Acts 8:9-25
Acts 8:9-25
August 23, 2020
Acts 8:9-25
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.
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. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” 24 And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”
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25 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. 1
Have you ever been asked about someone else’s salvation?
You know, questions like “What do you think about So-and-So? Do you think he/she is a Christian?”
Sometimes these questions are about celebrities or famous people that may thank God at an awards show or say something regarding faith in an interview and since these people are loved by many, sometimes Christians are just hoping that they’re saved. It’s odd because even if they’re not, they apparently still have Christian fans, but if they are Christians, then I guess we’re allowed to like them more?
Sadly, the questions regarding another person’s salvation tends to get more serious and personally important when the individual being asked about is a friend, relative, even more impactful when the person is recently deceased.
“Pastor, what do you think? Was my mama, or husband, or grandfather a Christian?”
And pastors are then put in a position of determining another’s salvation based on little evidence, if any, especially if the pastor never actually knew the person.
It is this undeniable longing to find peace with the reality that someone is in heaven or at least heading that way without actually determining if they are truly believers.
1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ac 8:9–25). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 2
At some point, many good, Bible believing, gospel declaring Christians are functional universalists. We know that Jesus is the only Way, Truth, and the Life, based on our understanding of Scripture, but we want to create a way for those who never truly repented of their sins and received the grace-filled gift of life through Christ.
In this passage today we see a man, heretofore not known to us in the biblical narrative. This man lives in Samaria – a place where good Jews just didn’t go and because the early church primarily consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity, or completed Jews who receive Christ as the Messiah, good Christians too were not looking to go to Samaria.
Yet, as we discussed last Sunday, the church has been scattered and many new believers have left the city of Jerusalem and other safe, comfortable homes to go where the dispersion has placed them and Philip and others now find themselves in Samaria.
That’s where we meet Simon. Not Simon Peter.
No Simon the Zealot.
Simon the Magician.
This narrative about Simon tells us much about human nature and provides answers to the “Is he saved?” question.
1. UNSAVED SIMON
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
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attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.
Often people want to read the Scripture narrative with a sense of human-focused fairness and an overwhelming amount of “benefit of the doubt.” I understand this and it is simply human nature – often because we sometimes transpose our own lives into the stories and seemingly relate most to those who are struggling to walk with God, or not.
Yet, we must be very careful not to write a story that the Bible does not give. It is so very dangerous and elevates human thought and reason over the biblical teachings of absolute truth. This has always been the case, but we cannot drift from the text here to write a story that is more palatable.
Simon is lost. He’s not seeking God. He’s not an innocent bystander. He is an unsaved man who does magic tricks and illusions for money. He does these not as a street magician with sleight of hand, but by leading people to believe his magic was real and even supernatural.
He did what he did for one reason – so that people would say that he was someone great.
When a person’s focus is solely on self, on expanding one’s own notoriety, in “making a name for oneself” the red flags go up. This man was not interested in benefiting others. He was focused on becoming famous.
Not much has changed in the world. Celebrity-itis is powerful and now with social media, YouTube, Snapchat, and all other apps and venues available, a desire from many is to be known as an “influencer” and brand creator – mostly creating the brand of self.
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It is our nature – “look out for number one” – but it also is an indicator of the heart. The heart that is self-focused cannot be fully God-focused. The transformed heart changes the person. That doesn’t mean that Christians don’t fall back into sin and continue to live selfishly at times, but it does mean that we cannot be defined by our self-focus and claim to be walking with God.
To know where Simon stands with the Lord is key.
2. SAVED SIMON
There’s some good news in this story...well, at first it seems to be good news.
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.
This is the missionary story we all want to hear. The lost person who is steeped in witchcraft, spiritism, and false religion hears the gospel, responds and believes.
This is the what we desire to see happen in all cases as believers. We want lost people saved.
That’s the heart of God, right?
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1 Timothy 2:3-4
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.2
Absolutely.
But...something isn’t quite right in this Simon story.
In other words, Simon is that person who went to the church camp, the revival meeting, or some other gathering. He had an encounter. He was surrounded by others who were worshipping, who were excited, who were responding. So...he responded.
He “prayed the prayer.” He was baptized.
It says – 13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being
baptized he continued with Philip. So, that’s it, right? He’s saved.
Isn’t that all that is required? Just hear the truth. Believe. Get baptized and voila, your ticket to heaven is punched.
Once saved – always saved, right?
Apparently, there are actually people who may go through all the outward steps of salvation, know the answers to questions in Sunday school, have baptism certificates, can count themselves as members of the group, but ... and this is frightening ... are not saved.
And that’s Simon from Samaria.
2 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Ti 2:3–4). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. 6
That’s Simon the Magician.
That’s Simon whom we just met and in only a few verses see the truth of his faith laid bare, and amazingly...it sounds more like some we know, and maybe like some hearing this sermon today.
So, we look at the ...
3. NOT REALLY SAVED SIMON
And this is where people get really confused, frustrated, and even upset.
“Who do you think you are, pastor, to declare that Simon isn’t saved? You don’t know his heart. You don’t even really know him. You just know what we read and that verse said he believed and was baptized.”
You have likely heard of Charles and John Wesley – these brothers were used by God during a vital time of church history and as you likely are aware the Wesleyan and Methodist movement came from their lead.
John and Charles, as young men, formed a group that mockingly was called “the Holy Club.” Members fasted until 3pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, received Holy Communion once a week, discussed the Greek NT and other classic writings each evening and visited prisoners and the sick. They were disciplined and that is not wrong. Yet, John Wesley himself later confessed that he was not a Christian at the time he was part of the Holy Club. His discipline became a form of inadvertent asceticism as he tried to get closer to God without actually being converted. In many ways, this asceticism – denying oneself physical pleasures for a deeper cause – has become a dangerous distraction for many Western Christians seeking holiness. This removes the love of and for
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Christ and makes him little more than a boss checking off one’s personal list of miseries while people focus on their “inner self” and “true self.” This, sadly, is the lie that is perpetuated among many who grow up in the church, then struggle with their own identity, ultimately abandoning the faith of their fathers, while coming out to themselves and the world as a new, improved, at peace with oneself person. To be true to yourself is the very heart of sin. So don’t be captured by these lies.
Identity in Christ is key, but so many never truly grasp that. John Wesley didn’t at first. Neither did any believer in this room or online today. And neither, sadly, did Simon.
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. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
There are numerous theories as to what this passage means.
Some have contended that this passage means that not all believers receive the Holy Spirit upon conversion and therefore, a second blessing is to come – made manifest with the gift of tongues. That means the person is truly saved, just devoid of the Holy Spirit, at least for a time.
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This is wrong.
Some teach that the Samaritans in this passage were truly saved, regenerate, and possessed a bit of the Spirit, but not the spiritual gifts – in other words, they didn’t get all of God at the moment of salvation.
This too is wrong.
Some even state the Samaritans’ initial faith was defective and therefore the Spirit didn’t enter into them until they had worked their way up to genuine faith.
Again – wrong.
What happened here was unique to this time and this moment. The Spirit was withheld until the apostles could verify the gospel work. This was unique in the gospel’s first movement beyond Jerusalem. God sovereignly waited to give any manifestation of the Spirit until the apostles could be there to witness it. Why? So they would see and could testify that the same gospel that saved them, had saved the Samaritans. The same Holy Spirit that indwelt them had indwelt the Samaritans.
No question of the oneness of God, the plan of God, the salvific nature of Christ. One God. One way. One Truth. One Life.
But what about Simon?
After the apostles laid their hands upon the saved Samaritans and the Holy Spirit entered into them, Simon audaciously offered the apostles money so they would give him the power to do the same.
You may say “Well, he just didn’t understand.”
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You see, that’s that nature of us giving benefit of the doubt to those who should not receive it.
Peter saw who Simon truly was, what his motivations were, and who was driving him. He should know – Jesus said “Get behind me Satan” to Peter not that long ago and this was a similar situation.
There is a key phrase in this rebuke from Peter that loses something in the translation. This phrase is our insight into the heart of Simon.
21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
“You have neither part nor lot in this matter” is OT language that goes back to Deuteronomy 12 and 14. It is severely strong language that indicates that Simon, by his own words and motivations, has revealed the true nature of his heart. In other words, Simon does not truly belong to the people of God.
He’s a poser.
Others think he’s saved (he was baptized for goodness sake) but his heart never changed. His life was never surrendered. He never was regenerated by the Spirit of God.
His selfish heart remained so. There was no fruit. No change.
And the same is true for people today. Your Christianity is not based on what you have done – even if that means prayed a prayer and was baptized.
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There are far too many heading straight to hell who believe they are okay – saved – no worries. They have just enough Jesus knowledge to be fooled into thinking they have Jesus.
Of the 1200 or so people on our church roll who have been baptized, been put on a membership roll, but never have never been changed, do not love God’s church, live as they did before their prayer, live as the world does (lying, cheating, sleeping around, living together out of wedlock, having affairs, excusing sin, etc.) and are banking on a “Well done good and faithful servant” from Jesus, I fear many will find they are less like Simon Peter and more like Simon the Magician.
One saved.
The other thinking he’s saved. What about you?
Footnotes
