Three Men, Three Hearts - Acts 8:1-25

“Three Men, Three Hearts”

Acts 8:1-25

ÓCopyright 2003 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche, June 1, 2003

One of the things that make the Bible such a fascinating book is the fact that it records real stories about real people and their relationship with God. Paul tells us “everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

This morning as we turn to Acts chapter 8 we have three different actors taking the stage. There is Saul, Philip and Simon the Sorcerer. Three different people each having a different attitude toward the Lord. Each of these examples warn us and encourages us in our walk with the Lord.

SAUL: THE HOSTILE HEART

The first man in our passage this morning is Saul. In chapter 7:58 we are told Saul was a young man present at the stoning of Stephen. He was the man who was in charge of the coats. In 8:1 we are told that he gave approval to Stephen’s death.

As a result of Stephen’s death “a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the Apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” To be honest, no one is sure why the disciples were not scattered. It may be that the focus of the persecution was the Grecian believers. On the other hand, it could be that the disciples were given a great measure of courage allowing them to remain in the city even though their lives were at risk.

The point man in this persecution was none other than Saul. We are told, “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” The word used for “destroy” has the image of sadistic cruelty. The image is one of a wild boar tearing a victim’s body apart. Saul was on a vicious campaign to destroy Christians. Saul believed he was doing a good thing. He was motivated by religious zeal similar to that of Al Qaeda terrorists today.

I find this a sobering warning to believers. The church has not been immune to such mis-guided zeal over the years. The church has been responsible for the Crusades (When Christians went to war against the Muslims), the Inquisition (the ruthless pursuit of heresy), and the Salem Witch trials. All of these occasions are embarrassing and shameful times for the body of Christ. Whenever our zeal for the truth turns into violence or leads us to act without love and respect for others, we have ceased to follow the Lord and are following the path of Saul.

PHILIP: THE FAITHFUL HEART

Who is this Philip? This is not Philip the disciple but Philip the Deacon (like Stephen). We are told the disciples remained in Jerusalem.

It’s easy for us to read the words: “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there”. However, once you understand the background, the words take on new meaning. The Jews and Samaritans did not get along. The Samaritans considered themselves to be Jewish but the Jews considered the Samaritans to be people who had turned away from the true faith.

For Philip to go to the Samaritans may be like you and me going down to East St. Louis to witness to people on the street. You would expect to get a “less than enthusiastic” response. Surprisingly; the Holy Spirit prepared the hearts of the people and gave Philip the power to perform miracles and a revival broke out.

This raises a question in our minds. Where are these kinds of miracles and signs today? Some people contend that these kinds of miracles are confined to the mission field where people need something to make them receptive to the gospel. This may be so but I agree with the thoughts of David Jeremiah,

I often wonder how much of God’s power for today we consign to the closed book of the past. Could it be that we have not because we ask not and that we see no miracles because we expect none? If you’re dead set on the proposition that miracles don’t happen in your life, I can guarantee you that you’ll be right. But if you live your everyday life in the power of faith, expecting God to reach down into the most mundane of activities in the most modern of worlds, you may begin to see wonderful things. [My Heart’s Desire, p. 133]

The thing we can learn from Philip is that we will never see the power of God at work, until we venture out in faith. Philip proclaimed the gospel and trusted God to open hearts. We step out in faith when we

· Pray for the healing of one who is ill

· Share the gospel with someone who may not be receptive

· Agree to serve in an area where we don’t feel confident

· Trust God to provide in a difficult circumstance

· Speak up for Christian values in a hostile environment

The famed Athiest Madalyn Murray O'Hair was invited by the Student Christian Association to speak at a certain college in Ohio. Mrs. O'Hair will go down in history as the one who knocked prayer and Bible reading out of the public schools. Over 350 students, faculty, and townspeople gathered to hear Mrs. O'Hair discuss her views in opposition to God and religion. She lambasted everything sacred. She made fun of pastors, leaders, and church officials. She said the Bible was not infallible, and it did not amount to anything anyway; she harassed the students and professors; she harangued the foolish thinkers who believed what they read. She referred to God as "Big Daddy" and to Jesus Christ as "J.C." and to the Holy Ghost as the "Spook."

The audience was stunned by her speech, and as questions were put to Mrs. O'Hair, she further attacked Christianity. As the meeting was about to break up, a tiny voice of a little college girl came from the back of the auditorium. She spoke quietly and lovingly, and her voice was full of compassion. Here is what she said: "Mrs. O'Hair, I am so happy you came to speak to all of us here at our college tonight! We have listened with attention to your tirade on our beliefs. We thank you for showing all of us what an atheist is, we express our gratitude on your challenge to our faith. We appreciate your concern for us . . . but now we, in turn, must be ever grateful for your visit . . . because . . . now and forever we have been strengthened in our beliefs. We really feel sorry for you, and we'll pray each night and day for your conversion to our Christian beliefs, and again we thank you for coming. Now I'll have more faith in 'Big Daddy,' in 'J.C.' and in the 'Spook'! Again I say, thank you, and bless your soul!"

The speaker of the evening was flabbergasted. She had no reply. There was a riot of noise. The applause was deafening for this response. The meeting broke up with people experiencing an unbelievable Christian conviction of love for Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

SIMON: THE CORRUPT HEART

The third person in our account is a man by the name of Simon. He was known as Simon the sorcerer. In Biblical days sorcerers were made up of all kinds of different people. Some were people who dabbled in the occult. Some were astrologers and others were con artists and magicians. All of them made a living by displaying their “power”.

Apparently Simon was quite a showman. We are told, “He boasted that he was someone great”. You can imagine that he presented himself as “The Great Simon” or “Simon the Magnificent”. This man had a great following and people felt his power must be from God. You can hear the rationale, “nobody could do these kinds of things unless it is from God” (There is a warning here to those who point to what someone has done and says, “this proves that this person is from God.” The Bible warns us that there will be false teachers and counterfeit miracles. We must always examine what a person believes (especially about Jesus) before we draw conclusions.)

Philip came to town and the people heard the message of salvation and saw the power of God at work in and through Philip. Unlike Simon, Philip did not point to himself, he pointed to Jesus. People heard the message, received it, and were baptized. We are told that even Simon “believed and was baptized”. Today we might have claimed Simon as one of our “great” conversions.

The apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had come to Christ (which may very well have surprised them) so they sent Peter and John to “check things out”. Remember, this was quite a barrier to overcome. The idea that the Samaritans could be equal recipients of God’s grace was something that would be difficult to grasp and accept.

Peter and John came to Samaria and they seemed to see evidence of true faith and “prayed that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”

This raises a number of questions. First, how did Peter and John discern that these believers had NOT received the Spirit? The simple answer is, I don’t know.

Second, how did they know when they HAD received the Spirit? The most reasonable answer here is that they spoke in tongues like they did on the day of Pentecost.

Third, is this the way it is always supposed to work? Are receiving Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit two different experiences? I don’t think this is the normative experience. In Ephesians 1:13, 14 “You were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of His glory.” In Romans 8 Paul writes, “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” All throughout the New Testament it appears that the Holy Spirit is giving at the time a person believes.

That leaves me to conclude that this event was the exception rather than the rule. These experiences in Acts were unique occurrences. Why the exception? Actually, this exception happened two more times in Acts and always when the gospel was crossing a new barrier. This “second Pentecost” did several things,

· It showed that God accepted the Samaritans

· It showed that the status of the Samaritans was equal to the converted Jews since their experience was the same.

· It destroyed the barrier of prejudice that had existed between the Jews and Samaritans.

Let’s get back to Simon. Simon, witnessed this remarkable work of Pentecost (we don’t know if Simon had this experience of tongues-speaking). In Simon’s mind, this was a whole new kind of magic. Simon thought if he could gain this power he could be famous again. He offered to purchase the “rights” to this secret (like magicians who pay to learn the secrets of various tricks).

Simon made his request to Peter and Peter is crystal clear in his response,

20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” 24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” [20-24]

Peter soundly condemns Simon’s request and calls it wickedness. The idea that one can purchase the power of God is absurd and cheapens what God has done. The English word “simony” comes from this event in the book of Acts. The word means “the buying or selling of a church office.”

Kent Hughes draws a contemporary application

Simon tried to obtain spiritual power in order to promote himself, and anytime we seek spiritual power or abilities to put ourselves forward we make the same error. Preaching to gain recognition or status is simony. Serving with an eye to advancement in the church’s power structure is simony. Seeking spiritual gifts for the promotion of oneself is simony. Even seeking to be godly so others will think we are godly is a type of simony.[1]

CONCLUSIONS

Let me leave you with a couple of thoughts. First, notice that the bad circumstance of fierce persecution was used by God to bring good. As a result of the scattering the gospel began to be preached in other places in the world.

Philip chose to trust God’s character rather than his feelings. He chose to look for the opportunity rather than dwell on the problem.

Are you going through some difficult times? You have this same choice. You can wallow in your hardship or you can look for an opportunity to glorify God. You can trust your analysis of the situation or you can rest in His wisdom. You can turn away from the Lord or you can turn toward Him.

I know this isn’t easy. Sometimes life is hard. The key to this kind of faith is having a strong relationship with God. You have to know how faithful, trustworthy, and loving God is before you can trust Him in the hard times. Philip had this kind of faith. Our challenge is to follow the example of Philip.

Second, this story reminds us that a profession of faith is not the same as the possession of faith. Was Simon really saved? We are told that he believed and was even baptized. Does that make him a true believer? Be careful with your answer . . . it’s a very important question. We are told that Simon believed . . . but we are also told that the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). Simon didn’t repent, he asked that he be spared punishment. Simon wanted to be part of the church because of how he thought he could benefit, not because of who Jesus is. I believe Simon had an “experience” but was never really born again.

Was Philip wrong to baptize Simon? No. You can only baptize people on the basis of what they profess. You can seek to make sure that someone understands but only God truly knows the heart. This leaves us with some cautions,

· You can assent to the truth of the gospel without surrendering to the truth of the gospel. In other words you can know the facts about Jesus without really trusting Him. You can be theologically sound and yet not be a believer because you have not committed yourself to what you say you believe.

· You can have an experience (say a prayer, walk an aisle) and still not be saved. Salvation is not about emotion, it’s not a one-night-stand, it’s a genuine relationship.

· Being baptized does not make you a believer. Many people are told they need to be baptized in order to “go to Heaven”. Unfortunately, many of these people were not reborn . . . only dampened. We are not saved because of anything we do (including baptism) but because of what Christ has done for us and in us. Baptism is a very good thing but it will not save you.

Will you examine your heart this morning? Are you a true believer? Which person in our text this morning is most like you? It’s not likely that there are many who are as hostile as Saul. But, you may be one who resists the gospel message. If so, please learn from Saul’s mistake. Don’t let your stubborn heart keep you from listening to the words of life.

Is it possible that you suffer from the Simon-syndrome? Have you been involved in the church for the wrong reasons? Have you been baptized, confirmed, and elevated to positions of authority but are still trusting your good deeds and religious activity to save you? Are you a Christian on Sunday mornings but not the rest of the week? If so, you are like Simon. It is time for you to turn to Jesus and seek the forgiveness and new life he offers.

I suspect there are few of us who feel as competent and faithful as Philip. But I hope that is what you desire today. I challenge you to look at the opportunities in your life and take a step of faith rather than shrinking back. I encourage you to trust God in the trials and to dare to tell others the good news about Jesus. God used Philip to bring the message of salvation to the Samaritans. And God will use you and He will use me. He might use us to introduce the message of grace to a group of people, a family member, or a dear friend. He might use us to encourage others in their faith. He might use us to begin a new ministry or to revitalize an existing ministry. I don’t know how God might use us but He will. But He will do this only if we are willing to be used. He will work through us only if we are willing to live and walk by faith. He will use us if we are willing to learn from the examples of Saul, Simon and Philip.

[1]Hughes, R. K. (1996). Acts : The church afire. Preaching the Word (Ac 8:26). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.