.

with great power that's the same power that the spirit of god had given them to do what they have done in the previous verse there was a power of the holy spirit of god that they were preaching the message of the gospel and notice the emphasis is the resurrection not only that he died not only that he was buried yeshua the messiah but that he rose from among the dead brothers and sisters listen the gospel is not only involved the life of the lord not only involve his death on the tree and his burial and being placed in a tomb but the gospel also involved the resurrection of the messiah you know why because if

we only have a dead mashiach a dead person who died on a cross and then was buried in the tomb and if there is no resurrection there is no life there is no hope for us the resurrection is being taught in the scripture to show us that when God raised his son that when God raised Yeshua the Messiah we were justified by believing in his finished work and so the resurrection was preached with the great power and you notice that in this same verse it's also mentioned that great grace was upon them all the word for great grace mean chesed gadol a lot of grace they needed you know they needed much grace much chesed

in hebrew much grace and grace it is unmerited favor to mankind we did not deserve the favor of god when it's come to yeshua when it says that he grew in grace in the gospel towards yeshua it is a merited favor because he was not a sinner but towards you and i brothers and sisters it is unmerited favor of god that there was so much grace as it says in verse 33 great grace was upon all of them you know we need grace brothers and sisters we need a lot of grace from god we don't deserve it but we need it we need grace to deal with each other we need grace to go to

work to go to school we need grace to raise a baby we need grace with each other as husband and wife we need a lot of grace as two friends as brothers and sisters because we all have the same nature and we can fight with each other we can hurt each other and if we are to continue together we need much grace grace involves so much the favor of God upon everything that we do we need so much look for a moment if you turn with me to 2 Timothy just to read there the first few verses in second timothy 2 paul was writing to his younger brother timothy and you know this he said

to him you therefore my son be strong in the grace that in the messiah yeshua he's saying to timothy timothy if you are going to serve yeshua the messiah if you're going to be a servant of the Lord in this world you have to be strong in grace be strong in it ask for more seek for more, pray for more that's what he's saying to Timothy and Timothy had to deal with so many problems that existed in the early assembly, in the early church age ask for more grace pray for more grace you need a lot of grace and those early believers, how do you think they could do that?

How do you think in a world they could maintain such a unity to be willing to be so much committed to each other if they wouldn't have a lot of grace? They had the same old nature than you have, than I have. They have the same sin nature than we have. And that's what we need. You know, sometimes we come to a point where we say, I'm fed up, I cannot take it anymore. Well, you know what's the time to do when you cannot take it anymore? Ask from the Lord for more grace. That's what you need. That's what we need. And so great grace was upon all of them there in the city of Jerusalem.

Those that believe. And so wonderful. We see here that they have done certain things that were really unique to show us the power and the movement of the Holy Spirit of God. Now in the next verses, verses 34 and 35, all the needs of all the believers were met.

how wonderful to see that verse 34 neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands and houses sold them and brought the price of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had a need you know sometime unfortunately we have a want but here we see needs have been met there was beautiful to see some of them came sold their homes sold the possession to meet the need of the people of God and I want to suggest again that this was unique to that time it may happen in other times in other period

of time of history but here we see that it was something really unique that we see in those verses by the way you notice it was not demanded nobody had to there was not a law and said oh you became a believer in yeshua the messiah okay go sell your house and bring the money to the apostles here you see that it was not forced upon them it was done out of the abundance of the hearts of individuals who felt before god that that's what they want to do in commitment to the things of the Lord it was not forced it was not a law it was not demanded or commended but it was out

of the movement of the Holy Spirit of God and we have to realize that God uses individuals as the Spirit of God empower them to do things that are unique to that individual we cannot expect it and force it on anybody else it is an exercise as we say an individual exercise before the lord and so notice in verse 34 that neither was there any among them that lacked in other words the needs were met by the brethren by the believers themselves the assembly took care of their own people they took care of their own brothers and sisters without demand without command without force out of the abundance of their hearts and this is beautiful

by the way some individuals have this unique gift and the bible does say in romans chapter 12 that there is that which is called the gift of giving.

You know, all believers are to give, but some believers have the gift of giving. Just turn with me to Romans 12. I show you this verse as well.

Romans 12, verse 8, speaking about those gifts, Paul said, He that exhorting, in exhortation, but notice, he that giveth let him do it with simplicity he that ruleth with diligence he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness you see there are specific gifts that were given to believers in the body of yeshua the messiah and one of the gifts in the midst of this list is the gift of giving some individuals may have that gift of giving and here we see one individual that is pointed to us here in these next verses 36 and 37 a man by the name of Yosef who was from the tribe of Levi interesting by the way because if you remember

when we had our study in the book of Joshua Joshua chapter 13 we pointed out concerning the tribe of Levi and it says if you remember that in chapter 13 of joshua in verse 14 it says only unto the tribe of levi he gave no inheritance the sacrifice of the lord god of israel made by fire are their inheritance as he said unto them in other words the tribe of levi did not even have possessions in the earlier period of time in the history of our own people the nation of israel now of course this in the time of joshua we are talking about long many years over 3 000 years from now about over

a thousand years from the time that the book of acts had been before us long time before the tribe of levi didn't have any inheritance and now look at this we have a man it says here in verse 36 and 37 of acts 4 and Yosef who by the apostles was Sonam Bar-Naba which is being interpreted the son of comfort a levy and of the country of Kittim which is Cyprus having land he sold it and he brought the money and he laid it at the feet of the apostles very interesting how come this man who was from the tribe of Levi could do such a thing how did he even have a land well

apparently brothers and sisters of course as time move on things have changed Israel now of course is in a time of decline they didn't receive the Messiah we studied this in the earlier chapters of the book of Acts we have looked at the Gospels when the nation as a nation did not accept Yeshua the messiah israel in a time of decline things are completely not in the same order that god have intended them for the nation of israel and so what happened here when the people have come back to the land even in the time of ezra and the time of nemiah and time have passed by that the levites some have already possessed land

but here we see a beautiful thing that men from the tribe of levi understood that his inheritance is found in the lord and what does he do yosef his name by the way it says joseph in here but is the hebrew name yosef and apparently the apostles named him bar naba bar means son in aramit in hebrew is ben naba is mean comfort consolation and apparently this man was such a man we find him a lot later on in the book of Acts he gave so much comfort to the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem he was a man that was from the tribe of Levi that had been such a blessing to the people of

God and one of the evidence of the move of the Holy Spirit of God in his own life that he was willing to sell everything that he had and he brought it before the apostles and he laid them at the feet of the apostles.

He recognized the fact that the move of God is there. The apostles were raised by Yeshua the Messiah to preach the message, to share the gospel and they were the one whom he have trusted. Again, I want to say, no force, no command, No obligation. No demand. It was done out of the abundance of his heart. And that's a beautiful thing that we need to realize in anything that we do that God does not force us. It's liberty that he gives us to serve him. To be a blessing to others. To give. To help. To share. It's not commended in a sense of if you will not do it, you will be punished.

No, it is out of the abundance of the heart. And that's the way God wants it. And that's why blessing can flow out of this. You don't have any bringing the whole assembly there, tell them, oh, we need to raise so much and so much, and if we don't raise, God's work will stop. You think God cannot continue without us? He doesn't need us. He doesn't need our money. You know, many times we mess up more than help. He can do it, He can use whomsoever He will. If I'm not going to be willing to be part of it, He can use somebody else. And if you're not going to be willing to be part of it, He can use somebody else.

God is not out of resources. He's not limited to you and I praise God for that. If He would have been limited to us, we would be in a shameful condition. How we fail Him, how much we sinned against Him and disobeyed Him in our life. He doesn't need us. And here we see a man that he used, and that's why he could be called Bar-Naba, son of comfort, son of consolation. And so when he did that, you can just imagine that the people around maybe said, wow, what a man. Now, I don't believe that Yosef wanted that wow. I don't believe that he sought for that, but you know what we learn?

That there are those others who sought for that wow, who did not, and that's where chapter 5 come in about Hananiah and Shaphira in Hebrew, or Ananias and Sapphira. In the first 11 verses of chapter 5 of the book of Acts, we see exactly the opposite, what God did not want to see among the people of God. We see, brothers and sisters, like you and I sometimes, hypocrites. Hypocrisy we see here in the next verses. And let's not look at them. We see this in our own life. Hypocrisy, you know, the word for hypocrite is two-faced. It's like a mask. That one time we have a mask for one show, and then we have a mask for another show.

We oftentimes behave like that. Sometimes we behave, we put on one mask, And then we changed that mask for another occasion. You know, like it had been said, and we know it from experience, when we used to be going to the meetings in the morning, on Sunday morning, we was taking our children, and sometimes you get fed up because of disobedience, and you're upset with the children, and upset with your wife, and now your wife upset maybe with you, and you come to the meeting, you're angry, and you come to the meeting, and all of a sudden, Hi, how are you? Oh, great, everything is so fine.

We are just doing great. And yet all along you were angry and upset and you were rude. And I was, and I'm speaking now for myself. You know how we have a face for the people and a face in another way. And you know how it is sometimes happening to us. We can help it. We get so taken up by problems and we have two faces or sometimes more than two faces. That's hypocrisy. And of course we get angry. We get upset at times. We need to ask the Lord, help me. I fail you there. I've sinned against you. And we do. And so here we see now, we're not talking about unbelievers.

We are talking about the people of God. They all were one heart, one soul, verse 32 of chapter 4. Chapter 4, verse 37, Having lent, yourself sold everything if laid it in the apostles' feet and used for the people of God. And everybody must have been impressed. So chapter 5, verses 1 to 11, we see the sin and the punishment of Hananiah and Shafira. And you see, in the first couple of verses, here is their doing. You see, when they saw, we don't read that here in between the line, but between chapter 4 and chapter 5, it's really not a break. It's really a continuation. And a certain man by the name of Hananiah with Shafira, his wife, sold the possession.

now notice it's a possession maybe he had more land maybe he had more other things but it's one portion that he sold it so we read Hananah and Shafari they sold a possession and they kept back part of the price his wife also being privately to it and he brought a certain part of it and he laid it at the apostles feet now let me say this again did he have to do it no there was no force here there was no command here there was no demand here but here we see the different heart Yosef had a state of heart that wanted to do service out of the abundant of his heart without to

seek for glory for himself and here we see another man and his wife who wanted glory for themselves they wanted that wow others will impress by what they are doing see not only yourself can do it i can do it as well that shows us that he was not content with what the lord have allowed him to do it's almost like a spirit of jealousy and a spirit of seeking glory for oneself again i'm not pointing to him i'm mentioning what the scripture the text says but we need to know that that is existing in our very own hearts and it happens to us during our time as believers and so they're doing what well

they sold the possession he kept part for himself and he brought to the apostle the money.

Now again, I want to say nothing wrong with keeping a part for himself. Nothing wrong with it at all. But the problem comes after. In verses 3, 4, and 5, Peter's questioning him. And Peter said, Hananiah, and how Peter knows why you ask him this question? Why Peter could have just said, you know what, praise the Lord, Hananiah and Shafira. You brought a praise and all, but Peter, asking him, guided by the Spirit of God, Peter said unto Hanania, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie against the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land? You see, Peter knew that Hanania was trying to give an appearance of what others have done, but it was not truly the full truth and what Peter said to him listen you have lied to the Holy Spirit of God and you notice Peter continue in verse 4 he says listen while it remained was it not your own and after it was sold was it not in your own power in other words he could say you know Peter I came here is some of it I don't want to give everything because I need some things for many other needs that I have in my life this is not the issue here the issue here that he wanted to give an appearance that others have had like Yosef in the previous chapter.

And Peter said to him, listen, before you sold it, it was your own. After you sold it, it was in your own power. Why did you conceive this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto men, but you have lied unto God. And here we find out another truth that you and I cannot lie to God, He knows everything about us. In our study of the Gospel of John, we read of Yeshua, He knowing all things that were going to happen to Him, chapter 18. In chapter 2 of the Gospel of John, we read of Yeshua, He knew everything that is in the heart of men.

He did not commit Himself unto them because He knew all men. The Lord knows our hearts. And now oftentimes, more than oftentimes, we fail him in our thoughts and in our practices. And so he says, you didn't lie to men, but you lied to God. You know, brothers and sisters, he lied to the Holy Spirit and he lied to God and not to men. And we learn that the Holy Spirit is divine. He is God, the Holy Spirit. He's the one that moved us. He's the one that indwells in us. He's the one that has given us a new nature. It's the Holy Spirit of God.

And so, Ananias in verse 5, Hananiah, hearing these words, he fell down and he gave up the Spirit.

You see what happened is that the movement of the Holy Spirit of God was so strong and so intimate with their early believers that such a thing such as a lie brought death to a child of God physical death to a person that was part of the assembly of God this is called beloved brothers and sisters in another text of the bible first john 5 16 it's called a sin unto death it only applied to a believer and it only have to do with the physical death and not spiritual death he dropped dead before the apostles and how severe it was this type of thing and if we're honest before the lord who knows each

one of our hearts if we will be judged today in the same measure of the way that it had been happening in the city of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago we would have to say that none of us would have been here today at the meeting because of the fact that we all in one way or another have failed the Lord have sinned against the Lord have dishonored Him and lied and all kind of things that we have done and then we would say that none of us would have been here at the meeting today had he be speaking and doing acting in the same way that he have acted in act chapter 5 in early

part of the church age and so look you think that is the end so he gave up the spirit great fear came upon all them that heard these things because i mean can you imagine to see a person that lied dropping down dead it is amazing fear come to your heart and so in the next verse we find out in verse 6 there was a burial of Hanania in verse 6 the young man arose wound him in other words they cover him with the special covering that we have that the Jewish people in biblical time was covering the dead person and burying him and so it says here in verse 6 they carried him out

and they buried him and so the next verses 7, 8, 9 and 10 we see the dealing with Shaphira Sapphira, his wife because in the next verses and it was about a space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done she came in and Peter answered unto Jesus, tell me whether you sold the land for so much now again I want to suggest brothers and sisters you could say, you know what peter the truth of the matter no we just sold it for that much we didn't want to give everything we have other issues that we want to deal with she could just tell the truth that's it no force no

obligation but you see what she did she also there was a plan that was made by both of them in the first two verses of chapter five and so what we find out that she didn't know what happened to her husband?

Three hours passed by. And so she says in verse 8, she says, yes, for this much. And Peter now tells her in verse 9, Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to tempt or to test the Holy Spirit of God? See, we can tempt God, but oftentimes time we test him by the way that we conduct ourselves, or if we would ask him to guard us, to watch over us, because we are prone to wonder, we are prone to dishonor God, we are prone to test him, but if we ask him and if he would help us that we will not test him because god is holy and he must judge sin but we test him again and again and here he says how is it that you have agreed to test him to tempt the holy spirit of the lord behold the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out look at the power of the Spirit of God using the apostles in the first century.

I am telling you, what Peter was used, the way that Peter, Shimon Petros, was used in the first century is not what's going on a lot today that we see on television. It's not, it is completely different. It is a real genuine work of the Holy Spirit of God in the midst of his saints, in the midst of the people of God. and so he says in verse 9 he says behold the feet of them which have buried your husband at the door and shall carry thee out and it says here then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the spirit she died see here is the same again i want to say there is a sin unto death That sin, in the case of Hananiah and Shafira, was lying.

And it is only physical death. It is not spiritual death because they belong to the people of God and they are absent from the body and present with the Lord. But they have been removed physically out of this world because God has taken them prematurely because of the sin unto death and so it says here the young man came they found her dead they carried her forth and they buried her by her husband now to understand a little bit that sin unto death let's remember that there is a difference between what we have in the gospel where we read the blasphemy of the Spirit that the Lord was mentioning in the Gospel and what we read in 1 John chapter 5, there is a sin unto death.

Those are two different things. The blaspheming of the Spirit of God applied to unbelievers. The sin unto death of 1 John 5 is applied only to believers. The unbelievers by blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God are rejecting the testimony of the Spirit of God concerning the person and work of Yeshua the Messiah. When Yeshua said that, he said it to the Pharisees who rejected the Messiahship of Yeshua.

But when the Apostle John wrote in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 16, if any man see a brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death there is a sin unto death this is a physical death and it is applied only to believers to remove them prematurely out of this world let me show you please a text in the book of corinthians can you turn to first corinthians please first corinthians chapter 11 the apostle is there speaking to the corinthians and he's saying to them in first corinthians chapter 11 specifically those verses in verse 26 there was disorder

in the lord's table and he says verse 26 for as often as he eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show the lord's death until he come wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the lord unworthily in unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the lord but let the man examine himself and so let him eat this bread and drink that cup and now notice verse 29 and verse 30 for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body and for this cause many are weak and sick among you and many sleep that sleep has to

do with death for a believer it is the many that have been put to sleep prematurely die because their way of conduct in the midst of the people of god that is called the sin unto death physical removal physical death of a person that god knows the heart of this individual in the case of hanania and shafira it was lying in the case of this chapter first corinthians chapter 11 is the treatment that the conduct among the people of god at the lord's table now we can go on and i can show you also from the old testament that there is a sin unto death even in the tanakh prior to the coming of yeshua

you remember what we have just recently a study about moses and about eron his brother and you remember in our study we have looked at the book of numbers in the first verses of the book of numbers and you remember god said to Moshe you do not strike the rock you speak to the rock but Moses because of anger and rightly so you may say and I may say he was upset at the nation his own people the people of Israel the people of God and what did he do out of anger he took and he smote the rock with his stick he smote the rock with his staff and what came out but you

know god was not pleased with that because god said to moses moshe you are not to strike the rock you are to speak to the rock but moses disobeyed and you know what god said after it says in moses verse 11 of numbers 20 moses lifted up his hand and with his rod and he smote the rock twice and the water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their beasts also you would think everybody is happy you see now the people have water Moses gave them the water and everybody is drinking but then look what the Lord said in verse 12 the Lord spoke out to Moses and Aaron and he says because ye

not only you Moshe also Aaron as well because you did not believe me to set me apart in the eyes of the children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which i have given unto them god says you are not going to bring them in you are prematurely going to be taken out of this world and not enter with the people of israel to bring them into the land and now notice verse 23 of numbers chapter 20 it says and the lord spoke i knew moses and aaron in mount hor by the cost of the land of Edomene he said Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall

not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel why Lord verse 24b because he rebelled against my word at the water of Meriva take Aaron and Eliezer his son bring them up to Mount Hor strip Aaron of his garment put them upon Eliezer his son and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and shall die there now brothers and sisters I won't read everything because Deuteronomy also tells us about how Moses died and God reminded Moses because you did not honor me before the people of Israel God have removed him out of this world prematurely so you have Old Testament believers who are among the people of Israel like Moshe

like Aaron you have New Testament Jewish believer like Hanania and Shafira and some of the believers in Corinth that God removed John said there is a sin unto death and there is no one particular sin that we all can know in one person it may be striking the rock in another person's case it may be lying and in a third person's situation it may be not properly conducting oneself at the lord's table these are the texts that we have in god's word and so we learn from all these the ways of god's dealing with mankind and when the spirit of god moved in first century there was a real change is there there was a

real effect and now quickly just to move to this last verses that we have read in chapter 5 of acts from verse 12 just those other fibers 12 13 14 15 and 16 we see the powerful ministry of the apostles the evidence of the movement of the holy spirit of god and so we read in verse 12 by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in salomon's porch again use the word one accord one heart one soul and god used the apostles to have all kind of signs and wonders being done can you imagine signs and wonders one right among the

people there were always one accord at solomon porch they were all there could experience the move of the spirit of god with signs and wonders and i can tell you brothers and sisters this is not what is called today signs and wonders these are signs and wonders that accompany the early church the early assembly specifically the apostles who were empowered by god to do things in order to show the nation of israel that yeshua was truly the promised messiah of israel and the savior of this world so we find here in these verses three things in verse 12 the church was unified in verse 13 the church was magnified in verse 14 the church was

multiplied unified magnified multiplied beautiful in verse 12 one accord in verse 13 for the rest darest no man join himself to them by the way people did not just come in and join themselves to the believers they knew you cannot come to be among the believers and claim to be a believer and sit in a pew and sing the song and say hallelujah and not have your sins dealt with before the lord that did not come and become churchianity it was a real genuine work everyone that came in the midst of the believers had to realize Wow, I'm a sinner, I need to accept the Messiah.

How many today in so-called Christendom, people so-called go to church meetings without really born from above. They look like the others, but never had a change of their heart, never had a confession of their sins. See, it says in this verse, And of the rest, there is no man join himself. They didn't dare. That's the early assembly in the city of Jerusalem. And then it says in verse 13, but the people magnified them. You see, not only that there was unity or united together, there is also, they were magnified. The people outside look at the believers and say, wow. In other words, for magnified, they actually looked at them and they were amazed at these believers.

This thought of being magnified, it's not only they recognized them. They looked at them and they said, there is a difference in this group of people. It's not merely just sing the song. There was a reality in their lives. There was a change in their lives. And then notice in verse 14, there is also multiplication again. In verse 14, And believers were the more added unto the Lord. Notice it's not even added unto the church. Which is believers. But they were added unto the Lord. Unto Yeshua. He is the head. The believers were the body. Any other believers, they were added to the Lord. But there was not merely professors.

They were real, genuine believers in Yeshua. The Messiah who confessed their sins and recognized who they were. Notice now quickly, there was a growth. There is unity. There is recognition. There is growth. And now in verses 15 and 16, we see the signs that have continued. It says, inasmuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, laid them in on beds and couches, The least, the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. Now you see, they have been, the people, the outsiders, looked at the believers in Jerusalem. They say, wow, you know, we can see the people being healed. The impotent man of chapter 3 is walking and dancing and praising God.

There was evidence of the signs of God's movement. there was evident in the power of the preaching in the boldness there was evident in a care for each other more believers were added to the lord there was a change so people thought you know that's what people are in the world they think there is a hocus pocus here so you know what we're going to come we're going to bring some of the people who are sick and that even the shadow of peter will lay upon him that they will be healed now we don't read that they were healed because of the shadow of Peter.

See, that is again another mistake where people think because if a preacher, if a person had been gifted with one thing, so now a shadow is valuable. The shadow of Peter was not valuable. It is the Lord who was doing the work in lives. Not Peter. Peter was used by the Lord, of course, but it is the work of the Lord. It says in verse 15 that at the least the shadow of Peter passing might overshadow them. In other words, they thought as if they would be healed by the shadow of Peter. they magnify they recognize the believers but i can tell you it's not the shadow of peter who heals it is the power of god and the last verse it says there came also a multitude out of the city round about unto jerusalem bringing sick folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirit and they were healed every one now those were healed not because of the shadow of peter but because god in the power of the spirit of god was using the apostles to minister to the needs of the people and it was a real genuine healing there was not being healed on that evening meeting and the next week you are back to being sick it's not the back is being fixed so you can walk the blind man see the lame man walk and then the next day he can't walk again well here there was a real genuine healing of those that came it says everyone was healed those that came and were sincere they were healed there was the power of god and the movement of the spirit of god upon them here in the city of Jerusalem.

Those signs and wonders were done by the apostle and not by every person. The apostles had, as we have in the book of Corinthians, they have the gift of the apostleship. And that's why the Lord uniquely used them in that time. Well, brothers and sisters, this is the thought that we learn here from those verses and really we can see here Chapter 4, verse 32, to chapter 5, verse 16, the condition of the assembly in Jerusalem during these days, when the Spirit filled them and used them at that special day. May the Lord help us, and may the Lord use us also. May we also be, in some small measure, united, caring for each other.

May we also preach the message in boldness, as the Lord helped us. May we also be broken before the Lord and not proud and not jealous. May the Lord help us. Can you say amen to that? Amen.