March into Samaria
Acts 8:9-25; 6/25/2023; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang
Introduction
As long as you spread the gospel, as long as you serve God, Satan will disturb and destroy you. When the Jerusalem church marched into Samaria and stirred up the power of Satan for more than 700 years, How could Satan remain indifferent? Let’s look at the first point:
The evil Simon
There is no middle ground between holiness and wickedness. Believers and unbelievers cannot be yoked together. Good and evil are momentary confrontations in space and time, because evil has no value in eternity. First, boasted of being great. It doesn’t matter who this Simon is, the important thing is that Simon practiced sorcery. A person who can practice witchcraft should be associated with evil spirits. Some superpowers amazed the people of Samaria. Not only that, but he was called the mighty one of God by the people of Samaria, which made the problem serious. I believe this is why Luke said he boasted of being great. In fact, the standard of self-importance is to see who gets the glory. If the Lord is glorified, there will be no self-boasting. On the contrary, if man is glorified, it is definitely from Satan. Simon also knew how much value he had. The sorcery he practiced was not power, but deception.
Second, give attention to him. There is a tendency in the human heart to want others to give attention to him. This is because of the uneasiness that Adam brought to people after sinning. The more uneasy one felt, the more he wanted to grab people’s hearts, demand people’s concentration, and control people’s attitudes and opinions toward themselves. If one trick doesn’t draw attention to him, the next one will be even bigger. Anyway, if he doesn’t get everyone’s attention, he won’t give up. However, humanism is a two-dimensional existence after all, and the interest that stays in the human heart is also a limited time and space, and it is easy to be outdated. When the gospel came, even Simon the sorcerer knew the difference, so he also believed in the gospel. This explains why we meet all kinds of people in church, and then, some people leave the church before long, or even leave forever.
Finally, deceiving the Holy Spirit. The fundamental reason for leaving the church was unbelief, not much belief, and finally decided not to believe! The reason behind deceiving the Holy Spirit is disrespect for God, and the inner core of disrespect is self-deception. The inertia of his behavior is to use humanistic methodology to determine and operate spiritual affairs. Of course, since there is no real life relationship with God, it has nothing to do with God’s wisdom. Simon was so foolish that he wanted to spend money to buy the authority of the apostles to bestow the Holy Spirit. He has slighted the authority of God and committed the sin of lying to the Holy Spirit, so that “Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! (Acts 8:20)” May the Lord have mercy and help, and don’t let us go to the point where we are ignorant and deceive the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at the second point:
Philip’s ministry
Philip’s coming to Samaria began with the persecution of suffering and the mission statement in Acts 1:8. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)” First, someone believes in the Lord. Philip should be the first person to leave the local church and go to other places to preach. Maybe we can call him the first missionary. Philip should have heard the Lord Jesus promulgate the Great Commission with his own ears, and he went to do it after hearing it. The Lord said, therefore go, and He went. Of course, from a chronological point of view, Philip did not set off immediately after hearing the Great Commission. Instead, he went out immediately after encountering great persecution. What does this explain? This explains that the suffering of persecution has also become the driving force for God to urge us to move forward. God initiates His work, the final goal is to have people believe in the Lord! Isn’t this also the goal of our service today? Paul also said, no matter in season or out of the season, save some people! In season or out of season, preach the Word of God.
Second, someone gets baptized. From belief to baptism, today has become a church operation process. In fact, we can see from the records in the book of Acts that belief and baptism happened on the same day. People received baptism immediately after believing, and there was no distance in time and space. The operation of the church today is not unrelated to the two thousand years of historical and cultural barriers. But, in any case, being baptized is a solemn thing. From then on, I bid farewell to this world, and I no longer belong to this world. From now on, my identity is a traveler, a passer-by in this world. All fame, status, money, etc. are no longer my pursuit. This world is not my home, I have decided to follow Christ Jesus and never look back. The symbolic meaning of baptism is that the old self is dead, buried, and will no longer sin. What comes out of the water is a new life that becomes more and more like the Lord.
Finally, manifest the name of the Lord. The Gospel preached by Philip is complete because he puts forward faith in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul said, “ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.(Colossians 3:17)” What does it mean in the name of the Lord? One is to express our relationship with the Lord, we belong to the Lord, and everything we have belongs to the Lord. The second is our decision, which is to glorify the Lord. Behave in a manner that pleases the Lord by thinking what He thinks, doing what He wills, and saying what He says. The third is the basis of our life and the source of our ability, everything comes from Him! From then on, worldly power has nothing to do with us. Tell God what we want through prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, and let His will drive the motivation of our lives. Let’s look at the third point:
Teamwork
Obviously, evangelism is not just Philip’s job, but the mission of the church. Therefore, it must be a church act. First, hear and send. The news that Philip went to Samaria to preach the gospel soon spread back to the church in Jerusalem. The Bible says that the apostles sent Peter and John to them when they heard that the Samaritans had accepted the word of God. Have you noticed a detail, the church sent two brothers, not one. This is also the serving coordination principle of our church, that is, if three people walk together, there must be our Lord. When something happens, it can also satisfy the principle in the Bible that there must be two witnesses. Some of us may say, is this necessary? Yes, it is! Why? The Bible says: “The days are evil. (Eph. 5:16)” The prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)” The church sending must carry the truth of the Bible.
Second, pray to receive the Holy Spirit. The entire book of Acts is full of the presence and traces of the Holy Spirit, so the book of Acts is also called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. In other words, this is the process in which the Holy Trinity completes the handover process here. The Father plans, the Son executes, and the Holy Spirit completes. At this time, the apostles were fulfilling the mission that Christ commanded the disciples in Chapter Fourteen of the Gospel of John, which was to coordinate the operation and control of the church by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Bible records: “When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:15)” It means that although the Lord Jesus Christ has ascended and returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit given by the Father and the Son is with us. Every time a pastor baptizes a believer, he will do so in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is also a proof that God has given the Holy Spirit through this.
Finally, immediate discipline. The church is not a country club, but a living body that walks with God and lives with the truth of the Bible. When Peter and John went to Samaria and met Simon who blasphemed the Holy Spirit and despised God, of course they immediately disciplined him. Peter was also very surprised, thinking how could this be so? To actually want to use money to buy the power of the Holy Spirit is really ridiculous and whimsical. “Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! (Acts 8:20)” From the following verses, we see a Simon who deserved to die, but because of his repentance, he was saved from death. Said Peter, Simon is wicked, “Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. （Acts 8:22)” Simon’s response is also important: “Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” (Acts 8:24)” Explain that the originally deserved curse can be mitigated or even exempted due to people’s repentance and the pastor’s intercession.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters, today’s sermon can be a church’s mission sermon. Its basic principles and boundary scales are involved and worthy of in-depth study. The last verse is the core: “After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. (Acts 8:25)” It means that other things are trivial, and the main theme is to spread the gospel quickly.
Let us pray……
Acts 8:9-25
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,
10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”
11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.
12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.
15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money
19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
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 in the hope that he may 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.”
25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.
