 So here we are. Acts chapter 8. Let's begin reading first at verse 1. We'll read to verse 4. I'll give you a brief introduction. And then we'll move on in verse 5. And we will be introduced tonight to a man who's known as Simon the sorcerer. So beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 4. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. And so as we enter into chapter 8, we remember that in chapter 7 there was a young man by the name of Stephen. And Stephen was one who proclaimed the message of the gospel and he had been martyred because the message he had given to the Sanhedrin, the court, the Jewish court that was trying him, the message he had given to them was a very powerful confrontational message. And as he was giving that message, even as we looked at this passage in chapter 7 last time, when he was speaking, the response of the audience was not that they turned with great numbers to faith in Christ but rather they stopped up their ears. They didn't want to hear a thing that he had to say and then they physically attacked. It said in chapter 7 verse 58 that the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. This is the first time you see this young man named Saul mentioned in the New Testament. When it says that they laid down their clothes at his feet, they were basically doing so that they could take place in the execution of Stephen unhindered. You see, when they laid down the cloaks, that's actually something that reveals the solemnity of an execution. And they laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man by the name of Saul. Now we know Saul by his other name in Scripture, the name Paul. Here he's spoken of as a young man. When I was looking at that and thinking about that, I wanted to see what age might he have fit into at this time. You see, the Greeks used the word young man to refer to anyone from the age of 21 to 28. But the Hebrews thought that someone was a youth up to the age of 40. So we know that Saul was anywhere from 21 to 40 years of age at this point. His name was Saul. When you look at his name, this is interesting enough to point out. When you see his name, his name in Hebrew means to obtain, to ask, to request or to demand. That's what the name Saul literally is translated. So as is common in Scripture, his name is revealing his character. And his name revealed that his character was aggressive. You're going to see that in a little while. You'll be seeing that in the future. But he was a man that was filled with great zeal. But he had great zeal without a proper understanding. As a matter of fact, he even speaks of that kind of zeal when he wrote to the Romans. And he was speaking concerning unsaved Israel. And he said of them in Romans 10, verse two, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Well, that was Saul. He had a zeal for God, but not according to proper knowledge. He had a zeal that was uninformed. That's something that he speaks about later on when he writes concerning his past in Philippians chapter three. There he said in verses four through six, if anyone else thinks he has reasons to put his confidence in the flesh, I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee. As for zeal, persecuting the church, as for legalistic righteousness, I was faultless. And so he was a man who had zeal, but it was uninformed zeal. Now at his conversion, God began to produce humility in this once extremely arrogant man. And he began to be known by another name. It's the name that we identify him as. It's the name Paul. It's interesting when you look at Paul, the name Saul, rather, in the Hebrew and how it refers to somebody that is great, who is aggressive. You look at the name Paul, and you'll see the name Paul means little or small. So someone who at one time had been great, very aggressive, very arrogant, when he got saved became one who saw himself for what he was, somebody who was very small. From a man who was demanding, he became very little. Now, when you read your Bible, you'll notice this after coming to God, people very often were known by a new name. You look in the Old Testament, you see that Abram was, his name was changed to Abraham. You see Sarai and her name was changed to Sarah. You see Jacob and his name was changed to Israel. You see Gideon and he was changed to Jerobo. You see Simon and he is changed to the apostle Peter. When God does a work in somebody's life, very often the name that you see in scripture reflects the changes that God brought in that person's life. And in the life of Saul, who was an arrogant, belligerent, one who was great in his own sight, you're going to see that when he gets saved, he became small in his own sight. And so in verse one, we see that Saul was there consenting to the death of Stephen, as it says in verse one. There are those who believe that Saul could very well have been a member of the Sanhedrin and that's why they would use the term consenting to his death. There are others who believe that he was simply overseeing the execution. You see the word consenting when it says in verse one of chapter eight, he was consenting to his death, the word consenting means he was giving his approval. And so the laying of the garments before him gives the impression that he held some place of authority over the proceedings. And so he hated this, what he would consider to be this cult, and he wanted to see it obliterated. And so as this is taking place, it says in verse one, at that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And so persecution erupts. And what it does is it thrust the church into the world and it really pushes them out of the city. You see, the church has been settling in. We've been seeing this from when it first was birthed up to this point. It's been settling in, if you will, in the city of Jerusalem. But God now sovereignly allows persecution in order that his great commission can be fulfilled. And so persecution occurs. Now here's something for you. I mean, when you read the Bible and you see this mention of persecution, I want to give you just a brief thought about this. Persecution, persecution has never been the greatest enemy of the church. Persecution has never been the greatest enemy of the church. One of the greatest enemies that the church has is not persecution, it's apathy. It's apathy. I've seen in my lifetime as a Christian, I have seen the church on fire, and I'm speaking about the church in general, not simply a congregation in a city in a certain location. I'm talking about seeing believers on fire. And I have seen that that fire sometimes goes out. And instead of fire, you end up with an I don't care attitude. You end up with apathy. The greatest threat to the church isn't persecution. The greatest threat to the church is believers who don't care, who simply don't care. And so instead of us being so concerned about persecution, which I think we ought to be praying for our brothers and sisters throughout the world that are going through persecution, of course, but my greater concern isn't the persecution. My greater concern is what I see in pews, where people really don't care about the Lord. They don't care about walking with Jesus. They don't care about the power of the Holy Spirit. They don't care about the word of God. They don't care about fellowship. They don't care enough to tell their neighbor friends or coworkers about Jesus Christ. They just don't care. And that's a greater, greater danger to the church, I have to tell you, than persecution. You know, I came out of the Jesus movement as I say all the time, and I know many of you've heard this a thousand times, but I did. I came out of the Jesus movement. And at that time, when you became a Christian, it was almost cool to be a Christian. And what happened is a lot of people just started going to church and acting out as if they were Christians and believers, when in reality, they were just attaching themselves to a fad that was taking place in the United States. And so by joining in the church, they actually diluted its power because they in fact were tears amongst the genuine wheat. And they weren't real about their faith. And quite a number of people began. And you'll see this, by the way, in a moment in Simon, they began, but they really weren't saved and they didn't continue. And as a result of that, they were diluting the work that God wanted to do. You see, during this time as they were going through persecution, there was great suffering. There was confiscation of their goods. There was imprisonment. And so what's taking place there, notice with me it says in verse one that they were scattered. They began to be scattered throughout all of these regions. They scattered all over Jerusalem. They scattered throughout Samaria, except for the apostles. And so as this is taking place, verse two, devout men carried Stephen to his burial and they made great lamentation over him. Now I'll just say this briefly, just because I tried to give you information that might help you to understand what's taking place. When it says devout men, there's actually an argument concerning what that means, who these devout men were. There are those who say these devout men were not even believers. They were simply very religious people who respected the fact that Stephen was a very religiously holy man. And so they say, well, these devout men were very, very, very well, may have just been just religious individuals. There are others who say that these were converts and they greatly honored him. But bottom line is, is these are people who respected what he was doing. And so they took him to give him a burial. And it says in verse two, and they, they made great lamentation over him. They, they cried very, very powerfully over him very deeply. Now, as these people are making great lamentation, verse three, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church. He entered every house, dragging off men and women, and he committed them to prison. That word havoc means to devastate. He brought devastation. This, this man was, he was filled with hate for those who loved the Lord. Someone said he was like a wild beast dragging men and women down the street to prison. Bottom line is, as he hated Jesus Christ and he hated Jesus as followers. And so he was wreaking havoc on the church. And so what happens? Verse four, therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. And so the, these people who were scattered, notice with me in verse four, they went everywhere. But what did they do? They preached the word. They, they were involved in evangelism. They took out the gospel and proclaimed it. And so this was fulfilling Jesus' command to take the gospel out. And he provoked them to do this through the persecution that he allowed to come upon them. And they went everywhere preaching the word. While verse five, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and he preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord, he did the thing spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed in lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. Philip, Philip was one of the seven selected oversee ministry to widows. So that gives us insight into him. Just by mentioning his name, we know he has a good reputation. We know he's filled with the spirit, filled with godly wisdom. We know he is submitted to proper authority. He is a spiritually mature man. And this is a man who goes out to take the gospel. Now there's interesting thing about him I want to give to you because I'm going to lay this out. And then I'm going to develop something with you. There are things about Philip that we know in scripture. We know one that he was an hospitable man because Paul and his companions came to his home in Caesarea. You see that in Acts 21, and they were made welcome. A second thing we see about him is he's the only person in scripture referred to as the evangelist. Now I find that very interesting. In the whole New Testament, there's only one person ever mentioned as the evangelist. Only one. And that's Philip. Philip by name is spoken of as being Philip the evangelist. And the third thing we know about him is he was a godly father because the scripture tells us that he imparted the faith of Christ to his daughters. When you look at Acts 21, verses 8 and 9, it says on the next day we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip the evangelist who was one of the seven and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And so this is what we see about this man. And he was a godly man. He was one of the original deacons. And according to verse 5, he went to the city of Caesarea to preach the gospel of Jesus to them. Now if you were looking at a map, Caesarea was 40 miles north of the city of Jerusalem. It was once, at one time it was what was called the northern kingdom's capital. Now Jesus had commanded his disciples to take the gospel throughout the world. And by now they had ministered in Jerusalem. And now it's time for them to go into the region of Samaria. Now that gives me some insight because Philip was willing to go to an area that hated, that Jews hated these people who lived in that area. The Bible tells us in John 4 verse 9 that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. And so Philip was willing to reject the prejudice of his age. See unlike Jonah when Jonah was told you're going to go and preach to Nineveh and Jonah said no I'm not and climbed on that ship and went in the opposite direction. Unlike Jonah when the Lord provoked him to move into this region that people, that was inhabited by people that the Jews hated, unlike Jonah he immediately went and took the gospel to those who were least loved. And it tells us in verse 5 that he began preaching or proclaiming Jesus to them. Now we see Samaria in the New Testament more than once. We know that on one occasion, it's found in Luke chapter 9, on one occasion Jesus had his men going before him and they entered into a village of Samaria. And when they entered in when the people there in Samaria heard Jesus was coming through they got upset and wouldn't welcome him into the city there because the Jews and Samaritans had problems. And so James and John got really upset over that and they spoke to Jesus and they said do you want us to call fire down from heaven and smoke them? And I suspect that these people they really wanted to do that. They wanted to burn them up. And Jesus said to them you know not what spirit you are of. I didn't come to destroy men's lives. I came to save them and they went another way. So the Samaritans weren't necessarily welcoming to Jesus and his message. And yet on the other hand we know a woman had a well in Samaria. And we know that Jesus had gone there. He had an appointment with her. And as she came at noon to fill her water vase with water and all that Jesus had this incredible conversation with her. And as she listened she went and spoke to the men, brought them back and Jesus had an opportunity to minister to them. And it says in John chapter 4 verses 41 and 42 many more believed because of his own word. They said to the woman now we believe not because of what you said for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ the savior of the world. And so Jesus had ministry there in Samaria. There were those who had been saved through his ministry and now we have Philip going into that area and ministering the word of God. As this is taking place notice how it says in verse 6 the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip. Now they were hearing and seeing the miracles which he did for unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed and there was great joy in that city. Wouldn't there be? Wouldn't there be? Of course there would be great joy. We'll look at that for just a moment. In verse 7 it speaks of the unclean spirits and they were crying out with a loud voice. And so these who had been demonized were now receiving liberty. They heard the things that he was saying but they also noticed marveled at the works that were being performed. And so as Philip was preaching God was doing many works. There were healings. There were miracles, deliverances and the result is great joy. Listen when God is moving when God is moving in your life there is a joy that sometimes is hard to put into words isn't there. It's a joy inexpressible sometimes. And I remember and perhaps some of you I remember so many times in my life where the Lord by his spirit through the word has just awakened me to to a sensation, an internal kind of sense of joy that I never had in the world. There's just something about being saved. There's just something about having your sins forgiven. There's just something about all that weight of sin that rolls off of your shoulders if you will and the lightness of spirit that you can feel. And sometimes you may go through tough times and sometimes you may go through the very most difficult moments of your life but you're never hopeless because you know that you're passing through and that God is going to do a work and no matter what it may feel like at this moment there's always hope in Christ and you have this joy that's inexpressible it's a it's a it's a peace and a joy that that you can't put into words but it goes beyond human comprehension. And when people saw God move when they heard the message of Philip and they saw these people who were demon possessed released from the power of the enemy. When they saw people who couldn't walk standing and walking and rejoicing the Lord for this deliverance there was there was so much joy that began to spread amongst these people because they saw what God was doing. In Psalm 98 verse 4 it says shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth break forth in song rejoice sing praises Isaiah 12 verses 4 and 5 in that day you will say gift thanks to the Lord call on his name make known among the nations what he's done proclaim that his name is exalted sing to the Lord for he has done glorious things let this be known to all the world. You know there was a season in the church's history where people actually thought that smiling was carnal that laughing was carnal that's a sad season in the history of the church that's a that's a sad season in the history of the church I believe that the church in church we ought to laugh with one another there's a lot to laugh about look at one another you know what I mean is like oh it's true you know it's you know there's a lot to laugh about there's a lot to rejoice there's a lot to be excited about there is you know we have all people should our faces ought to hurt sometimes from the smiles that we have you know you know it's just I've said it before it's so true you know if my heart is joyful I ought to let my face know you know there there's a joy and so we we we can laugh with one another but not only can we can we laugh and and just enjoy one another but we also can weep with one another because we can go through the whole gamut of experience with each other knowing one thing that no matter whether I'm weeping or whether I'm laughing those are part of life altogether but I'm moving in the same direction with a lot of other people and that is to we're going to heaven together and so when we see people who have been set free by the power of the gospel when you see people who have have discovered their sins have been washed and and they're forgiven we ought to have we ought to have joy we I have the kind of joy that people see and they say there's something different about you what is it what is it and you know what some of you understand what I'm saying some of you have had people approach you and said you know I I've been working with you a long time and I've noticed something about you and I just want to know what it is because something you have is something that interests me I just want to know what makes you tick what is it then you have these opportunities to to say things you know and and for me I'll be honest with you I'm not a very profound person at all but I do try and become just honest and real and if people have asked and they have asked me what is it I always say basically the same thing what is it it's Jesus you know we were my family and I last year were together we went out to eat together my kids and and the waiter walks up to me and he says are you are you celebrating anything special today and I got my family with me and he says are you celebrating anything special today and I said yeah my kids are going to pay for the meal for a change they didn't are you celebrating anything special and anything special and he said yeah we are and what are you celebrating I said our anniversary my wife had my anniversary he's a younger man so he looks at us he looks at me and he says and can you tell me what the secret of being married so long is and I said yeah Jesus Jesus and he goes oh good answer and I said yeah because that's it isn't it isn't it I don't know if you agree with me it is what kept us together Jesus no it's bigger than just the word of course Jesus when you talk about Jesus it's he forgave me of my sins he cleansed me of my unrighteousness he made me a new creation he's taught me to love my wife as Christ loved the church he's taught her to respect and and to love me in return no it's Jesus it's the word of God it's the power of the Holy Spirit it's a transformed life it's the hope of eternity it's the prayers that we've had together service to God that we've had together it's raising our children in the ups and downs it's having our grandchildren it's all of life and it's all wrapped up in one person Jesus Christ and that changes lives and changes destinies and so it ought to cause us to be happy it ought to cause us to rejoice when we see what God does it ought to that's Christianity that's what it means and when they're seeing this take place they see these these these these demonized individuals who are set free see we we don't see that today the way they were seeing it where they knew this person had a demon and now he's now he's completely in his right mind and and they know this is God be God and then when they say I know who that guy is he's been unable to walk as long as I've known him and look he's walking right now and they would rejoice God has visited us and something is happening there in Samaria and there is great joy in that city but verse 9 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 to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest saying this man is the great power of God and they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time but when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ both men and women were baptized then Simon himself also believed and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done and so we're introduced to a man by the name of Simon who was he well Simon was what we would today refer to simply as a deceiver Simon was a deceiver who had the people completely in awe over him he was a man who practiced what is called sorcery I'll give you a little information on that the word sorcery the word sorcery is actually taken in the greek language from a word it's mageo magueo but from that word you get the word magei you ever hear the word magei magei it is also the root for the word magic so this was a magician he was a sorcerer when you begin to look into sorcery as it is revealed to us in scripture and you begin to look in its origins you can see that it originated in this practice of occultism in ancient Babylon and you'll see that it had over time developed into something that was practiced by certain classes called the magei and you see that they remained influential in Babylon for many many years it was a mix of science and history mathematics agriculture astrology divination and occult practices again originating in ancient Babylon he was a man who was known to be a great person and as it says in verse 10 they all gave heed from the least to the greatest and they said concerning him that he is the great power of god his expertise was great enough for people to consider him to be some great one he may have gone so far as to declare himself to be a god well they were listening according to verse 11 because he had astonished them with his sorceries now here's something for you because it's something you probably have thought about in the past is it possible that he actually was doing magical things or supernatural things well the answer to that is if there were any things occurring that were supernatural in origin those things that were occurring that would have been supernatural in origin those things were not from god those things would have been satanically energized how do we know that second Corinthians chapter 11 verses 14 and 15 says it like this satan himself is transformed into an angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works i've used this phrase before and i i don't want to belabor this because i do want to give to you the whole study there there there is something set of evil that i think is poetically clear and it's referred to sometimes referred to as the beautiful side of evil the beautiful side of evil if satan were to reveal himself to us as he really is because do you think that he would present himself as he really is because as he really is is if you can imagine evil personified evil personified satan has no beauty about him at all what does he do he takes upon himself the guise of beauty and deceives you with it there is a beautiful side there is a beautiful side of evil it's attractive if satan were to tell you by the way if you follow me this is what's going to happen to you you're going to end up perishing forever you're going to be an eternal damnation if you follow me if he told you what scripture says concerning him because we can read it it's found in the book of revelation that he is going to be cast into the pit and tormented for eternity if do you think he would would he be wise to do that no so what does he do he convinces you that all religions are the same we just call the same god by different names he says don't be so judgmental and harsh and don't be so narrow-minded and ignorant are you trying to tell me the seven billion people on the face of the earth are to worship one god and this is part of his strategy sounds so simplistic even as i'm saying it to you doesn't it so you have so you have muslims will say to you we worship the same god and there are christians today who will argue and will say we do and yet i'll be pointing this out on sunday and yet is that true is that true then then jesus when he came and he said i am the way the truth in the life no man comes to the father but by me jesus was really wrong wasn't he because he said that or maybe it's just some mistranslation or some interpolation somebody wrote it and put it into the bible it was never inspired by god was it see here's the problem is there there aren't multitudes of religion understand this and you'll understand there are two gods and satans just two gods and satans god comes through jesus christ satan has a variety of faces that's how it works so when you see people with this coexist little bumper sticker i don't i forgive me because it sounds like like oh you ignorant bumpkin rosalis you ought to just be so be kind but your soul's at stake your soul is at stake your eternity is at stake how kind would i be to say you know go to hell and enjoy yourself how kind is that so what we do is we remain we remain true to the word of god and god's word is very clear but today especially in our day anybody who holds positions like what i'm teaching is which is scripture is looked at as being an idiot a hater you name it i think you're a hater when you don't tell the truth i really do i believe that the word of god is true and that jesus sets the captive free and that the gospel is to be preached throughout the world and there will always be people like simon who portray themselves as great powers of god deceiving people but when the truth comes and others are set free there are always people like simon who try and join in that parade to somehow benefit on their own you'll see this right now as we go through this you see it says in verse 12 when they believe philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ both men and women were baptized then simon himself also believed and when he was baptized he continued with philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done this is very interesting you see simon amazed them with his tricks and his magic but that was no match for the spirit of god you see the gospel had set people free from bondage they were rejoicing as they were being liberated they had come to a saving knowledge of christ the one who forgives them of their sins and so simon sees us and he it says in verse 13 he also believed and is even baptized he was convinced that philip had a source of power that was great and he wanted it it says that he believed and was baptized and continued the question has to be asked does that mean that he was truly saved so i want to quote because i think this person this commentator said it well better than i could so i'll just read what what he wrote it is probable enough that he was impressed by the signs as a result he felt himself in the presence of a power above his own it would also seem that he accepted philip statements as to the death and resurrection of jesus but did not fully entrust himself to the purpose of why jesus died and was resurrected he had a faith that was the kind that james speaks of in james 2 19 where he said you believe that there's one god good even the demons believe that and they shudder that's called demon faith when james is speaking he says you believe there's one god that's good but do you not know that demons believe also just because you intellectually accept the reality of god doesn't mean you are saved and that's the point that's being made it would be true to say that he had a faith not preceded by repentance and not perfected by love and baptism in such a case did not reveal or develop into a jesus centered life he remained in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity in other words he was not a sincere convert but was curious there was something about what was happening that he wanted to be part of he did the outward things but his heart was not converted and interestingly enough philip didn't discern that this man was not truly saved because that's not something that we can always discern and so this guy was following him speaking to him baptized and was unsaved you can't always you you can't always tell when somebody is is saved or not you can't when our church was very young maybe maybe two years old three years old at the most when we had baptisms we would have them in a backyard pool and there was a guy going to our church at that time his name was paul and paul was speaking to me one time at the baptism and as paul was speaking to me he said i brought a friend of mine who wants to be baptized can he be baptized and and i looked at the young man with him and i asked him a few questions you know do you believe you know and shared some things with him and and all and and i and as we discussed it i said you know what you know he seems to have a sincere faith in christ and that's what christian baptism is and i said what what's his name his name's timothy okay timothy then as we go through the baptism you know please you join us right so we do all those baptisms and i baptized this young man and all and um about what about three weeks later it turns out that this guy paul that i had spoken to who'd been going to our church for a few months turns out i found out paul thought he was the apostle paul he thought he was literally the apostle paul so guess who timothy was i was blown away man i i called odin a friend of mine who was um minister to calvary costa mesa was which was over calvary chapel outreach fellowships he was the guy that i would speak to and it's a good friend of mine and i called odin up and i said odin man i can't believe it i baptized timothy this saturday i was i was bummed out i baptized timothy man and he laughs and he says dave he says don't worry about it every once in a while the two witnesses of revelation come to church here so i said okay have any of you have any of you ever met somebody who on the outside looks like a real the real deal looks like a the real deal in the he goes to church maybe serves goes on mission could have been do you know i gave could have been serving at church i gave an invitation once when we were in ontario high school i gave an invitation and one of the people playing in our worship team came forward walks off the stage and comes forward i'm going to quit ministry if i keep telling stories like this and how does that happen how'd you get in the worship team how anyway uh when when when you read your bible just because somebody professes faith in christ just because somebody walks along with you and talks to you and asks questions just because somebody be his water baptized doing all of these things listen these are three elements that demonstrate genuine salvation a profession of faith a continuing and asking questions and water baptism those are three elements that every pastor looks for and this man simon had those three elements but he wasn't genuinely saved is it possible to go to church services to serve to be baptized and to be unconverted absolutely absolutely that's what we see here with simon that's why it's so important for us to examine our own hearts to see whether christ lives in there that's why it's important for us to know our own hearts as it pertains to that because it says simon himself also believed and so believing in the in power or believing in miracles is not equivalent to saving faith simon saw that something supernatural was happening but he did not entrust himself completely as a repentant sinner to jesus christ so believe in miracles alone is not what makes a person a genuine christian simon believed in a great power he believed because he saw the signs that were being performed but it resulted in what has been called a counterfeit repentance simon was hungry not for christ but for supernatural power so he was baptized continued with philip with philip was amazed why would he remain why would he continue with philip well to keep in contact with the people that he had been influencing and had previously impressed or two to learn how to perform signs and miracles like a magician's trick or three to discover where this magical power actually came from so as all of this is taking place verse 14 the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that samaria had received the word of god and they sent peter and john to them who when they had come down prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit for as yet he had fallen upon none of them they had only been baptized in the name of the lord jesus then they laid hands on them and they received the holy spirit when simon saw that through the lane under the apostles hands the holy spirit was given he offered them money saying give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the holy spirit but peter said to him your money perished with you because you thought that the gift of god could be purchased with money you have neither part nor portion in this matter for your heart's not right in the side of god repent therefore of this your wickedness pray god if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you for I see that you are poisoned by bitterness bound by iniquity simon answered and said pray to the lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me so when they had testified and preached the word of the lord they returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel in many villages of the samaritans and so the apostles were in Jerusalem they heard that samaria had received the word and they sent peter and john to them there was so much fruit there there was too much for for one man to harvest and and so they sent ministers there to join in on the labor but they also came notice with me to lay hands on them that they might be baptized in the holy spirit they had received water baptism that is a symbol of genuine belief but they needed the power of god to live within them they needed god's power the holy spirit to be strengthening them and so simon is seeing this taking place and he sees that through the lane on the apostles hands the holy spirit is is empowering these people and so he sees something take place and he's thinking perhaps this is a great magic trick I I'd like to learn how to do this so in verse 19 he says give me this power nothing for god nothing from god is for sale remember that god's gifts cannot be bought the holy spirit is poured out freely upon those who are thirsty you cannot purchase the power of the spirit you cannot beg for the power of the spirit you can't work at trying to get good enough to receive the power of the holy spirit you can't lay on your face crying you can't go through a time of of of heavy praying and begging and promising god what you do is you say god I need you listen jesus said it like this if you though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father in heaven give the holy spirit to those who ask him it's not a matter of us falling and crying and weeping and tearing at that altar for hours until we're exhausted it's saying god I I want all that you have to give to me because I want to live a faithful life that brings honor and glory to you that's what I want and I cannot do it in my own strength lord without you I am nothing but with you I can do all things and so I'm asking for your power and that's how it works simons trying to purchase that which god gives freely and it doesn't work that way and as this is taking place Simon is is told you are poisoned by bitterness and you are bound by iniquity you're a slave to your sinful desires you want to be a great person and that has resulted in bondage and so it's interesting how how peter says and I should point this out to you in verse 20 what peter is saying in verse 20 when it says after he said give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the holy spirit verse 20 peter said to him your money perish with you listen when when you look at this in the strength of the original language it's a very very powerful thing that he's saying literally what peter is literally saying is and this is this is but this is the literal sense of what he's saying he is literally saying and I'll read it to you again your money perish with you literally he is saying to hell with your money and you that's powerful because he's not cussing he's speaking of a spiritual reality you're trying to purchase the gift that God gives you will end up forever lost for that your money perish with you how many of you have ever heard the term simony how many I'm interested anybody raise your hand go ahead if you if you've simony so most of you haven't heard it well oh I wish you did because I don't know what it means either no he's really wanting to know simony simony is a word that is used referring to someone who's trying to buy an office in church I'm giving money so you can make me the pastor I give a lot of money so I can be an elder I'm giving money so I can become a deacon they call that simony that's called and where'd that come from right here right here I'm giving you money so that whomever I lay hands on can receive the power of the spirit and the response to simony your money perish with you for you sought to buy a gift that God gifts and what you're doing is you're trying to become a great power in the name of God because you want prestige and authority and you want to continue being somebody that these people look up to no you need to repent that's what he says repent of your wickedness repent of your wickedness so that God may forgive you and as he says that notice and we'll close with this Simon answered and said pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you've spoken may come upon me notice he didn't pray for himself he asked for somebody else to pray for him he didn't repent he did not repent it sounds sincere but he did not repent now one last thought for you that you might want to tuck away Simon in church history is referred to as the father of Gnosticism how many of you have heard term Gnosticism okay more of you have heard that that means you've studied first John because Gnosticism is the theme of first John that means you understand that the gospel of John was written to combat Gnosticism this this this influence that many say originated with Simon where they were combining Greek thought with the gospel and so John wrote first John and if you looked at it from the knowledge of that's why he would write that you can see why John is actually combating an insidious influence that came many say originated with Simon who actually became because he was a magician and he tried to combine Christianity with his magic and the philosophy that pertain to it created something that found its way into the church that is called Gnosticism and in first John chapter 2 verse 19 John had said it like this they went out from us they were not of us if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us they went out that they might be made manifest that they are not of us he was writing of the Gnostics and again many Bible commentators believe that this Simon because he was rejected because he didn't repent Simon went on to begin a philosophy that was ultimately referred to as the Gnostic heresy and if you're interested in that particular subject you can study first John you'll see it I did a series on that in first John where I explained those kinds of things and give you all those details but that's what this is and so he didn't repent he never sincerely repented at all he didn't listen to the warning and what he did is he ended up going off without being a true believer in Christ at all and ultimately found his way into church history as an originator of heresy we'll stop here and pick up next time