April 6, 2025 • 38 mins
What happens when a church truly engages with its city? In this thought-provoking message, we explore how authentic faith creates tangible community transformation.
Acts 8 shows us the early church's expansion into Samaria, resulting in "much joy in that city." This wasn't just joy among converts but throughout the entire community. We discover three key principles that make this possible: proclaiming the gospel without prejudice, accompanying the Word with meaningful deeds, and understanding that only transformed people--by God's grace--can transform cities.
The contrast between Philip and Simon the magician reveals everything about motivation. Philip performed miracles to direct people to Christ, while Simon sought spiritual power for self-glorification—a temptation we all face when serving others. Even Simon's apparent conversion (belief and baptism) wasn't genuine transformation.
When we become authentic followers who preach the word, serve others compassionately without prejudice, and experience genuine heart transformation, we become catalysts for community change.
Are you bringing joy, peace and unity to your city? We cannot give others what we don't possess ourselves. Let's pursue authentic transformation through Jesus so that we can point others towards Him.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So Acts, chapter 8, verse 1, says great lamentation
over him.
But Saul was ravaging thechurch and entering house after
house, he dragged off men andwomen and committed them to
prison.
Now those who were scatteredwent about preaching the word.
Philip went down to the city ofSamaria and proclaimed to them
the Christ.
And the crowds, with one accord, paid attention to what was
(00:39):
being said by Philip when theyheard him and saw the signs that
he did, for unclean spiritscrying out with a loud voice
came out of many who had them,and many who were paralyzed or
lame were healed.
So there was much joy in thatcity.
But there was a man named Simonwho had previously practiced
magic in the city and amazed thepeople of Samaria, saying that
(01:00):
he himself was somebody great.
They all paid attention to him,from the least to the greatest,
saying this man is the power ofGod that is called great.
And they paid attention to himbecause for a long time he had
amazed them with his magic.
But when they believed Philip,as he preached good news about
the kingdom of God in the nameof Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women.
Even Simon himself believed,and after being baptized he
(01:25):
continued with Philip and seeingsigns and great miracles
performed, he was amazed.
Now when the apostles atJerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, theysent to them Peter and John, who
came down and prayed for themthat they might receive the Holy
Spirit, for he had not yetfallen on any of them, but they
had only been baptized in thename of the Lord Jesus.
(01:48):
Then they laid their hands onthem and they received the Holy
Spirit.
Now, when Simon saw that theSpirit was given through the
laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying
Give me this power also, thatanyone on whom I lay my hands
may receive the Holy Spirit.
But Peter said to him May yoursilver perish with you, because
you thought you could obtain thegift of God with money.
(02:09):
You have neither part nor lotin this matter, for your heart
is not right before.
God Repent, therefore, of thiswickedness of yours and pray to
the Lord that, if possible, theintent of your heart may be
forgiven you, for I see that youwere in the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity.
Simon answered pray for me tothe Lord that nothing of what
(02:29):
you have said may come upon meNow, when they had testified and
spoken the word of the Lord.
They returned to Jerusalempreaching the gospel to many
villages of the Samaritans.
This is the word of the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Thanks be to God.
A real church full of realfollowers of Jesus will
inevitably greatly positivelyimpact their city.
Now say it again A real churchfull of real followers of Jesus
will inevitably greatlypositively impact their city.
(03:09):
We support a missionary coupleby the name of Anthony and
Victoria Santiago.
They are church planters newchurch planters in Alicante,
spain, and last weekend they hadchurch on the beach.
I'm preaching at the wrongchurch.
(03:30):
We preached the church underthe water or something like that
, but had church on the beach,baptized seven new believers,
just wonderful.
And one of the ladies, a Spanishlady that was baptized.
Her name is Raphael and Raphael.
Three weeks before she wasbaptized she was going through a
(03:55):
horrible season of depression.
She had no idea what to do.
She couldn't find help.
So she got onto AI and shetyped in what can I do to help
my depression?
True story AI said go toAlicante church.
(04:18):
That's where she lived.
She'd never been to churchbefore.
She showed up willing to tryanything, heard the gospel,
received Christ Three weekslater was baptized, hallelujah.
Guys, listen.
I want real life to be the kindof place that makes such an
(04:40):
impact on the city that even AIsaying you need help.
Go to real life.
Come on somebody.
Would that be all right?
Let me just have you ponder aquestion for a moment.
Honestly, if you're part ofthis church, let me just ask you
is Richmond better off becausereal life is here?
(05:02):
Is Richmond better off becausereal life is here?
Is Richmond better off becausereal life is here?
Let me just make it a littlebit more personal for you today.
Are the people in your, let'ssay, sphere of influence?
Are they better off becauseyou're in their life, because of
your relationship with the Lord, jesus Christ Boy, that's what
(05:24):
I want in my personal life,that's what I want for real life
.
In our text today we find theearly church, a group of
Christians profoundly impactinga city.
In Acts 8, in our text, thechurch extends beyond Jerusalem
and now moves into Judea andSamaria.
(05:45):
And Luke, who wrote the book ofActs, he talks about in the
first several verses of chaptereight.
He talks about the ministrythat's happening by the church
in Samaria and then in verseeight, he pens these words.
In verse 8, he pens these wordsso there was much joy in that
(06:13):
city.
Notice he doesn't say so.
The converts had much joy.
The new believers had so muchjoy.
Of course they had joy.
The city was greatly impactedin a positive way because of the
church's presence in Samaria.
This should be the norm.
In Proverbs 11, verse 10, itsays when it goes well with the
(06:34):
righteous, the city rejoices.
Oh that as we prosper and wegrow, god is blessing us.
Listen, my heart is not justthat we would grow in numbers
here and that we would be ableto build bigger buildings and
all of those things.
No, my aim is that as Godprospers us, that the city will
(06:57):
feel it, that our joy and whatwe have will echo, reverberate
throughout Richmond and thesurrounding counties.
I think we can learn somethings.
I hope you want to impact yourcity along with me, but we can
(07:17):
learn some things from the earlychurch in our text today.
So let me just quickly give youthree principles, three
principles of an impactfulchurch.
Number one an impactful churchproclaims the gospel without
prejudice.
Verses one through three tell usthat persecution was fiercely
(07:40):
ramped up in Jerusalem.
You've got thousands uponthousands of believers.
Stephen, as we read, talkedabout last week, was just
martyred and people are beingdragged out of their homes and
imprisoned and all of thesedifferent things beaten, and so
all these believers scatterMultitudes except the apostles.
(08:03):
The apostles stay.
Well, what the enemy means forharm, god means for good.
Amen.
What happens?
You remember in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8?
That's like the theme verse forthe book of Acts.
It serves as an outline.
Jesus said to his apostles whenthe Holy Spirit comes upon you,
you will be my witnesses inJerusalem, judea, samaria and
(08:25):
the uttermost parts of the earth.
Up to this point the gospel haspretty much been contained to
Jerusalem.
But now the believers are runout of Jerusalem by their
persecutors, which is meant tohurt them, but God just uses it
to fulfill his mission.
So when things look chaotic inyour life, just remember God's
(08:51):
throne has not been abdicated,his purposes have not been
thwarted.
Amen, amen.
What did the believers do whenthey were scattered?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
Look at verse four.
Now those who were scattered.
What'd they go about doing?
Preaching the word.
Now Jesus in Acts 1.8, he wastalking to whom when he said
(09:15):
you'll be my witnesses, theapostles.
So it might be tempting toassume that when Jesus says that
you know what, that the gospelneeds to be preached in all
these places and to theuttermost parts of the earth,
that that is the job of theapostle or the pastor or the
evangelist.
But who's doing the preachinghere?
(09:38):
The ordinary believers.
The apostles aren't even there.
They're in Jerusalem.
But all of these believers, whoare scattered, go to Samaria and
Judea and they preach thegospel, tell people about Jesus
(09:58):
Philip, who is a deacon, not anapostle.
In verse 5, it says that hewent around proclaiming Christ.
Not all of you are called tovocational ministry, but every
one of you, if you are in Christ, you are called to proclaim the
Lord, jesus Christ, to thosewho are far from God.
So here it is.
You can write this down.
It is incumbent upon everybeliever to share the gospel.
(10:27):
And you know what?
If we want to truly transform acity, the only way that's going
to happen is by the power ofthe gospel.
Romans 1, verse 16, for I'm notashamed, paul writes of the
gospel, for it is the power ofGod and to salvation for all who
believe, first the Jew, andthen to the Greek or the Gentile
(10:48):
.
You know, christians should benice.
Christians should do nicethings.
Some of you need to write thisdown.
But listen, those things inthemselves will not transform a
city.
Worldly, people can be nice.
Worldly, people serverelentlessly other people.
That doesn't.
(11:10):
It helps the city, but itdoesn't transform a city.
What transforms a city is thegospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
amen.
And so we must share the gospeland we must do it without
prejudice.
The people who are scattered,remember who are going into
these cities and preaching thegospel.
They are Jewish Christians, andso you may not see anything
(11:35):
about prejudice in here oravoiding prejudice, but it's
there.
Many of you know this, butmaybe some of you don't, so I'll
just mention it.
So the Jews, many of them whoare scattered, are in Samaria
preaching the gospel, and thereis bad blood.
There has been bad bloodbetween the Jews and the
Samaritans.
The Jews have a great disdainfor the Samaritan people.
(12:02):
The Samaritans were Jewishpeople who then intermarried
with Gentiles at some point inJewish history.
By the way, do you know?
There's still a sect ofSamaritans in Israel?
There's about 800 to 900Samaritans left.
Fun fact, the Jews intermarriedwith Gentiles and they
(12:28):
developed their own sect ofJudaism.
The Samaritans only acceptedthe first five books of the Old
Testament as scripture, theTorah, okay.
So they basically denied thelion's share of the Hebrew Bible
.
That the Jews said is the wordof God.
The tension was so what wouldyou say?
(12:54):
Deep or intense that's the wordI'm looking for Between these
two groups.
So, when you were going fromJudea to Galilee, the quickest
route would be to go throughSamaria.
Now, the Jews most people wouldgo through Samaria from place
(13:15):
to place, but the Jews, thedevout Jews, they would go the
long way around, the moretreacherous way, just to avoid
coming into contact with aSamaritan.
If you ever just you know thisis real life If you ever had
somebody that you see them inthe grocery store and you just
go to the other side, or youleave or you go to another
(13:38):
grocery store.
Thank you for your confession.
Did you see Hunter in there?
Guys, listen, taking the longway around, how many of you like
take the scenic route?
Sometimes I love it.
Nikki gets so mad at me.
Like I like taking the oldcountry.
(14:00):
It can take an hour to getsomewhere that would normally
take five minutes if you gothrough town, and I'll take it,
just because I love to drive, Ilove the scenery.
You know what, though, back inthe ancient world, when you
don't have, you know, a car ortruck or SUV or minivan, when
you're walking or riding on theback of an animal.
You're not taking the scenicroute You're.
(14:21):
You're getting to.
You know you're going to takethe shortest distance to get to
a point A, to point B.
That's how much the Jews loathedthe Samaritans, loathed the
Samaritans.
And yet here are these brandnew Christians making a beeline
(14:42):
to Samaria.
Listen to me there is no roomin the church for prejudice.
Let me point out one more thing.
Look at verse 14.
Now, when the apostles atJerusalem heard that Samaria had
received for them the word ofGod, they sent to them Peter and
(15:02):
John, two of the apostles whocame down and prayed for them
that they might receive the HolySpirit, for he had not yet
fallen on any of them, but theyhad only been baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus.
Then the apostles laid theirhands on them and they received
the spirit.
Now when Simon we'll talk aboutSimon in a moment saw that the
(15:23):
spirit was given through thelaying on of the apostles' hands
, he offered them money, sayinggive me this power also, so that
anyone on whom I lay my handsmay receive the spirit.
This is curious.
What is this all about?
You remember in Acts 2, whenPeter preached and all the
(15:44):
people were cut to the heart andthey wanted to know what do we
do with this?
Peter didn't say.
All he said was repent and bebaptized for the remission of
sins and the gift of the HolySpirit.
He did not say repent, bebaptized and let us lay hands on
you.
There's no indication that the3,000 men, plus women and
(16:04):
children, who were saved onPentecost, that the apostles
laid hands on every single oneof them.
I guess they did baptize them,so in some sense they had
contact, but there's nowhere inthe scripture that tells us that
that has to happen in order toreceive the Holy Spirit.
Why did they go then?
Why did Peter and John leaveJerusalem and come all the way
to Samaria?
I'll tell you why.
Because the apostles needed tovalidate that the Samaritans
(16:33):
were welcome into the kingdom ofGod just as much as the Jew.
We know.
When the apostles laid hands onthe Samaritans, we know
something happened, some outwardmanifestation happened.
What was it?
The reason we know that, by theway, is because Simon wanted to
buy the power.
Nothing happened like why wouldI want that?
(16:56):
You know, something miraculoushappened.
So what was it?
We don't know, but I just wantto speculate.
I think it was the gift oftongues.
Why Not?
Because every believer thatgets the Holy Spirit speaks in
(17:16):
tongues.
That's not the reason.
The reason is this I think thatthe Samaritans had to have
their own mini Pentecost.
And here's why.
Because if they didn'texperience, you know, when the
gospel broke into their people,if they didn't experience
(17:38):
something similar to what theJews experienced, they would
have always been seen assecond-tier Christians.
So I think, as the gospel isbreaking into Samaria, I think
that's what's happening here,but the point is the apostles
wanted to validate that.
Listen, think of this.
Not only do they go to Samaria,but they are welcoming them
(18:00):
into the kingdom of God, whichmeans we hated each other, but
now we're brothers and sistersin Christ.
Welcome to the family.
That's what Christianity shoulddo.
Pretty unbelievable, isn't it?
Listen, our world is so divided.
How many know that we need tobe part of bringing people
(18:23):
together that will bring joy toa city?
John piper, wonderful pastor,one of my favorite preachers,
grew up in Greenville, southCarolina.
John is in his late 70s and sohe grew up when Greenville was
plagued with deep racism.
Piper recalls that when he wasnine, segregation was just so
(18:51):
rampant Public swimming pools,drinking fountains, schools,
hospital waiting rooms, dentalwaiting rooms and the like.
They were all extremelysegregated.
As bad as that news was, theworst news is that that
segregation bled over into thechurch.
There's a university,fundamentalist university,
(19:12):
conservative Christianuniversity, called Bob Jones
Jones, right there in Greenvilleand Greenville.
Do you know that they would notenroll black students until
1971?
Are you stinking kidding me?
When they started enrollingblack students, they would only
enroll for a long time marriedpeople, lest a single person
(19:37):
marry someone not of their race.
How embarrassing, how horrible.
John Piper's church, hisfundamentalist church, in 1962,
voted 1962, guys, this isn'tthat long ago voted to not allow
(19:59):
black people to come to theirchurch.
Here's what he writes.
Piper so heartbreaking, he says, as I recall, my mother was the
lone voice on a Wednesday nightto vote on this motion, to vote
(20:22):
no on this motion.
He said in December of thatyear my sister was married in
that church and my motherinvited Lucy's whole family to
come.
Lucy was an African-Americanlady very close to the Pipers,
he writes.
They came to the wedding and Iremember an incredibly tense and
(20:43):
awkward moment as they came tothe door of the foyer, which
must have taken incrediblecourage.
The ushers didn't know what todo.
One was about to usher them tothe balcony, which had barely
been used since the church wasbuilt.
He writes my mother, all fivefeet two inches of her,
intervened by herself, took thefamily by the arm and seated
(21:08):
them right on the main floor andhe said oh, how thankful I am
for the conviction and courageof my gutsy Yankee,
fundamentalist mother.
You know, prejudice is generallynot that overt, but let me just
be honest.
Every one of us, every singleperson, at some point is tempted
(21:33):
to allow prejudice to creepinto their life.
It may not be race, it might berace.
It might be prejudice against apolitical party, a gender, and
we could go on and on.
In a social class.
I'll say it again, there's noroom for prejudice within the
(21:56):
church.
I better move on.
Number two an impactful churchmust accompany the word with
deeds.
Verses six and seven.
And the crowds, with one accord, paid attention what was being
said by phil Philip, when theyheard him and saw the signs that
(22:18):
he did, for unclean spiritscrying out with a loud voice
came out of many who had themand many were who were paralyzed
or lame, were healed.
If we do not minister to thephysical, let's say practical
needs of others.
They will generally not listento what we have to say.
(22:41):
You think.
Look at the life of Jesus on theearth.
Did he not minister to thephysical needs of people?
Didn't he heal the sick?
Didn't he feed the hungry?
Didn't he welcome the outcast?
Didn't he go to the broken andthe marginalized?
Blessed is the poor.
He did, and in John 14, 15, and16 and other places in the New
(23:08):
Testament, it's clear that Jesusexpects his followers to
emulate him.
In that sense we are called tobear fruit, which means in part,
yes, again, we are to preachthe word, but we ought to care
not just for the spiritual butthe physical needs of people.
You know, our church can begreat joy to the city when we
(23:31):
compassionately andsacrificially, by the spirit,
work to meet the practical needsof other people, when you guys
serve the homeless like you have, when you you remember the some
of you that have been here awhile remember the.
We used to go to the halfwayhouse.
(23:52):
These were inmates that weretransitioning back into the
normal world and I would gothere with a couple other people
we teach, but then they startedcoming to church pre-COVID, I'm
telling you, I was there forseveral years and I'm telling
you the way that you guysministered to them, it
(24:12):
absolutely changed theatmosphere of that place,
absolutely changed it.
See, when we take care of theneeds of people, the city
(24:33):
rejoices when we do those things.
We've got to guard fromsomething.
We've got to guard frompointing the finger to ourselves
, let's say wanting the gloryfor ourselves.
We must point others when weserve them, onto the glory of
(24:55):
Christ.
In our text we see two men thatare pointed out, particularly
One, philip, as we've seen, thedeacon, and then this man by the
name of Simon, simon themagician.
Philip, when he ministeredwe've already seen that he's
done these great signs andwonders, but his aim in doing so
was to point people beyondhimself onto the Lord Jesus
(25:18):
Christ.
In verse 12, it says theybelieve this would be the
Samaritans.
They believe Philip as hepreached good news about the
kingdom and the name of Jesus,and they were baptized, both men
and women.
Philip was about pointingpeople on to the Lord and we
know that because they werebaptized, they were expressing
(25:42):
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then we have Simon thehoroscope writer, simon the
sorcerer, simon the DavidCopperfield the magician, acts 8
, verses 9 through 11.
There was a man named Simon whohad previously practiced magic
in the city and amazed thepeople of Samaria, saying watch
(26:06):
this, that he himself wassomebody great.
And they all paid attention tohim, from the least to the
greatest, saying this man is thepower of God and it's called
great.
And they paid attention to himbecause for a long time he had
amazed people with his magic.
(26:27):
You see a theme here.
It's all about Simon.
Now you could argue well,that's before he responded to
the gospel, because it does saythat Simon was one of the ones
who believed and was baptized.
(26:49):
Okay, but as we read earlier,when the apostles came and laid
hands on the people and theyreceived the Holy Spirit, what
did Simon want, you remember?
He said oh, how much for thatpower, how much can I give you?
Why?
Because Simon's heart had notreally changed.
(27:09):
He still wanted the glory, hewanted the spotlight, he wanted
the attention.
The motive behind serving peoplereally matters, really matters.
Okay, how many have ever seenthe old black and white movie
citizen cane?
Anybody?
Uh, it's very, very popularmovie.
(27:30):
Um, it tells the story of a, afictional character named
charles foster cane, who becamerich beyond his wildest dreams.
He bought several newspaperorganizations around the country
and other businesses and hejust man, he was loaded and he
also had he wielded somepolitical power.
(27:51):
He never was voted in theoffice, but man, he took the
stage and he was claimed to befighting for the working man and
he was super generous with hismoney.
I mean, he helped as manypeople as he could.
But yet he had built a mansionand at the end of his life he
died in this big mansion alone.
(28:13):
You say, well, why wouldsomebody so generous be
abandoned like that?
Well, the people figured outthat Foster Kane served them.
As a matter of fact, this comesto a head At the very end of
(28:35):
the movie.
Cain's second wife, susanAlexander, is divorcing him and
she's got her bags packed andshe breaks the news to him and
she's walking out the door andhe stops her and he says I love
you, please don't leave.
(28:58):
And here's how she respondsLove you, don't love anybody, me
or anybody else.
You want to be loved.
That's all you want.
And he replied I am CharlesFoster Kane.
Whatever you want, just name itand it's yours Only.
(29:19):
Love me, don't expect me tolove you.
It's a bit of honesty, and Ijust wonder how many Christians
some we all have to guard fromwhen we serve other people.
Oh, isn't it tempting to do soso that we can be seen as loving
and kind and generous and thatpeople would lavish us with
(29:44):
praise something we have tofight every day, something
preachers have to fight everytime they get behind the pulpit.
That we would preach out of alove for you and a love for God,
that we wouldn't do this tohear, oh, what a great speaker
after church, but that we woulddo this so that somebody might
(30:04):
declare, oh, what a great saviorwe have.
It's a fight we all have tobattle with.
We must point people in ourserving, not to our church, so
that they say, oh man, real lifeman, they're just awesome.
No, we point them on to jesuschrist.
It's not a marketing ploy toserve people.
(30:25):
Oh, it's about jesus.
Which brings me to my finalpoint.
Only transformed people cantransform a city.
Verse 13,.
Even Simon himself believed.
So this is Simon the sorcerer.
And after being baptized, hecontinued with Philip and,
(30:46):
seeing signs and great miraclesperformed, he was amazed.
So just keep track of this,simon.
In many ways doesn't he hereappear to be a Christian,
believed, baptized.
He follows Philip, which meanshe joins a community, for all
intents and purposes a localchurch, and he's even amazed as
(31:09):
he sees the signs of God.
Amazed.
Yet the apostles reveal theydiscern that his faith is a sham
.
So look, I think it's verse 20.
Peter says to him, when he triesto buy the gift of the Holy
(31:29):
Spirit.
He says May your silver perishwith you, boy.
Those are strong words, becauseyou thought you could obtain
the gift of God with money.
Now listen to what Peter says.
You have neither part nor lotin this matter.
We talk all the time aboutbeing a real follower of Jesus
(31:50):
rather than a nominal Christian.
It's what keeps me, as a pastor, up at night.
This guy looks saved.
He probably even convincedhimself that he was saved, but
he wasn't.
He says.
Peter says your heart is notright before God.
A true Christian doesn't justhave change outwardly.
(32:14):
That's called moralism.
A true Christian has a heartthat is changed by the Holy
Spirit.
So Peter cries out to himrepent, therefore, of this
wickedness and pray to the Lordthat, if possible, the intent of
your heart may be forgiven.
Now watch this.
I see that you are in the gallof bitterness and the bond of
(32:36):
iniquity.
So here it is.
His heart's not right.
He's still eaten up withbitterness, jealous, mad Not the
sign of a Christian bitter, andhe's in the bond of iniquity.
Now, christians sin from timeto time, but the Bible is clear
that when you become a Christianyou are no longer bound by sin.
(32:59):
He is still in the bond ofiniquity.
And what this tells us andplease listen to me, oh, church
goer church membership will notsave you.
Baptism will not save you.
It's faith alone that saves you.
Is baptism important?
Absolutely?
But it's not the water, it'snot holy water Come on, this
(33:23):
comes out of the tap.
It's not even bottled water.
If you don't have faith in God,if you have not repented of
your sins, you go down a drycenter and you come up a wet
center.
That's it.
We are saved by grace alone,through faith alone in christ
(33:44):
alone.
And watch this even simon'slevel of belief won't save you.
He doesn't say he believed,doesn't john 3, 16 say that
whosoever believes in him willnot perish but have eternal life
.
Yep, that's why we have to takethe whole Bible in context.
The Bible also says repent andbelieve.
The gospel Peter said repentand be baptized for the
remission of sins, the gift ofthe Holy Spirit.
See, repentance and belief.
(34:09):
They're two sides of the samecoin.
Simon believed intellectually inChrist.
He was seeing these miracles.
He believed in the power of God.
But doesn't James say that thedemons of hell believe and they
shudder with fear?
I believe Simon didn't evenhave demonic faith because he
(34:33):
believes, but he's not evenscared until the very end.
It's intellectual belief.
Let me just say that that kindof Christian, who's a name-only
Simon kind of Christian, willnot change a city.
Watch this.
(34:54):
We cannot give someone, wecan't give a city something we
don't have.
If we're going to bring joy toa city, we've got to have the
joy of Christ.
If we're going to bring peaceto the city, we've got to have
the peace of Christ.
If we're going to be unity tothe city, we can't be prejudice.
We've got to be united.
We've got to be, as we like tosay around here, real, real.
(35:23):
If you're here today and I justlisten, you might come to church
every week.
And let me say this my goal isnever to get true christians to
doubt their salvation.
I believe we can have anassurance in Christ, but I just
want you to know.
You can come here week afterweek after week, and you know
what I think the most soberingtext is in the Bible.
(35:43):
It's Matthew, I believe,chapter 7, when Jesus says Many
will say to me on that day, theday of judgment, lord, lord,
listen to me, church.
And he'll say turn from me, Inever knew you.
What's their response?
Lord, we did mighty works inyour name.
We cast out demons in your name.
(36:03):
Anybody done that this week?
Yet those people, we'd say well, that person's saved, look what
they did.
Nope, miracles are not thelitmus test for a true believer.
Turn from me, you doer ofiniquity.
Jesus will say I never knew you.
So for us, what would that say?
Well, some of you might say onthat day, I hope not.
(36:25):
I hope you hear well done, goodand faithful servant.
But if you don't repent, youmight hear on that day turn from
me, I never knew you.
But, lord, we went to churchevery week.
Lord, we taught Sunday school.
Lord, I preached.
Preaching doesn't save anybody,you know.
It doesn't save the preacher.
Lord, I greeted at the door.
(36:48):
Lord man, I was faithful, Ieven sat up front.
You get extra points for that,but it doesn't save you, guys.
Only the gospel is the power ofGod to salvation.
And to receive the gospelyou've got to repent, which
(37:11):
means you turn from your sin andyou turn to the Lord.
He's not just Savior of yourlife, he has to be Lord of your
life, which means you get offthe throne of your own life.
You don't live like you want.
Does baptism save you?
The water doesn't, but peoplesay, well, is it necessary for
salvation?
Why do you ask?
Jesus said do it, do it.
(37:32):
Well, do I have to go to churchto be a Christian?
Why do you ask?
That's a stupid question.
The Bible says do not forsakethe gathering together.
It's dumb, isn't it?
Hunter?
Quit asking stuff.
Do I have to?
What you're wanting to do isget to heaven by the skin of
your teeth.
That's not a Christian.
A Christian says oh Lord, Iwant to do everything, every jot
(37:53):
and tittle, that you've askedme to do, lord, to do everything
, every jot and tittle thatyou've asked me to do, lord, I
want to do it.
So may we be real followers ofJesus, who preached the word to
the lost, who served the peoplewith compassion and without
prejudice, and may you and may Ibe transformed people.
And then, by God's grace, let'stransform Richmond.
(38:15):
Amen.
I want AI someday soon to tellsomebody in Richmond you need
help Get to real life.
Hallelujah, stand with me.
So Acts, chapter 8, verse 1, says great lamentation
over him.
But Saul was ravaging thechurch and entering house after
house, he dragged off men andwomen and committed them to
prison.
Now those who were scatteredwent about preaching the word.
Philip went down to the city ofSamaria and proclaimed to them
the Christ.
And the crowds, with one accord, paid attention to what was
(00:39):
being said by Philip when theyheard him and saw the signs that
he did, for unclean spiritscrying out with a loud voice
came out of many who had them,and many who were paralyzed or
lame were healed.
So there was much joy in thatcity.
But there was a man named Simonwho had previously practiced
magic in the city and amazed thepeople of Samaria, saying that
(01:00):
he himself was somebody great.
They all paid attention to him,from the least to the greatest,
saying this man is the power ofGod that is called great.
And they paid attention to himbecause for a long time he had
amazed them with his magic.
But when they believed Philip,as he preached good news about
the kingdom of God in the nameof Jesus Christ, they were
baptized, both men and women.
Even Simon himself believed,and after being baptized he
(01:25):
continued with Philip and seeingsigns and great miracles
performed, he was amazed.
Now when the apostles atJerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, theysent to them Peter and John, who
came down and prayed for themthat they might receive the Holy
Spirit, for he had not yetfallen on any of them, but they
had only been baptized in thename of the Lord Jesus.
(01:48):
Then they laid their hands onthem and they received the Holy
Spirit.
Now, when Simon saw that theSpirit was given through the
laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying
Give me this power also, thatanyone on whom I lay my hands
may receive the Holy Spirit.
But Peter said to him May yoursilver perish with you, because
you thought you could obtain thegift of God with money.
(02:09):
You have neither part nor lotin this matter, for your heart
is not right before.
God Repent, therefore, of thiswickedness of yours and pray to
the Lord that, if possible, theintent of your heart may be
forgiven you, for I see that youwere in the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity.
Simon answered pray for me tothe Lord that nothing of what
(02:29):
you have said may come upon meNow, when they had testified and
spoken the word of the Lord.
They returned to Jerusalempreaching the gospel to many
villages of the Samaritans.
This is the word of the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Thanks be to God.
A real church full of realfollowers of Jesus will
inevitably greatly positivelyimpact their city.
Now say it again A real churchfull of real followers of Jesus
will inevitably greatlypositively impact their city.
(03:09):
We support a missionary coupleby the name of Anthony and
Victoria Santiago.
They are church planters newchurch planters in Alicante,
spain, and last weekend they hadchurch on the beach.
I'm preaching at the wrongchurch.
(03:30):
We preached the church underthe water or something like that
, but had church on the beach,baptized seven new believers,
just wonderful.
And one of the ladies, a Spanishlady that was baptized.
Her name is Raphael and Raphael.
Three weeks before she wasbaptized she was going through a
(03:55):
horrible season of depression.
She had no idea what to do.
She couldn't find help.
So she got onto AI and shetyped in what can I do to help
my depression?
True story AI said go toAlicante church.
(04:18):
That's where she lived.
She'd never been to churchbefore.
She showed up willing to tryanything, heard the gospel,
received Christ Three weekslater was baptized, hallelujah.
Guys, listen.
I want real life to be the kindof place that makes such an
(04:40):
impact on the city that even AIsaying you need help.
Go to real life.
Come on somebody.
Would that be all right?
Let me just have you ponder aquestion for a moment.
Honestly, if you're part ofthis church, let me just ask you
is Richmond better off becausereal life is here?
(05:02):
Is Richmond better off becausereal life is here?
Is Richmond better off becausereal life is here?
Let me just make it a littlebit more personal for you today.
Are the people in your, let'ssay, sphere of influence?
Are they better off becauseyou're in their life, because of
your relationship with the Lord, jesus Christ Boy, that's what
(05:24):
I want in my personal life,that's what I want for real life
.
In our text today we find theearly church, a group of
Christians profoundly impactinga city.
In Acts 8, in our text, thechurch extends beyond Jerusalem
and now moves into Judea andSamaria.
(05:45):
And Luke, who wrote the book ofActs, he talks about in the
first several verses of chaptereight.
He talks about the ministrythat's happening by the church
in Samaria and then in verseeight, he pens these words.
In verse 8, he pens these wordsso there was much joy in that
(06:13):
city.
Notice he doesn't say so.
The converts had much joy.
The new believers had so muchjoy.
Of course they had joy.
The city was greatly impactedin a positive way because of the
church's presence in Samaria.
This should be the norm.
In Proverbs 11, verse 10, itsays when it goes well with the
(06:34):
righteous, the city rejoices.
Oh that as we prosper and wegrow, god is blessing us.
Listen, my heart is not justthat we would grow in numbers
here and that we would be ableto build bigger buildings and
all of those things.
No, my aim is that as Godprospers us, that the city will
(06:57):
feel it, that our joy and whatwe have will echo, reverberate
throughout Richmond and thesurrounding counties.
I think we can learn somethings.
I hope you want to impact yourcity along with me, but we can
(07:17):
learn some things from the earlychurch in our text today.
So let me just quickly give youthree principles, three
principles of an impactfulchurch.
Number one an impactful churchproclaims the gospel without
prejudice.
Verses one through three tell usthat persecution was fiercely
(07:40):
ramped up in Jerusalem.
You've got thousands uponthousands of believers.
Stephen, as we read, talkedabout last week, was just
martyred and people are beingdragged out of their homes and
imprisoned and all of thesedifferent things beaten, and so
all these believers scatterMultitudes except the apostles.
(08:03):
The apostles stay.
Well, what the enemy means forharm, god means for good.
Amen.
What happens?
You remember in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8?
That's like the theme verse forthe book of Acts.
It serves as an outline.
Jesus said to his apostles whenthe Holy Spirit comes upon you,
you will be my witnesses inJerusalem, judea, samaria and
(08:25):
the uttermost parts of the earth.
Up to this point the gospel haspretty much been contained to
Jerusalem.
But now the believers are runout of Jerusalem by their
persecutors, which is meant tohurt them, but God just uses it
to fulfill his mission.
So when things look chaotic inyour life, just remember God's
(08:51):
throne has not been abdicated,his purposes have not been
thwarted.
Amen, amen.
What did the believers do whenthey were scattered?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
Look at verse four.
Now those who were scattered.
What'd they go about doing?
Preaching the word.
Now Jesus in Acts 1.8, he wastalking to whom when he said
(09:15):
you'll be my witnesses, theapostles.
So it might be tempting toassume that when Jesus says that
you know what, that the gospelneeds to be preached in all
these places and to theuttermost parts of the earth,
that that is the job of theapostle or the pastor or the
evangelist.
But who's doing the preachinghere?
(09:38):
The ordinary believers.
The apostles aren't even there.
They're in Jerusalem.
But all of these believers, whoare scattered, go to Samaria and
Judea and they preach thegospel, tell people about Jesus
(09:58):
Philip, who is a deacon, not anapostle.
In verse 5, it says that hewent around proclaiming Christ.
Not all of you are called tovocational ministry, but every
one of you, if you are in Christ, you are called to proclaim the
Lord, jesus Christ, to thosewho are far from God.
So here it is.
You can write this down.
It is incumbent upon everybeliever to share the gospel.
(10:27):
And you know what?
If we want to truly transform acity, the only way that's going
to happen is by the power ofthe gospel.
Romans 1, verse 16, for I'm notashamed, paul writes of the
gospel, for it is the power ofGod and to salvation for all who
believe, first the Jew, andthen to the Greek or the Gentile
(10:48):
.
You know, christians should benice.
Christians should do nicethings.
Some of you need to write thisdown.
But listen, those things inthemselves will not transform a
city.
Worldly, people can be nice.
Worldly, people serverelentlessly other people.
That doesn't.
(11:10):
It helps the city, but itdoesn't transform a city.
What transforms a city is thegospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
amen.
And so we must share the gospeland we must do it without
prejudice.
The people who are scattered,remember who are going into
these cities and preaching thegospel.
They are Jewish Christians, andso you may not see anything
(11:35):
about prejudice in here oravoiding prejudice, but it's
there.
Many of you know this, butmaybe some of you don't, so I'll
just mention it.
So the Jews, many of them whoare scattered, are in Samaria
preaching the gospel, and thereis bad blood.
There has been bad bloodbetween the Jews and the
Samaritans.
The Jews have a great disdainfor the Samaritan people.
(12:02):
The Samaritans were Jewishpeople who then intermarried
with Gentiles at some point inJewish history.
By the way, do you know?
There's still a sect ofSamaritans in Israel?
There's about 800 to 900Samaritans left.
Fun fact, the Jews intermarriedwith Gentiles and they
(12:28):
developed their own sect ofJudaism.
The Samaritans only acceptedthe first five books of the Old
Testament as scripture, theTorah, okay.
So they basically denied thelion's share of the Hebrew Bible
.
That the Jews said is the wordof God.
The tension was so what wouldyou say?
(12:54):
Deep or intense that's the wordI'm looking for Between these
two groups.
So, when you were going fromJudea to Galilee, the quickest
route would be to go throughSamaria.
Now, the Jews most people wouldgo through Samaria from place
(13:15):
to place, but the Jews, thedevout Jews, they would go the
long way around, the moretreacherous way, just to avoid
coming into contact with aSamaritan.
If you ever just you know thisis real life If you ever had
somebody that you see them inthe grocery store and you just
go to the other side, or youleave or you go to another
(13:38):
grocery store.
Thank you for your confession.
Did you see Hunter in there?
Guys, listen, taking the longway around, how many of you like
take the scenic route?
Sometimes I love it.
Nikki gets so mad at me.
Like I like taking the oldcountry.
(14:00):
It can take an hour to getsomewhere that would normally
take five minutes if you gothrough town, and I'll take it,
just because I love to drive, Ilove the scenery.
You know what, though, back inthe ancient world, when you
don't have, you know, a car ortruck or SUV or minivan, when
you're walking or riding on theback of an animal.
You're not taking the scenicroute You're.
(14:21):
You're getting to.
You know you're going to takethe shortest distance to get to
a point A, to point B.
That's how much the Jews loathedthe Samaritans, loathed the
Samaritans.
And yet here are these brandnew Christians making a beeline
(14:42):
to Samaria.
Listen to me there is no roomin the church for prejudice.
Let me point out one more thing.
Look at verse 14.
Now, when the apostles atJerusalem heard that Samaria had
received for them the word ofGod, they sent to them Peter and
(15:02):
John, two of the apostles whocame down and prayed for them
that they might receive the HolySpirit, for he had not yet
fallen on any of them, but theyhad only been baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus.
Then the apostles laid theirhands on them and they received
the spirit.
Now when Simon we'll talk aboutSimon in a moment saw that the
(15:23):
spirit was given through thelaying on of the apostles' hands
, he offered them money, sayinggive me this power also, so that
anyone on whom I lay my handsmay receive the spirit.
This is curious.
What is this all about?
You remember in Acts 2, whenPeter preached and all the
(15:44):
people were cut to the heart andthey wanted to know what do we
do with this?
Peter didn't say.
All he said was repent and bebaptized for the remission of
sins and the gift of the HolySpirit.
He did not say repent, bebaptized and let us lay hands on
you.
There's no indication that the3,000 men, plus women and
(16:04):
children, who were saved onPentecost, that the apostles
laid hands on every single oneof them.
I guess they did baptize them,so in some sense they had
contact, but there's nowhere inthe scripture that tells us that
that has to happen in order toreceive the Holy Spirit.
Why did they go then?
Why did Peter and John leaveJerusalem and come all the way
to Samaria?
I'll tell you why.
Because the apostles needed tovalidate that the Samaritans
(16:33):
were welcome into the kingdom ofGod just as much as the Jew.
We know.
When the apostles laid hands onthe Samaritans, we know
something happened, some outwardmanifestation happened.
What was it?
The reason we know that, by theway, is because Simon wanted to
buy the power.
Nothing happened like why wouldI want that?
(16:56):
You know, something miraculoushappened.
So what was it?
We don't know, but I just wantto speculate.
I think it was the gift oftongues.
Why Not?
Because every believer thatgets the Holy Spirit speaks in
(17:16):
tongues.
That's not the reason.
The reason is this I think thatthe Samaritans had to have
their own mini Pentecost.
And here's why.
Because if they didn'texperience, you know, when the
gospel broke into their people,if they didn't experience
(17:38):
something similar to what theJews experienced, they would
have always been seen assecond-tier Christians.
So I think, as the gospel isbreaking into Samaria, I think
that's what's happening here,but the point is the apostles
wanted to validate that.
Listen, think of this.
Not only do they go to Samaria,but they are welcoming them
(18:00):
into the kingdom of God, whichmeans we hated each other, but
now we're brothers and sistersin Christ.
Welcome to the family.
That's what Christianity shoulddo.
Pretty unbelievable, isn't it?
Listen, our world is so divided.
How many know that we need tobe part of bringing people
(18:23):
together that will bring joy toa city?
John piper, wonderful pastor,one of my favorite preachers,
grew up in Greenville, southCarolina.
John is in his late 70s and sohe grew up when Greenville was
plagued with deep racism.
Piper recalls that when he wasnine, segregation was just so
(18:51):
rampant Public swimming pools,drinking fountains, schools,
hospital waiting rooms, dentalwaiting rooms and the like.
They were all extremelysegregated.
As bad as that news was, theworst news is that that
segregation bled over into thechurch.
There's a university,fundamentalist university,
(19:12):
conservative Christianuniversity, called Bob Jones
Jones, right there in Greenvilleand Greenville.
Do you know that they would notenroll black students until
1971?
Are you stinking kidding me?
When they started enrollingblack students, they would only
enroll for a long time marriedpeople, lest a single person
(19:37):
marry someone not of their race.
How embarrassing, how horrible.
John Piper's church, hisfundamentalist church, in 1962,
voted 1962, guys, this isn'tthat long ago voted to not allow
(19:59):
black people to come to theirchurch.
Here's what he writes.
Piper so heartbreaking, he says, as I recall, my mother was the
lone voice on a Wednesday nightto vote on this motion, to vote
(20:22):
no on this motion.
He said in December of thatyear my sister was married in
that church and my motherinvited Lucy's whole family to
come.
Lucy was an African-Americanlady very close to the Pipers,
he writes.
They came to the wedding and Iremember an incredibly tense and
(20:43):
awkward moment as they came tothe door of the foyer, which
must have taken incrediblecourage.
The ushers didn't know what todo.
One was about to usher them tothe balcony, which had barely
been used since the church wasbuilt.
He writes my mother, all fivefeet two inches of her,
intervened by herself, took thefamily by the arm and seated
(21:08):
them right on the main floor andhe said oh, how thankful I am
for the conviction and courageof my gutsy Yankee,
fundamentalist mother.
You know, prejudice is generallynot that overt, but let me just
be honest.
Every one of us, every singleperson, at some point is tempted
(21:33):
to allow prejudice to creepinto their life.
It may not be race, it might berace.
It might be prejudice against apolitical party, a gender, and
we could go on and on.
In a social class.
I'll say it again, there's noroom for prejudice within the
(21:56):
church.
I better move on.
Number two an impactful churchmust accompany the word with
deeds.
Verses six and seven.
And the crowds, with one accord, paid attention what was being
said by phil Philip, when theyheard him and saw the signs that
(22:18):
he did, for unclean spiritscrying out with a loud voice
came out of many who had themand many were who were paralyzed
or lame, were healed.
If we do not minister to thephysical, let's say practical
needs of others.
They will generally not listento what we have to say.
(22:41):
You think.
Look at the life of Jesus on theearth.
Did he not minister to thephysical needs of people?
Didn't he heal the sick?
Didn't he feed the hungry?
Didn't he welcome the outcast?
Didn't he go to the broken andthe marginalized?
Blessed is the poor.
He did, and in John 14, 15, and16 and other places in the New
(23:08):
Testament, it's clear that Jesusexpects his followers to
emulate him.
In that sense we are called tobear fruit, which means in part,
yes, again, we are to preachthe word, but we ought to care
not just for the spiritual butthe physical needs of people.
You know, our church can begreat joy to the city when we
(23:31):
compassionately andsacrificially, by the spirit,
work to meet the practical needsof other people, when you guys
serve the homeless like you have, when you you remember the some
of you that have been here awhile remember the.
We used to go to the halfwayhouse.
(23:52):
These were inmates that weretransitioning back into the
normal world and I would gothere with a couple other people
we teach, but then they startedcoming to church pre-COVID, I'm
telling you, I was there forseveral years and I'm telling
you the way that you guysministered to them, it
(24:12):
absolutely changed theatmosphere of that place,
absolutely changed it.
See, when we take care of theneeds of people, the city
(24:33):
rejoices when we do those things.
We've got to guard fromsomething.
We've got to guard frompointing the finger to ourselves
, let's say wanting the gloryfor ourselves.
We must point others when weserve them, onto the glory of
(24:55):
Christ.
In our text we see two men thatare pointed out, particularly
One, philip, as we've seen, thedeacon, and then this man by the
name of Simon, simon themagician.
Philip, when he ministeredwe've already seen that he's
done these great signs andwonders, but his aim in doing so
was to point people beyondhimself onto the Lord Jesus
(25:18):
Christ.
In verse 12, it says theybelieve this would be the
Samaritans.
They believe Philip as hepreached good news about the
kingdom and the name of Jesus,and they were baptized, both men
and women.
Philip was about pointingpeople on to the Lord and we
know that because they werebaptized, they were expressing
(25:42):
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then we have Simon thehoroscope writer, simon the
sorcerer, simon the DavidCopperfield the magician, acts 8
, verses 9 through 11.
There was a man named Simon whohad previously practiced magic
in the city and amazed thepeople of Samaria, saying watch
(26:06):
this, that he himself wassomebody great.
And they all paid attention tohim, from the least to the
greatest, saying this man is thepower of God and it's called
great.
And they paid attention to himbecause for a long time he had
amazed people with his magic.
(26:27):
You see a theme here.
It's all about Simon.
Now you could argue well,that's before he responded to
the gospel, because it does saythat Simon was one of the ones
who believed and was baptized.
(26:49):
Okay, but as we read earlier,when the apostles came and laid
hands on the people and theyreceived the Holy Spirit, what
did Simon want, you remember?
He said oh, how much for thatpower, how much can I give you?
Why?
Because Simon's heart had notreally changed.
(27:09):
He still wanted the glory, hewanted the spotlight, he wanted
the attention.
The motive behind serving peoplereally matters, really matters.
Okay, how many have ever seenthe old black and white movie
citizen cane?
Anybody?
Uh, it's very, very popularmovie.
(27:30):
Um, it tells the story of a, afictional character named
charles foster cane, who becamerich beyond his wildest dreams.
He bought several newspaperorganizations around the country
and other businesses and hejust man, he was loaded and he
also had he wielded somepolitical power.
(27:51):
He never was voted in theoffice, but man, he took the
stage and he was claimed to befighting for the working man and
he was super generous with hismoney.
I mean, he helped as manypeople as he could.
But yet he had built a mansionand at the end of his life he
died in this big mansion alone.
(28:13):
You say, well, why wouldsomebody so generous be
abandoned like that?
Well, the people figured outthat Foster Kane served them.
As a matter of fact, this comesto a head At the very end of
(28:35):
the movie.
Cain's second wife, susanAlexander, is divorcing him and
she's got her bags packed andshe breaks the news to him and
she's walking out the door andhe stops her and he says I love
you, please don't leave.
(28:58):
And here's how she respondsLove you, don't love anybody, me
or anybody else.
You want to be loved.
That's all you want.
And he replied I am CharlesFoster Kane.
Whatever you want, just name itand it's yours Only.
(29:19):
Love me, don't expect me tolove you.
It's a bit of honesty, and Ijust wonder how many Christians
some we all have to guard fromwhen we serve other people.
Oh, isn't it tempting to do soso that we can be seen as loving
and kind and generous and thatpeople would lavish us with
(29:44):
praise something we have tofight every day, something
preachers have to fight everytime they get behind the pulpit.
That we would preach out of alove for you and a love for God,
that we wouldn't do this tohear, oh, what a great speaker
after church, but that we woulddo this so that somebody might
(30:04):
declare, oh, what a great saviorwe have.
It's a fight we all have tobattle with.
We must point people in ourserving, not to our church, so
that they say, oh man, real lifeman, they're just awesome.
No, we point them on to jesuschrist.
It's not a marketing ploy toserve people.
(30:25):
Oh, it's about jesus.
Which brings me to my finalpoint.
Only transformed people cantransform a city.
Verse 13,.
Even Simon himself believed.
So this is Simon the sorcerer.
And after being baptized, hecontinued with Philip and,
(30:46):
seeing signs and great miraclesperformed, he was amazed.
So just keep track of this,simon.
In many ways doesn't he hereappear to be a Christian,
believed, baptized.
He follows Philip, which meanshe joins a community, for all
intents and purposes a localchurch, and he's even amazed as
(31:09):
he sees the signs of God.
Amazed.
Yet the apostles reveal theydiscern that his faith is a sham
.
So look, I think it's verse 20.
Peter says to him, when he triesto buy the gift of the Holy
(31:29):
Spirit.
He says May your silver perishwith you, boy.
Those are strong words, becauseyou thought you could obtain
the gift of God with money.
Now listen to what Peter says.
You have neither part nor lotin this matter.
We talk all the time aboutbeing a real follower of Jesus
(31:50):
rather than a nominal Christian.
It's what keeps me, as a pastor, up at night.
This guy looks saved.
He probably even convincedhimself that he was saved, but
he wasn't.
He says.
Peter says your heart is notright before God.
A true Christian doesn't justhave change outwardly.
(32:14):
That's called moralism.
A true Christian has a heartthat is changed by the Holy
Spirit.
So Peter cries out to himrepent, therefore, of this
wickedness and pray to the Lordthat, if possible, the intent of
your heart may be forgiven.
Now watch this.
I see that you are in the gallof bitterness and the bond of
(32:36):
iniquity.
So here it is.
His heart's not right.
He's still eaten up withbitterness, jealous, mad Not the
sign of a Christian bitter, andhe's in the bond of iniquity.
Now, christians sin from timeto time, but the Bible is clear
that when you become a Christianyou are no longer bound by sin.
(32:59):
He is still in the bond ofiniquity.
And what this tells us andplease listen to me, oh, church
goer church membership will notsave you.
Baptism will not save you.
It's faith alone that saves you.
Is baptism important?
Absolutely?
But it's not the water, it'snot holy water Come on, this
(33:23):
comes out of the tap.
It's not even bottled water.
If you don't have faith in God,if you have not repented of
your sins, you go down a drycenter and you come up a wet
center.
That's it.
We are saved by grace alone,through faith alone in christ
(33:44):
alone.
And watch this even simon'slevel of belief won't save you.
He doesn't say he believed,doesn't john 3, 16 say that
whosoever believes in him willnot perish but have eternal life
.
Yep, that's why we have to takethe whole Bible in context.
The Bible also says repent andbelieve.
The gospel Peter said repentand be baptized for the
remission of sins, the gift ofthe Holy Spirit.
See, repentance and belief.
(34:09):
They're two sides of the samecoin.
Simon believed intellectually inChrist.
He was seeing these miracles.
He believed in the power of God.
But doesn't James say that thedemons of hell believe and they
shudder with fear?
I believe Simon didn't evenhave demonic faith because he
(34:33):
believes, but he's not evenscared until the very end.
It's intellectual belief.
Let me just say that that kindof Christian, who's a name-only
Simon kind of Christian, willnot change a city.
Watch this.
(34:54):
We cannot give someone, wecan't give a city something we
don't have.
If we're going to bring joy toa city, we've got to have the
joy of Christ.
If we're going to bring peaceto the city, we've got to have
the peace of Christ.
If we're going to be unity tothe city, we can't be prejudice.
We've got to be united.
We've got to be, as we like tosay around here, real, real.
(35:23):
If you're here today and I justlisten, you might come to church
every week.
And let me say this my goal isnever to get true christians to
doubt their salvation.
I believe we can have anassurance in Christ, but I just
want you to know.
You can come here week afterweek after week, and you know
what I think the most soberingtext is in the Bible.
(35:43):
It's Matthew, I believe,chapter 7, when Jesus says Many
will say to me on that day, theday of judgment, lord, lord,
listen to me, church.
And he'll say turn from me, Inever knew you.
What's their response?
Lord, we did mighty works inyour name.
We cast out demons in your name.
(36:03):
Anybody done that this week?
Yet those people, we'd say well, that person's saved, look what
they did.
Nope, miracles are not thelitmus test for a true believer.
Turn from me, you doer ofiniquity.
Jesus will say I never knew you.
So for us, what would that say?
Well, some of you might say onthat day, I hope not.
(36:25):
I hope you hear well done, goodand faithful servant.
But if you don't repent, youmight hear on that day turn from
me, I never knew you.
But, lord, we went to churchevery week.
Lord, we taught Sunday school.
Lord, I preached.
Preaching doesn't save anybody,you know.
It doesn't save the preacher.
Lord, I greeted at the door.
(36:48):
Lord man, I was faithful, Ieven sat up front.
You get extra points for that,but it doesn't save you, guys.
Only the gospel is the power ofGod to salvation.
And to receive the gospelyou've got to repent, which
(37:11):
means you turn from your sin andyou turn to the Lord.
He's not just Savior of yourlife, he has to be Lord of your
life, which means you get offthe throne of your own life.
You don't live like you want.
Does baptism save you?
The water doesn't, but peoplesay, well, is it necessary for
salvation?
Why do you ask?
Jesus said do it, do it.
(37:32):
Well, do I have to go to churchto be a Christian?
Why do you ask?
That's a stupid question.
The Bible says do not forsakethe gathering together.
It's dumb, isn't it?
Hunter?
Quit asking stuff.
Do I have to?
What you're wanting to do isget to heaven by the skin of
your teeth.
That's not a Christian.
A Christian says oh Lord, Iwant to do everything, every jot
(37:53):
and tittle, that you've askedme to do, lord, to do everything
, every jot and tittle thatyou've asked me to do, lord, I
want to do it.
So may we be real followers ofJesus, who preached the word to
the lost, who served the peoplewith compassion and without
prejudice, and may you and may Ibe transformed people.
And then, by God's grace, let'stransform Richmond.
(38:15):
Amen.
I want AI someday soon to tellsomebody in Richmond you need
help Get to real life.
Hallelujah, stand with me.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.