Lechem Panim #155 "God Is Not For Sale” (Acts 8:12-24) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello and welcome again to Lechem Panim. I hope you are doing well and that today you are experiencing all the fullness of Christ in your life. As we have been proceeding through our study of Acts chapter 8, we have seen how a man by the name of Philip (not the Apostle Philip, but one of the Greek-speaking men chosen by the apostles to wait on tables) has (in addition to that ministry) also been preaching the Gospel. He is the first missionary named in Scripture and the first to be given the title “evangelist” (21:8). And he has just recently brought the Gospel to the region of Samaria. Now God (as he always does at a new turning point of His salvation plan) confirms His message with miracles; and (lo and behold) a multitude of the Samaritans come to faith in Jesus Christ. And it says in…

Acts 8:12-13 (ESV)— 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Now Simon Magus was a practicer of sorcery and probably a con-artist to whom the people had previously looked up to; a man who (although he believed) was not saved because he had a wrong view of self, a wrong view of salvation, a wrong view of the Holy Spirit, and a wrong view of sin.

The Wrong Reasons— Now although the text says Simon Magus “believed”, we will continue to see that he came to that belief for all the wrong reasons. Because of the Samaritan revival, he knew his own popularity would begin to decline as he ceased to be seen as the Messianic figure that he had marketed himself as as people began turning to Jesus as their true Messiah. He was also motived by a desire [to learn what he perceived to be Philip’s power]. And so he follows Phillip after he is baptized for three apparent reasons. [First, he wanted to sustain contact with the people following the preacher. By joining Philip’s movement, he went where the action was and kept his opportunity for influence alive. Second, as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. He had, so to speak, a professional interest in finding out the source of Philip’s amazing powers. Third, as his later conduct shows, he wanted to figure out how to acquire that power for himself.] And in the next section he thinks he sees his opportunity. It says in…

Acts 8:14-16 (ESV)— 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Peter & John Come— And so word has spread of the incredible success of Phillip’s ministry. And the apostles in Jerusalem receive this word of what is going on in Samaria and they send Peter and John to investigate. And their [Peter and John’s mission was threefold: First, they came to help Philip with the spiritual harvest. The response of the Samaritans was too great for one man to handle. Second, they came to give apostolic sanction and blessing to Philip’s work among the Samaritans. {Because remember that up until this time the Samaritans had been despised by the Jews as halfbreed outcasts. And so the apostles (who were leaders of the church even after the church spread out from Jerusalem) come to officially validate this new branch of the body of Christ. And thirdly}…, they came down from Jerusalem and prayed for the Samaritans that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Although they had believed and been baptized, the Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.]

The Holy Spirit At Conversion— Now some use this passage to argue that Christians nowadays do not receive the Holy Spirit until sometime after conversion, which is not true. At this point in the book of Acts we are in a transitional period into what would later become normative in the Church. All of us receive the Holy Spirit when we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. But at this point in the history of the Church God withheld that outpouring until the apostles came for a very specific reason. Remember [Jesus had given Peter the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:13–20), which meant that Peter had the privilege of “opening the door of faith” to others. He opened the door to the Jews at Pentecost, and now he opened the door to the Samaritans. Later, he would open the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 10).] He was God’s chief instrument in the early days of the early Church. But there is another very important reason; and that was (as one author I was reading this week pointed out) that [For centuries, the Samaritans and the Jews had been bitter rivals. If the Samaritans had received the Spirit independent of the Jerusalem church, that rift would have been perpetuated. There could well have been two separate churches, a Jewish church and a Samaritan church. But God had designed one church, in which “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female,” but “all [are] one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). {And so} By delaying the Spirit’s coming until Peter and John arrived, God preserved the unity of the church. The apostles needed to see {what God was doing amongst the Samaritans} for themselves, and give firsthand testimony to the Jerusalem church, that the Spirit came upon the Samaritans and confirmed their salvation. The Samaritans also needed to learn that they were subject to apostolic authority. And so that is why we see here that (at this point) the gift must come through Peter and John. And so it says in…

Acts 8:17-19 (ESV)— 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

A Wrong View of The Spirit— And so the third fault in Simons’ theology was that he had a wrong view of the Spirit. [When he saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. Evidently, the believers were speaking in tongues as on the Day of Pentecost so that there was a perceivable sign of this great reality sufficient to arouse Simon’s interest. Philip had impressed him, but Peter and John overwhelmed him. Simon asked them brashly and excitedly, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” He treated the two apostles as though they were fellow practitioners of magic, and was ready to negotiate the price to buy the secret of their power.] And this was not unusual during that time. [Magicians often sold each other their tricks and incantations.]

Expensive Magic— When I was younger I was very much into the world of magic; not this kind of evil magic, but rather the world of illusions. And I would go to the local magic shop that had a huge selection of magic tricks. If my mom had shopping to do, she’d drop me off there and I would be content for hours. But the world of magic is very expensive. Tricks that costed a very small amount of money to make would cost the consumer many times over. And that’s because you’re not just buying the prop; you’re buying the secret. But that’s where my lawn-mowing money went because I wanted to be able to perform the greatest magical illusions.

Not For Sale— Well here, Simon sees Peter and John displaying God’s power and immediately wants to have that same power; which wasn’t bad in and of itself (because we ARE to desire the Holy Spirit and the work He can perform in and through us; but (as we said before) Simon had wrong motivations. It was all about how he was going to use that power of the Holy Spirit; not how he was going to be used BY the Holy Spirit. And not only that, but he went about trying to get that power by attempting to buy it like he would any incantation or magic trick. And [By this act, Simon gave his name to the term “simony,” which through history has referred to the buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices.] However, nothing God has to offer is for sale (and especially not His Holy Spirit). And that’s because there is nothing we have that God could possibly need or benefit Him. However, there is something of ours that God does desire; and that is our love. He is the Great Groom of Heaven who desires followers who will truly love Him as His Bridegroom. And for any who are willing to be His, He will give us His precious gifts. Listen to the words of…

Isaiah 55:1 (ESV)— 55 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Deadly To The Gospel— Now I'm sorry to say that there are millions of people today who are still desperately and futilely striving to earn salvation. Even many of us Christians can fall into that salvation by works mentality. And this is the first time that we really see it expressed in the early Church. And Peter (through whom God is speaking) makes a radical stand against this. And he does so because the Gospel will always die on the threshold of our manufactured attempts to purchase or earn it. It says in…

Acts 8:20 (ESV)— 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

To Hell— By the way, Peter was being more inflammatory here than what most of our translations show. They have been softened from what really should be read (as J.B. Phillips renders it) “To hell with you and your money!” That is the actual sense of Peter’s words. And Peter wasn’t being profane. He was just truthfully declaring Simon’s spiritual condition. And he emphasizes this as he continues, saying…

Acts 8:21-24 (ESV)— 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

No Sugarcoating— Now we see that following his condemnation of Simon, Peter calls for Simon to repent of his sin so that God might forgive him the wickedness of his heart. He doesn't sugarcoat what Simon has done, but lays it out in all of it heinousness and wretchedness. By [using Old Testament expressions for the most serious offenses against God (cf. Deut. 19:18–20), {Peter} warns Simon of the seriousness of his situation: “I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” The phrase gall of bitterness is very strong. Chole (gall) refers to a bitter ingredient or bile. Coupled with pikria (bitterness), it conveys an extremely bitter, harsh, and distasteful condition. It vividly pictures the reality of one in the bondage of iniquity.] Peter wants Simon to recognize it’s severity so that he will have the desire to abandon it. And God often walks us through the same process as well. He wants us to confront our sin and to acknowledge how bad it is so that we might hate as He does.

Becoming Our Pain— I remember sitting in a detention center with a young man who (for years) had been battling drug addiction. I had ministered to him, to his parents, and to his grandparents who were all suffering under the weight of his addiction. And he wanted to turn his life around and did (at least for a little while); but he went back to it, partially because he allowed the influence of his drug-addicted friends to come back into his life. Now eventually he became free, but it was only after the heinousness of his sin and realizing what it had done to him and his family. Now those who loved him could have told him (and did tell him) how bad his sin was and where it would lead. But it wasn’t until he confronted that for himself that he was truly able to repent and pursue a new life. And that is the path Peter tries to put Simon on. The fourth major problem in Simons theology was that he had a wrong view of sin; particularly his sin. And so Peter confronts him with it and calls for Simon to repent and pray for forgiveness.

God Would’ve Forgave— Now if Simon had done so, God definitely would have forgiven him. However, interestingly, Simon is not persuaded to repent. Now he is terrified, but notice that although Peter has told him to repent and to pray to God for forgiveness, instead he asks for Peter to pray on his behalf; and not for God to forgive him, or for God to receive his commitment to turn from his sin, but rather that God would not inflict upon him the punishment Peter described. He only wanted to escape the consequences of his sin; not the sin itself. And sadly, that is the camp many people fall into; even today. People want forgiveness without repentance. But notice how Peter places repentance first. You have to come to God with the intent of truly turning; that’s what Biblical repentance means.

Have You Turned?— What camp do you fall in? Do you pray only that God might withhold punishment from you? Or do you seek the fullness of God and the transforming work He wants to do in you? You and I must repent of all sin; and when we do, we find that in that repentance we receive freely the gift of the Holy Spirit who will empower that change in our lives. Let us do so. Amen.