Purchasing the Power

Introduction

Thesis: God’s Spirit is not a magical tool to be manipulated and purchased by man.

Text: Acts 8:4-25

The first Great Awakening is probably one of my favorite Revivals from the past to read about. Both England and America were going through an awakening toward evangelicalism and men like George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley were leading reforms in their denomination toward evangelicalism. But one of my favorite preachers from the time was Jonathan Edwards. Edwards became the pastor of the second largest church in New England when his maternal grandfather passed away leaving him the church. From the very beginning Edwards emphasized the themes of the glory of God and man’s total depravity and inability to save himself. His most famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God found its text in Deut 32:35 “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; Their foot shall slide in due time: For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that shall come upon them make haste.” From this he drew the conclusion that the lost are always at danger at any moment of sliding into the destruction of hell. It is as if they are walking along a narrow and slippery ridge and any false step will send them plummeting into the abyss. They do not have the ability to keep up on that ledge and it is only by the mercy of God that they have not fallen already. All the things we do to preserve our lives and keep us out of hell are no more effective than a spider web is to a falling rock. It is only the sovereign good pleasure of God that you are not in hell this very minute. Such was the overall message of Jonathan Edwards. The message was not delivered passionately and when people would get worked up crying and weeping, Edwards would stop until they calmed down before preceeding. Revival swept through new England and it is estimated that 10 % were converted stemming from this message. Edwards himself described the weekly results of this awakening to his sister Mary:

Dear Mary,

Through the wonderful mercy and goodness of God there hath in this place been a very remarkable stirring and pouring out of the Spirit of God, and likewise now is, but I think I have reason to think it is in some measure diminished, but I hope not much. About thirteen have joined the church in an estate of full communion. . . . I think there comes commonly a-Mondays above thirty persons to speak with father about the condition of their souls.

13 new families joining the church and 30 people being saved each week is amazing. I would love to see God do a work like this here: a mighty work of the Spirit. And yet at times I must ask myself Why do I want to see such a work? What are my motivations for desiring such a work? Our text today is going to deal with a man who say the great outpouring of the Spirit and desired to purchase the power of the Spirit. When our motives are not right and we try to manipulate the Spirit by our actions are we not in essence trying to purchase the power like Simon. Our question today is Why do we want to see God do a mighty outpouring of His Spirit?

I. The Spread of the Gospel vs 4-8

If you remember where we left off with the death of Stephen, persecution has erupted in Jerusalem at the hands of Saul of Tarsus. Prior to this there has been arrests, warnings, beatings even; but Stephen was the first one to be killed for his faith and Saul wants to expand this. He begins hauling people out of their homes and taking them to prison for their faith in Jesus Christ. Our first verse here, indicates that because of this persecution the church is scattered.

Acts 8:4 “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.”

Most everyone except the apostles flee the city, but hidden in this difficult time for the Church is a blessing. The word scattered is often used in a positive sense of seed that has been spread and planted.

This past Wednesday, the parking lot was iced over so I took my seed spreader and the salt and spread the salt over the parking lot. Now how effective would the salt have been if I just dumped a pile of it in the middle of the parking lot? That section would have devoid of ice, but the rest of the parking lot would have been untouched.

The benefit of this scattering is that the Church is breaking out of the bounds of the city of Jerusalem. Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Jesus had promised that the gospel would go out from Jerusalem to Judea and then to Samaria. The gospel was going out to places it had never been before. god was fulfilling His promise that the gospel would be preached in Jerusalem, Judea, and now in Samaria.

Notice this wasn’t just a bunch of full-time preachers getting the gospel out. And as the Christians are fleeing, they are doing something else: they are preaching the gospel. The word for preach here is one of many words for preach used in the book of acts. Literally, it is the verb form of the word gospel. These believers were sharing the gospel with others as they fled Jerusalem. This is why I believe the average everyday Christian should be giving the gospel out and witnessing. It is not a task limited to just the preachers. Our lives as believers should be so impacted by the gospel that we want to share it with anyone and everyone we meet. You don’t have to be an apologist or a professional preacher to do this. All you have to do is share what God has done for you and the basics of the gospel. That’s simple. You know how you got saved right?

Acts 8:5 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”

Because of this scattering, we see Philip leaving Jerusalem and going to preach in Samaria. The Samaritans were a group of half-Jews and throughout this text we see the gospel going out to those on the fringes of Judaism. They would have professed to worship the same God and looked for the same Messiah; but they mixed in pagan practices and had their own temple on Gerazim.

The response was amazing. Philip began to draw crowds and eventually a revival broke out in Samaria. But what was it that drew them to begin with?

Acts 8:6 “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.”

The people begin to listen intently and pay attention to his words largely because of the miracles that he performed. vs 6-7

The implication here is that the people had a strong attraction to magical arts. Luke is clearly setting up to make a distinction between these magical arts and the working of the Spirit of God.

a. Magic can be learned and purchased but God’s spirit is a gift

1 Cor 12:7 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

Luke loves to do his little magic tricks, but here’s the thing about magic tricks, you can go and look them up on youtube and learn them. You can buy everything you need. You can amaze people with what you do. I cannot say whether Simon’s magic was real or tricks because the text does not say, but even real magic is taught. I can’t teach you how to have the Holy Spirit. He is a gift given by God at salvation and the fullness of the Spirit is just as much a gift.

b. Magic is a force while the Spirit is a person

Acts 10:19-20 “While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.”

Many have forgotten that the Spirit is a person and not a force. You cannot wield Him at will and make Him do what you want Him to do. He is a person, not just the force to get things done. We do disservice to the holy Spirit when we think of Him only as the strength to live holy or the strength to do ministry. The Christian does not wield the Spirit like a weapon, rather He joins in cooperation with the Spirit to accomplish what the Spirit wants done.

In these two senses, the Spirit is different from magic.

II. Simon Magus vs 9-13

Our next scene introduces our main antagonist in the story: Simon Magus. The name Magus is not in the text though the verb form is found in vs 8. The name refers to a magician or a Magi as they were called back then. Originally, this terms was applied to a special group that came out of Persia, but the name began to be used for those interested in the magical arts. For us to understand the main thrust of this passage we need to understand who Simon was:

He was someone who used magic vs 9 “used sorcery”

He was self-promoting vs 9 “giving out that himself was some great one”

He allowed himself to be worshipped as a divine being vs 10 “the great power of God” Notice it does not say a great power of God, but the great power of God. These people worshipped him as the manifestation of God’s power on earth.

Early tradition in the church taught that he was an antichrist and the Father of all heresies. Some even taught that he was the founder of gnosticism. There is reason to be sceptical of their explanations for the mot part because they came later and the text does not give us this information; but we see right off the bat that something is wrong with Simon.

The other question that is often asked is Was Simon Saved?

Acts 8:13 “Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.”

Evidence for:

The statement is made as a matter of fact. vs 13 “Simon himself believed also”

Peters rebuke in vs 20 is not much different than the rebuke he had received by Jesus Christ in

Matt 16:23 “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

The rebuke is given as a warning not as a promise. Optative present verb. “Thy money perish with thee”

Vs 22 leaves the door open for forgiveness for his sin “Repent… and the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.”

Evidence against:

vs 13 does not say what Simon believed

He is still focused on the miracles and signs vs 13 “and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs”

The text does not say that the Holy Spirit had fallen on him

In vs 24, Simon himself does not pray to repent “Pray ye to the Lord”

Nearly all patristic writers did not view him as a saved man

I honestly don’t know what to think of Simon Magus and while it is important to know the answer to this question if you are going to understand all of the passage; we can still understand the main thrust of what Luke is trying to say through this story without knowing the answer.

III. The Confrontation vs 14-25

A. The setting Vs 14-17 Hearing about the work of God in Samaria, Peter and John come down to follow up on the work that Philip had done. The next two verses tell us that the work had been incomplete because the Samaritans had not received the Holy Spirit yet. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here, but we must ask ourselves why people who were saved here did not have the Holy Ghost? This story serves as an exception to the rule that we see in Romans 8:9 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Any true believer has the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of Him now. So why were things different here? As the gospel went out to new regions following the path set out in Acts 1:8, the gospel was confirmed by a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the people. The gospel had not as yet gone to the Samaritans and so this outpouring was a sign of its validity and the work of God in expanding the Church. In these verses, we also see the apostles laying their hands on them before they received the Holy Spirt. Some have developed a doctrine saying you have to have a preacher lay hands on you before you can received the Holy Spirit, but remember Acts 2, no one laid hands on them and then in Acts 10:44, the Holy Spirit fell while Peter was still preaching and no one laid hands on them. The correlation is incidental.

B. Simon’s desire vs 18-19 Simon sees what happens and concludes that if He could just receive this power he could lay hands on people and they would receive the Holy Spirit. So he makes a bold request Give me also this power… The implication in Peter’s rebuke Acts 8:20 “But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.” is that Simon wanted to purchase this power from the apostles. He saw all the great things that God was doing in the work of the Apostles and he lusted after it. He wanted to be able to do the same things that they were doing. He thought it was something that could be purchased like a magical deck of cards from a magic shop. The problem with Simon is that he thought the Spirit was some sort of power to be acquired. This tickled his mind, it was something like what he was used to. In this way, he could have his cake and eat it too. He could be a Christian and still have all the prestige and authority he had once had using magic.

C. Peter’s rebuke vs 20-23

Thy money perish with thee- the implication is that Peter was saying Simon and his money would go to hell. Remember again this is not a promise but a warning.

Thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money- the Spirit and his fullness is not something you can buy. In English we have a word that comes from this: it is called simony which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, for example pardons or benefices. Notice this sin is named after Simon. Simon desired the power and thought it could be purchased. How often do we try to be good enough and just maybe God will bless me with His Spirit. If I say so many prayers, I might be able to make God bless my ministry or job or family or ect. It all boils down to trying to purchase or manipulate the working of the Holy Spirit.

Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter- part-share lot-a say in this matter-apostleship The ability to impart the Holy Spirit was not given to Simon.

thy heart is not right in the sight of God- This is the key problem with Simon. The problem wasn’t wanting to see the Holy Spirit do great things. The problem wasn’t even wanting to be involved in the Holy Spirits work. The problem wasn’t in desiring the Holy Spirits presence in his life. The problem was a heart problem. His heart was not right with God. He wanted it for the wrong reasons. Acts 8:23 “For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” Peter seeing into the heart of Simon by the power of the Holy Spirit determined that Simon was bitter and in sin for desiring this. Simon was angry that he could not have it. Bitterness is deep seated anger. He was upset that God wouldn’t let Him have the gift and he was envious of the Apostles.

D. The hope vs 22,24 Repent-Peter extends hope to Simon. Any offer of repentance is chance for change. It is an opportunity to be forgiven. Simon does not have to remain in his sin. Maybe you see yourself as trying to manipulate God, you can repent and their is forgiveness offered. the thought of thine heart- notice hear that sin is not just actions, but thoughts and motives. This sermon is not a condemnation of seeking God’s hand in our lives. It is not intended to steer you away from seeking a great working of God. The question here is what are your motives?

Conclusion

Simon wanted to use God to gain:

prestige

money

authority

Magic is a tool to be used, the Spirit is a person, a gift from God.

Why are we having an all night prayer meeting as deacon’s next week? Is it to see God bless our ministry? That question might sound perfectly fine and in a sense it is, but buried within those words is an assumption that God is a means to our ends. Are we seeking for God’s hand to be on our ministry so we can be successful, be recognized, feel value or are we seeking God’s glory. If you were here on Wednesday night, we talked about the glory of God. What is it? It is the fame, greatness, majesty of God experienced by mankind when God makes His presence known to us. Is our ministry about making His glory known?

Is the Spirit of God just gasoline to fill up our car and get us down the road to our destination?

Like Simon, we try to manipulate the Spirit to further our ends:

We do our devotions thinking that starting out the day right will make our day go alright. We passively use God to guarantee a good day. What if God in His sovereignty makes it a bad day? What if His glory is furthered by you going through some difficulty?

We have our prayer meetings because we want to see power to grow our church or make our church more vibrant. But why do we want to see the church grow? Is it all about us? Are we not just using God to make things happen? What if it were God’s will for our church to stay the size it is for some reason? Would we glorify and praise God even then?

Why do we go out and tell people about Jesus Christ? Is it because we feel that no one should ever have to suffer in Hell? Are we not with such an attitude trying to improve on the justice of God? Are we not believing that God must not be doing something right if people are dying and going to Hell? Here is the real truth: God is just to send everyone of us to hell. He did not have to save anyone. Yes, they need a savior; but they are sinners who love their sin and do not want to repent of their sin. We go and we preach to lost people because Jesus is worthy of those for whom he died. What they need to see is that they are sinners condemned by a good God; not good people in danger of a bad God. By such a presentation we have turned it all around so that salvation is about me. God become just a means to an end.

I am not advocating that we abandon any of these things, but that we reevaluate they why? God will not be manipulated and used like a tool. It’s all about Him. It is all for Him. And anything we are able to see done, it was Him doing it.