the book of Acts Week 13 | June 8, 2025

Acts 8: 1 - 25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Acts eight, verses one through twenty five. A great
persecution broke out against the Church in Jerusalem, and all
except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly
men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him, but Saul
began to destroy the church. Going from house to house,

(00:21):
he dragged off both men and women and put them
in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word
wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in
Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When crowds heard Philip
and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close
attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits

(00:42):
came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or
lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city. Now,
for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery
in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria.
He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people,
both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed,

(01:04):
this man is rightly called the great Power of God.
They followed him because he had amazed them for a
long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip
as he proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of
God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized,

(01:24):
and he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs
and miracles he saw. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard
that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent
Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed
for the new believers there that they may receive the
Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit had not yet come

(01:46):
on any of them, they had simply been baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John
placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the spirit was given at the
lefe paying of the apostles hands, he offered them money
and said, give me also this ability, so that everyone

(02:06):
on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.
Peter answered, may your money perish with you because you
thought you could buy the gift of God with money.
You have no part or share in this ministry, because
your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness,
and pray to the Lord in the hope that he
may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart,

(02:29):
for I see that you are full of bitterness and
captive to sin. Then Simon answered, pray to the Lord
for me, so that nothing you have said may happen
to me. After they had further proclaimed the word of
the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned
to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. This

(02:51):
is the word of the Lord, you may be seated.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
So as of right now, we're about a third of
the way through the Book of Acts that we've been
studying together. Reason that we are in the Book of
Acts right now is we want to consider how the
early Church devoted themselves to Christ, how they grew together
as followers of Jesus, and how we can use their
example to do the same in our own setting today

(03:15):
in our texts. Last week, we witnessed the murder of Stephen,
and his death triggered a massive counter movement against the
followers of Jesus. It emboldened those who were against the
Early Church to escalate, to ramp up their opposition, and
so what we saw and what we're seeing in our
text today is that followers of Jesus start to flee

(03:36):
from Jerusalem. The reason they were is because it's a
very real risk for them to stay behind the original apostles.
We saw. They stayed in Jerusalem, but for the most part,
the majority of the early Church has dispersed into the
surrounding regions. God did not cause this persecution. God was

(03:57):
not the source of that pain and dysfunction. Oftentimes, something
horrific will happen to us, and then someone trying to
make things better will say, and well, God must have
a plan or God has a purpose for this sort
of insinuating that God is the cause of horrific deeds.
This is not what we see in our text. God
is not the cause of the persecution. However, what we

(04:20):
will see is God redeeming this persecution for good. He
will not allow his good will to be thwarted. This
persecution caused the disciples to basically spread to new places,
teaching more and more people about the finished work of
Jesus Christ. In spite of the pain and the dysfunction,

(04:43):
and the injustice and the hatred, in spite of those
sayings the Lord caused his church to grow. Only this
time it was starting to grow exponentially. The first account
of the Gospel spreading beyond the walls of Jerusalem we
see here in the Book of Acts, was to a
despise neighbor to the north, and frankly, to the original
audience of this book. To anyone who understood the deep

(05:05):
seated animosity that the Jewish people shared with the Samaritans,
this account in our textaday of the Samaritans being welcomed
into the fold of the Church. This would have been
shocking and honestly almost a bit scandalous. How could nearly
a thousand years of hatred and hostility be erased overnight?

(05:27):
How could the Samaritans and the Jews be reconciled each
other so quickly? The Samaritans being welcomed as followers of
Christ into the early Church was a This was a
big deal. It shows us that the reconciliation that's found
in Jesus Christ, this is more than just a reconciliation

(05:50):
of us as individuals with God. To no one follow
Jesus as to be on a path of reconciliation with
people as well. But as you already know in your
own life. Reconciliation is not easy. Reconciliation always brings with
it problems. In our text today, there are two big

(06:15):
problems that need to be addressed, two problems that will
serve as an outline for our time together this morning.
The two problems in our text that we're going to
zoom in this First, the Samaritans. They believed and they
were baptized, but for some reason they did not receive
the Holy Spirit. They put their faith in Jesus, but
the Holy Spirit did not come. That's a problem, what's

(06:36):
going on there. Secondly, the manipulative behavior of Simon the Sorcerer,
which had the potential to sort, to derail, to destroy
the budding Samaritan church. That was a problem to no
one follow Jesus as to be on a path of
reconciliation with God, it is to be on a path
of reconciliation with others. But reconciliation isn't easy. It brings

(06:58):
with it problems. So that's what we're going to be
studying together this morning. That's what we're going to be
applying to our own lives today. So as we're preparing
to do that, let's first pause and pray. So, Holy Spirit,
we are asking you in this moment to open our
eyes to the truth of who we are. How we
can follow you in a path of reconciliation, Holy Spirit.

(07:20):
How can we we live more and more reconciled with
the Heavenly Father. How can we put our faith more
and more into the finished work of Jesus Christ, allowing
that to be the supremacy and the sufficiency for everything
that we need as a piece of our identity of
how we live in this world. And just as importantly, Lord,
help us to live reconciled with other people. Holy Spirit,

(07:43):
teach us to be kingdom bearers, not just kingdom believers,
but kingdom bearers. Help us to bear your Kingdom into
difficult and hard situations. Please gift us with a clear
understanding of who we are in Christ, and help to
live that out. So You're Precious and Holy Name, we
pray those things. Amen. So first, let's zoom in on

(08:07):
problem number one. In the text, the Samaritans believed, and
they were baptized, but they did not receive the Holy Spirit.
Verse five, Philip went down to a city in Samaria
and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip
and saw the signs that he performed. They all paid
close attention to what he said, for with shrieks, impure
spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed

(08:28):
or lame were healed. So there was great joy in
that city when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the
good news of the Kingdom of God in the name
of Jesus Christ. They were baptized, both men and women.
So something to keep in mind is that this is
not the first time that we have met Philip here
in the Book of Acts. We have seen him before.
He was one of the seven leaders who was appointed

(08:50):
for the Benevolence Ministry to the Hellenistic Jews. At the
beginning of Acts, chapter six, right, there was a list
of seven names. First there was Stephen, we talked about
him last week. The second name on that list was Philip,
who were meeting again here. Now we aren't really sure
why Philip chose to go to Samaria. Perhaps we know
he was a Hellenistic Jew. He was foreign born, so

(09:12):
perhaps he's just going home and he had to pass
through the land of Samaria to get there. That's one possibility,
but we're not sure. What we do know is that
the Samaritans did not get along with the Jews. There
was mutual hostility between them. But the question is why
why did they hate each other so much? You see,

(09:36):
surprisingly the Samaritans, they were not gentiles. They were directly
related with the Jews. This map that's up on the
screen you can kind of see where the land of
Samaria is compared to the land of Judea. And something
I want you to keep in mind is that that

(09:57):
Samaria and Judea together, that was the original promised land.
What we mean by that is if the Samaritans they
were also delivered from their slavery in Egypt by Moses.
They also wondered in the wilderness for forty years. The
Samaritans also witnessed God's presence at Mount Sinai. These tribes

(10:17):
of Israel in the Northern Kingdom. They would eventually become
known as Samaritans. The Jews and the Samaritans were directly related.
The Samaritans were not gentiles. They were both descendants of
the original twelve tribes of Israel, and this is how
they became fractured. After King Solomon's death, a son, Rhea
Boham came into power, and Ria Boham really wanted to

(10:40):
make a name for himself. He's very prideful, and so
what he ended up doing was like levied even heavier taxes,
even heavier burdens on the Israelite so that he could
build for himself even more glory. But what ended up
happening is he pushed too hard and the Northern Kingdom
they revolted. They broke off. They said, listen, we are
done with this. They established their own government, their own

(11:02):
capital city known as Samaria. Hence they become known as Samaritans.
They established their own religious customs and their own holy sites.
They did not want to go back to the Temple
in Jerusalem, so they said, well, this is where we're
going to worship instead. Because of this, the Jews they
no longer recognize Samaritans as true Israelites. They accused them

(11:23):
of false worship because they didn't perform their religious rituals
at the Temple as prescribed by the law. The Samaritans
made their sacrifices. They celebrated their Holy Days on Mount Garrizem,
which was a decision that the Jews considered to be blasphemous.
In fact, we see this very thanks sort of coming
to surface in the fourth chapter of John's Gospel when

(11:45):
Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well.
John four nineteen through twenty says, Sir, this woman said
to Jesus, you have to be a prophet, So tell
me why is it that you Jews insists that Jerusalem
is the only place of worship while we Samaritans claim
it is here at Mount Garrizon. Like this was the
main question that this woman had, like why are we broken?

(12:06):
Why are we divided? The fact that Philip himself was
a Hellenistic Jew, someone who was an outsider, someone who
was foreign born, who did not live in Judea, this
may have caused the Samaritans to be just a little
bit more open to what Philip was saying about Jesus.
Without knowing it. Philip may have been the perfect person

(12:27):
to sort of reach across the aisle and share the
finished work of Jesus with them. Philip had something in
common with the Samaritans. We saw a few weeks ago
that the Hellenistic Jews they came for the Feast of Pentecost.
They traveled out like a pilgrimage from their foreign countries.

(12:48):
They came to Jerusalem, they came to the Temple, and
while they were there, they witnessed the Holy Spirit descend
on the apostles, and they started speaking in these foreign
tongues about the good News of Jesus. They heard about
Jesus and the foreign language. This amazed the Hellenistic Jews,
of many of them stayed. Philip was probably among that crowd.

(13:09):
Philip knows what it's like to feel welcomed by the
Hebraic Jews, but also be considered an outsider. At the
same time. He knows what it's like to subconsciously be
considered maybe less important. He knows what it's like to
have tension boil over. As we saw in chapter six.

(13:32):
The Samaritans are sort of similar to this in the
eyes of the Hebraic Jews. Yeah, sure, your descendants of Abraham.
You may be part of the original twelve tribes of Israel,
but you're not really one of us. You're not really
one of us. It's that empathy and perspective that may
have opened the door for Philip to share the Gospel

(13:53):
with the Samaritans. Verse six says when the crowds heard
Philip and saw the signs he performed. They all paid
close attention to what he said, for with shrieks and
pure spirits came out of many, and many who were
paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy
in that city when they believed Philip as he proclaimed
the good news of the Kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus Christ. They were baptized, both men and women.

(14:14):
The Samaritans. They listened, they believed, they responded, they placed
their faith in Jesus. They were baptized. But there's a
huge problem. They did not receive the end, dwell and
gift to the Holy Spirit. So what's going on there?
Did Philip not do a great job of teaching about Jesus?
Did he mess up? Were the Samaritans who are like

(14:35):
Did they not have enough faith? Did they not listen
the right way? Did they not pray the right prayer?
Verse fourteen. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria
had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and
John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the
new believers, that there might be that they might receive

(14:56):
the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit had not yet
come on any of them, they had simply been baptized
into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and
John placed their hands on them, and they received the
Holy Spirit. The Samaritans did not receive the Holy Spirit
until the hate Hebraic Jews the Apostles laid their hands

(15:16):
on them. And in the face of that, the question
immediately becomes, well, why not Why didn't they receive the
Holy Spirit until the apostles laid their hands on them.
What we can't conclude is that it was only by
the laying on of hands that people received the Holy
Spirit and Acts two thirty eight. Peter's words says, each

(15:41):
of you must repent of your sins and turn to God,
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. Then you'll receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. Peter never mentions as a step having
hands laid on you. Likewise, in just a few chapters,
what we're going to see as a gentile named Cornelius,
he's a Roman soldier. We'll learn that he received the

(16:02):
Holy Spirit as he just sat there and listened to Peter.
As he's listening to Peter all of a sudden, Peter's
amazed because he sees the Holy Spirit descending on him
without laying on of hands. So here's here's the today's
passage is. It's not about the mechanics of how the
Holy Spirit is imparted on someone. That's not the point
of the passage. Furthermore, we cannot conclude that the apostles

(16:25):
had some sort of special magical power, as Simon the
Sorcerer is going to think. In fact, within the apostle
Paul's conversion story that we're going to see in Acts
chapter nine, it was a man named Annonius, who lived
in the city of Damascus, which is in the land
of Syria, who was called to lay his hands on him.
Acts nine seventeen says, so Anonius went and found Saul.

(16:47):
He laid his hands on him and said, brother, Saul,
the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road,
he sent me so that you may regain your sight
and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So Antonius, he
wasn't an apostle. He wasn't even an Hebraic Jew. He
was a Hellenistic Jew. He lived in the land of Syria. See,

(17:09):
here is what we're supposed to learn from this. Through
these accounts, what we need to see is that the
Lord is causing reconciliation. There's a closing of the gap
between two people groups who were divided in our text today.

(17:29):
The Lord wanted Peter and John to be there in
the flesh when the Holy Spirit descended on the Samaritans.
The Lord wanted this in order to obliterate this false
idea that some people are less important than others. The
Lord wanted this in order to display something about his kingdom, namely,

(17:51):
all are welcomed at the table. Theologian David Peterson describes
it this way. God withheld the Spirit for his own
relevatory per not because of an adequate teaching on the
part of Philip or an inadequate response on the part
of the Samaritans. The apostles needed to be there as
reliable witnesses on behalf of the Jerusalem Church, not because

(18:12):
it was only their office who could impart the gift
of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Lord wanted
the Samaritans to be fully incorporated into the community of
the Church. But he knew He knew that the Jews
were going to struggle with that. He knew that the
Hebraic Jews were going to struggle with the Samaritans being
incorporated into the life of the Church. So the best

(18:36):
way for the Samaritans to be fully welcomed into the
fold was for the apostles to be there with their
own eyes, face to face when the Holy Spirit descended
on them, showing the Lord has fully received these people.
The Lord has fully welcomed them. The apostles needed to
see this face to face in the flesh, with nothing
lost in translation. In fact, as we've already mentioned, we're

(19:00):
going to see this same exact picture repeating itself in
just a few chapters when Peter enters the home of
a gentile named Cornelius. While there, the Holy Spirit descends
on Cornelius and his family, completely shocking Peter and obliterating
this false notion that Jews are welcomed into God's Kingdom

(19:21):
but gentiles are not. In fact, in the Book of
Acts as a whole, here's the progression that we see.
In chapter six, we are shown that Hellenistic Jews are
just the same as Hebraic Jews when it comes to
like the importance in God's Kingdom. There's no distinction. Then,
in Acts, chapter eight, we see the Samaritans that are
on equal footing with the Jews as well. They are

(19:43):
welcomed into God's kingdom. Then in Acts chapter ten, we're
gonna see that gentiles are on the same footing. We
see this escalation of God saying no, like just when
you think that like there's some us versus them, it's like, no,
they're everyone is welcomed into My kingdom. Here's the point
under the banner of King Jesus. The Samaritans are fully welcomed.

(20:08):
Not only were they received in the God's Kingdom through
the faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, but
they were also on equal footing with everyone else. They
were not second class citizens, like barely squeaking in. They're
not like satellites that get to orbit God's kingdom, but
not exactly the important special people in it. They had

(20:29):
a seat at the table. The Samaritans were the church.
The Samaritans were also the church. So here's a lesson
for us today. To know and follow Jesus, hostility with
other followers of Christ has to die. For you to
know and follow Jesus, your hostility with other followers of

(20:51):
Jesus has to die. There's I'm sure there's good reasons
that we all have, that we've been that we've experienced trauma,
that we're a bit leery of people, that we have
our walls up. We all have good reasons to have
hostility with people. But if you're going to know and
follow Jesus, that has to die. That includes people you dislike.

(21:15):
That includes people with different political views. That includes different
people with different experiences or expectations, people who come from
different cultures, people who do things differently than you do.
People from different generations, people who have different norms or
perspectives that thoroughly annoyed you because you do things like that.

(21:36):
Those with different calls on their life. People who are
obviously passionate about the Lord, but maybe they're passionate about
different things in God's kingdom. People who genuinely know and
follow Jesus but are different than you. Your hostility with
him has to die. To know and follow Jesus, your

(21:57):
hostility with other people who are followers of Jesus has
to die. To be reconciled with God necessarily means that
you're on a path of reconciliation with others. Now, don't
misunderstand Here's what I'm not saying. I am not saying
that we cannot challenge each other. I'm not saying that

(22:19):
we cannot call each other out. I'm not saying that
we cannot disagree. I'm not saying that differences in theology
or practical living, or how we understand who God is,
that these things are no big deal. I'm not saying that.
I'm saying that there's a huge difference between challenging someone

(22:40):
from a posture of love and dismissing someone from a
posture of disdain. That's what I'm saying. There's a huge
difference from you bringing challenge to someone because you love
them and you want to understand their perspective. Maybe you
think here, you're in a dangerous course. So I thoroughly
disagree with that. There's a huge difference between challenging that

(23:02):
from love and just dismissing that, dismissing the whole person
from a posture of disdain. There's a huge difference between
looking for the commonality that we have because of our
unity in Jesus and looking for the differences so that
I don't have to get to know you. There's a
huge difference between those things. Am I looking for my
common ground in Christ? Or am I looking for that
one thing that I can latch onto you that you've

(23:22):
done or said that lets me dismiss you completely? Because
I don't want to get challenged. I don't want to change.
The Samaritans they believed in They were baptized, but they
didn't receive the Holy Spirit until the apostles came and
lay their hands on them. It was through physical touch
that the Samaritans entered the church. The Lord orchestrated face

(23:47):
to face connection and intimacy between two groups who previously
despise each other. The purpose of the laying on the
hands wasn't to conjure the Holy Spirit. It was to
create a clear picture of reconciliation. Do you have a question?
Is that why you keep raising your hand? Hey? Can
we talk afterwards? Is that? Okay? I'll talk to you

(24:07):
after cool? All right, I don't want you to keep
raising your hand. I promise I'll talk to you though.
Oh I like Jesus. We'll talk to you all day
about him. Okay. So here, So here's the deal. What
about you when you're considering? Okay, so I'm listening. I'm
not a Jew I'm not a Samaritan. I can probably

(24:27):
think about people that I disagree with, people like dislike
people I want nothing to do with. What about you?
What are there people? Are their pockets in your heart?
We're distincting, we're disdain What was that aiden? Okay? All right?

(24:48):
Are there pockets in your heart? We're disdain or contempt
or animosity towards other people? Reside in your own heart?
Is there a pocket where you sort of like keep
locked away and you don't want to think about it
or talk about But if you're honest, there is this
disdain and contempt for certain types of people. Is that there?
How is God at working you, inviting you to break

(25:10):
down that wall of hostility that you've either created or
at least embraced. Who are the people that you need
to reconcile with in order to better know and follow Christ?
Just as importantly, who are the people that you need
to stand up for? Who are the people that you
need to stand in the gap with. Who do you
witness being on the outside looking in that the Lord

(25:31):
is calling you sacrifice for them? Stand up, speak up?
Who doesn't have a seat at the table, Who really
needs to have a seat at that table. How can
you help them? How can you serve them? The no
on follow Jesus as to be on a path of
reconciliation with others. In God's kingdom, there aren't important people
and less important people. There are people. The second problem

(25:54):
or text today is the manipulive behavior of Simon the Sorcerer,
which had the potential to wreck the budding Samaritans. Chur
Verse nine says, now, for some time a man named
Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all
the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
and all the people, both high and low, gave them
their attention, and he exclaimed this man is rightly called

(26:14):
the great Power of God. They followed him because he
had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good
news of the Kingdom of God in the name of
Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon
himself believed and was baptized, and he followed Philip everywhere,
astonished by the great signs of miracles that he saw.

(26:35):
As you just got done exploring together, we know that
the Holy Spirits delay and coming. This was not for
This was done for the sake of reconciliation. The Holy
Spirits delay in coming was so there are two types
of two people that have been at cost. This valley
of division has come face to face with each other
and back. Well, God's came was way different than I

(26:55):
ever would have dared to dream. There's a picture of
unity and equality. And we know that that's true because
immediately after that we're showing a picture of the exact
opposite thing. We're showed a picture of division. Right after
we're said, we're showing a picture of unity inequality. This
man named Simon, he had a huge influence over the
Samaritan people, and with him there was necessarily an imbalance

(27:18):
of power. He had connived and manipulated in himself into
a position of prestige, a position of honor. For his
own sake, he has elevated himself over people. Verse nine
says Simon boasted that he was someone great, and all
the people, both high and low, gave him their attention.
Exclaimed this man is rightly called the great power of God.

(27:40):
More than likely this wasn't a like a name that
Simon made for himself. This is or that these people
made for themselves. This is a title that they are
repeating because Simon saying, Hey, this is who I am.
I'm the great power of God. This is probably Simon's
own title for himself. They followed him because he had
amazed him for a long time with his sorcery. The
word sorcery here and the original language literally means magic tricks.

(28:03):
It's like these were purposeful deceptions in order to fool
and amaze people so he could elevate himself. This is
such a strong word that the way that we would
probably interpret it in our own language today is like
black magic. And what that means is that Simon's sorcery.
According to Luke, we should associate that with the demonic.

(28:25):
With all that being said, we learned something really curious
about Simon. After Philip arrives to start speaking about Jesus.
Verse thirteen says, Simon himself believed, and he was baptized,
and he follow Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs
of miracles he saw. Apparently Simon had a religious experience.
He responded, this doesn't necessarily mean that he became an

(28:46):
authentic follower of Christ. He had an emotional experience, But
did he become an authentic follower of Jesus? Look again
at verse thirteen, Simon, what was he amazed by? He
was not an amazed by God's grace. He was not
amazed by God's mercy. He was not amazed by God's
redemptive plan. He wasn't amazed by Jesus. He wasn't even

(29:07):
amazed by God. What was he amazed by? He was
amazed by phillips miracles. Unlike everyone else, the miracles never
pointed Simon towards God. The miracles were the point of themselves.
That Hey, this is like a crazy useful tool. Philip
is really good at doing the same types of things
that I am. I need to learn from this guy.

(29:28):
Maybe he has a few chick tricks up his sleeves
that I can gather. An ironic twist Simon that we
can see is sort of now in the same place
that the Samaritans originally were with him. The Samaritans had
been following Simon around. They were amazed and captivated because
he amazed them with his sorcery. Now Simon is the

(29:51):
one following someone around being amazed and so by writing
this way, Luke is depicting that Simon's current spiritual health
is the exact same thing as what the Samaritans' spiritual
health used to be with him. Simon's current spiritual health
is on the same footing as what the Samaritans' spiritualth
used to be. You're the one this like amazed, and

(30:12):
you're captive ass you're following someone around. So Philip he
sort of took Simon's place, and the Samaritans became liberated. Simon,
on the other hand, he took the Samaritans place in
the story, showing how lost and trapped in sin he
really was. Verse eighteen. When Simon saw the spirit was
given at the laying on of the apostles hands, he
offered them money. He said, give me also this ability,

(30:33):
so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may
receive the Holy Spirit. Peter answered, may your money perish
with you because you thought you could buy the gift
of money of God with money. You have no part
or share in this ministry because your heart is not
right before God. Repent of this wickedness. Pray to the
Lord and the hope that He may forgive you for
having such a thought in your heart. For I see
that you're full of bitterness, that your captive to sin. So,

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according to Peter, Simon was cat to sin. He was
not right before God. In other words, he was at
this point only pretending to be a follower of Jesus.
You are captive to sin. Your heart is not right
before the Lord. You want the power of the Holy
Spirit for your own sake. Simon wanted to elevate himself

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above others. He wanted to be more important so to
gain honor and prestige. At first, Simons sort of does
the religious thing right. He gets baptized, and the hope, well,
if I do this the right way, then then I'll
gain the power of God. He then sort of changes
tactics and he offers money. So he's really just grasping

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out a way of remaining relevant. These people are obviously
buying into this whole Jesus thing, so I need to
become an important person in that movement if I'm going
to sort of keep my power. Peter answered, may your
money perish with you, because you thought you could buy
the gifts of God with money. This phrase, may your

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money perish with you it literally means to hell with
you and your money. This is a warning what will
happen if Simon continues on this road. You're headed for destruction. Simon,
this is a path of destruction. There's irony in Peter's
words on purpose to show how far from God's kingdom
Simon really was. You thought you could buy God's gift.

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You thought you could buy a gift that God is
willing to give you. You thought you could buy the
gift of God. You are so far from God's kingdom, Simon.
God's gift is not something you can earn or buy
or create. It's something that you receive if you humble yourself,

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that you let the Lord have the position in your
heart that you've always reserved for yourself. The Gospel is
about surrendering to Jesus, dying to your old plan so
your own desires, your old ambitions. Peter had to remember
this interaction well into life, because we hear Peter writing
these words in one of his epistles to a church First.

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Peter five to two says, care for the flock that
God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly,
not for what you'll get out of it, but because
you're eager to serve God, don't be self centered, and
how you're going about teaching people to know and follow Jesus. Later,
church history would prove Peter's worst fears about Simon correct.

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We learn from the post Apostolic historians like Justin the Martyr,
that Simon would eventually lead like thousands and thousands of
Christians astray as he becomes the face of Christian nacissism,
which we studied about when we looked at the Book
of Colossians, Like Simon the Sorcerer is a very important
person in that movement of Christian nacissism. So, friends, here's

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the point. We see this attitude to Simon the Sorcerer
alive and well in our world today. People often use
God as a means to an end. Right. They try religion,
they go to church. I try to be a good person.
But when things don't go their way, when God doesn't
follow their plan, when God doesn't play by their rules,

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they eventually just become jaded and they give up. Many times,
people don't follow Jesus for his sake. They follow Jesus
for their own sake. For my sake, I'll follow Jesus.
They treat Jesus as a means to an end, because
they're still pridefully, self centered, and self absorbed. Verse twenty two.

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Repent of this wickedness. Pray to the Lord, and the
hope that he may forgive you for having such a
thought in your heart. Then Simon answered, pray to the
Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen.
I used to think that that's a pretty good response
by Simon. I used to think, hey, that's a pretty
humble thing to say. But until you really zoom in

(35:05):
and you think about, like what he is saying. Simon says,
pray to the Lord, or Peter says, pray to the
Lord Simon. Simon says, you do it for me. Simon
is saying to Peter, you do for me what I
should be doing for myself. Peter says, you should humble
yourself before God. You should empty your pride. Simon's like,

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you empty my pride for me. Simon is more interested
in escaping the consequences of his actions than he's interested
in changing how he's living. Peter tells him, repent, change,
humble yourself. Simon's answers, you do it. And here's where

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we get the clearest picture. Of Simon's sort of twisted theology.
To him, Philip and Peter and John, they were at
the epicenter. They were important, not God. Simon believed that
they had power in and of themselves. They had the
power to give the Holy Spirit, the power to pray,
they had the power to perform signs and wonders. In

(36:14):
Simon's mind, none of those sayings pointed to God. They
pointed to how important or in horror, how special these
people were. And in Simon's mind is like, I want
to be in that group. I want to be in
the group of the important and special people. He's still
operating under the same theology he always has had. The
only thing that's changed and he's now on the opposite
side of the scheme. He's on the house side looking in.

(36:36):
He's not one of the important people now, so he's
trying to figure out, how do I get back to
that group. Regarding this text, theologian Robert Tannehill said this,
whenever religion is used to make its leaders seem great
and powerful, whenever religion becomes a commodity by serving the
interests of those who have power or money, it has
become corrupt. Friends with and certain people are elevated over

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others when favor or preference is shown to those who
have power or precision or prestige or position. When we
create an environment where a few people can gain at
the expense of others, that's the opposite of God's kingdom.
When we create an environment where if you get elevated
at the expense of everyone else, that's not God's kingdom.

(37:21):
To no one follow Jesus. It'll be on a path
of reconciliation, a path of mutual respect and understanding of
love and sacrifice. It's not to be on a path
of self possession and self absorption. So again, what about you.
Do you find yourselves in situations in your own life
where you are favoring or elevating certain people over others

(37:42):
for your own gain. Do you find yourself elevating yourself?
Do you envy people who have positions of power? And
because you want that for yourself, you have the tendency
to make yourself noticed for the sake of self promotion.
Just as importantly, how can you grow in your ability

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to serve the underserved? How can you tend to those
who are ignored or silenced or pushed aside? How can
you grow in your ability to stand in the gap
and be present for this For those who are society
maybe considers inconsequential making room for them at the table.
So no onfologies. On a path of reconciliation, we see

(38:24):
two pictures, two problems. One is there are certain people
who aren't as important. That was the first problem. The
Samaritans didn't receive the Holy Spirit because God wanted to
abolish that thinking. But it's not true that there are
some people who are less important than others. So in
this problem with the Samaritans, we see this getting abolished.
The second thing is that's sort of the opposite. There

(38:45):
aren't people who are more important. So the first picture
is you think there's people are less important. That's false.
The second pictures you think there are people more important.
That's false. The foot or the ground is level at
the foot of the cross. There is no such thing
as some people being more important, more loved, more welcomed
than the God's kingdom. And another that is completely and

(39:06):
unequivocally false, The ground is level at the foot of
the cross. To no one follow Jesus is to beyond
a path of reconciliation. Let's pray so Father, thank you
for today, for another day on the earth. Thank you
for giving us the ability to say I'm sorry, So God,
I don't know each of us in this room today.

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We have people that we know that we need to forgive.
There's people that we need to seek forgiveness from God.
Help us not not to confuse the idea of having standards,
or the idea of having a sense of right and wrong,
or standing up for what we believe is right. Help
us not to confuse that we got to. Help us

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not to weaponize this idea of pain. Give us the
give that's the purpose of reconciliation. Hope us to love
you and to serve you in that purpose. And seen
your name, we pray Amen.