The Church Must Continue Acts 8:1-25

Introduction

In the first 7 chapters of Acts, the church had been continuing to grow in both unity and numbers, the problem is the church had only been reaching one place and that was Jerusalem.

Remember when Jesus gave the great commission in Acts 1:8 He said this. “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.” The church was healthy, but it was only fulfilling one place in the great commission that commanded them to reach the uttermost parts of the earth.

Here we are going to see how the persecution of the church caused them to scatter and reach another group of people.

Saul’s Persecution of the Early Church vs. 1-3

After the death of Stephen, we are given some more information about Saul

The Bible tells us he consented to the death of Stephen

The word consent here means “to approve of”

We see Saul approved of the murder of a man who did nothing wrong all for the “good” of his religion.

At the time of Stephen’s stoning the persecution of Christians went to an all time high.

All the members of the church were scattered through Judaea and Samaria.

It would seem that no one from the church had made an effort to leave Jerusalem before the persecution turned up.

It is amazing how God can use something that men think is evil to Spread the Gospel.

Illustration: On January 9, 1985, Pastor Hristo Kulichev, a Congregational pastor in Bulgaria, was arrested and put in prison. His crime was that he preached in his church even though the state had appointed another man the pastor whom the congregation did not elect. His trial was a mockery of justice. And he was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. During his time in prison he made Christ known every way he could. When he got out he wrote, "Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and it turned out that we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free." (Herbert Schlossberg, Called to Suffer, Called to Triumph, p. 230)

Stephen honored despite the persecution continuing vs. 2

Some men who were devout or committed followers of Jesus took Stephen and buried him.

They made great lamentations over him as well

Lamentations means Expression of sorrow; cries of grief

Saul goes from consenting to the death to crushing Christians vs. 3

The bible says that Saul was making havock on the church(Remember the only church at this time was the church at jerusalem)

The word havock here means to ravage like a wild beast.

He would enter into their houses and drag them to prison.

He hated Christians and the message they were preaching, and his actions proved it

Jerusalem to Samaria vs 4-5a

The Christians who were spread abroad could have easily hidden until the persecution had lightened but instead the Bible says that everywhere they were the preached the word.

What a lesson for us, when the going gets rough as a Christian are we going to hide or are we going to continue preaching and proclaiming the word.

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10, it they persecute you in this town, go to the next and continue to preach.

In verse 5 we are introduced to Phillip who would have been scattered in the persecution. He had moved from Jerusalem to Samaria and began a ministry there.

Phillips Ministry in Samaria vs. 5-25

The Message vs. 5

Just like the Apostles, Phillips message was Christ.

The most important message we can preach is the message of Christ.

The message Phillip preached was the death, burial and ressurection of Jesus Christ.

It is the message of salvation, the only thing you can believe in to get you to heaven.

As believers, the gospel should dictate everything we do. If we want the church to stay on mission, we as believers have to stay on mission, and that mission is sharing the gospel with every creature.

That is what the early church did, even when facing persecution.

The results of the preaching vs. 6-8

The people were unified in the receiving of the word of God

They took heed or payed close attention to what was being taught, and the miracles being performed by Phillip

They were seeing unclean spirits cast out

They were seeing sick people healed

They were seeing lame people walking

Because of what was being preached and done, there was great joy in the city.

Simon the Sorcerer vs 9-24

Verse 9 starts with the conjunction but which would tie two thoughts together

Luke as he is writing this book tells us about the great joy that was happening in the city, then says but there was a certain man and his name was Simon.

The Bible gives us some details about him vs. 9-11

He used sorcery or magic to charm people.

He had tricked the people in Samaria into thinking he was some great ones, some commentaries go as far to say that he would have presented himself as the Messiah.

The Bible says that the least to the greatest person in Samaria all of them took heed or payed special attention to the nonsense he was saying and they thought that he had the power of God.

Because of his charm people had regard for him and he had been tricking them for a long time.

As Phillip is preaching, people start turning their lives over to Jesus and getting saved. vs. 12

Simon had tricked them for a long time, but that all came to an end when Phillip preached the gospel in Samaria.

As Phillip was preaching the Gospel people got saved, and baptized.

This is the great commission in action.

Reminder: Baptism is a picture of a new life in Christ, it pictures his death burial and resurrection, and the picture is when we go under the water we goes as the old man and when we come out of the water it is as the new man.

Simon believes also, but notice his belief was in the signs and miracles done by Phillip and not the gospel. vs. 13

The signs and miracles were a great tool to get a conversation started and share the gospel, but believing in them will never get you to heaven.

Jesus rebuked people like this in John 4:48 “Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”

Do you believe the Gospel or are you believing in something else to get you to heaven. Nothing but our believing in the Gospel can get us to heaven.

Peter and John make a trip to Samaria. Vs. 14-17

Remember when the church scattered from Jerusalem, the Apostles stayed there with the church to keep it going.

The Apostles got a good report from Samaria. There were some in Samaria who recieved the word of God, so the Apostles sent Peter and John down to Samaria

The reason for their coming was the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on the new believers. vs. 15-17

They came down to Samaria and prayed that they would receive the Holy Ghost, because it still would have been a separate event to show that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. They had been baptized with water, just not with the Holy spirit yet.

This is only one of two times where scripture mentions the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Ghost.

Henry Morris said this “It was vital for the new Samaritan believers to be integrated spiritually with the Jerusalem church, since the Jews and Samaritans had been enemies for centuries and the barrier urgently needed to be removed. Consequently, two leaders of the apostles, Peter and John, came to Samaria to confirm the Samaritans acceptance on the human level, and the Holy Spirt on the divine level, evidently by some phenomena, as He had done at Pentecost.”

As Peter and John laid their hands on them they were filled with the Holy Spirit vs. 17

Simon tries to pay for the Holy Spirt vs. 18-19

As Simon sees the miracle of the Holy Spirit, he offered the Apostles money to try to her the Holy Spirit and to have the ability to lay hands on people to give them the Holy Ghost as well.

In verses 20-22 We see the response of Peter.

Peter has never been one to pull any punches, but especially here he doesn’t.

He tells him that his money will perish with him because he thought his money could buy the gift of God

No matter how much money you give to God, it will never be enough to pay for your sins!

He tells him his heart isn’t right

He was believing in the signs and wonders and not the gospel and was now trying to buy the Holy Spirit

He tells him he needs to turn from his wickedness towards Jesus and believe the Gospel.

Thats what we must do!

Look at the response of Simon in verse 24

Instead of praying to God he asks Peter to pray that the things Peter had told him wouldn’t come true.

Nothing else is mentioned about Simon in the Bible after this point. Church history indicates though that he was a serious problem to the church and may have been the one to introduce gnosticism into the the church.

Despite opposition the Gospel was still preached in many of the villages in Samaria.

Louis Entzminger used to say Go on! Go on! Go on! and that is what we must do no matter what!

Conclusion

Despite the Death of Stephen and the persecution brought on by Saul the church continued and was now reaching the Samaritans. This shows us that we can go on despite what we are facing because God works even in the midst of persecution.

Simon is a good example of someone who believes in something besides the Gospel. Peter was very clear with him of what it meant for him to not believe the Gospel. If you are here this morning and you have never trusted in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and you were to die today, you would spend eternity separated from God. But their is good news, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. You can be saved today by believing in the Gospel, if you never done that come today and get saved.