Phillip or Simon? Which one are you?

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.” 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.

Prayer

Good morning everyone here at the park and those who might be watching at home. We are so thrilled that you are joining us this morning because we know you could be anywhere this morning doing anything and you chose to join us on this Lords day and we thank you.

We have been going thru the book of Acts since Easter to get a small glimpse of what the church and its fathers looked like in the hopes that we might be able to replicate it the best we can and in doing so give God the glory He so rightly deserves. We have seen from the very beginning what it looks like to follow Jesus with your whole heart and what it might actually cost you should you make that decision.

We have seen Peter and John arrested and set free.

We have seen all the disciples arrested and beaten and set free.

We saw that even in their struggles, arrests and beatings, they came out rejoicing that they were counted worthy of such an honor and privilege.

They understood what it meant to serve the highest of Kings and exactly what the king had paid to buy their eternal freedom.

We see a wonderful beautiful faithful servant in Stephen who is brutally stoned to death and even in the midst of such agony and pain he asks Jesus to forgive his executioners.

We learned about Polycarp an early Christian disciple of John, and his martyrdom at the age of 86 having followed Jesus all of his life. When given the option of freedom to deny his love for Jesus, or to be burned alive, Polycarp replied “ 80 and 6 years have I served Christ, nor has He ever done me any harm. How, then could I blaspheme my King who saved me.”

We heard story after story about several other early church hero’s from Foxes Book of Martyrs who suffered terrible persecution and death. These faithful individuals and their families knew they had found the only hope and love that every truly transformed their lives and found it to be worth more than even the very breath in their lungs.

We got our first glimpse at Saul, the most zealot of all the Pharisees, as he joyfully approves of the stoning of Stephen. Saul then goes on such a vicious rampage against the church that many of the Christians in Jerusalem flee for their lives to Judea and Samaria.

Phillip was one of those that fled Saul’s persecution. Even watching Stephen being martyred didn’t deter Phillip from preaching and telling everyone he met about the hope of Jesus Christ. Even his sworn enemies, the Samaritans.

When Phillip preached and did supernatural miracles it says in So there was much joy in that city.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Are we living the Christian life in such a way that we bring joy to the city? Do we bring joy where we work? Do we bring joy where we shop? Or are we just faking it on Sundays?

You cannot fake it to you make it with Christianity. There isn’t a fence you can comfortably sit on. You have to be one or the other.

Today I am hoping to give an idea on the difference and why it is so important to see the falsehood and eternal repercussions of just playing Christianity.

Acts 8:9–11 ESV

Simon the Sorcerer

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

acts

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.

Simon the sorcerer has everything going for him right now. He has amazed the crowds of Samaria so much that they perceived he could even be God himself. There are many people out there today claiming to have all these supernatural powers. David Blane is one that comes to mind. Have you ever watched David Blane? He is an incredible magician and illusionist. I am always amazed at the tricks that he can do that you never see anyone else doing. David Blane has a huge following, so much that South Park did an episode about the Church of Blainetology. If we go further back we can see legends in the world of sorcerer with names like Rasputin, Alester Crowley, and Anton Levay. These occult legends made no bones about their worship of Satan and the dark arts. Their lives were nothing but unpleasant but had an abundance of fame and fortune.

Even further back from a biblical perspective we see the Pharaohs magicians doing magic similar to what God was allowing Moses to do. 3 times the Pharoahs sorcerers duplicate what God had used Moses to do but when Moses does his 4th miracle by bringing a plague of gnats they too realize that this can only be the hand of God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.-11

We are in a supernatural battle. says “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” There are forces in play in this world that can and will do supernaturally terrible things against in hopes of us turning from God. Simon the sorcerer could have very well been used by Satan to lead people astray.

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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Everyone sees Simons display of power and Phillips display of power from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and there, at that point, they are of no comparison. Simons magic was meant to mesmerize for a moment, Phillips was meant to mesmerize for an eternity. The Glory and majesty of a Holy God will keep you in awe forever. Phillip introduces the Samarians to what real Holy power looks like and they both men and women and even Simon himself believed and were baptised.

Phillip then comes on the scene and shows they a real display of Jesus Christ

It doesn’t take long to see that even people that say they believe and even get baptised might not truly believe. Simon is so amazed at the power of Christ working thru Phillip that he even begins to follow him, but for all the wrong reasons.

I can remember several times in my young teenage life that I would go to a retreat, hear a great Christian speaker, get caught up in the emotions of everything, be scared into not going to hell, and get “saved” at least 5 different times. I would have told you then I was a Christian. I got baptized at least three different times. So here I was like Simon. I claimed to believe and was baptised. Most people in church thought I was a christian. I was also getting drunk every weekend, smoking weed, and having premarital sex with my girlfriend. Not a single one of those things shows a transformed life. I know now that I didn’t have a true saving relationship with Christ. I had a ton of head knowledge, knew a lot of Christianese, but would have split hell wide open had my life been taken from me then. but thank God he is a long suffering merciful God.

Acts 8:14–25 ESV

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.” 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.

Acts 8:14-25

Word travelled fast about the great move of God thru Phillip in Samaria. You know you are doing something right when the two head honchos of the Early Church, Peter and John pay you a visit. That would be similar to David Platt and Francis Chan showing up here in the park to see all that The Beloved is doing. For those of you who might not know who they are google them. They would be worth your time for sure.

So Peter and John begin to lay hands on all the professing believers so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. I read several commentaries on this one instance in the entire bible where the Holy Spirit wasn’t recieved at once upon surrendering to Christ. We believe that the full measure of the Holy Spirit is given to each of us when we surrender our lives to Christ so why not the Samaritans?

John Stott in his Commentary on the book of Acts gave the best description of everything I read and he explains it like this :

As we saw earlier, the samaritan schism had lasted for centuries. But now the Samaritans were being evangelized, and responding to the Gospel.It was a moment of significant advance, which was also fraught with peril. What would ahppen now? Would the long standing rift be perpetuated? The Gospel had been welcomed by the Samaritans, but would the Samaritans be welcomed by the Jews? Or would there be separate factions of Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians in the church of jesus Christ? The idea may seem unthinkable in theory; in practice it might well have happened. There was a real danger …in their Christ apart, or at least of forming a new separate church for themselves.

It is not reasonable to suggest ( in view of this historical background) that in order to avoid such a disaster, God deliberately withheld the Spirit from these Samaritan converts. The delay was only temporary, however, until the apostles had come to investigate, had endorsed Phillips bold policy of Samaritan evangelism, had prayed for the converts, had laid hands on them as a token of fellowship and solidarity, and had thus given a public sign to the whole church, as well as the Samaritan converts themselves, that they were bona fide Christians, to be incorporated into the redeemed community on precisely the same terms as the Jewish converts. To quote Geoffrey Lampe again, “ at this turning point in the mission something else was required in addition to the ordinary baptism of the converts. It had to be demonstrated to the Samaritans beyond any shadow of doubt that they had really become members of the church, in fellowship with the original pillars…an unprecedented situation demanded quite exceptional methods”

This was just another way, much like the death of Ananias and Saphirous that God protected the infancy of the early church. God has always desired unity in his church. We have always wanted our own way.

So Simon was amazed by Phillip but now he is really starstruck by Peter and John. Simon thinks to himself, if I could only get this gift from these guys I could go back to being the rock star I once was before Phillip came along. Simon doesn’t care one ounce for the creator of the universe. Simon doesnt care one ounce for the God who breathes galaxies into existence. Simon doesn’t care one smidgen for the Almighty that knows every hair on his head, the one who knew Simons all consuming pride and heart for wickedness but still took the wrath and punishment that Simon himself deserved on his back at the cross, he has no part of that Jesus. Simon wants the genie Jesus. He wants the prosperity Jesus. He wants the Jesus that helps him get ahead, he wants the Jesus that is ok with his wickedness. If most of are honest, that’s the same Jesus we want most of the time. No surrender, no repentance, no sacrifice, and really no Jesus at all.

Simon offers Peter money to get this gift and Peter, never being one to mince words,gives him the truth about his heart. As Peter has done since the beginning of Acts he tells Simon to repent. We hate that word. Repent. We don’t use it much anymore because it makes people uncomfortable. How dare Peter tell Simon to repent. The heart wants what the heart wants right? We live in a culture that thinks it should do and have whatever it wants regardless of what the Bible says. Even people like Simon that would call themselves Christians have things in their lives they know are sin but do them anyway over and over again without any remorse, any conviction, or any repentance. Simon knew his own heart better than anyone and he cannot even bring himself to pray. He cannot bring himself to repent.

I wish I could repent for you. I wish I could save you. I wish I could turn your heart to the Jesus that saves. I wish i could preach an easy believism gospel that we could all get together and sing coum ba ya, say a short little prayer and only come to church on Christmas and Easter. But thats not the Gospel. The gospel shows the picture of a perfect sinless savior being brutally beaten, humiliated, and killed for your sins and mine and He is telling us to surrender our lives, take up our cross, die to ourselves and follow him. That’s the life transforming message of the Gospel.

Peter, John and Phillip had it. Simon didnt. The world would tell you Simon was fine. He professed and was baptised. The bible, our perfect authority, says otherwise. I beg you today, don’t go away like Simon thinking your ok. Know today, repent, and turn everything over to Jesus.

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