Living on the Edge

Guest (Male): Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: There are two things that will kill the grace of God in your heart and life. In our last broadcast, we talk about the first one, it's hypocrisy. Today, we're going to talk about that second thing that can destroy God's work in your life. Stay with me.

Guest (Male): Hypocrisy inside the church, organized opposition from the outside. The early church in Acts chapter 5 is under attack from two directions at once, and how the apostles respond will define the movement for generations to come.

I'm Dave Drewy, and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram continues our series called The Jesus Revolution, Join the Movement. And don't miss what's coming after the message. Chip will have a personal word about our mid-year match and what it means to be part of this global movement. Now let's open our Bibles to Acts chapter 5, starting in verse 1, as we join Chip with his message titled, "Grace Stoppers, Two Things that Destroy God's Work in Our Lives."

Chip Ingram: Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest of it and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said to him, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you've lied to the Holy Spirit? And you have kept back for yourself some of the money you received from the land. Didn't it belong to you before it was sold, and after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to God.

When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died, and great fear seized all who heard it and what happened. Then the young men came forward and they wrapped his body, they carried him out, they buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price that you and Ananias got for the land?"

And she replied, "Oh yes, Brother Peter, yes we did. It was a big sacrifice and we just felt like that's something God wanted us to do." We're actually pretty wonderful, aren't we? I'm reading into the text just a bit. But I do that because that's what's behind all this. Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Look. The men whose feet buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well. At that moment she fell down at his feet and died.

Then the young men came in and finding her dead, carried her out, buried her beside her husband, and great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. I guess so. What's going on in this passage? What's really going on here? What's the attack? What was the sin? Why did God judge it so severely? And then maybe more importantly, what in the world has it got to say to you and to me today?

Let me suggest that the temptation is to pose. It's to pretend. We all do that. And you say to yourself, well, if we all do that, why does God judge it so harshly? Because at the core of posing is hypocrisy. Who you are and what you purport to be tells two different stories. And when unbelievers get up close and they smell us and see us, and you know what, they see that difference, they say, "You know what, I don't believe in your message and I don't believe in your savior." That's why the judgment was so harsh.

Notice what happened as a result of this. We pick up the story, it says a great fear seized those in the church. I mean, this is more, I'm going to talk a little bit about fear in just a second. But notice there is a sense of, "whoa!" And then notice what happens. The apostles performed many miracles and signs and wonders among the people, and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. No one else dared to join them even though they were highly regarded by the people.

I love that. Christians were highly regarded. They weren't weird, they weren't people screaming on TV for people's money. They weren't hypocrites. The people said, "I don't want to join that group because I'll tell you what, you better be a real authentic person or you might die." But, man, they love each other. They so reflect that person they say they follow who came back from the dead, Jesus.

As a result, people brought their sick in the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as they passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns all around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. Circle the word "all." All of them were healed.

Now, very carefully here, don't think that the Bible's teaching that God heals all people all time. Healing and faith doesn't always necessarily go together. Three times in all of biblical history you see miracles as the norm. When the law is given under Moses. When the prophetic ministry of restoring Israel, Elijah and Elisha. And Jesus and the apostles. Every time God gives new revelation, the law from Sinai, then there's a season of miracles, miracles, miracles, miracles, miracles. Parting of the Red Sea, the manna, the quail. Why? To say that God's truth is here and you can believe it. And then, there is also when people take the first steps of disregard, there's a very harsh initial judgment that this is for real. The same thing with Elijah and Elisha, a great season where miracles were the norm. The same thing here with the apostles.

Now, God still does miracles, but he does that as he chooses and according to his will. But here's what I want you to see, there was a great fear. We have a lot of misguided thinking about fear. I've heard people talk about, well, the fear of the Lord, what it just means is reverential awe. What's that mean? I mean, I, I get what they're saying because the problem is you don't want to be afraid of God because he's your Father. So how do we, let me give you a picture that's helped me.

Imagine if you will, being right on the edge of a tabletop out on the Grand Canyon or like at Half Dome, and when you get near to that edge and when you look down, it's like thousands of feet down. And you can be 20 feet back and you can see it all. Reverential awe. Wow, majestic, amazing, beautiful. And then when you get closer, what what do you what do you instinctively do?

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, guys, when you when you guys want to grab my belt here? I want to see over there." "You mean you want to get that close?" "I want to get real close." "You got my you got my leg? Get my, hey, dude, get my leg, okay, hold on really tight." And when you get near the edge, it is not reverential awe. You are scared to death and your heart's going, it gets even worse if you say, you know, a little daredevil in you, I want to really get the experience. You guys hold my belt and I'm going to lean forward. And they hold your belt out over it. And as they do, there's a lot of reverential awe and terror.

Listen carefully. Tozer writes, because by the way, where there is no fear of God, people sin. It's what the psalmist said. The wicked sin because there's no fear of God in their heart. Tozer wrote, in the olden days men were said to walk in the fear of God and to serve the Lord with fear, however intimate their communion with God, however bold their prayers, at the base of their religious life was a conception of God as awesome and dreadful. The idea of God's transcendence runs through the whole Bible and gives color and tone to the character of the saints. This fear of God was more than a natural apprehension of danger. It was a non-rational dread, an acute feeling of personal insufficiency in the presence of God the Almighty. We've forgotten, God is God. What would it be like to come near the presence of someone whose energy speaks a word and galaxies come into existence? You don't walk up with hands on your hip and go, "Hey, would you give me a little help?"

That's how we treat God. You wouldn't walk up and say, "Yeah, I know there's, you know, this solid bar of commandments, hey, I think I'll obey 2, 4, 6 and 8, 9 and 7. I don't think I'll be very fulfilled if I do those." He goes on to say, whenever God appeared to men in the Bible times, the results were the same. An overwhelming sense of terror and dismay, a wrenching sensation of sinfulness and guilt. When God spoke to Abraham, Abraham stretched himself upon the ground to listen. When he spoke to Moses, he saw the burning bush, he hid his face and couldn't look upon him. When Isaiah saw a vision of God, he wrung out the cry, "Woe is me, I am undone, I'm a man of unclean lips."

Daniel's encounter with God was probably the most dreadful and wonderful of them all. The prophet lifted up his eyes and saw the appearance of lightning, and his eyes like lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet were like color polished brass. And the voice of his words were like the sound of a multitude of waters. And Daniel alone saw the vision and afterwards, he said, for the men that were with me did not see the vision, but a great quickening fell upon them, so they fled and they hid themselves. And I was left there alone, and I saw this great vision, and all my comeliness went out of me, and I turned into me to corruption, and then I heard the voice of his words and it was I went into a deep sleep on my face and my face was toward the ground. That's a different God than, "Lord, you know, could you help me out a little bit?" "I don't feel like doing that today."

Tozer later writes in balance to this, which is so encouraging, once you get an honest, holy fear of God, the cross becomes so rich and so beautiful because through the blood of Christ, I'm invited in his righteousness to come boldly before the throne of that God in my time of need, to find mercy and grace. And this God who is that fearful and awesome and holy and powerful, though exalted in majesty, is eager to be your friend. He's transcendent, but he's imminent. He's tender, he's compassionate. He's the one that says to the woman who's had five husbands and living with a guy, "Sin no more." He's the one that says, when you're, when you've blown it and you realize that there's hypocrisy and sin and addiction and you've said things, and you have an honest, honest time with God and you feel so wretched inside and so unacceptable. In that moment, you said, "God, I bring nothing to the table. How could anyone love me?" And you will be flooded with grace.

Because he is near to those who have a humble and contrite spirit and those who tremble at his word. He esteems. See, we just, we don't take the time to get honest. And because you're not honest, and I'm not honest, you don't experience God. That's where the power is.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Living on the Edge. Before we get back to today's teaching, I want to give you a heads up about something happening this June. Living on the Edge is excited to announce a special mid-year match, a rare opportunity for your gift to be doubled, dollar for dollar, and have twice the impact. Chip has been talking a lot lately about who this moment is really for.

Chip Ingram: God doesn't call the equipped. He equips the called. He's looking for ordinary people who are willing to be filled with his spirit and be used by him.

Guest (Male): Ordinary people, like you and me, because when we step up together, something extraordinary happens. That's what the mid-year match is all about, happening right now at Living on the Edge. We'll have all the details for you after the message, but now let's continue with our study on The Jesus Revolution.

Chip Ingram: The church is devoid of power because of the hypocrisy that we've learned not only to live with, but to give one another a pass on, so that because no one really lives it out to any significant degree. We say, well, I'm just like everyone else. I assure you, the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Jesus' day were convinced they were not hypocrites. And they knew their Bible, and they were religious. And Jesus spoke the harshest words that have ever come out of the creator's mouth.

What happened? Posing. Second attack begins in verse 17. When the high priest, this is from without, and all of his associates were, and members of the party of the Sadducees were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles. Now it's not just John and Peter, it's all of them, and they put them in public jail. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the doors and he brought them out. And he said, "Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of this new life." And so at daybreak they entered the temple courts as they've been told and they began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin, the full assembly of the elders of Israel. And they sent to the jail for the apostles, but on arriving at the jail, the officers didn't find them there. So they went back and they reported, "We found the jail securely locked, the guards were standing at the doors." But when we opened them, we found no one inside.

On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering, what could come of this? I mean, they're scratching their head. Then someone came and said, "Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple and they're teaching the people." At this the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles, and they didn't use force because they feared that the people would stone them. Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest.

And just imagine this, this is like, this is like going into downtown Wall Street, Ivy League. I mean, these are the power players. This is walking into the Oval Office in their day. This is the most powerful, educated, rich people in the world who call the shots, and these basic blue collar workers with the exception of a couple are being called in and this whole place is filled and you're on trial. And we've already told you once to stop doing this. So before you get these guys as heroes who just going to step up and do the right thing, I want you to imagine the emotions that they were going through.

Having brought the apostles in, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin and they questioned them. And here's what they said. "You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you're determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." And Peter and the other apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than men." The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as prince and savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

These are the most educated people about the Bible and none of them have asked the question, "I wonder if maybe we're off? I wonder if we're in our comfort zone? I wonder if maybe all those Old Testament passages that we have memorized and all the Mishnah and all the law and all religious stuff? I wonder if maybe this could be the guy? I mean, there's a lot of miracles going on here." But you know what? They don't have any interest in hearing God. They have interest in controlling their position, their perception by people and their power. And by the way, when they do that, or when we do that, we do not experience God.

Notice what Peter says. God wanted to give repentance. God wants to forgive people. God wants to love people. And he does it through his son who he raised from the dead. We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey. In other words, he's saying, we saw him with our own eyes and by the way, all these miracles, Peter saying, this isn't me. When Barnabas gave that money, that wasn't Barnabas, that was the spirit of God prompting him to just act on that good impulse and allow the life of Christ in him. When Peter steps up and is bold in front of all these high-powered people. It's not Peter. This is the spirit of God flowing through an ordinary human being just like you and just like me. And in his yieldedness, the spirit of God gives him this boldness.

The response is pretty negative. When they heard these things, they were furious and wanted to kill them. But the scene changes. A Pharisee name Gamilio, a teacher of the law who's honored by all the people stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for just a little while. Then he addressed them, "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you do with these men." Sometime ago, Theudas appeared claiming to be somebody and about 400 men rallied to him, and he was killed and his followers disappeared, and it all came to nothing. And after him Judas, the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and he led a band of people in revolt, and he too was killed and his followers were scattered. Therefore in this present case, I advise you, leave these men alone, let them go. For if their purpose or activity is from human origin, it will fail. But if it's from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourselves fighting against God.

God's grace is unstoppable. His purposes are going to happen. They're going to happen in this nation, in this world. His purposes are unstoppable. And he has an agenda. The only issue is whether you will ride that wave of grace and be a part of what he purposed for you, or whether you'll stand on the sidelines out of fear and control. And say, "You know what, I think I'm I'm more concerned about my agenda than God's." This is scary stuff, isn't it? That requires faith in a big God. And I'm glad these guys had it. His speech persuaded them. He called the apostles in, then had them flogged. So they I mean, this isn't light stuff. Flogged isn't like, you know, slap on the wrist. If you saw the movie The Passion, this is a pole, multi-lines of leather, steel balls in the middle and some pieces of glass or bone on the end. You got 12 guys holding on to poles. And they get their back ripped up.

See, just when we, this stuff that's been passed around for the last 20 years, that if you do exactly what God wants you to do, everything will go your way, you have a big house, you make a lot of money and prosperity gospel is absolutely false. These people obeyed to the point. And what happens to them? They get flogged. When you do the right thing, what you get is the joy of Christ, great spiritual reward, fulfilling God's purpose, a love in your heart and what money can't buy. But it doesn't mean that circumstances are going to be great.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they'd been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is Christ. The nation has rejected the savior. They've flogged the disciples. And here's the reason, courage in the face of persecution authenticates the validity of the message and the credibility of the messenger. Courage. The temptation is to compromise. Purity is a prerequisite for power. Courage is the prerequisite for impact. Compromise is the temptation we all have, to say it a little lighter, to say it a little softer, to sort of step out, but not really step out. When people see courage in the face of persecution, it authenticates both the message and the messenger.

I think the last, I don't know, maybe 20, 25 years, we've so wanted to identify with people and let them know that, you know, you can be a Christian, but really be pretty hip and pretty cool or maybe really hip and really cool. That somehow we, we never get around to telling people the truth. And so we got so near the culture, we've fallen in and now you can't tell the difference anymore. People say, I love God and their behavior and their values. People say, I don't love God, their behavior, their values. These people they come to me and go, "Yeah, I have no interest in it. You guys don't live any different than me. Your marriages aren't any better than mine. You don't tell the truth any more than I do." "All you do is you got this religious stuff and say, well, we're forgiven. Well, you know, it doesn't work for me, it's phony." Posing and compromise are at the heart of power that's gone out. The result of these men's courage is what? Power. Perseverance. Joy. There was joy. There was joy. This was for real, there was joy. There was a connection with God that's unexplainable that said, I am fulfilling what I was made to do in all the earth and the price was high, but there's something that occurred. And that's what God wants for us.

Guest (Male): That's Chip Ingram on Living on the Edge with the conclusion of "Grace Stoppers, Two Things that Destroy God's Work in Our Lives." Chip has one more word for us before we go about the mid-year match and what it means to say yes to this moment. So stay with us. They were flogged and then they left the Sanhedrin rejoicing. Why? Well, because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. That's not a natural response. That's a supernatural one. And it's the same response available to any follower of Christ who decides that the approval of God matters more than the comfort of the crowd. Every message you've heard so far in our Jesus Revolution series is available right now on the Living on the Edge podcast. Subscribe today and share it with someone who needs it. Or find Chip's full-length sermons on the Chip Ingram Sermon podcast wherever you listen. The apostles rejoiced because they knew the story wasn't over. And now here's Chip Ingram to remind you that this story isn't over either, and that right now in June 2026, you have a chance to be part of what happens next.

Chip Ingram: If you're a supporter of Living on the Edge, whether frequent or infrequent, I want you to hear something directly from me. You are a valued partner in the Jesus movement. Every message that goes out, every pastor who is encouraged and trained. Every young person who finds their faith. Every marriage that is saved, every believer who finally moves from sitting on the sidelines to living it out on the front lines, at work and in their neighborhood, in the coffee shop and when they drop off the dry cleaning. I mean, the kind of Christians that actually live like Christians. When you give to Living on the Edge, you are a part of the Jesus Revolution. From Acts chapter 1 to Acts chapter 5, the early church turned the world upside down because ordinary people like you. Yes, an ordinary people like me stepped out and made a difference. You know what I love about the book of Acts? Nobody in it knew how the story would end. They just kept saying yes, one step at a time. And that's what we're doing at Living on the Edge. And here's my question for you. Would you take the next step with us? Would you give to the mid-year match this June? And I would remind you, thanks to a small group of donors, every dollar you give this June gets doubled dollar for dollar. Let's find out what God can really do in the midst of this very chaotic world when ordinary people like you step out and say to Jesus, "Yes, I'm still in the game."

Guest (Male): Nobody in the book of Acts knew how the story would end. They just kept saying yes. Say yes today by joining the mid-year match. Your gift doubled, your step taken, your part in the story secured. Go online to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. If you'd rather send your donation through the mail, just address your envelope to Living on the Edge, P.O. Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia 3024. Every dollar matched this month only. Again, just visit livingontheedge.org or call our team at 888-333-6003. Well, I'm Dave Drewy and that's the end of today's program. We'll see you here next time for more insightful, practical Bible teaching on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.