Victory Over The Flesh

Thank you for inviting me to speak. I honor all of these other men and women of God in this room, who are much more mature in the faith than I am. I am still a work in progress. Speaking of which, today I want to start with a little story about my own issues, if that is ok. Is this a safe place?

When I was growing up, around the age of 14, my parents divorced. It broke my world apart. I loved both of my parents and I could not understand why they couldn’t just work it out. They had been married for almost 20 years when this happened and it rocked me. It didn’t make sense. I couldn’t explain it. Anyone else been there?

So as I grew up, with the lack of good parental support in my life, one of the things that became incredibly important to me was what my friends thought of me. My parents had forsaken me, I felt like, so I started to look for the approval of others. I wanted other people to really like me. And so I started to adjust my life to their view of me.

As I entered high school, that was the most important thing driving my social interactions. I wanted friends and I was willing to lose myself in order to find them. I never quite fit in with what we called the preppies. I was too much of an outcast, so I found my home in the skateboarding punk kids at my high school. I developed a love for skateboarding. In trying to gain their approval, I changed my whole persona. I went from dressing normal, to dressing like a skater kid. I had the big jeans, I had the chain wallet, I had the long hair. I was part grudge, part punk, part skater. In other words, I felt for people to like me, I needed to look the part. So I changed.

Well, my friends were also into smoking marijuana and drinking, so I started doing that too. I really wanted them to like me and think I was cool. No one else seemed to care about me, but while I was doing the same things they were doing, they seemed to care about me and I ate that up.

And that went on for several years, until Jesus found me. Jesus rescued me from the things I was doing to myself. I had lost myself, but Jesus found me. And I went from caring about what others thought of me, to caring about what He thought. Now I’d love to say I never struggled with this again, but throughout my life, I’ve struggled with this. Even now as a pastor, I’m so tempted to seek others approval. To preach good sermons that people will like rather than what people need to hear.

The only difference between now and then, is now I am aware of this tendency in me and I fight against it. If you want victory in your life, it takes a fight. You have to fight against the mindsets that will destroy you. Tonight, I want to look at someone in the Bible that you may not be familiar with, Simon the Sorcerer, and see what we can learn from him on this fight.

Turn with me to Acts, chapter 8. Let’s read together.

Acts 8:9–24 ESV

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. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “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. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Don’t Let People’s Opinion of You Dictate Your Identity

This is my main point today and this is the crux of what Simon’s story is all about. People today are so confused about their own identity. Listen to me, you were made in the image of God. You were made in his likeness. If you are a Christian today, he loves you no matter what your past is, no matter where you came from and no matter what you’ve done. He loves you with a love that is greater than a brother. He loves you deeply. And you do not need to find your identity anywhere else. Find your identity in Him. He will not lead you astray.

Simon Called Himself Great

Let’s look at our friend Simon. Notice in verse 9 that Simon practiced magic in Samaria. Now I do believe in magic. Simon here is practicing what we might call a dark magic. It’s demonic, this isn’t a miracle worker for the Lord, this is someone who is under the hand of Satan. How do I know? Because the demonic is self-serving. Look at what it says, Simon was calling himself great! If you have to call yourself great, then you are far from it.

Never sing your own praises. If you are truly talented, if you truly are a blessing to others, they will call you great, you don’t need to do that for yourself. And this is counter cultural today. The entire Social Media complex, whether you are a facebook person, TikTok or on the Gram, you are told to do what? Promote yourself!

Simon would have gotten along fine in today’s society. But that’s not Godly. God says those that exalt themselves will be humbled and those that humble themselves will be exalted. (Matt 23:12).

People Paid Attention To Him

And look where all of this self promotion leads! It says in verse 10, that they all paid attention to Him. In other words, his dreams were coming true! He is truly blessed. The algorithm is paying off. He learned the art of self-promotion and now he’s getting a ton of follows and likes. In this day and age, we would call him successful.

But that’s not what God would call him. You see we are all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. And just because you are successful according to the world standards does not mean you have received the only favor that really matters - God’s favor.

He Stole God’s Glory

In fact, we see the exact opposite in Simon. Rather than receiving the Lord’s favor in his life and reflecting that Glory back to him. He steals God’s glory. Look at what is says, the people are calling him the power of God that is Great. Capital G, that means they were calling him a God. This is what we would call blasphemy. He’s taking the image of the perfect God and he’s robbing it. He’s stealing it and distorting it and using all of his gifts for his own glory. What a travesty!

When the Gospel is Preached, Lives Are Changed

Now, let’s compare him to Phillip. Phillip is an evangelist and his life is dedicated to sharing the good news or the gospel to everyone he meets. While Simon, practiced magic, Phillip had power. He had true power. Power that comes only from God. And rather than receiving the glory for himself. Rather than seeking to self promote. Phillip sought only to promote Jesus.

Our life’s purpose is only found in the promotion of Christ.

When we promote the name of Jesus, we find our true purpose.

Simon here sees it. He recognizes that his entire life has been a lie. He spent so long impressing others, trying to gain a following, but when he hears about Jesus, he believes. It says that even Simon believed and was baptized! What does this tell us? It tells us that even though Simon had made a deal with the devil, even though he had experienced demonic power, he could be saved! If God can save Simon, he can most certainly save you.

There Is Always More

And here’s the kicker. Even after you get saved, there is always more! Look at what happens in our text. The Apostle hear of what is happening in Samaria, so Peter and John come down for a visit and what happens next? They pray for people to receive the Holy Spirit. They pray for people and God’s Spirit falls on them, just like the day of Pentecost and just like Jesus promised he would.

To recap, we have people getting saved, then they get baptized in water and now they are being filled with the Holy Spirit. There is always more with Jesus. Who wants more of Him? Paul says in Ephesians 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,” and this word is the present continuous sense, meaning we must keep going back to more.

So for those that are already filled with the Holy Spirit, there’s more! If you’ve never received Him, there’s more to the Christian walk! This is the gift of God! It comes with power. I want to give all of you the opportunity to receive God tonight. If you want to see victory in your life over your sin, over the flesh, it can only be done by God. The Holy Spirit is called the Helper. If you want victory, you’ve gotta have a helper. If you think you can do this on your own, you are mistaken! As Christians, we must submit ourselves to the way the Lord moves and He expects us to rely on him totally.

You Can’t Manipulate God, You Can Only Receive His Gifts

This brings us to the warning in this passage. So back to the text, Simon sees Peter and John laying hands on people and miracles taking place. This isn’t the magic he is used to, this is the real deal. People are being healed and set free and in his heart, he starts to covet that power.

Now this goes to show us, no matter how long you’ve been saved, for a short time or a long time, you will always be battling the flesh. Simon’s flesh rises up. He’s been admired for this sort of thing before. In his past, they called him Great, imagine what they would call him if he could do the things Peter and John are doing! He wants a following again. He wants to be liked.

Don’t let people’s opinion of you dictate your identity!

I said it earlier, I’ll say it again. Do not let what other people think of you dictate your life. Too many times, I have changed my life to match what other people think I should or shouldn’t do. I should be concerned with what God thinks, not what people think! And here’s a couple of things that are rock solid truth, you can take to the bank.

You cannot control what others think of you.

Just because others think it, doesn’t mean it’s true.

There is only one image we should be conforming our life to - Jesus.

Now, Simon doesn’t get it. He sees all of this and his misses the point. He misses one of the fundamental aspects of God. He cannot be manipulated. We try to manipulate God all the time, but you can’t do it. He can’t be manipulated. You might be able to manipulate your siblings, you may even be able to manipulate your friends, you might even be able to manipulate your parents, but you can’t manipulate God. But that doesn’t stop us from trying.

Simon tries the money route. Sometimes we think the answer to our problems is to throw money at it. That’s what Simon does. He’s gonna get this power even if it costs him all of his wealth. Some people believe if they pay their tithes and put an extra hundred in the offering plate, you can get God to do what you want. Some people believe that you say the right prayer or fast the right length of time, you can get God to do what you want.

And Peter tells Simon, shame on your for thinking you could obtain the gift of God with money! We cannot manipulate him. Elon Musk cannot buy his way into heaven. It doesn’t matter how rich you are, when God says something is a gift, you can only receive it, you can’t buy it. This is what Simon missed. In order to receive a gift, you must put yourself in a place of humility, not power. If the gift is from God, you must recognize that you aren’t worthy to receive it. It’s his prerogative to give it and the Spirit gives the gifts as He wills, meaning it’s his choice, not ours.

So again, we are going to have a time of prayer tonight in a few minutes, but keep in mind, you can’t force this to happen. You can’t make it happen. You can’t buy the Holy Spirit. He can only be received. The question is, are you open? Do you really want God’s gift? Are you hungry for it? If you are, you will receive it with a humble and thankful heart.

And for Simon, it needed to start with repentance. Peter says to him, repent for thinking that way. Repentance in the greek is metanoia, which literally means “change your mind.” Stop thinking the way you have been thinking and start thinking the way God says. That’s the most foundational understanding of that word. Change your mind.

Peter then calls out the issues Simon is facing. He says that Simon is bitter and bound up in iniquity or sin. One of the things that will keep us from receiving the gift of God is bitterness. If we are bitter towards our friends, family, classmates, whomever, we cannot receive God’s gift. Bitterness, I’ve heard it said, is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die. The only person you are hurting is yourself. And the way this works out in us, is we are typically bitter against things done to us. So somewhere in Simon’s life, someone had likely sinned against him and he hadn’t forgiven them. That’s the key to getting victory over bitterness. You have to forgive those that have hurt you. Are you ready to forgive that person tonight?

The second thing Peter says is that he is in bondage to iniquity. He is wrapped up in sin. So if bitterness is the jail that we put ourselves in when others sin against us, iniquity is the bondage we put ourselves in when we perform the sin ourselves. Now, it doesn’t tell us what Simon’s sin was, but I have a feeling it was pride. He wanted others to think highly of him again. He was still seeking their approval, rather than seeking the Lord’s. He wanted people to call him great.

Matthew 20:26 ESV

It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,

You cannot be great in the kingdom, unless you are willing to humble yourself to the lowest position. If you try to build a name for yourself, you will fail. But if you build up his kingdom, if you point people to Him, he will make you great. So how should Simon get the victory over this? He needs to repent. Whenever we find sin in our lives, the answer is always to repent.

Martin Luther says the Christian life is one of daily repentance. We never outgrow repentance. Why? Because our minds need to be renewed daily. We need to change our mind to fit what God says about us. So Simon needed to repent. The question is, did he?

Simon Didn’t Get The Victory, Will You?

My answer is no. I don’t think he did. His answer to Peter is telling in my opinion. He asks Peter to pray for me, that nothing you have said may come upon me. Peter told him to pray to the Lord, but rather than doing that, he expects Peter to intercede for him. Listen, you do not need a pastor, or teacher, or youth leader or anyone else to talk to Jesus for you, you can go directly to the Father. He wants to talk to you directly. He wants relationship with you.

So Simon messed up, he didn’t get victory over his flesh, and the tragedy here is that we don’t know what happens to Simon after this passage. He isn’t mentioned again. But we do know this, all of us are faced with the same command…repent.

So if I can get some help from the band.

Here’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to first, offer again the opportunity for anyone in this room who has not repented, put their trust in Jesus as the savior of their life, to come forward and pray with one of the counselors. If that is you, come forward now.

If you have trusted him and you’d like to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I’d like to invite you to come up. Remember, He is someone you have to receive. We can’t force him upon you, you have to want Him in your life. You need to desire him. You have to be open to Him. This is a step of faith. I want more of you God. I want to experience victory in my life. This is it. Counselors will pray with you and for you to receive the Holy Spirit.