Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

I’m Pastor Marc… Thanks for joining us!

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Spencer Bartlett: Starting a new group for a ministry he has led several times.

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Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 8. Acts 8:9-25 today.

Last time we looked at the beginning of the church going into Judea and Samaria… just as Jesus said they would in Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

And, indeed God empowered them with His Holy Spirit… and indeed they were witnesses in Jerusalem, but they didn’t seem motivated to go beyond Jerusalem.

The church numbers were swelling… likely north of 20k Christians… that is until the martyrdom of the deacon Stephen… and until Saul entered the scene.

At that time ‘great persecution’ hit the church… causing the church to move into Judea, Samaria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.

Persecution is a terrible thing, but even worse is complacency and apathy in the church pews.

So, God stirred the pot… and the church was scattered everywhere preaching the word.

And, Philip went to Samaria… where Jesus had previously scattered seed in John 4… and now a great multitude of Samaritans “heeded the things spoken by Philip.”

Speaking the word of God is powerful… it’s life changing… it’s life saving.

Romans 10:17 states, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

And, that’s what the church was doing in all Judea and Samaria… and people were getting saved…

And, that’s why… here at Calvary Chapel Lake City… we’re serious about teaching the word of God.

Signs and Wonders… miracles and the experiential… they come as a benefit, but without the word of God… the church is like a ship at sea without a compass… the word points us to true north…it sets our bearings… it brings us home.

So, Philip brought the word… and he was a great messenger for Jesus… not because of his Seminary degree because he didn’t have one… he served tables.

But, Acts 6 said he was one of “of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.”

And, if you’re ministering the word… those characteristics are far more valuable than a Seminary degree.

Without a calling, a Seminary degree is just an education.

One other advantage Philip had was he was Greek… not a Jew.

Which meant that he didn’t have a long standing hatred and prejudice towards the Samaritans going back to when Ezra and Nehemiah returned to build the Temple and the Wall.

So, Philip was a great choice by God to evangelize Samaria.

And, indeed he was an evangelist...

In fact, Philip is the only evangelist named in scripture according to Acts 21:8.

So, that brings us up to speed.

Philip is in Samaria… and we pick up after a multitude of Samaritans are coming to the Lord… Philip is evangelizing… he is healing people… casting out demons… V8 left off “And there was great joy in the city.”

And then V9 begins with the word “But”… a word that stands in contrast to the prior context of great joy.

And the word “But” introduces us to our next biblical character.

Enter “Simon the Sorcerer”… our sermon title for today.

Let’s Pray!

Acts 8:9-11 “But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, 10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” 11 And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.”

So, here we are introduced to Simon the Sorcerer… a character surrounded by many traditions… as well as debate if he was saved.

1 John 4:1 exhorts “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Simon is a good case study for us to discern today.

The scene is Samaria… the Bible does not identify Simon as a Samaritan.

Though, Christian apologist, Justin Martyr in his writing “The First Apology” (as in Apologetics) wrote this of Simon, “There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him.”

Justin obviously had an opinion of Simon.

Early church fathers also called him “Simon Magus.”

Magus… from the root word for Sorcery, Gk “magos” meaning “a magus or sage of the magician religion… an astrologer.”

Very interesting… just two verse prior we read about “unclean spirits” and “many who were possessed.”

Did Simon have anything to do with this?

Was Philip undoing his work by casting out demons?

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines ‘Sorcery’ as “A practice whose adherents claim to have supernatural powers and knowledge; the ability to foretell the future and to summon evil spirits through charms and magical spells.”

Sorcery was not parlor tricks… not slight of hand… this was occult… black magic.

Evil practices.

Was Simon summoning evil spirits and infecting Samaria?

Now… long ago… God knew Sorcery was a bad practice, so He forbid this practice in His law and made it clear Sorcery was an abomination in His eyes…

Deut 18:10-12 reads “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.”

Sorcery was punishable by death in Israel according to Exo 22:18 “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.”

And, as clear as that is… Israel fell into practice with sorcerers (2 Kgs 17:17; 2 Chr 33:6; Mic 5:12) and for this (and other reasons)… provoked God’s wrath.

Mal 3:5 states, “And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers...” (Plus four other offenses if you continue in that verse)

In the NT, Paul listed “works of the flesh” in Gal 5:20 and “sorcery” is on that list as well… Gal 5:21 states, “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

So, Simon is caught up in some really bad mojo.

Now, why would Sorcery be an abomination to… and forbidden by God?

Generally speaking, God is NOT a party pooper.

There’s good reason when He sees fit to forbid sinful practices.

God’s not sitting up in heaven saying, “Oh, they’re having too much fun with that… let’s add that to the naughty list.”

Or “No, no, no… too much pleasure there… we can’t have that!”

People make God out to be a Scrooge, and that’s far from the case.

If you understand the nature of God…it’s easier to trust the prohibitions of God.

1 John 4:8 shares this about God… “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Since God is love (agapē)- which is the highest form of love… self-sacrificial love… unconditional love…

When He forbids something… even if we don’t understand why… even if it’s against our culture norms…

If God forbids something… know His nature is love… and He’s not out to restrict your freedom and joy.

In His infinite wisdom God knows that the thing humans THINK will bring them freedom and joy… only results in bondage and misery.

And, so in love, God restricts because He doesn’t want us in bondage and misery.

And, sorcery would lead people to that end because it was not of God.

There are modern forms of magic that are mere slight of hand or illusions of the mind, but there is a darker form of magic that originates from and is empowered by Satan… and attempts to discredit God’s true power.

In Matt 24:24 Jesus warned of yet future sorcery in the end times, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Great signs and wonders from false messiahs and false prophets will be a form of sorcery.

Satan is powerful, and can give a form of power to his followers.

In Exo 7, Moses stood before Pharaoh and cast down his rod and let it become a serpent.

Exo 7:11-12 “But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the [notice] sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt [Jannes and Jambres according to 2 Tim 3:8], they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

12 For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents.

But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.”

Through their enchantments, Pharaoh's Sorcerers were also able to mimic the first two plagues… turning water to blood… and bringing up frogs on the land of Egypt.

But, their enchantments were limited and less superior… Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods…

By the third plague, they bowed out… the magicians could not bring forth lice.

They said, “This is the finger of God.”

But, there was still enough power in their enchantments to deceive Pharoah for a long time…