Acts 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? The Bible is a book of personalities — it has nothing to do with personifications, streams of tendency, etc. Here the personality of the Holy Spirit is clearly recognised, and Satan is no figure of speech. The resistibility of evil is the greatest moral of the text. Satan's action is fully assumed, but Ananias is held responsible for the result: "Why hast thou permitted it?" Now we are all quite ready to blame the tempting power for our bad conduct. Supernatural evil comes in like a flood, and we think there is much to be said for us if we are swept away. We are told that in the East robbers employ magic to effect their nefarious purpose, their victims lying, with their eyes open, helpless spectators of the spoliation of their homes. Some men persuade themselves that they are similarly helpless in the presence of the arch thief. Not so, says the text. You can resist the devil and he will flee. There is no enchantment in wickedness which may prevail against a sincere and steadfast soul. I. THE VERY EPITHET WE USE TO EXPRESS THE ACTION OF EVIL IMPLIES THE RESISTIBILITY OF EVIL. Satan is the tempter, the initial action of evil is temptation. This is only another word for experiment or trial. It was the design of God (Deuteronomy 8:2), through certain discipline, to show Israel what was in His heart. Satan also tempts men, makes experiments upon their moral nature. But there is always this great distinction. God is ever aiming to realise the good that is in us, and to purge the evil; Satan to realise the evil and to purge the good. But uncertainty is of the very nature of temptation. When Satan makes an experiment upon us he may possibly succeed, he may possibly fail, according to the quality of our nature. He cannot coerce. Christ affirmed, "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me" Nothing that owned his sway. He was pure gold, and as such He went into the crucible, and as such He came out again. The alchemist sought to transmute base metals into gold; the devil seeks to turn gold into cinders, which can never be done in the physical world, much less in the ethical. If you are of baser metal in your inmost self — I do not care how much gilt you put on the surface, nor whether you have got the hall mark of the Church — if you are at the centre base metal when you are put into the crucible, base metal you will come out. But if there is nothing of the devil in us he can get nothing out of us. Loyal to the truth in your deepest thought and sympathy, the black storm may bow you down, but having done all, you stand; rotten at the heart, when the storm comes upon you, great is your fall. Experiment demonstrates: it does not necessitate. II. THE METHOD OF ITS APPROACH AND ACTION INDICATES THE RESISTIBILITY OF EVIL. The devil uses deceit. Temptation is cajolery. Evil comes in the wriggle of the serpent. All this is consolatory so far as it reveals the weakness which underlies all wickedness. Strong men do not resort to these equivocal methods; they wear no masks, proffer no bribes, tell no lies. The devil comes as a conjurer, not as a conqueror. The fowler setting his net shows that we are free; the destroyer proffering his sorcerous cup confesses that he has no authority to smite or bind; and seeing the serpent wriggling in the grass, it flashes on us in a moment how easily we may bruise his head. Irresistibility does not trick itself out in motley disguises. Be true in the inward parts and you shall be more than conqueror. The "properties" of a sorceror — mirrors, vapours, charms, incantations — will prevail nothing against the armour of light; the liar of ages will not deceive the simplicity of a little child (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12). The root of the whole matter is here. Do you love the truth in your inmost heart, and are you prepared to follow it at all sacrifices? Then no mystery of lawlessness or lying wonders, etc., shall lead you astray, but you shall hear a heavenly voice saying, "This is the way," and walking in it you shall be safe from the fear of evil. III. IF EVIL WERE IRRESISTIBLE IT WOULD POSSESS A POWER WHICH GOD DOES NOT PERMIT HIMSELF TO EXERCISE. God respects the nature He has given, and does not compel us along any line of action. "Behold I stand at the door and knock." The heart of man seems but a but of clay, yet before its lowly door stands the Majesty of the skies asking admittance. God respects the freedom He first gave, and if ever He enters we shall have to turn the key. He knocks, but He does no more. God made the human heart to be opened only from within; and be sure what God will not do no other power shall be permitted to do. We have kept God out, and surely we can keep the devil out. The deceiver may post himself before the windows of our soul, and we cannot drive him away; but as sure as we are men he can never put his sooty foot across the red threshold of our heart except we agree to it (Luke 22:31). The French proverb is right, "The devil goes away from a closed door." The door of the soul is sacred: keep it shut, latch it with caution, bolt it with resolution, lock it with prayer, and all hell may gather about, as the Sodomites did about the door of Lot, yet they shall be baffled. But once have the door open, begin coquettings with evil, and the devil will soon be your guest and master. IV. EVIL IS BEING CONSTANTLY VANQUISHED. Nothing is more terrible than that we should be convinced of the invulnerability of evil. Cortes sought to make the Mexicans believe that a Spaniard could not die, an illusion which unnerved them in the day of battle. We must entertain no such belief about evil. The spirits of wickedness are being tramped under foot every day. The Bible is full of the records of victory over temptation and sin. What is the lesson of the victory of our Lord in the wilderness but the powerlessness of the devil in the presence of faith and purity. In His strength His victory is being ever repeated "What's done we partly may compute, but we know not what's resisted." We see the ugly side of life: if anybody goes to the bad we all know it. But all around us magnificent moral victories are being scored: if our eyes were opened and we could see everything that is going on many a sublime spectacle would inspire us with exultation. Now a young man has the cup of guilty pleasure pressed to his lips, but in the critical moment, on which hangs eternity, he dashes it to the ground; now a young maiden, by the grace of heaven, turns away from some alluring cluster, keeping her purity and her paradise; now a struggling tradesman prefers honesty to gold; now a politician loses an election rather than self respect. Poor human nature! We often get the worst of it, but not always. You have innumerable brothers and sisters in tribulation, who by God's grace in miry pathways walk with unspotted robes, and the same grace shall be perfected in your weakness. The Jewish tradition says, "The devil cannot overcome except he first see your face." Turn your face to the light and your back to the devil, and you shall never perish. Conclusion: 1. If you do not want Satan to fill your heart, take care that God fills it first. Satan filled Ananias' heart because it was empty. Of his brethren we read "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." Satan could do nothing there. Here is our safety. When the devil finds an empty brain he fills it with false ideas, wicked plans; when he finds empty hands he fills them with mischiefs; when he finds an empty heart he fills it with vanities, burning passions, vicious sympathies and delights. If you wish to be saved from temptation's power, keep your heart full of the love of God, your hands full of noble work, your mind full of high thought and desire. 2. You say, "Satan has filled my heart; oh wretched man that I am." There is hope. The dispossessing power is sufficient. It is hard for a landlord to dispossess a bad tenant. He will not go out for the telling, you cannot frighten, coax, starve him out, it is only when the king's officer comes that you will get rid of the objectionable party. It is terrible work indeed to get the diabolism out of our heart. The Rationalist says, "I will persuade him out," but iniquity does not yield to argument. The Optimist says, "I will coax him out," but passion does not yield to blandishments. The Legalist says, "I will frighten him out," but lust will not yield to law. The Ascetic says, "I will starve him out," but pride, selfishness, and sensuality do not yield to discipline. The Pessimist says, "Death shall pull down the tabernacle, and so give us relief from the ghastly dilemma," to find relief only in the destruction of the house is to confess ourselves utterly vanquished. Appeal from earth to heaven. The strong man armed shall bind the strong man and eject him. Seek the delivering Christ, and although your fetters have been riveted through years of transgression, you shall be led into liberty and peace. Evil irresistible! never. "Thine is the kingdom, and the power," etc. (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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? |
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