Text: Acts 5:1-42.
The last part of chapter 4 teaches about the devotion of the new church to one another (vv. 1-4). People were even selling their properties and distributing the money among the believers who were in need. Ananias and Sapphira also sold property. They kept some of the money (which is fine), but when they gave the rest of the money to the apostles, they lied and said it was the full amount of the sale. Peter asked why they had lied to the Holy Spirit. He said they did not lie to men but to God.
Peter teaches us two things about the Holy Spirit: 1- the Holy Spirit is God, God the Holy Spirit; 2- the Holy Spirit is a person and not an im-person-al force, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. You cannot lie to a force, just as you cannot lie to an animal, nor to a machine, etc. You can only lie to a person. The Holy Spirit is a divine person, the third person of the trinity, same in substance and equal in power and glory with God the Father and God the Son.
Meditate on verse 4. Who is the Holy Spirit?
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, thank You for the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of sin. Help me to obey Him. Amen.