The Way of true salvation, Acts 9:1-30

In surfing there used to be a popular slang word which surfers would use to label someone  who wasn’t a real surfer, but perhaps a poser.  They would call such a person a hodad.  If you ever are called a hodad, it’s not a compliment.  It’s actually a derogatory word that was coined when surfing became really popular in the Sixties due to the Gidget movies and the music of the Beach Boys.  It was used to label guys who copied the clothes and the talk and the mannerisms of surfers, but they weren’t really true surfers. 

I thought of that word as I was preparing for this message due to the similarity of the word hodad to a Greek word in our text which is hodos.  But the meaning is nothing similar, of course.  However, in a sense hodos  can be looked at as an antonym for popular Christianity.  Hodas is translated as The Way in our text in vs. 2.  And I would suggest that in considering how the word Christian has been co-opted today in popular religious culture to bear little resemblance to the apostle’s doctrine, that we might be better off referring to our faith as The Way, rather than as Christianity, in order to differentiate what we teach from what is popularly believed.

Because I can assure you that many of the popular doctrines of Christianity are vastly different than what was once called The Way.  Today many polls tell us that more than 75% of Americans consider themselves Christian.  And yet from what I see of our culture,  there must be a lot of hodads out there claiming to be Christian and yet are living a life that is completely at odds with what the Bible teaches.

So what I want to show you today from the story of Saul’s conversion, is what real Christianity looks like and what it consists of.  I want to show through this scripture what constituted Christianity in the first century, as it was still called The Way, and how we can follow this example of Saul and come to saving faith in Christ; which is radically different than what is being passed off in many quarters as Christianity.  Saul’s conversion is unique, it is miraculous and there are some elements to it that are unrepeatable.  But at the same time his conversion is representative of everyone’s conversion and there are many characteristics of Saul’s conversion that are symbolic of becoming a true disciple of Christ, as someone who is of The Way. 

First of all then, let’s start by looking at why it was called The Way and what that meant.  I believe it was called The Way primarily because Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  Jesus is declaring the exclusivity of the gospel.  That there is only one way to God, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.   He is the only way to God.  So if we are to get to God, we must follow Christ. There is no other name given among men by which we can be saved.

I think it’s interesting that hodos, or The Way, is sometimes translated as a road.  As a highway.  Christianity is not just a pit stop on your way, where you pull over to get gassed up once a week and then continue on the same way you were,  but it is a different way, a different road altogether.  It requires leaving the road you’re on, and getting on a completely different road. And Jesus said in Matt. 7:13-14 that it is a narrow way.  He said,  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Secondly, I want to point out that the world’s way, the way of all men before conversion, is enmity towards God.  Let’s look at Saul as the premiere example.  Saul, who had been the organizer of the stoning of Steven in chapter 7, was now going outside of Jerusalem to the neighboring regions and arresting disciples who were of The Way and bringing them back to Jerusalem to be tried and possibly imprisoned or even executed. 

Some years later Paul would recount his actions in Acts 22:4 saying,  "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons…” Our text here in chapter 9:1 says that he was breathing threats and murder against the disciples.  Saul was an enemy of God.  He even thought he was serving God by putting these disciples of The Way to death, but in effect he was attacking God Himself. 

In verse 4, a blinding light flashed from heaven as Saul and his companions were on the road to Damascus, and a voice called out, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And Saul said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”  So Jesus confirms that Saul was an enemy of God.

But do you realize that all men are enemies of God before their conversion?  Romans 3 says that all of us were under the bondage  of sin and at enmity with God before salvation.  Vs. 10, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING, THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS; WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS;  THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.  THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”  All men are by nature lovers of evil and hateful towards God.

James 4:4 says, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  So the second step of coming to be a disciple of The Way is to recognize as did Saul that you are an enemy of God, that we are all antagonistic towards God. We love darkness rather than light because our deeds are evil.

So as we read in vs.3, in order to be converted, there needs to be a light from heaven to illuminate our minds. “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;

and he fell to the ground.   You know, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry He preached a message in which He quoted from Isaiah 9 as recorded in Matt. 4:16;  "THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED."

Listen, the only way that Saul, this great enemy of the gospel, could be saved and turned completely from the road that he was on, in order for him to become a disciple of The Way, he needed to have the light from God dawn upon him.  It takes a supernatural event to be saved.  Did you know that?  You cannot be saved by simply becoming religious or trying to be a better person or by doing some ritual or ceremony. The only way to be saved is for God to first shed His light on you so that you can see what before you were too blind to see. To see your sinfulness and God’s righteousness. Paul was blind to the truth.  He thought he was pursuing the truth, but in fact as we noted he was an enemy of God.  In order for him to be turned, God had to shine the light of revelation upon him, revealing his condition before God.

John 1:9 says, Jesus “was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” All the world is in darkness.  No man can see unless the Spirit of God opens His eyes and shines the light of Christ in their hearts. 2Cor. 4:4 says, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” We were all blind, helplessly lost. But then in vs.6  we read, but “God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

The next step that I want to show in becoming a disciple of The Way is to hear the word of God.  Vs. 4, we quoted earlier, but here it is again; “and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

True salvation requires hearing the word of God. Rom. 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  In 2 Timothy 3 Paul speaks of “the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”  He goes on to say that “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” 

Well, I’m sure that when Saul heard the words of Christ, he was not only rebuked and corrected, but he was convicted of his sin against God.  He realized that he was persecuting the very Son of God.  That he was an enemy of God.  And I believe that because of the next verses which tell us that Paul was led away, blinded by the light, and spends the next three days fasting and praying.  I’m sure during this time he mourned over his part in the killing of Steven.  I’m sure he mourned over those Christians he pursued to the death. 

That’s the next essential step of becoming saved. Repentance is an essential part of conversion.  The message Peter preached back in chapter 3 was  "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”  I don’t believe you can be saved without repentance.  That’s why the first message that Jesus preached was “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  John the Baptist preached repentance.  Peter and John preached repentance.  And eventually Paul will preach repentance, which he lesson he learns thoroughly as he sits in this room in his blindness for 3 days, considering and mourning over his sin.  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that a requirement for entrance into the kingdom of heaven is to mourn over your sin. 

The next step to conversion to The Way is seen in God dispensing his minister to go to Saul and explain the gospel to him.  The Bible doesn’t say that Ananias was a preacher.  We know he wasn’t an apostle.  As far as we know he had no official position in the church.  But he fulfilled the duty of every believer.  He was a reluctant minister. When God told him to go to Saul, he offered an objection.  He had heard of  Saul and how he had done great harm to the church and so he was afraid to go to him.  But the Lord told him to go and so he did.

I don’t know why God chooses to use frail, failing, weak men and women to be the ministers of His gospel.  But we know that he does.  All that have been saved have been commissioned to go into the world and proclaim the good news.  And many times we are told to go to those who seem the least likely to be good prospects.  We are told not to go to the righteous, but the unrighteous.  To seek out those that are lost, those who are the outcasts of society.  To proclaim the gospel to those who are enemies of God. Rom. 10:14 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”

In another passage some time later Paul recounts this meeting with Ananias and I want you to hear some additional details he adds about that conversation.  Acts 22:14 Paul recalls Ananias as saying, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth.  'For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.'”

I believe it is at this point that Paul is converted.  He is repentant, he confesses his sin unto God, and he calls upon the name of Jesus for salvation, for forgiveness, and his sins are washed away.  That is salvation.  Not only is he saved from the penalty of his sin, he is converted from death to life.  He is transformed from an enemy of God to a friend of God.  To be born into the family of God.  And that happens as he receives the Holy Spirit. 

In vs. 17, it says, “Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit is who gives us new life in Christ.  In John 6:63 Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” 

And that new life is symbolized in Saul’s life by the scales falling away from his eyes and he is able to see.   That is what happens spiritually for all those who are converted, who call upon the Lord for salvation.  He gives sight to the blind.  He gives understanding where they once was none.  He opens up our hearts and our minds to comprehend the Word of God.   We cannot be born again without the agency of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 11:19-20 "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.”

John 3:3-6 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"  Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  There must be a calling out to God for a new heart, a new spirit, that we would be converted.

The next step of Paul’s conversion that I want to make today is that he  was obedient to do what God told him to do.  This really goes back to what it means to belong to The Way.  It’s not just a destination, it’s a road.  It’s following the Lord in obedience in the road or in The Way that He reveals to us.  This is so important and so misunderstood today.  Christianity is far too often looked at as getting a new paint job on your car, but continuing to drive it in the same direction, just now it looks a little brighter and shinier.  But as I said at the beginning, this is a new way of living, going in a new direction, with a new destination and a new purpose, living for God instead of living for your self. 

So Saul first of all is obedient, and that is evident by the fact that he is baptized.  He didn’t have to pray about it.  Didn’t have to think about it.  The Lord said it, so he did it. He made public proclamation of his faith.  Baptism is an external  representation of  what has transpired inwardly. We are buried in the water, that is we acknowledge that we bury our old man, the old ways, in the water, and we are raised from the water, symbolizing that we are raised into a new life in Christ.  Old things have passed away, all things have become new.  We signify that we have left our old sinful ways in the water, we have died to the world, and we are raised in new life, to live by the Spirit of God.

And the next evidence of his obedience was that he was a witness of the gospel as the Lord told him to be. Acts 9:20 “and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’”   He began to conclusively prove to the Jews in the synagogues in Damascus that Jesus was the Son of God.  Folks, God doesn’t need any secret disciples.  He doesn’t call us to be secret disciples.  He calls us to tell others of the good news of Jesus Christ.  To declare to whoever will listen, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” 

Finally, the last point of Saul’s conversion is that God called him to suffer for His name’s sake.  As the Apostle Paul, he would probably suffer more hardships than any other Christian before or since.  But what becomes clear as we study the life of Paul is that God used Paul’s suffering to bring about the glory of God.   We just get a little preview of his sufferinng here.  But God said to Ananias in vs. 15, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 

Listen folks, I never want to be guilty of sugar coating what it means to become a follower of The Way.  Becoming a follower of The Way is following a path of suffering.  Jesus said, “whoever would be My disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me.”  Paul’s suffering was more than I can ever imagine having to bear.  We get a glimpse of it starting almost immediately upon his conversion. Vs. 22 “But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ.  When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him,  but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death;  but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.” 

From this point on, Saul is always having people plot his capture or his death.  He spends much of the rest of his life in one prison or another.  Towards the end of his life, Paul recounts the suffering he experienced for Christ’s sake in 2Co 11:23-27 “Are they servants of Christ?--I speak as if insane--I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.  Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.  I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;  I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

I hope that none of us here have to suffer the way that Paul suffered for the sake of The Way.  But I will assure you that if you are a Christian you are going to suffer in one form or another.  One thing we all must suffer is the loss of our pride. We must suffer the loss of our worldly ambition if we follow Christ.  We must suffer the loss of our will if we are going to do God’s will.  We must suffer the loss of our self determination if we are going to submit to Christ’s Lordship over our lives. 

But I trust that we can also say, even as Paul would one day say in Phil. 3:7-11 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” 

That is the goal of belonging to The Way.  That we might receive by grace the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  That we might know Christ and achieve the resurrection of the dead.  Paul would go on to say in Rom. 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  One day, if we have suffered with Him here, we shall be glorified with Him there.  I hope when that day comes, you will be counted as one that was willing to suffer the loss of all things in order to be called one who belonged to The Way. 

In the mid 1700’s there was a man named John Newton who became a sea captain. And like many sailors of his day, he lived a depraved and ungodly life.  For many years, he worked on slave ships, capturing slaves for sale to the plantations in the New World. Eventually, he became the captain of his own slave ship.  A combination of a terrible storm at sea one night coupled with his reading of a testimony of a Christian planted some seeds in his heart that eventually led to his conversion. He was miraculously transformed from a depraved slave trader to a minister of the gospel.  He went on to become a leader in the spiritual awakening in the 18th century in England. He wrote his own epitaph, which is inscribed on his tombstone.  It reads, “John Newton, Clerk.  Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”  He was the author of  the famous hymn we are going to sing in closing,  Amazing Grace, a grace that he knew first hand.

I hope and pray that you will take this opportunity to examine yourself today in light of Saul’s conversion and ask yourself if you are of The Way.  Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins if you will just repent of your sins and have faith in His atoning work on your behalf, and call upon Him to save you. He is willing and waiting to save those that are lost. 

True faith, true follower, true prophet, Acts 8:25-40

Last week we looked at the encounter of Philip and Peter with a magician named Simon Magus.  And we called that message, false faith, false follower, and false prophet.  Simon Magus claimed to believe, he was even baptized, and yet Peter was able to discern by the Holy Spirit that Simon was not a true believer.  Peter said that Simon was still bound in iniquity.  He had never truly repented and was consequently never saved.  I told you last week that several Biblical historians wrote extensively about how Simon Magus ended up becoming a false prophet that misled many into the heresy of Gnosticism. 

This week, as we continue this passage, we see the contrast to Simon Magus in this story of the Ethiopian eunuch.  The Ethiopian eunuch is presented here as an example of a true convert.  And so as we look at this event in his life as he is ministered to by Philip, we see the contrast to last week’s message.  And so I am titling this message, true faith, true follower, and true prophet.  But in order to follow the format of the story, we are  going to change the order a little and start with the characteristics the text presents of a true prophet.  Then we will look at the characteristics of true faith, and what it means to be a true follower.

So let’s start with a true prophet.  Philip is the antithesis of everything that Simon Magus represented.  You will remember that Simon relied on occult magic in order to perform signs and wonders, and this garnered him the attention that he was some sort of visible manifestation of the power of God.  He claimed to be a believer, but in fact he was guilty of living in sin.  And we saw that he went on to teach a false doctrine of Gnosticism that led many people into apostasy. 

But Philip is the exact opposite of Simon.  We saw last time that whatever signs and wonders that Philip did were to authenticate his message as the truth of God, in order to bring people to salvation through the preaching of the word of God, not to bring attention or prosperity to himself.  And now we see Philip continuing to be used of the Holy Spirit to bring people to Christ. 

So the first characteristic we see in this passage of a true prophet is that he is Spirit led.  In vs. 26 the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and said, ““Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.)   Look again at vs.29 and it says “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.’”  Then look once more at vs.39, which says, “when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.” 

Now all of that illustrates that Philip was led by the Holy Spirit.  He was under the control of the Holy Spirit.  There was no earthly reason why a preacher would leave a burgeoning new church in Samaria, where the Lord was clearly working, and go out into the wilderness to a road in the desert to preach to one man.  And at the time the Spirit first speaks to him, Philip isn’t even told that he is going there to preach to someone.  He is just told to get up and go to the desert.

There is so much that I would like to say about this, but I don’t have the time.  But suffice it to say that a true prophet of God is led by the Holy Spirit.  He isn’t led by market surveys which predict the next big growth opportunity.  He isn’t led by some ministerial committee.   But he preaches what God tells him to preach and goes where God tells him to go.  He preaches even when it seems foolish, when it seems impractical, when there is no visible support for what he is doing.  Philip didn’t sit down and calculate the effect on his salary to leave a thriving congregation and go out to preach in this wilderness.  He just got up and went because God told him to.

And by the way, a prophet of God is simply one who proclaims the word of God. Prophet doesn’t mean a fortune teller or a future teller, but a forth teller.  A prophet simply means to be a preacher of the word  of God.  And let me warn you of something else.  Don’t make the mistake of attaching yourself to a pastor if he is not a prophet.  He may be the kindest, nicest man in the world, and he may visit all the little old ladies in the old folks home every week and never fail to visit the sick in the hospital, but if he does not preach the whole counsel of the word of God then you should separate yourself from him and find someone who does.  Don’t try to drive him out of your church, but get out of there yourself and find someone who first and foremost preaches the whole counsel of the word of God without equivocation.

Next, the true prophet is obedient.  When the Spirit tells him to get up and go, Philip doesn’t say I’ll pray about it.  Philip doesn’t dilly dally around until he gets around to it.  But he instantly moves out.  Vs. 27, “So he got up and went.”  And I really like the next one, vs. 29, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” And vs. 30 says, Philip ran.  He was quick to obey.  He didn’t object that this guy was a big court official.  He didn’t object that this Ethiopian seemed preoccupied.  Philip was eager to obey the Holy Spirit.  Let me tell you something.  If you’re not obedient to the light that you have, don’t expect a brighter light.  We didn’t sign on to be copilots with Christ.  We signed on to be the servants of the Almighty God of the Universe. In 1Sam. 15:22 Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

The third characteristic of a true prophet is that he expounds the word of God.  I really love this one.  You know, I realize some people think I’m a little too boring just preaching line upon line every week.  But I can assure you that it is not a lack of imagination that prompts me to preach this way.  It is not that I lack the ability to order my sermons from Rick Warren or some other pulpit resource every week.  But I deliberately have chosen to exegete scripture because I think I cannot embellish the word of God. You know, my son worked for a while as an intern for a five campus mega church in San Diego a couple of years ago when he was going to school to be a graphic designer.  And one day I visited the ministry office.  And as I talked with the lady in charge she told me in the process of our conversation that they had a sermon committee that wrote the sermons for the pastors.  The pastors were kind of like actors, they just came in and practiced reading their lines.  I was just floored.  Listen, God doesn’t speak through committees, the best a committee can offer is a compromise.  God speaks through preachers filled with the Holy Spirit, preaching the word of God.

The reason that I expound the scripture verse by verse because I believe that the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of men. I preach the word of God because 1Cor. 1:21 says, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”  I believe that God speaks through His messengers, and I dare not mess with His message.  I must be true to that stewardship.  As Paul said in 1Cor. 9:16 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.”

Philip also preached the word of God.  God providentially had the Ethiopian eunuch reading from the book of Isaiah, chapter 53.  And that became the text from which Philip expounds the word of God, telling him the good news about Christ. Vs.35 “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.”  He begins in Isaiah 53, which is a beautiful Old Testament text which most clearly presents a picture fulfilled by Jesus Christ. 

By the way, a lot of unbelievers today have a really limited understanding of the scriptures that has been unduly influenced by a lack of education.  The average person doesn’t realize that the Old Testament scriptures are unquestionably documented as being intact in their present form well before the time of Christ.  It’s an unquestionable statement of fact backed up by irrefutable proofs that the Old Testament scriptures existed long before the time of Christ in the same form that we know them to be in today.  There are a multitude of historical references which establish this, as well as the monumental archeological find which is known as the Dead Sea Scrolls which date at least 200 years before Christ.  Interestingly, there were 19 copies of the book of Isaiah found in those caves there along with copies of every other book in the Old Testament except the book of Esther.  So there is no question as to the validity of the scripture that the Ethiopian is reading, nor any of the Old Testament scriptures for that matter, as existing exactly as we know them, since before the time of Christ.

And if people today were to understand that, then by showing them Old Testament texts such as Isaiah 53, we can literally prove the scripture’s authenticity. And   because this scripture so clearly speaks of Jesus Christ then it validates the fact that Christ was who He claimed to be, the Son of God.  He fulfills all of those prophecies written hundreds of years before in a way that is nothing short of supernatural. I don’t have time to read the whole chapter for you, but I would encourage you to read it, understanding that this chapter was written hundreds of years before Christ.  Isaiah 53:4-6  “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”  And note vs.9, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”  All those prophecies were fulfilled in Christ, which no man could ever orchestrate, especially once he was dead.  So Philip expounded the word of God to prove that Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God and that by His death He paid the penalty of those that were lost, who believed in Him.

All right, we have to move on past Philip now and look at the Ethiopian eunuch.  He is the example of person who has true faith.  Simon Magus was a man of false faith.  He said he believed, but he was not saved.  The Ethiopian eunuch believed and is saved.  What is the difference?  What constitutes true faith?

First of all it’s important to understand that the Ethiopian eunuch was on his way back to Africa after having gone to Jerusalem to worship God.  That means that this man was probably a proselyte.  Now a proselyte is one who had converted from paganism to Judaism.  They believed in the One True God of the Jews, who is Jehovah.  They believed, at least in theory, in a Messiah who was going to come at some point in the future to redeem His people.  The eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship, to participate in some Jewish festival.  So he believed in God yet he wasn’t saved. 

And that is why the message that Philip preached is so important.  Because under Judaism, they were taught the law.  They were taught what God required.  But no one could keep the law perfectly, even though they tried. That’s why Paul says in Gal. 3:24 that “the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” 

So how does one come to a true faith?  Well, we can use virtually the same criteria as we did for a true prophet.  First of all, it is necessary to be led by the Spirit.  Jesus said in John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”    The Ethiopian eunuch shows evidence of being drawn by the Spirit of God.  He was first of all drawn to worship the One True God of Israel.  He was willing to renounce paganism and worship God.  He hungered and thirsted for righteousness. He had a desire to know the truth.  That is evident in the fact that he is reading the word of God in the carriage.  And the fact that at the exact time that he is reading no less than a Messianic scripture this guy runs up alongside him to explain it to him is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working to bring him to Christ. 

I wonder how many of you might be here today, and you think it’s kind of circumstance that you saw one of our signs, or maybe someone told you about this service and you found yourself thinking of it and prompted to come. You’re here out of curiosity perhaps.  But I would suggest that maybe you are here today by the drawing of the Holy Spirit.  Maybe God has been preparing your heart for some time now to hear the gospel.  I don’t think there are any accidents in the plan of God.

Secondly, the Ethiopian eunuch was obedient to what the scriptures told him.  I believe he was convicted when Philip read Isaiah 53 which said, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”  I believe that as Philip showed him how Christ took his sins upon Him and shed His blood for his salvation, that the Ethiopian eunuch repented of his sins and called out to Christ for salvation.

And third, he believes the word of God.  Vs.37 “And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may [be baptized].’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’”  That is what Isaiah 53 makes so clear, isn’t it?  That Jesus Christ is the One spoken of, that He is the Messiah who was promised, that He was the Son of God.   That constitutes true faith, belief that Jesus Christ is Lord is the basis of faith, which results in imputed righteousness. Rom. 10:9-10  “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

So, Philip is the true prophet, and the Ethiopian eunuch comes to know true faith, and then finally as a result, we see a true follower.  The fact is, we don’t know for sure what happened after this event to the Ethiopian eunuch as far as what the Bible has to say. Tradition tells us that he went back to Ethiopia as a missionary and brought many people to Christ there, even possibly leading the Queen of Ethiopia to salvation.  But that is not backed up by scripture, however it is verified by the historian Irenaeus in the second century.  

But what we do know for certain is that his true faith produced a true follower as illustrated in this passage.  And again I think there is evidence to support our same criteria.  First he was filled with the Spirit.  Jesus said in John 3:5 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Jesus is not speaking of baptism there, but He is saying that we must first be born physically in water, and then born again spiritually by the Spirit. We know that Philip was saved by the Spirit because no one can be born again without the agency of the Holy Spirit.  He opens our eyes. He convicts us of sin. He gives us the spirit of repentance. He gives life to the dead. He makes the scriptures come alive, because He is the author of scripture.  And we know that He dwells in those that are saved, so that we might be empowered by God to do His will.

So the Spirit indwelling the Ethiopian eunuch prompts him to be obedient unto baptism.  Notice that in the order of salvation baptism comes after salvation.  It is not the means of salvation, but it is the evidence of salvation.  It is the outward witness of what has been accomplished inwardly.  When you become a true follower of Christ, then you are going to want to do what Christ told you to do.  I wonder how many here today have yet to follow the Lord’s example of believer’s baptism?  You’re going to have a chance in a month or so when we have our beach baptism.  But I wish that more had the same sense of urgency that the Ethiopian eunuch had.  He wanted to do everything that the Lord told us to do, immediately.  He showed the same trait of obedience that Philip had shown.  If the Lord said it, I will do it right now.  I’ll run to obey. Not think about it, not pray about it.  Listen, if the Lord said it, you don’t need to pray about it to see if you can somehow wiggle out of it.  Just be obedient to what God has shown you.  That is the reason so many Christians are still immature.  They haven’t gotten past the ABC’s.  And that is because they have not been obedient to what God has told us to do. 

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Be true to truth as it comes to you. If God gives you only common candle-light, make good use of it; and he will trim your lamp till it shineth like the sevenfold golden light of his holy place. Those who are willing to see God by the moon of nature shall soon be illuminated by the sun of revelation. Instead of complaining that you have no more light, make good use of what you have. Many groan over their inabilities, and yet they have never gone to the end of their abilities: this is sheer hypocrisy.”

The author of Hebrews in chapter 5 talks about the need to be obedient to Christ even as Christ was obedient to the Father.  And he concludes that argument by saying in vs. 12, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”  So obedience is necessary for a follower to grow in Christ, following faithfully the light that you have been given to this point.

And that leads to the last criteria of a true follower; he proclaims the word of God.  Listen, your actions speak a whole lot louder and more effectively than your words.  There are a lot of people running around today claiming to be Christians who would do the kingdom of God a better favor if they kept it to themselves.  Because their talk doesn’t match their walk.  You proclaim the truth of God’s word, you proclaim your salvation, by your testimony in front of the world.  That is one of the things we do when we are baptized.  It makes you a testimony, a witness to the world.  It may seem foolish to some people perhaps, but it is an announcement that you are following Christ.  And then you need to continue to manifest that testimony in all that you do.

Also I believe we can know that this man was a true follower of Jesus Christ because immediately after coming up out of the water Philip was snatched away by the Holy Spirit.  Philip didn’t need to stick around with this guy to give him a 12 week discipleship course.  I think that the Holy Spirit is signifying that this man was genuinely saved, and now that he had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures, and the willingness to be obedient to the light he was shown, he could go on from there.  He had enough light to be able to witness to the Queen of Ethiopia.  He was able to proclaim Jesus Christ from the scriptures.  He was willing to be obedient and eager to get on with His ministry.  The Holy Spirit would take him from that point on. 

And you know what another evidence was?  It says in vs. 39, “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.”  He went on his way praising the Lord.  That’s how I know he was a true follower.  He went on his way praising God, rejoicing, proclaiming what God had done for him.  He had the Holy Spirit in him to guide him, he had the Bible in his hand, and he was praising God as he went back to his homeland.  That is how we witness.  In reliance upon the Holy Spirit to lead us, to prepare good soil for the seed of the word, and then to have the word of God at hand to show people what Jesus has done for us in the gospel, and all the while praising God for what He has done in our lives. 

Well, we’ve seen quite a contrast haven’t we?  The contrast between true faith and false faith, between true followers and false followers, and the contrast between true prophets and false prophets.  I hope that you have taken this opportunity to examine yourselves in light of this text. Do you have the evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life?  I don’t mean some sort of mystical, emotional experience.  But the practical filling of the Spirit to empower you to live a life of faith, to follow Christ obediently, and to be a witness in your home and your community.  I urge you to examine yourselves today in light of God’s word.  And if you fail the test, then I urge you to follow in the example of this Ethiopian, to receive the righteousness of Christ which comes through repentance and faith in Jesus as Lord, and to become a follower of Christ, obeying His word. 

False faith, false follower, false prophet, Acts 8: 1-24

Acts is an account of the birth of the church.  God called out a people who would be the body of Christ by great power and signs and wonders.  In Acts we see something of a New Testament parallel to the Israelites coming out of Egypt by great signs and wonders of Moses.  And in yet another parallel, we also see that the devil attacks the congregation of the Lord in various ways, through persecution, and through corruption from within.

So as the church is growing mightily, there is also strategic attacks on the church from without and within.  We saw that played out with Ananias and Sapphira back in chapter 5, as they lied to the Holy Spirit.  Their sin was a deadly leaven that threatened to corrupt the church from within that had to be dealt with severely in order to preserve the sanctity of the congregation. 

But Satan is a clever and deadly adversary.  He like any good general, marshals his forces to attack on several fronts simultaneously.  So almost immediately after Ananias and Sapphira were dealt with, Peter and John are arrested and beaten and imprisoned.  But that too fails to hinder the proclamation of the gospel.  In fact it only serves to embolden and empower the apostles to do more.  So Satan enlists his forces from the religious realm to arrest Stephen, one of the seven young men who had been recently appointed as one of the leaders in the church.  And as we saw last week, rather than that shutting him up, Stephen took that to be an opportunity to preach the gospel to the high priests and ruling council, convicting them by many Biblical proofs that their belief in God had in fact not saved them, but that they were enemies of God, outside of the kingdom.  And what he preached enraged them so much that they rushed on him with one accord and threw him off a cliff and cast stones on him, making Stephen the first martyr.

Now in chapter 8 we see that this young man named Saul mentioned in the previous account who watched over the affair and held their coats while they stoned Stephen was now persecuting the church with a renewed intensity.  But rather than persecution shutting down the church, it only served to strengthen it. Tertullian is credited with the saying that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.  And we see that seed now being scattered throughout Asia as a result of persecution.  Satan thought that he had silenced a preacher of the gospel, and yet he inadvertently helped to spread the gospel from Jerusalem, to Judea, then Samaria, and ultimately to the uttermost parts of the earth. Acts 8:4 “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”

Last week we looked at the last sermon of Stephen, which illustrated several principles  which revealed that the religious leaders of the Jews were not true believers.  And those principles were instructive for us as well, as we compared our salvation with the template that Stephen was proclaiming to be the gospel.  These religious leaders had a form of religion, they claimed to be worshipping the One True God, they kept the Old Testament scriptures, they were extremely zealous for certain religious rituals and ceremonies, and yet they were not saved.  And so I pointed out how we too must carefully examine our faith in order to see if we truly are of the faith, according to the examples given by Stephen in his last message.

And in a similar way, today we will look at the message of Philip, another of the original seven, who has gone out from Jerusalem as a result of the persecution, and he is now called the evangelist.  He is preaching the gospel of Christ to the Samaritans and many signs and wonders were happening by his hand, and many people were being saved.  But at the same time Satan is attempting to duplicate and deceive through a false prophet named Simon that is also doing signs and wonders, and when he cannot compete with the ministry of Philip, he professes to believe and is baptized.  So we are going to examine today in light of this passage the contrast between the true faith and message of Philip and  false faith and false message of Simon.  I have titled this message, false faith, false follower, and false prophet.

So in this passage the Holy Spirit deliberately contrasts  authentic Christianity with that of a false and counterfeit faith. Simon the Magician, or Simon Magus as he is sometimes called, appears in this passage as yet another means of the devil’s attack against the church, this time from within. Remember that Jesus had said in the parable of the tares and the wheat that though He was sowing good seed in the field of the world, an enemy would come at night and sow bad seed in the midst of the wheat, and that they would grow up together.  The wheat and tares would initially be indistinguishable. And that is what we see here with Simon becoming identified with the church.

So let’s look at some of these characteristics of false faith, or false Christianity.  And by the way this is not just ancient history.  We must not be so foolish as to think we are past all of this sort of thing today in the church.  No, the devil is continuing similar attacks on the church and even more so today.  In fact as time marches on towards the end of the age, Jesus told us in Matt. 24:24 that it will increase.  He said, "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  Deception will grow worse and worse. Satan just keeps repackaging the same old deceptions in new false prophets, and people are deceived and keep on being deceived, often to their damnation.

So to start with, the first characterization of Simon’s false faith was self exaltation.  Contrast that to the ministry of Philip; Philip it is said in vs. 5, proclaimed Christ.  He preached the gospel of Christ and God validated that preaching with signs and wonders which served to glorify God.  But Simon, as a false prophet, glorifies himself.  Vs. 8 says that he was claiming to be something great.  And his magic arts enabled him to convince the people of Samaria  that he was something great.  They called him the Great Power of God. 

There is actually some very fascinating history written about this man in several contemporaneous non-biblical writings.   But what the text tells us, and from what history tells us, this man practiced a form of magic, professing secret knowledge, whereby he was able to astonish the local people.  The word magician is from the root word magi.  You remember the three wise men who visited Jesus’ birth?  These men were known as magi from the East.  They were learned in astronomy and the sciences and some practiced the secret arts as well, such as astrology and the occult.  Obviously, Simon is one that has that sort of knowledge which is called sorcery.

Now the text indicates that he did certain feats of magic or sorcery in order to exalt himself.  To bring attention to himself and probably make himself money in the process.  That is always a characteristic of false prophets, by the way.  They are self aggrandizing people who set themselves up in such a way as to bring attention to themselves.  They claim to have great power from God.  And I want to be very clear; beware of people that focus on signs and wonders as testimony to their Christianity or their spirituality. 

Do you know that the devil is able to authenticate his false prophets by signs and wonders as well?  There is more hocus pocus going on in the church today than ever before and it’s because our people lack discernment.  They aren’t taught what the word of God says.  They are taught that we need to experience God.  And so whatever experience that comes along in the context of the church they then attribute to God.  Today in the church there is everything from people falling down acting like they are drunk, to entire congregations laughing uncontrollably, to gold dust falling from the ceiling and angel feathers floating from the rafters.  And all of it is attributed to God.  However, it’s nothing short of demonic.  It’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  God is not the author of confusion.  Beware of signs and wonders that are purported to be done today, which are in effect only serving to enable false teachers to deceive gullible and superstitious people who are ignorant of what the scriptures actually teach.

Furthermore, its says in vs. 10 that the people both small and great from all quarters were giving him attention.  False prophets are always popular.  They attract great crowds even today. Ancient writers such as Justin Martyr, Jerome and Irenaeus give a sordid history of this man Simon and the way he eventually became a great enemy of the truth.  He is credited with being one of the forbearers of the great heresy known as Gnosticism which arose in the first century to deceive many people.  Simon went on to be one of that heresy’s foremost prophets.  He taught that he was the manifestation of God, that divine knowledge resided in him. 

Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge.  It is a blend of different religious philosophies that believed in a higher knowledge, a spiritual plane that it was possible to reach that was separate from the body, from matter.  They believed that it was possible to exist on a spiritual plane in some measure of godliness, but which was unaffected by the physical.  So you could live in immorality or any such sin and yet be unaffected by it spiritually.  It bred a false doctrine called antinomianism which is what James and Jude and John were warning against in their epistles, this false knowledge that puffs up. Jude 1:4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

But again, I would warn you, that Satan has repackaged much of that philosophy today and sold it to the church once again.  There are false prophets who are known for their signs and wonders that are immensely popular in so called Christianity today, that are preaching a form of antinomianism which has it’s roots in Gnosticism.  False prophets today like the televangelist Joseph Prince teach that you can be holy spiritually in God’s eyes, but be something else in the physical realm. They teach that you can be a child of God, and yet live in sin and not have any conviction of your sin.  They teach that in fact it is impossible for a believer to sin, and you never need to repent of your sins.  It’s first century Gnosticism repackaged for the weak, immature and often immoral church of today. 

But not only is this Simon Magus an example of a false prophet, he is emblematic of those that are of a false faith.  Their faith, as it were, is founded on serving their pride.  They are all about self aggrandizement.  They practice their religion to be seen of men, to draw accolades to their piety.  They are interested in signs and wonders because it pleases their vanity to be seen to have some great spiritual power.  They are interested in some higher degree of knowledge that relieves them from the conviction of something so petty as sin.  They want to profit from religion, both economically as well as in their social standing. And yet their actions reveal that they are prideful. They have never humbled themselves in the sight of God.  They never repented of their sins.

And that leads us to the next characteristic of Simon as an example of false faith, and that is he had a incorrect understanding of salvation.  Vs. 12 “But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.” 

At first glance, it sounds pretty positive, doesn’t it?  Sounds like this false prophet, this great celebrity of Samaria actually became a Christian.  After all, it says he believed.  Isn’t that the requirement for salvation?  Isn’t that what is being taught today?  Just believe in God and he will accept you just the way you are.  But the Bible says that the devils believe and tremble and yet they are not saved.  Why not?  Well, first of all because salvation is not offered to angels, but only to men.  But even if they could be saved salvation would require repentance. And they have believed but not repented. That’s why Jesus went about preaching first and foremost, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  Repentance is the polar opposite of pride, do you understand that?  Repentance is confession that you are a sinner, and that the Bible says that the penalty for sin is eternal death.  You confess that you are a sinner and you admit that you are guilty and worthy of the punishment.  But there is nothing said of Simon repenting.  In fact as you read on, you will see that he had not repented, and when Peter told him to repent, he excused himself.

What Simon did was find himself attracted to the church by the signs and wonders.  He liked the display of power.  He imagined how that kind of power might benefit him.  He might have even had a certain mindset that if you can’t beat them, then join them.  He had been duping the people with his magic arts, he had been enjoying this fame and prosperity that came with it, and suddenly along comes Philip with true knowledge, with divine power to truly heal, and so his act is completely eclipsed.  So he joins this movement, or appears to, in order to learn and acquire this knowledge to add to his own bag of tricks. 

By the way, I don’t doubt but that Satan has certain practitioners that can perform some signs and wonders.  But I think that for the most part it is a deception.  I have studied a little bit about some well known pseudo evangelists, and I have noticed a pattern in some of being trained in and practicing hypnotism.  I think a lot of the fake faith healers set up their shows ahead of time with willing accomplices or they weed out the truly handicapped in favor of those with some sort of psychosomatic disorder.  And so these people are selected who might be very easily persuaded by means of hypnosis or some other trick.  But it’s not long thereafter until they find they are no longer healed.

One of the saddest tales I have heard on this subject came from the well known Christian speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident when she was a young woman.  And in the early years of her illness, one day in desperation she went to a famous faith healer’s service in hopes of being healed.  And she relates how that she and other quadripalegics and people who had serious problems were escorted to a special wing and then left there while others with non visible maladies were healed.  She relates the horrible feeling of abandonment at the end of the service as they were wheeled out of the back door still in their wheelchairs.  Such false prophets are an abomination to God and will one day face God’s judgment for their false faith message.

But back to Simon, he supposedly believed, and he was baptized.  According to at least a couple of different denominations out there, that should have sealed the deal. He was baptized.  To some denominations, becoming a Christian is like making instant oatmeal.  Just add water and you’re good.  So he joined the church.  He made a profession of faith, he was baptized, he effectively joined the movement.  He began following Philip around.  Folks, please understand that Satan loves nothing more than to join the church.  Jesus taught another parable about the church,  in which He said that the kingdom of God was like a mustard seed that was planted in a garden and it grew into a great big tree, so big that the birds of the air came and nested in it’s branches.  This parable was taught immediately after the parable of the tares and the wheat.  The picture He is giving is that the church will grow bigger than normal, first of all.  The church will grow and spread far beyond it’s normal growth into a great tree, instead of a normal bush.  And it’s branches extend out so far that the birds of the air come and nest in it’s branches.  Jesus said in the parable of the soils that the birds of the air are the devil and his angels.  So  Jesus is saying that the devil and his angels are nesting in the branches of the church.  That is a reality that is true today more than ever before as we see every sort of abomination welcomed and embraced by many modern churches today.

The number one way the church has been rendered weak and ineffective, more than any other, is by unregenerate people coming in and taking on the outer garments of Christianity, calling themselves Christians, but remaining still unchanged in heart and life. That has ruined more churches than any external attack possibly could.

You know, all of the church growth strategy books have got it wrong.  The church doesn’t need to attract more unsaved people. The church doesn’t need more pew sitters in the congregation.  It doesn’t need more spectators.  The church needs holy and sanctified workers for the harvest. Matt. 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." The church is the body of Christ, not a collection of the unregenerate seeking validation while still in their sins.

Simon is missing one major ingredient in his salvation.  And that is he is unrepentant.  He may have professed to believe in God, but nothing had changed.  Listen, repentance is a change of direction.  It is coming to the end of yourself.  It is mourning over your sin.  It is realizing that you are depraved and without hope and you need God to transform you.  Simon just added the outward garments of Christianity to his carnal nature and nothing had actually changed.

Next, Simon misunderstood the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  This is still a major problem in the church today, isn’t it?  A complete misunderstanding of the nature of the Holy Spirit and His function in the church.  But let’s look first at some background. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria was receiving the gospel and people were becoming saved, they sent Peter and John there. 

Now the important distinction here is that these were Samaritans.  They had traditionally been excluded from Israel as half breeds, half Jew and half Gentile.  And so what is being described here is a manifestation of the Spirit upon the Samaritans, to indicate and affirm that they were also now part of the body of Christ.  God’s plan was not to have a church in Samaria which had different customs and beliefs than the church in Jerusalem.  But as the scripture says there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.  And so that is why it is important that the apostles come from Jerusalem and lay hands upon them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit, to show by the signs that followed that they were all of one body. 

But it’s important to understand what is happening; no one can be saved without the agency of the Holy Spirit.  They had been saved.  They had the power of the Holy Spirit manifested to them when they were delivered from illnesses through the ministry of Philip.  And they had the joy of their salvation in vs. 8 which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The thing that was missing was that they needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to bring them into communion with the church, to make them part of the body of Christ, to show that they were in no way inferior to the church at Jerusalem. 

That is the significance of the laying on of hands.  We lay hands or even shake hands to show solidarity with other people.  So the fathers of the church in Jerusalem came to join hands with the Christians in Samaria in order to show full fellowship with them. And there were undoubtedly certain signs accompanying the baptism of the Holy Spirit similar to what had happened at Pentecost to authenticate by the Spirit what the apostles were affirming, that they were a part of the church.  It’s interesting, because in each of the 4 occasions in Acts when this happens, it happens under slightly different circumstances.  This is the only time that the laying on of hands occurs with the baptism of the Spirit.  And I believe that is because it signifies the right hand of fellowship that is extended from Jerusalem to these Samaritans who had long been estranged from Israel.

So there is the same manifestation of gifts in Samaria that there had been at Pentecost.  There would be the same manifestation of signs at the household of the Gentile Cornelius which Peter goes to preach to at the bequest of the Spirit.  And all because God is indicating that there is no more Jew nor Gentile nor Samaritan in the church; we are all made one in Christ by the self same Spirit.

But Simon seeing this is moved to approach Peter and ask him if he could buy that ability.  There is a word in the English language which is simony.  It is the buying or selling of religious offices or powers.  This man’s name is the origin of this word.  He is attempting to buy the power of the Holy Spirit.  He wanted to buy it so that he could profit by it.  And while I don’t think many people today are so bold as to try to buy the power of the Holy Spirit, I do believe that many in the church today are trying to profit by the Spirit.  They attempt to use a false power that is attributed to the Holy Spirit for ungodly gain.  I once personally knew a man that was duped into thinking that Benny Hinn was a great power of God, and he regularly would go fly somewhere to one of his crusades and pay him $10,000 for a private meeting so that he could receive his blessing.  He ended up going bankrupt.  False prophets like Benny Hinn seek to profit from the Holy Spirit.

Simon thought that he too could profit from being able to administer the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  And so Peter’s response illustrates the last characteristic of Simon’s false faith, which is that he lacked true repentance.  Simon revealed that he had held onto his sin.  He professed to believe, he participated in the ritual of baptism, but he had never truly repented.  And that lack of repentance became evident when he tried to buy the Holy Spirit.

Philip may have been a somewhat naïve young preacher, a beginning evangelist that God was using, but Peter had the gift of discernment as we saw evidenced in the passage about Ananias and Sapphira.  So Peter says to Simon in vs. 20, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!  You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.  Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”  The literal translation of Peter’s rebuke is “may your silver go to hell with you!”  Peter sees immediately that this man is still in the bondage of sin.  He never repented.  His heart is alienated from God.  He describes Simon as bitter, that would indicate he was jealous of Philip.

Listen, the Gnostics, the antinomians, think that as believers you never need to repent, because you never sin.  But I would remind you of Psalm 51, a Psalm of David when he sinned against God, he said, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.  Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,

so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.”  Was David saved when he sinned with Bathsheba?  Yes, he most certainly was.  Was he saved the same way we are?  Yes, he certainly was, he was saved by faith, through grace, just as we are.  He looked forward to Christ, we look backwards to Christ, but we are both saved the same way.  And yet David by divine inspiration calls his sin, sin.  He said against God he had sinned, and his sin was ever before God. 

So what was David’s solution?  Repentance.  He confessed his sin as sin, as an affront to God.  And then he asked to be changed. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  Listen, David was saved and he still sinned against God, he still needed forgiveness, he needed repentance that he might have fellowship with God.   This idea that you can live in sin and be ok, that you can come as you are and stay as you are, is not the gospel.  It is not the gospel that Peter is preaching.  He turns to Simon and says, “you are still in the bonds of iniquity.”  You were never released from your sins because you never repented of yours sins.

I am convinced that the church today is full of people who profess to believe, who have been baptized or been catechized or been through some experience or ritual and they believe they are part of the church, but in fact they have no part at all in the body of Christ.  They are still in the bondage of iniquity.  That is the only explanation for why the divorce rate is as high in the church as it is in the world. That is the only explanation why our church members are living in immorality.  That is the only reason why our people are living fleshly, carnal lives, chasing riches and material things of the world.  They have a false faith. They are still in the bondage of sin.

Unfortunately, Simon has no interest in repenting as Peter tells him to do.  Instead he says, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”  He wants to escape the judgment of sin, but he is not willing to forsake the presence of sin. There’s no confession; there’s no self analysis; there’s no acknowledging of sin.  There’s no trust in the Lord; there’s no asking for forgiveness; there’s no repentance, nothing, but possibly even a scornful comment, “Why don’t you pray for me yourselves, so that what you’ve said doesn’t happen to me.”

Simon is never mentioned in scripture again.  But history tells us that his unrepentant heart led him further and further away from the truth and into abject heresy.  According to some sources, he became a constant adversary of Peter, going before him into various cities refuting the gospel that Peter was preaching.  His doctrine became more and more heretical, even to the point of denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, denying the divinity of Christ, meanwhile making himself out to be god.  According to Justin Martyr, there was a statue erected in Rome that bore the inscription testifying that he was a god.  He became the father of Gnosticism, which is the grandfather of all heresies. 

Listen, there is a great danger in refusing to repent of sin.  At the very most you cannot be saved without repentance, without humbling yourself and being willing to forsake your sin.  And at the very least, if you are by some miracle a Christian, you break fellowship with God and you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and you trample underfoot the blood of Jesus by refusing to confess and repent of your sin.  Either way your unrepentant heart will lead you further and further away from God just as surely as leaven eventually corrupts all of the dough.

I don’t know whether you folks listening to me today are wheat or tares.  I don’t know whether or not you are of the faith, or of a false faith.  I don’t have the level of discernment that Peter had.  But I do know that Jesus said that by their fruit you shall know them.  What is in the heart, eventually comes out of the mouth.  Simon should be a warning against a false faith, false followers, and false prophets. 2Cor. 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?” Be sure you are not of a false faith, a faith without repentance.  Believing without repentance can never produce saving faith.  But as David said, “a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise.” Let us pray.