Simon

Introduction

When I first came to faith, I was surrounded by people who were genuinely excited about what God had done in my life. And rightly so.

It was real. It was genuine. I believed. I was baptised. And everyone around me celebrated that, as they should have.

But nobody sat me down and showed me how to GIVE GOD MY HEART:

Everyone encouraged me to invite Jesus into my heart. And I did. Gladly. With everything I had in that moment.

But there is a difference between inviting Jesus to live in your heart and actually giving Him your heart.

Imagine you own a house. And you invite someone to come and live in it. You give him a room. A good room. You're genuinely glad he’s there.

You tell people, "yes, he lives with me." And that is true.

But the rest of the house is still yours.

You still control what goes in each room. You decide what stays and what gets thrown out.

There are rooms you keep locked, because they're yours and you're not ready for anyone to see inside them yet.

He is welcome in the kitchen, the living room, the front rooms, those are fine.

But the attic? The room at the end of the corridor you haven't opened in years?

Those stay closed.

And so Jesus lives in the house. But He doesn't own the house.

He has a room. But He doesn't have the keys.

And the house, though it now has Jesus in it, is not yet being transformed by Him.

Because transformation requires access. And access requires surrender.

And surrender requires something most of us are not actually doing, even though we believe — to hand over the keys, all of them, and say:

"Go wherever You want.

Open whatever You need to open.

Clean out whatever has to go.

Redesign whatever isn't right.

This house is Yours."

That is a very different thing from what most of us were taught to do.

Most of us were taught to invite Jesus in but few of us were taught to give Him the keys.

And so we have a generation of believers, who are baptised , they are genuinely loved by God, genuinely trying , who are living with Jesus in the house but have never given Him the house.

And the rooms stay closed. And the years go by…..

And deep down, in places we don't always have language for, we sense that something is missing and something real is needed - we nee TRANSFORMATION

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And this morning, Iwe read about a man who was happy to accept Jesus in his heart, but hadn't given Him the keys.

His name is Simon.

A baptised, following, present, engaged believer.

But when Peter comes from Jerusalem to pray for the peple who belived Philip’s word and got baptised, to receive the Holy Spirit, Peter comes across Simon and the Holy Spirit shows Peter something that no one else could see.

Peter sees the condition of Simon's heart.

Acts 8:20–23 CSB

But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven. For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness.”

What Peter sees is a heart that has never fully surrendered to God.

A heart that is still, at its core, oriented around Simon (Simon's comfort. Simon's significance. Simon's need to be the one with the power, the one people pay attention to, the one who matters.)

He had invited Jesus into his life. But he had never given God his heart.

And Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, names it with a precision that only the Spirit makes possible:

"Your heart is not right before God."

And then he tells Simon why.

He gives us the the two things that were keeping Simon's heart from being fully surrendered to God.

The first is what he calls the gall of bitterness.

And linked to it is the bond of iniquity.

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THE GALL OF BITTERNESS

Peter tells Simon in verse 23 that he is in the gall of bitterness.

The word gall (cholē in Greek) refers to something toxic.

Something Poisonous.

Something that, if it gets into your system, contaminates everything it touches.

In the Old Testament, Moses describes Israel’s heart that has quietly turned away from God to idolatry as a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

Deuteronomy 29:18 CSB

Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

And then the writer of Hebrews picks up that same image in Hebrews 12:15

Hebrews 12:15 CSB

Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.

I want you to notice one word carefully.

Root. Not a branch. Not a leaf.

A root is not something visible on the surface that you can easily identify and deal with.

A root is hidden and doing its work invisibly while everything above ground looks completely fine.

And I don’t know if you’ve noticed but bitterness doesn't announce itself.

You don’t get a text on you phone with a delivery notification that bitterness will arrive in 3-5 working days (make sure you’re home to receive it)

It doesn't walk into your life and introduce itself by name.

It always starts by going underground.

And it produces fruit above the surface that poisons every relationships it touches,

it poisins your marriage,

it posons your friendships,

it poisons your calling,

It poisons your relationship with God an your perception of who God is and whether He can actually be trusted.

Where does bitterness come from?

Bitterness is almost always the fruit of unmet expectation.

Something didn't happen the way you believed it should.

Someone didn't give you what you deserved.

Life didn't deliver what you were counting on.

God didn't come through the way you prayed He would.

And that unmet expectation, left unprocessed and unsurrendered to God, slowly changes shape until it becomes disappointment.

Disappointment then leads to resentment which in time, takes root.

And what makes bitterness so dangerous is that it is extraordinarily good at disguising itself.

Sometimes it disguises itself as discernment.

Sometimes it disguises itself as wisdom after being hurt.

It disguises itself as simply being careful now.

But without realising we are builduing up walls that keep eveyrone who cares about us away an it isolates us to the point where we become unrecoginsiblae even to oursleves.

Moreover, bitterness distorts your image of God.

And it think this is one of the most important biblical aspects of bitterness that we need to understand.

When you carry an unprocessed wound, when someone has hurt you, betrayed you, when life has not delivered what you believed you were promised, your perception of God slowly shifts.

He begins to look unreliable.

Distant.

Unfair.

Withholding.

And a heart that sees God that way cannot fully open itself to Him.

It cannot fully surrender to Him an it cannot fully receive from Him.

And even thouhg, objectively speaking, we know that God is the only one who can TRANSFORM our hurting heart, bitterness distorted our view of God in such a way that we distance ourselces from the very one who not only CAN heal an transofrm us, but HE DESIRES to do it.

Bitterness Distorts what is TRUE of God and makes us DISTANCE ourselves from God.

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Naomi is one of the most poweful examples of bitterness.

Naomi left Bethlehem full.

She had a husband. She had two sons. She had a home, a future, a family line.

She had everything that gave a woman in the ancient Near East identity, security, and dignity.

And then, in a foreign land, she lost all of it.

Her husband died. Then both sons died.

She was left in Moab — a widow, childless, in a culture where that meant you were essentially invisible.

No inheritance. No protection. No future.

And when she finally returns to Bethlehem — the place she left full — she arrives empty.

The women of the city recognise her and say "Is this Naomi?"

And her answer is one of the most raw, honest, theologically loaded statements in all of Scripture:

Ruth 1:20–21 CSB

“Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

Three times in two verses she names God as the one responsible.

The Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

The Lord has brought me back empty.

The Almighty has brought calamity upon me.

Her bitterness is not irrational. She has suffered genuine, devastating, compounded loss.

And she has arrived at a place where she holds God directly responsible for it.

She has renamed herself after her pain.

Naomi means pleasant. Mara means bitter.

She is saying: “this wound has become my identity. This is who I am now. The pleasant life I had is gone and what remains is bitterness.”

And what is extraordinary is that God does not rebuke Naomi for her honesty. He does not correct her theology in the moment. He meets her in it.

He begins, quietly, providentially, through a Moabite daughter-in-law who refuses to leave her, to restore what was lost.

By the end of the book, Naomi is holding a grandson.

The women of Bethlehem say "a son has been born to Naomi." 

The one who came back empty is full again.

The book of Ruth is the story of what happens when someone carries their bitterness honestly before God rather than turning away from Him entirely, and God, in His faithfulness, meets the bitter heart and begins the long work of restoration.

That is the alternative to Simon.

Naomi named her bitterness honestly and stayed in the story God was telling.

Simon buried his bitterness beneath religious activity and tried to buy his way back to significance.

One brought her emptiness to God. The other tried to fill his emptiness himself.

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TRANSITION INTO POINT 2

So here is what happened in Simon's heart.

Simon invited Jesus into his heart but he kept the keys.

Jesus was welcome in the front rooms but the locked rooms stayed locked.

The wound of losing his former identity was locked.

The resentment underneath the belief was locked as well .

The deep, unspoken need to be significant again — locked.

And Simon was happy for Jesus to be a guest in his heart.

He just never made Him landlord.

And when you keep Jesus as a guest ( giving Him a room but not the keys) something begins to happen in the locked rooms over time.

The bitterness that was never brought to God begins to move through the walls.

It seeps into the structure of the house.

It starts shaping how every room functions9how you think, what you reach for, what you believe about yourself and about God, what patterns you return to when the emptiness surfaces.)

And the patterns born out of bitterness, reinforced by repeated choices made from a heart that never fully surrendered , slowly harden into something structural.

Something with walls.

Something that keeps truth out and keeps lies in.

Something that makes a believer sit in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and still be unable to receive Him.

Peter names it in the second half of verse 23.

The bond of iniquity.

And together, bitterness as the root and iniquity as the structure that grows from it, they have turned the house of Simon's heart into a stronghold.

And the man who once amazed everyone as the great power of God, has become a captive in his own house.

THE BOND OF INIQUITY

In the Greek — syndesmos adikias. A chain of unrighteousness. A ligament of iniquity.

The image is of something that binds. Restricts. Holds captive.

Iniquity carries the sense of a bent. A twist.

A pattern repeated so often that you stopped choosing it a long time ago. Now it chooses you..

It is sin that has become structural, not just something you do occasionally but something you are organised around without even realising it.

Isaiah 59:2 tells us what iniquity does:

Isaiah 59:2 CSB

But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.

Iniquity creates distance.

It builds a wall between the person and God.

And walls maintained over time, through repeated choices, through covered patterns, through a heart that was never fully surrendered, become the structure of a stronghold.

This is what happened to Simon.

The bitterness was the root (the poisoned foundation underneath everything).

The iniquity was the structure that grew from it (the hardened patterns of reaching for power, for significance, for control, built up over years of a heart that had never given God the keys.

And the bond (the chain) is what those patterns become when they have been repeated long enough.

You don't choose them anymore. They choose you.

That is the bond of iniquity.

That is what it means to be captive in your own house.

Now look at the contrast.

Naomi and Simon both faced devastating loss.

Naomi lost her husband, her sons, her security, her future - everything that gave her identity and dignity in her world.

Simon lost his platform, his following, his reputation - everything that gave him significance and power in his world.

Both carried real wounds. Both had real reason for bitterness.

But what they did with those thoughts, and those waves of pain and accusation and grief , is where everything diverged.

Naomi took her thoughts to God.

Not polished thoughts. Not theologically correct thoughts. Not thoughts she had tidied up and made presentable before bringing them into the room.

Raw thoughts. Accusing thoughts. Thoughts that named God as the one responsible for her suffering.

"The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. The Lord has brought me back empty."

She took every thought captive, and she didn’t try to suppress any of the thoughts, she didn’t pretend it wasn't there, but she brought those thoughts and feelings and raw emotions directly before God rather than letting them grow underground into a root.

She wept before God.

She named her pain before God.

She stayed in the story God was telling even when she couldn't see where it was going.

And God met her there.

Simon did the opposite.

He buried the thoughts.

He covered the wound with activity.

He kept the locked rooms locked and got busy following Philip around.

And the unsurrendered thoughts (the unprocessed pain, the unnamed resentment) grew underground.

Into a root. Into a structure. Into a bond.

Into a stronghold that made him a captive in his own house.

The difference between Naomi and Simon is what they did with the thoughts the wound produced.

CONCLUSION — THE STRONGHOLD AND THE WAY OUT

Paul gives us the name for what this becomes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 CSB

For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.

A stronghold.

A stronghold is what happens when the locked rooms of your heart have been closed long enough that they begin to govern everything else.

It is a centre of control built around a core of lies.

Lies about who you are.

Lies about who God is.

Lies about whether transformation is even possible for someone like you.

And the function of a stronghold is specific.

Paul tells us that it raises itself against the knowledge of God. 

A stronghold is not just a personal struggle.

It is a structure that actively blocks truth from reaching the place in you where repentance and transformation happen.

This is why some people can sit under good preaching for years and walk out unchanged.

Not because the Word isn't true.

Not because the Holy Spirit isn't present.

But because the stronghold is doing exactly what it was built to do.

Keeping the doors closed. Keeping the keys away from the One who could transform everything behind them.

And this is what Peter saw in Simon.

He saw bitterness and iniquity.

But more than that, he saw a heart where both had operated long enough, unchallenged, unbrought to God , that they had built a structure.

A stronghold. A captivity so familiar that Simon had stopped recognising it as captivity at all.

It just felt like him.

But here is what I need you to hear.

Peter does not walk away from Simon.

He does not say, ”You are too far gone." 

He does not say "Leave and don't come back."

He says: "Repent and pray." Acts 8:22

Acts 8:22 CSB

Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven.

Which means the stronghold can come down.

Paul says these weapons, repentance and prayer, have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Not human power. Not willpower. Not trying harder or doing better.

Divine power.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to tear down what bitterness and iniquity built in the house of your heart.

But you have to take the thoughts captive first.

And you cannot take captive what you cannot see.

Application

So here is what taking thoughts captive actually looks like in practice.

As something you do — tonight, tomorrow, this week, dail;y if needed as I do

Step 1 — Become Aware

Every evening, before you sleep, ask yourself:

When did I feel pain today? When did I have a wave of emotion that felt bigger than the situation? When did something negative rise up in me — anger, fear, shame, resentment, withdrawal?

Don't judge it. Don't suppress it. Just notice it.

Step 2 — Identify the Thought

When you find that moment, ask:

What was I thinking about when I felt that?

Because beneath every strong feeling is a thought. And beneath every thought is a belief. And it is the belief — not just the feeling — that needs to be addressed.

Step 3 — Expose the Underlying Belief

This is where it gets honest.

Ask yourself: What does this thought say about me? What does it say about God? What am I actually believing — about myself, about God, about the world — that is producing this in me?

This is where the root becomes visible. This is where you discover what is actually in the locked rooms.

Step 4 — Confront It with Truth

Now bring the Word into the room.

Ask: what does God actually say about this? What is true — not what feels true, but what is true?

This is taking the thought captive. You are not suppressing the thought. You are not pretending the feeling wasn't there.

You are holding the lie up next to the truth and refusing to let the lie have the final word.

Step 5 — Replace and Worship

Replace the lie with the truth. Speak the truth back to God. Turn it into prayer. Turn it into thanksgiving.

Not as a formula. As a genuine act of surrender.

"Lord, I have believed this lie about You. I repent of it. I choose to believe what You say instead. I give You this room. Here are the keys."

That is metanoia in practice. That is the crooked heart being made straight. That is the stronghold losing its walls one stone at a time.

The Christological Landing

And I want to leave you with this.

Jesus is everything Simon was trying to obtain.

Simon wanted power — Jesus is the power of God. Simon wanted significance — Jesus offers an identity no platform can give and no loss can take. Simon wanted to be the great power again — but Jesus, who held all power, chose to lay it down entirely.

He did not grasp at equality with God. He emptied Himself. He became a servant. He went to a cross.

And through that surrender — through that complete giving of the keys to the Father — He became the source of everything Simon was reaching for.

The power Simon tried to buy with money — Jesus purchased with His blood. And offers freely.

Not to those who are impressive enough. Not to those who have it all together. Not to those whose rooms are already clean and ordered.

To those who come with open hands. To those who finally hand over the keys and say —

"This house is Yours. Go wherever You want. Open whatever You need to open. Clean out whatever has to go."

That is the prayer that destroys strongholds.

That is the prayer that sets captives free.

The Invitation

In a moment I am going to invite you to respond.

If something today has named something real in you — a bitterness you recognise, a locked room you have been protecting, a pattern you now see as a chain, a stronghold you can finally name —

I want to invite you to come forward for prayer.

Not because the altar is magic.

But because sometimes the most courageous thing a person can do is take one step toward God that says:

"I want You to have the keys."

The door is open.

The weapons that destroy strongholds are not human weapons.

They are divine.

And they are available to you right now.

Come.