Simon the Magician (Acts 8:4-25)

Welcome and Announcements

So, it was brought to my attention a few nights ago, that on the flyers we gave out concerning free movies, I messed up almost every single date on the list. So, let me encourage you to throw those out and just pay close attention to the announcements each week and on Facebook. I apologize for this, I’m not quite sure what I did, but the dates aren’t even remotely right.

Speaking of movies, we are offering a free movie on January 27th, 2023, at 7pm. We’ll be showing the 2006 movie Amazing Grace, which is an historical retelling of the life of William Wilberforce, who sought to end the British slave trade in the late 1700s. Admittance, popcorn, snacks, and drinks will be provided free of charge for anyone who cares to join us.

Let me remind you to continue worshiping the Lord through your giving. To help you give, we have three ways to do so, (1) cash and checks can be given at the offering box. Checks should be written to Grace & Peace; debit, credit, and ACH transfers can be done either by (2) texting 84321 with your $[amount] and following the text prompts or (3) by visiting us online at www.giving.gapb.church. Of course, everything you give goes to the building up of our local church and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Call to Worship (Ps 69:19-29)

Our Call to Worship this morning is Psalm 69:19-29, which continues David’s psalm of lamentation with a prayer to the Lord to take care of those who seek him harm. This is the portion of Psalm 69, which turns into an imprecatory prayer in which he’s requesting that God judges people for their sin. He closes his psalm by praising God for His salvation. Please stand and read with me Psalm 69:19-29—I’ll read the odd-numbered verses, please join me in reading the even-numbered verses.

Psalm 69:19–29 ESV

19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. 20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. 22 Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. 24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. 25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. 27 Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous. 29 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

Congregational Singing

Across the Lands

Facing a Task Unfinished

Scripture Reading (Gen 13)

Our Scripture Reading this morning continues through the historical account of Genesis 13 by telling us about Abram and Lot who had been blessed so greatly by God in terms of material possessions that they needed to separate their households and spread out a bit more. Lot chose to situate himself near Sodom, but Abram settled in the land of Canaan before receiving a promise of God concerning the gift of a prosperous land we know as the Promised Land. Natalie, please read Genesis 13 for us.

Genesis 13 ESV

1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. 2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord. 5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, 6 so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, 7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. 8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. 14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Preaching of God’s Word (Acts 8:4-25)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Acts 8:4-25.

After the martyrdom of Stephen, the disciples, with the exception of the apostles, all scattered. And much like anytime there has been persecution of the true church of God, as the disciples were all scattered, they proclaimed the word of God as they ran.

So, as they’re being persecuted in Acts 8—as Saul enters homes and tears apart families to throw Christians into prison, the people continue to proclaim the Gospel. This idea of proclaiming the Gospel continues in our passage of Scripture for this morning.

Let’s read Acts 8:4-25.

Acts 8:4–25 ESV

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city. 9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” 25 Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into three parts: (1) The Setting (4-8), (2) Simon Believes (9-13), and (3) Simon’s Sin (14-24). Now, don’t get this Simon mixed up with Simon Peter—this is a completely different Simon who was a magician or sorcerer who did repent and believe in Jesus. His salvation shows us the power of the Gospel and Jesus’ ability to convert those that we might see as “too far gone.” His sin after salvation reminds us that we won’t be sinless on this side of eternity. This passage shows us the importance of the proclamation of the Gospel even in the midst of great persecution—it teaches us that even when the situation is dire, God still uses the proclamation of the Gospel to save souls.

Prayer for Illumination

The Setting (4-8)

In the first four verses, we’re given some details that provide the setting of the event at hand for us. Again, we’re told that those who were scattered went about preaching the Word of God.

The text then narrows into a specific person named Philip—Philip was one of the original 12 apostles listed in all of the Gospels as an apostle, which simply tells us that he has been a believer since before Jesus’ death and that he’s been taught and trained to proclaim the Gospel well.

We’re told that Philip went to the city of Samaria to proclaim to them the Christ.

Just to clarify—you may have heard of Samaria being a region in the Ancient Near East, so you might be a bit confused as to why Luke records Philip going to the city of Samaria—the reason is that the region of Samaria was named after the city of Samaria.

The city of Samaria was located about 30 miles north of Jerusalem, which tells us that Philip, after witnessing the martyrdom of Stephen eventually left Jerusalem and traveled north and as he traveled, he was proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, we don’t know much about the ancient city of Samaria beyond the fact that it had been around for a significant amount of time, it had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times, and it happened to be in a good location when it came to traveling between Asia-Minor into Israel, and then down into Egypt.

Anytime a city is in a location where there is immense amounts of travel between different regions—like Samaria or like Corinth, there are a few characteristics about the city that can be assumed.

It’s typically going to be a larger city because people will tend to flock there with the hopes of being able to make enough income to support themselves and their family.

There will be a growing divide between the extremely wealthy and those that live in absolute poverty.

And (and this is the important one for this morning), there will be a tendency for the people to live in a pluralistic society in which multiple worldviews and religions are represented.

What this means is, there will be a tendency for the people to be able and willing to listen to different religious ideas—especially if those religious ideas are accompanied with signs and wonders; and that’s precisely what happens in Acts 8.

Philip proclaims to them the Christ and in v. 6, we see that “the crowds with one accord [or altogether] paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did.”

In this instance, it seems as if the signs and miracles helped to grab the attention of the people and point them to the message that Philip was preaching.

That’s not always the case—in fact, Jesus mentions that there were people who only followed Him temporarily for the miraculous events that He performed, but we see in v. 12, that these people, who hear Philip believed “as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus.”

So, think with me, there’s significant persecution as Saul ravages the church, Philip is on the run along with other disciples as they scatter throughout the Ancient Near East, and yet, he still proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he still stops to help people along the way. He still insists on telling people about the Christ. That’s the setting at hand as we continue in the text—let’s look at vv. 9-13.

Simon Believes (9-13)

Acts 8:9–13 ESV

9 But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. 12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

We learn about a man named Simon and this man was a person in the city that had a reputation for being able to do amazing things.

Now, I will say that there is some debate as to what type of magic Simon was performing. There are some scholars that believe that Simon wasn’t a magician in the sorcerer sense of the word—where he performed spells and that sort of thing.

Some scholars think that it could be that he was performing great feats that were really just illusions or tricks—like how magicians are in Las Vegas today.

That idea is based on the fact that there really isn’t a great description of what he did beyond just telling us that “he had amazed them with his magic.”

Now, I’m going to disagree with that idea because of v. 17, in which he asks the apostles to be able to purchase the ability to give the Holy Spirit to people.

If he’s thinking that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is magic that can be bought, that tells us that his idea of magic was more than just trickery or allusions. It was something that resulted in an actual change that was felt and visible to those around; just like the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is something that results in an actual change that was felt and visible to those around.

Simon was a magician in the true sense of the word sorcery—he did sorcery and he had a reputation in the city as one who has the power of God, which by the way; is blasphemous and heretical, but that was the reputation that Simon had.

The people thought of him like a god and more than likely, he thought of himself like a god—and it was the reputation that caused the people to pay attention to him.

But even Simon noticed when he saw what Philip was doing and he heard what Philip was preaching—what Philip was saying actually worked in his heart and really in the hearts of the people that heard him.

v. 12 says that when the people heard Philip, they believed “as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

The people heard the Gospel and the Bible says that they actually believed the truth and as part of their belief, they were baptized.

Just as a side-note, that the sequential aspect of these details—that Philip proclaimed the Gospel, they believed the Gospel, and as a result of their belief, they were baptized.

The reason we baptize after a profession of faith is because of the pattern that we see in the New Testament.

While we don’t have time this morning to discuss the differences between views on baptism, whether its meant to be infant baptism or believers baptism, let me assure you that the reason that we practice believers baptism here is because every time we see baptism in the New Testament it is after people profess to believe and not before they’re capable of making a profession of faith.

So, both men and women heard Philip’s words, which were simply the words of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and they believed. V. 13 then speaks of this man that we were just introduced to named Simon, “even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.”

Consider what’s going on—Simon, who was known to be a sorcerer in the city of Samaria actually heard the Gospel and believed in Jesus.

Simon, who was soaked in what we call the occult—this practice of mysticism and magic, who sought his own power through the means of supernatural and ungodly sources, actually believed in Jesus.

I point out the fact that he sought out power through ungodly sources because you must realize that there is a dichotomy in the spiritual realm when it comes to miraculous events—you either do them in the power of Jesus or you do them in the power of Satan.

A good example of this are the magicians in Exodus who were able to somewhat replicate some of the miraculous events that God performed, but note how I said that they were only able to somewhat replicate God’s miracles.

Likewise, some of what Simon performed before his belief might have been amazing things, but what he’s experiencing as he believes in Jesus and walks with Philip is far greater than what he was able to do through the power of demons and Satan.

So much so, that we’re told that he saw the signs and great miracles performed by Philip and he was amazed.

This, of course, speaks of the power of God to do far greater things through His people than any demonic force can do through their people.

By showing us the salvation of a former sorcerer, the Bible shows us that the Gospel is strong enough to save anyone—even those who we think of as the worst of the worst.

Now, I hope you see that even though Simon is a believer in Acts 8, at this point he’s still tempted by sin. We get just a glimpse or a taste of his temptation at the end of v. 13, that he saw the signs and miracles performed, and he was amazed. That might sound like an innocent enough statement, but let me remind you that up to his salvation, Simon was obsessed with the idea of gaining power through supernatural means—that’s why he practiced sorcery. So, even though he is a believer now, he’s still struggling with the temptation to gain power through supernatural means—this is the first hint in the passage that he’s still struggling with sinful temptation.

Let’s continue with vv. 14-24.

Simon’s Sin (14-24)

Acts 8:14–24 ESV

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

So, Philip is preaching the Word of God in Samaria and the apostles who stayed in Jerusalem, despite persecution to keep establishing the church, received word that the city of Samaria now had believers, they sent Peter and John to the city.

And there’s a unique reason for this—remember, that the Holy Spirit, though it has indwelled permanently those who were there on the day of Pentecost, hasn’t spread to every believer yet.

They were in a transition period between when the Holy Spirit didn’t permanently indwell believers (such as the Old Testament—in which we see the Holy Spirit temporarily working in someone before moving the the next person) and when the Holy Spirit indwelled every believer at the moment of their belief.

Now, you might ask, why exactly did Peter and John have to come down and pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit—that’s a great question, and Luke doesn’t really tell us. All he tells us is in v. 16, that the Holy Spirit “had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

There have been some suggestions of what this might mean—some think that it means that their faith prior to this point wasn’t genuine. Those that are Pentecostal or Charismatic would point to this as evidence of what they call a Holy Spirit baptism.

Let me suggest something different that I think is more plausible—because of their time in history in which they’re experiencing the transition between the Old and New Testaments in real-time and because of the major rift between the Jewish and Samaritan people—this is a significant moment in history.

Remember the Jewish and Samaritan people absolutely detested each other—the Samaritan people were treated like second-class Jewish people because they weren’t fully Jewish.

You can think of it like this—in Acts 2, we witnessed the Jewish pentecost, in Acts 8, we’re witnessing the Samaritan pentecost, and in Acts 10, we’ll witness the Gentile pentecost, which completes the transition between the Old Testament in which the Holy Spirit only temporarily indwelled people and the New Testament in which the Holy Spirit permanently indwells all believers.

More than likely Peter and John didn’t need to come for the Holy Spirit to come and indwell these believers, but by doing so, Peter and John symbolically show both the Jews and the Samaritans that they were no longer two separated people groups, but rather one group of genuine believers in Jesus Christ.

It’s no longer the Jewish people and the Samaritan people, there is just one people of God.

The same concept is reiterated in Acts 10 when the Gentiles are first permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit—that there are no longer Jewish and then Gentile people, there is just one people of God.

This is a theologically potent point to be made, but remember, this whole passage of Scripture isn’t really about the spreading of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritan people, it’s actually about this former magician Simon. And Simon has been following Philip, so it can be assumed that when the other apostles come to Samaria, Simon’s right there, as well. We see this in vv. 18-22.

Simon, the former magician sees the apostles come and he watches them lay their hands on the new believers in Samaria and the new believers receive the Holy Spirit and Simon assumes this is something that he could do as well.

So, he asks if he can purchase the ability to give the Spirit by the laying of the hands—now, from our perspective that sounds absolutely absurd, but let me encourage you to think of it from his perspective.

How would someone who practices magic or sorcery learn to do so? Typically, the way someone would learn to practice sorcery is by buying books from people who already practiced sorcery and by paying them to teach them how to use the books.

Simon is still thinking like an unbelieving sorcerer who thinks that it is possible to buy power and in this instance, he believes that he can buy the very power of God—and I hope you can see the problem in all this. You can’t buy the power of God—despite what almost all the people on TBN claim.

Simon sees what the apostles can do, so he attempts to buy the power that they have, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

Now, of course, we know that you can’t buy God’s power and Peter doesn’t hesitate to confront Simon for his sinful desire and call him out for it. We see this in vv. 20-22, Peter is blunt and quick to correct Simon, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.”

Note, how blunt and how quick Peter corrects Simon—he doesn’t beat around the bush and he doesn’t sweep anything under the rug—what Simon suggested was wrong and it was rooted in his sinful thinking.

So Peter asserts that Simon is sinning before flat-out telling him that his heart isn’t right before God—let’s be honest, it sounds a little harsh and in our modern-day church culture in America, Peter would be accused of being unloving.

But, Peter’s absolutely 100% in the right not just for what he says, but primarily for the purpose behind saying it.

He isn’t saying it to just pick a fight with Simon and he isn’t saying it to degrade or hurt Simon’s feelings—he’s saying it because Simon is literally in sin and unless Simon repents, he is in wickedness.

Peter isn’t saying it to be mean—he’s saying it because he knows that if Simon doesn’t repent, his heart isn’t right.

Peter by calling out Simon in this manner shows us that the proclamation of the Gospel demands confronting sin.

The very Gospel message is that you are a sinner in need of a Savior—thus, you need to repent from your sin, believe, and follow Jesus.

What Peter is doing is reminding Simon of this—despite the fact that Simon is a believer. Why would Peter do this?

Because by requesting to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit, Simon revealed that he wasn’t thinking with the Gospel in mind.

In other words, he’s still living, acting, and reacting in his sinful desire rather than being transformed and changed by the Gospel.

Sometimes, Christians today have a misunderstanding concerning the Gospel itself—they think that once someone believes, you no longer need to preach the Gospel to that person; they assume the Gospel really only exists for evangelistic purposes.

But consider the Bible’s frequent reminders for us to preach the Gospel:

In Mark 16, the Great Commission is given like this, Mark 16:15-16 “15 And [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

Romans 1:16 reminds us of the power of the Gospel Rom 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Matthew 24:14 in a passage of Scripture concerning the end times, we read Matt 24:14 “14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

1 Cor 1:22-25 “22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

What is to be preached? The Gospel of Jesus Christ because it saves, it reminds us of who saves, it compels us to worship and to praise; through the preaching of the Gospel, the Spirit convicts us for our sin, draws us to repentance, and it causes us to continue to seek Jesus with our whole heart, mind, and strength—the preaching of the Gospel is just as much for believers as it is unbelievers.

Peter calls Simon out for his sin by reminding him that his heart isn’t right because he was sinfully desiring the gift of God; and he calls Simon to repent of his wickedness for forgiveness from the Lord.

And again, Peter’s words sound harsh—v. 23 might sound harsher than any other statement that he’s said, “I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.”

But again, remember, Peter is calling Simon out because he wants Simon to repent. Put another way, Peter is preaching the Gospel to Simon with the exhortation that Simon repents.

And from everything that we see in this passage, it seems like he does, v. 24, “Simon answers, ‘Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.’”

This passage of Scripture then ends by sort of wrapping everything up in v. 25, “So, when they had solemnly bore witness and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were proclaiming the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” Or in other words, after they preached the Gospel in Samaria, they continued to proclaim the gospel throughout the region of the Samaritans—just like Jesus commanded them. They went and made disciples of every nation.

Now, in the remaining few minutes, I want to give you some specific application for this text; and though you might read this text and wonder exactly how to apply it, I think you’ll understand the application that I’ve given once you hear it. To help simplify things, we’re going to keep the last two divisions that we used in the sermon as I give you the application:

Application

Simon Believes—in the middle section from this text, we saw Philip proclaiming the Gospel and the people responding. In particular, we read about Simon, the former magician, who despite being steeped in the occult, hears the Gospel, believes, gets baptized, and continues with Philip. It’s clear that he believed, which teaches us something vitally important for us to realize.

Many Christians today, though they would agree that the Gospel is for everyone and that everyone needs to hear the Gospel, don’t practice this in their own evangelistic efforts.

How do I know? Because if I were to ask you right now to think of someone that you’ve proclaimed the Gospel to but you didn’t anywhere in the conversation, you would automatically have someone in mind.

And if I were to ask you to think of someone who you’ve proclaimed the Gospel to so many times that you’ve since given up, you could more than likely think of at least one person who fits that description.

You’ve tried to proclaim the Gospel to them, you’ve prayed for them, you’ve hoped the best for them, but they don’t respond; and you might think that they’re simply too far gone.

So, you just avoid having conversations with them about Jesus, you choose not to talk about faith or God with them. You just stop all Gospel-related conversations with them because you assume that they’re too far gone.

But consider the case of Simon, the magician or sorcerer.

He wasn’t just an unbeliever, he actively practiced not just a false religion, but a demonically-influenced and empowered religion.

And yet, Philip still proclaimed the Gospel and Simon still heard it and Simon still repented from his sins and believed in Jesus Christ.

What this teaches us is that even those who we consider the worst of the worst can still repent of their sins, believe, and follow Jesus.

Now, I know, most of us would hear that and think—well, yes, of course that’s true. You don’t really have to look to far in Scripture to see this truth:

Consider Saul who later in Acts repents and believes despite the fact that he literally killed Christians and imprisoned other Christians.

Consider David, who committed adultery and then murdered that woman’s husbands so that he could marry her.

Consider basically every person throughout the Old and New Testament who despite their sins, believed and followed God.

But often in life, we don’t think this way. We view people today who commit what we consider horrible sins and crimes and we think that there’s no possible for way for them to be saved.

And yet, Jesus saves the worst of the worst.

It would be wise for us to remember this because it will do two things:

It would cause us to reconsider the times that we think someone is too far gone—they’re really not, they just need to hear the Gospel preached anyways.

It would also give us a huge dose of hope—it is a reminder that there is still hope for those that we think will never believe; we just need to keep praying, keep loving them, and keep proclaiming the Gospel to them.

You need to remember that no one is too far from God’s grace—Jesus saves everyone who repents of their sins, believes and follows Him.

Thus, keep proclaiming the Gospel and keep praying for even those who you think are too far gone to know Jesus and follow Him.

The Gospel is powerful enough to save even the worst of the worst.

Simon Sins—in the last section of the text, we see some of the other apostles come to Samaria from Jerusalem because Samaritan people were beginning to repent and believe and follow Jesus. They come and realize that the Samaritans hadn’t received the Holy Spirit, so the apostles pray for them, lay their hands on them, and the Holy Spirit indwells them for the first time. Simon sees this and in his sinful desire to obtain this power for himself, asks to purchase this power, which causes Peter to rebuke him in a harsh way.

Now, we can spend an significant amount of time talking about the nuances of this passage, but the reality is quite simple—what we see when Simon sins almost immediately after accepting the Gospel is that believers still struggle with sin.

And often, the sins that we struggle with after salvation are similar if not the same as the sins that we struggled with before salvation.

In the case of Simon, he struggled with the sinful desire of obtaining power through unrighteous means to make himself great. He struggled with the prideful desire to exalt himself in front of others and really in front of God—a temptation that most of us have probably struggled with.

For you, prior to salvation, you might not have struggled with the desire to be powerful or to exalt yourself, so after salvation, you might not really struggle with that.

Perhaps, your sinful temptation leans towards unrighteous bursts of anger, lustful desire, the temptation to lie or to manipulate others. Maybe you have a tendency to be selfish, unfair, unjust, or just plain mean.

Salvation isn’t going to prevent you from struggling with sin—in fact, most of the time, it amplifies your sin and makes it more tempting to sin because now you now it’s sin and the temptation increases.

Thus, if you struggled with unrighteous bursts of anger—you’re still going to struggle with unrighteous bursts of anger, the difference is that now you know it’s sinful.

Or if you struggled with lustful desire—you’re still going to struggle with lustful desire, the difference is that now you know it’s sinful.

Or if you struggled with being selfish, unfair, unjust, or just plain mean—you’re still going to struggle with being selfish, unfair, unjust, or just plain mean, the difference is that now you know it’s sinful.

The point is that after salvation, we’re still going to sin—the key is, however, that we don’t just continuous succumb to our sinful desires, but we actively fight against it.

And when our brothers and sisters in Christ confront us because we’ve sinned, the hope would be that we hear their charge against us, we repent from our sins, and we continue to follow Jesus Christ.

Remember how I stated that the proclamation of the Gospel isn’t just for unsaved people? Why do we continuously proclaim the Gospel? Yes, because it saves; but also because it reminds us of who saves, it compels us to worship and to praise, it convicts us for our sin, draws us to repentance, and exhorts us to keep seeking Jesus.

Though we continue to struggle with sin, when we hear the Gospel preached and the Word of God taught, we should experience conviction of sin, we should be drawn to repentance, and we should be provoked to proper and better worship of Jesus.

The proclamation of the Gospel and the teaching of the whole counsel of God requires that we regularly confront sin because we need to continuously be fighting against our sin.

Or put differently, if you are a believer this morning—you still sin, don’t try to hide your sin, don’t act lie you aren’t a sinner—just keep repenting; and when your brothers and sisters lovingly rebuke you and correct you, don’t be offended, don’t attack them for you; simply take what they say seriously, repent, and keep following Jesus.

Simon the former Magician shows us the power of the Gospel and why the proclamation of the Gospel is so important. What we learn from his account is two-fold: (1) you need to keep proclaiming the Gospel even to those you think are too far gone because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation and (2) you as a believer need to be continuously reminding yourself of the Gospel because it will convict of your sin, draw you to repentance, and compel you to keep seeking Jesus.

Pastoral Prayer

Congregational Singing

Jesus Paid it All (281)

The Lord’s Supper

At this time, we’re going to partake in the Lord’s Supper together. Let me just explain a few details before we pass out the elements:

This is the Lord’s Supper and at Grace & Peace we practice an open communion, which simply means that regardless of your membership status here—whether you are a church member or you aren’t, you are more than welcome to partake with us just as long as you have genuinely repented from your sins and have believed in Jesus Christ. Of course, parents, you are free to determine whether your children ought to partake, but let me encourage you to stray on the side of caution if you’re uncertain.

The Lord’s Supper is meant to be a somber reflection or memorial of the death of Jesus Christ to atone for your sins. As such, there is a warning that Paul gives to those who partake in the Lord’s Supper.

He states in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 that anyone who takes part in the Lord’s Supper needs to first consider their own hearts. He warns that if you are to partake in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, you’ll be guilty concerning the body and blood of Jesus Christ. He states that some who have taken the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner have gotten physically ill and some have even died.

We understand partaking in the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner to mean that you either partake in the Lord’s Supper despite knowing that you’re in unrepentant sin or you take it flippantly.

So I would encourage you to seriously consider your heart—repent of any sin that you may be holding onto, and take the Lord’s Supper seriously.

We’ll have two people passing out the elements and I can assure you that neither one of them are watching to see if you partake—this is truly between you and God.

As we pass out the plates, you’ll notice that every cup is really two cups that are stacked on-top of one other. You will need to take both cups, as the bottom cup holds the bread and the top cup holds the juice.

When you receive the elements, please hold onto them and wait for everyone else to receive their elements so that we can partake in the Lord’s Supper together.

At this time, we’re going to take a about a minute to quietly pray, to reflect, and to repent if necessary—we’ll then pray corporately before the elements are passed out.

Tom, can you pray for the Lord’s Supper?

“On the night [that our Lord Jesus] was betrayed [He] took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

“In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’”

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Congregational Singing

I Will Glory in My Redeemer (196)