Untitled Sermon (3)

Sermon Introduction:

As we looked at last week, with the sacrifice that Stephen made by literally paying with his life for being a faithful witness of Christ and sharing the Gospel message, we saw the result of that was two-fold.

The first thing was that Saul, the zealous young Jewish man who was there that day, watching and approving of Stephen being killed by the mob, began to take things even further. Emboldened by the public outcry against Stephen, Saul starting going to gatherings, into homes, and seizing Christians. He drug them off, both men and women, to prison which even led to having some killed as he later confesses.

The second thing, which in a physical sense was because of this persecution by Saul, the believers are scattered. For the first time since the church began at Pentecost, these new believers in Christ are forced to flee from Jerusalem.

But we don't want to miss that this scattering of the believers was not just a physical response to Saul and his persecution though, it was a supernatural push by God. This scattering was a part of God's divine plan as well.

Through this scattering, His church began the expansion of their work. They began to fulfill the next stages of the mission that God had given them to reach "Jerusalem, and in all of Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" as He commanded them in .

Luke has all of that in mind in his brief statement there in where we ended last week:

Sermon Text:

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Now, I want us to notice something else from where we read last week too before we go forward, because we can't afford to miss this truth.

This verse said that those who were scattered went about preaching the word and I want us to be clear on who those people are.

Look back at verse 1:

Sermon Text:

…And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Notice who is scattered? The believers, the members of the church, but not the apostles.

So as the people are going, scattered all across Judea and Samaria, the Gospel is going forward not by the Apostles primarily at this moment, but by "regular Christians" if you will.

All believers are called to proclaim the Word, specifically, to share the Gospel, not just church leaders.

Don’t miss that. The Gospel is spreading by the work of the members of the church taking the mission seriously, believing that it is their mission, not just the mission of the apostles or the pastors of the church!

So Luke focuses in on a man named Philip, we met Philip actually back when we heard about Stephen the first time too.

Philip was mentioned second in the list of the godly men who were nominated by the church, from their membership, to serve in assisting in the care of the widows.

Sermon Text:

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip…

So let's see what God does through Philip, who is a godly man, a model of servanthood but at the end of the day is a Christian just like you and I, but one who takes his mission to share about Jesus very seriously.

Sermon Text:

Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.

Philip goes to Samaria, which if you aren't familiar with the Bible or with this place, the region of Samaria is just north of where Jerusalem is in the region of Judea.

You can see it on this map here in the purple. That's Samaria and the Green is Judea.

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Remember, Jesus had promised that the Gospel was going to spread and the mission of His followers was to take the Gospel all throughout Judea and Samaria and then to the "ends of the earth" after that.

Philip is pretty bold in going north right into Samaria. There were long standing issues between the Jewish people and the Samaritan people. This goes back hundreds of years and the issues were essentially that these Samaritan people were once Jews, but had intermarried with foreigners when God had forbid that and thus deluded the bloodline. They then established their own sites for worship instead of going to the Temple in Jerusalem, and they even had their own form of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, that they used exclusively.

But Philip, obviously led by the Holy Spirit, goes up to this region and begins the preach to these people about the Messiah.

With their "sort of Jewish" heritage and their use of some of the Old Testament, they knew a Messiah, a Savior and Deliver, was going to come from God. So Philip preaches that the Messiah, or the Christ (the Greek term for Messiah) has indeed come and that He is Jesus.

The people listen to Philip's message and God is validating that Philip is a true messenger from Him, by doing what He had done through the apostles in Jerusalem and performing signs and wonders: specifically, delivering the oppressed from demons and healing sickness and diseases.

As I have repeatedly stressed in this series:

The power of God is not limited or constrained in anyway.

He is the God who is working through all things, He is the God who is more powerful than all types of oppositions, than all the legions of demons, greater than all sickness, and He is Lord over all natural issues we might face in this life.

But notice the connection between God demonstrating His power here by signs and wonders and the preaching of His Word.

I said this exact thing back when we looked and the miracles that have been taking place all throughout Acts:

The purpose of Supernatural signs and wonders is to shift the focus onto God by His followers preaching the Gospel of Jesus .

I keep saying that because it is far to easy for people to look at Acts and to miss this.

Many religious people today are just like the Jewish people in Jesus day were in this regard, we want to see signs and wonders and supernatural things like this.

This is why there is such a market for those who fake healings, for people claiming to have new personal revelations from God, and all of that type of stuff.

Even Christians, since we rightly believe that God can do these things, we can become fixated just like the Jews were and expect to see it because we want to.

Even in the church, so many well-meaning people have misunderstood what God was doing and why God was doing it in Acts in general and texts like this in particular, and so they think that we should all be able to just operate in these things just like these early Christians, Philip, Stephen and Peter did with these amazing spiritual gifts and signs and wonders being performed in their ministries, but they miss the reason why God moved in and through them in supernatural ways - so that the Gospel would be preached!

In the vast majority of the cases where people are claiming to do these things today, they are disconnecting those actions from the true Gospel and thus exposing they are fakes and false prophets.

We have tons of these people who are faking supernatural actions, playing on the fact that God has worked in supernatural ways in the places like Acts, to trick people today.

So this leads to churches, like Bethel in Redding, California - faking the physical presence of God showing up in worship services by putting gold glitter in the HVAC system to blow into the sanctuary on queue.

This leads to fake faith healers, like Benny Hinn, travelling around the world claiming to heal like Peter and Philip actually did, but really Benny doesn't have the power of God working through him, he cannot heal any real sickness or disease and it’s just an elaborate scam.

This leads to false prophets like Paula White or Jesse Duplantis on TV and in big crusades telling people to send them money to get blessings from God, to receive healings, or special prophetic words over their lives.

All of these things are fake, they are distortions of what God was actually doing through men like Peter and Philip. All of these fakes share in common the fact that they do not preach the Word of God rightly, they do not have the Gospel message.

This is a serious thing we need to be aware of it today, because our country is pushing out these distorted view and these false prophets all around the world.

And, in God's providence, as the Gospel is spreading and He is working through this Christian man named Philip in these powerful ways, God actually addresses this temptation and this type of action right here in , with an encounter between Philip and a man named Simon.

Sermon Text:

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.

12 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.

So we are introduced to Simon, a magician, here who has captivated the people of Samaria with his magic, but when Philip comes as a representative of the true God, with the power of the Holy Spirit doing real miracles and signs and wonders… the people are drawn to the real power of God and they hear Philip proclaim the Gospel message.

Again, the purpose of these displays of power by God is so that the Gospel will be proclaimed.

The point is God does not do amazing things to make His followers look attractive , to impressive people, to make His followers rich… God does these works so that people will hear the Gospel, respond to the Gospel, and be given the gift of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

And this is what happens, when people respond to the preaching of Philip and are baptized as followers of Christ, we see that the Word of God is far more powerful than all forms of magic, tricks and scams, or demonic power that may exist.

The miraculous power of God is obvious and tangible in these healings and deliverances and even Simon, the magician, sees what God is doing through Philip and he is amazed at the miraculous power.

But don't miss the true miracle in all of this is the conversation of sinners, the spread of the Gospel to these people, not just the healings or deliverances.

Salvation is the true miracle here, that sinful men and women who are enemies of God by their nature, who are lost in their sins and their own religious ideas… just like we were and many around here today are… that these people are coming in faith to Christ, accepting Him as God in the flesh who brings salvation to those who trust in Him… and that they are being forgiven on their sins by the true Messiah, the Savior, not because they are earning it but because they are simply coming to trust and follow Him… that is the true miracle in all of this.

We are going to come back to Simon and I want us to look at him in more detail, but we are going to do that next week. I want us to track this line of emphasis in the text today.

Look at the next few verses:

Sermon Text:

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

The response by the apostles, when they hear that the Samaritans have received the word of God is to send Peter and John there to support the work.

Now, it is really interesting to note this because it is unique in history.

What is happening here in has been described by some theologians as the "Samaritan Pentecost" and I think that is a good descriptor in terms of understanding these events to be special, unique, monumental moments in church history.

If we look at the times in Acts we see the Holy Spirit coming in powerful, public ways like this, we will see what I mean:

In , the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in power with signs and wonders being done that day to give the opportunity for them to preach to a large crowd, and to see many converted that day by the preaching.

Here in , again the people are drawn in by the Holy Spirit doing other signs and wonders through Philip and they themselves believe the Gospel and are baptized in water.

But, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit did not fall on them the same was He did in with the disciples.

Going forward a little bit, in , the Gentiles in Cornelius household will respond to Peter sharing the Gospel with them because God's gives Cornelius a vision. They don’t see signs and wonders like healings or anything there.

But, when they respond to Peter sharing the Gospel, then before they are even baptized in water, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and enables them personally to do signs and wonders.

Finally, in , many, many years after this, Paul encounters 12 disciples in Ephesus who have heard just a part of the Gospel message and believed it, but didn't have a full understanding.

So Paul teaches them about the Trinity, they didn't even know who the Person of the Holy Spirit was, and then they are filled with the Holy Spirit and also given special supernatural gifts well after having initially believed the basic Gospel message they had heard potentially years before!

Each of these unique events, and how God displays his power and how He acts in each of them, should serve to humble us and prevent us from "putting God into a box" as many people want to try and do with God.

Listen, there is no formula here in Acts for obtaining access to supernatural gifts and no standard, normative, path to getting the ability to do signs or wonders or miracles or healings or anything else like that.

God is not in the business of creating magicians out of His followers.

In each case I just mentioned, God moved in a specific way, a unique way in terms of timing, in order to build up His church at that time and to communicate specific truths.

God worked in a unique way with the apostles and the Jewish people in Jerusalem there at Pentecost back in . That's what we could call the "Jewish Pentecost."

The prayer meeting that they had, the flames of fire that they saw above each person and the supernatural ability for everyone of them to speak and be understood in other real, known, native languages of the people who were visiting from all over the known world and were listening to them… that doesn't normally happen.

We can't look at and try to create a model for our prayer services based on this special moment in history. I can't make God cause flames of fire to appear when we gather for prayer, just so we are all clear on that…

God worked in a unique and powerful way in that gathering in order to produce a unique and powerful result, right?

Peter's sermon that day has 3,000 people respond to it and the New Testament church essentially begins at that event.

That was what God was doing there through His supernatural work of signs and wonders at that moment. He does not need to do that again, because the church has been started now. He accomplished a specific purpose on that day in those miraculous events.

Here in , the "Samaritan Pentecost" is a likewise pivotal moment in Redemptive History. This is another unique event that is the start of the Gospel spreading beyond Jerusalem just as Jesus promised it would and had commanded His disciples to do.

When Philip goes to Samaria, the response to his preaching is for a new people group, a group of people who are a half-step between Jew and Gentiles really, to hear and understand that Jesus is the Savior… for even them.

This is the start of understanding that Jesus did not just die for the purely Jewish people in the nation of Israel. Rather, He died for the sins of His People.

A new people made up of all those who would trust in Him and follow Him… even if those people were from Samaria.

is the "Gentile Pentecost" if you will.

In , Peter (and then the whole church in ) will come to understand that this "new people" the people Christ died for are all who would trust in Him including Gentiles.

Jesus's people are people from Israel, Samaria, and even the Gentile nations!

The church there is finally realizing that the message and the power of God is for all men and women of all nations, tribes, and tongues. The way the Holy Spirit comes there in proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt to Peter and then through Peter to the whole church.

Which is great news because here we are today, in a Gentile nation, a group of Gentiles, worshiping Jesus as His people.

We take the Gospel from here around this nation, we go to other nations like Guatemala and we proclaim Jesus and His Gospel is for us and for them.

Because in , God broke down those final barriers for His people to finally grasp this was His eternal plan!

So here in , when the apostles come up and see that many are believing the same Gospel they are, and God begins to remove that sense of division that Jewish people felt toward Samaritan people.

Listen, God's church is never supposed to be divided on ethnic lines, by backgrounds or wealth, interests or social statuses, or by anything else.

God has saved His people, all of His people, in the same way, through Christ alone, and so we are unified in Him as a new people.

All those other distinctions or divisions that we come up with as sinful humans to divide ourselves from one another… they are done away with through the cross and the Gospel of Jesus. And so in the Church of Jesus Christ, we should have a diversity of backgrounds, statuses, ethnicities, and experiences… but we should be fully unified in Christ our Savior, the only One who saves.

God is starting to teach this to the apostles through the encounter they have and through the way He choses to empower the Samaritans with the Holy Spirit just as He did the apostles.

When Peter and John are there, they pray for these new professing believers in Christ and then we read what God does:

Sermon Text:

Then they [The Apostles] laid their hands on them and they [The Samaritans] received the Holy Spirit.

The apostles play an important role here as witnesses to what God is doing. I believe God did it this way to demonstrate the unity that He intends for His church.

Peter and John may have felt they had a better relationship with God because they were true Jews, so they would be better Christians than Samaritans could be.

But when the Holy Spirit comes and empowers the Samaritans to do the same things that the apostles experienced… that would remove any sense of superiority from them, right?

God was breaking down the barriers of division here in this "Samarian Pentecost" through these miraculous actions.

God has broken down these barriers, and, most gloriously, the barrier of sin which separates us from Him, in Jesus Christ at the cross.

God has broken down every barrier between us and Him

He has conquered sin

That is a glorious truth that we should rejoice in and celebrate. That is the truth I want every one of us to hear today, to respond to today, and to live a life changed because of this truth today.

--Prayer--