Alrighty, well, as folks are filing in, let's take our Bibles this evening and open them to Acts 8 and verse 13. As you may or may not know, Pastor Dennis Roxer is going to be here this Sunday teaching both sessions on a part one and a part two on the true meaning of repentance, a very misunderstood word. So he's a very good teacher. He has these things he hands out where you have to fill in the blanks as he's teaching. So you guys can't fall asleep. Eric, you can't fall asleep. And he's also going to be doing an evangelistic seminar Saturday evening at 630. Do I have that right? 630. So that's going to be a great opportunity also. I think all those sessions will be live streamed and archived. Janet Wren, who works in our office, is very involved in putting a play together. My daughter has been in several of them in the past. The play that she's been working on is Annie, named after my wife, no. So that play is gonna be put on Thursday and Friday, not this coming week, but the following week, if I have that right. So, yeah, May 2nd and 3rd. Is that this Friday, this Thursday and Friday? Okay. Not this coming Thursday and Friday, but the Thursday and Friday after, May 2nd and 3rd. And that starts at 7 p.m. 7 p.m., both sessions, the same play. I mean, you can go to both if you want, but it's like the same play both nights. It's not like a part one and a part two. All right, well, having said all that, let's open our Bibles to Acts 8, verse 13. This chapter really revolves around Philip, who is the first, excuse me, the second deacon selected. Stephen was the first deacon. His story is in Acts 7. Philip is the second deacon selected. His story is in Acts 8. And you can take his ministry and divide it geographically. He has a ministry in chapter 8 in Samaria, verses 5 through 25. And then he'll have a ministry in Judea, verses 26 through 30. So Philip leaves Jerusalem and heads to Samaria. And we have seen his ministry in Samaria as he's evangelized the Samaritans, verses five through eight. It's actually led to the conversion of an unlikely person, Simon the sorcerer, verses nine through 13. And so we've spent a lot of time analyzing that conversion to see if it's an authentic conversion. I'm of the belief that he really did get saved because the text says he believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Simon himself responds to Philip's preaching. And he's basically someone that was wowing these Samaritans for a long time. In fact, verse 11 of chapter eight says a long time with his black magic, magic that he was doing under Satan's power. Well, now he's a newfound believer in Jesus Christ. So his faith is mentioned there in verse 13. He believed. So Simon believed just like the rest of the Samaritans. So if the rest of the Samaritans were saved, verse 12, I would think Simon was saved as well. He has met the condition for justification, which is faith alone in Christ alone. The Bible mentions that condition 150 times in some very famous passages that you know. Genesis 15 verse 6, John 3 verse 16. Acts 16, verses 30 and 31, and 150 times or more, it gives one condition for becoming right with God, and that's to believe or trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It looks like Simon accomplished that. And it wasn't Simon that accomplished it, it was God that accomplished it. Simon just received it as a gift, which is the only way a person can be saved. So because he is saved, Philip, the deacon, the man in whom this chapter revolves around, baptized Simon, verse 13, just like he baptized the rest of the Samaritans. So it's kind of unlikely to me that Simon would be baptized by Philip if Philip had some kind of lingering doubt about the authenticity of Simon's conversion. And down in verse 24, we may get to it tonight, most likely not, he is rebuked by Peter and he experiences remorse. So that's, I think, the evidence that the Holy Spirit is inside of him, convicting him of his sin. I'm not sure if he would experience remorse had he not been truly regenerated. Now, last time I told you that this was a controversial issue, most commentators, unfortunately, argue that Simon's faith was illegitimate. I gave you the seven arguments that you typically hear when people critique Simon's faith as spurious or illegitimate. And then I tried to give you the answer to those arguments. So I was trying to give you the full spectrum of the discussion. But when all is said and done, I think Simon was indeed a believer. And consequently, as you look at verse 13, Philip the deacon and evangelist now baptizes Simon. So verse 13, even Simon himself believed and after being baptized. So what is water baptism? Water baptism is an outward symbol of an inward reality. Water baptism doesn't save anybody, but it's a testimony publicly to the world that something has happened on the inside. So baptism in water is an outward symbol of spirit baptism. Spirit baptism only God can do. Water baptism is done by man. So spirit baptism done by God saves. Water baptism done by man does not save, but it symbolizes saving faith. The true baptism you need to be interested in is 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13. which says, for by one spirit we were all baptized. Now here it's not speaking of water baptism, but spirit baptism, which means identification. That's what literally the word baptism means. Baptizo, identification. Identification with Christ's church, his body, which happens in a nanosecond, the moment a person trusts in Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So that Spirit baptism which God does, water baptism symbolizes to the world that this has happened to a person's heart. And so consequently what you see here is Philip being baptized, and you'll notice that It's very clear here, it says, and after. After what? After he believed. And after being baptized. And that's the order that you'll see every single time in the book of Acts concerning water baptism. It never takes place in the book of Acts before faith alone in Christ alone. It takes place after. In fact, in one of our past lessons, I actually talked you through all the passages in the book of Acts that demonstrate this. So I won't go through all of those again, but there's a very clear order here. First faith alone in Christ alone, then baptism. In fact, there's gonna be a conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch in the second half of the chapter. And you'll see the exact same pattern. First he believes, secondarily he's baptized. So that's why we don't practice here at Sugar Land Bible Church infant baptism. I mean, we will baptize any infant that can come forward and state how they got saved. I guess we could do that. But the problem with infant baptism is it gets the cart before the horse. I mean, if an infant can't talk, I mean, they can certainly yell. Infants are really good at that. How could they give any verbal testimony about their newfound faith in Christ? So, infant baptism mixes up the order. In the book of Acts, you'll see a clear order. Faith alone and Christ alone, followed by water baptism. Well, what if a person is not water baptized? Well, that's an impediment to their growth in Christ, but it's not an impediment to the fact that they belong to Christ. The thief on the cross, as you know, was never baptized in water. And Jesus said to the penitent thief, today you shall be with me in paradise. And quick, someone throw water on him before he dies. No, didn't say that. So he can go to heaven, you know. But the thief on the cross clearly was saved, but he never experienced water baptism. So if you're not water baptized, it's not an impediment to your salvation, but it is an impediment to your growth or development into Christlikeness because the first command God gives to the new Christian is to be baptized in water. And if someone doesn't want to do that, then they're basically telling Jesus no right out of the gate in their newfound relationship with him, which can't be good for their development and growth spiritually. So Philip has evangelized Samaria, many Samaritans believe, including even a person that no one would probably think could get saved, Simon the sorcerer. And then as you continue on with verse 13, it says of Simon, He continued on with Philip as he observed the signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. So what you're dealing with, with Simon, is somebody that is a brand new Christian but has had no time to grow. You know, Simon, what's your prayer life like? What's prayer life? Simon, what's your Bible study reading like? What's Bible study reading? Simon, what's your church attendance like? What's church attendance? I mean, you're dealing with someone just completely fresh out of paganism. I mean, he doesn't know anything about growing. And so his mind really has not been renewed. The renewal of the mind is a perpetual process the believer puts himself or herself through. by studying the Bible or sitting under, and or, actually and, sitting under the teaching of the Word of God, which helps them to mature, it helps them to grow. Simon had no opportunity for that at all. In fact, back in verse 11, prior to his conversion, it says they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them, that's the Samaritans, with magic arts. So he was into, prior to his conversion, black magic miracles through Satan's power. And after he gets saved, with no time to grow, that's still what he's interested in. So that's why it talks here about how he's following after Philip and he's fascinated with the signs and the great miracles taking place in the ministry of Philip. Romans chapter 12 and verse two had not become a reality for him yet. Romans 12 verse two says to the new Christian, do not be conformed to this world. but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's not something that takes place in a nanosecond. That's a process. Justification is instantaneous. Growth in Christ is a process. So that you may prove the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. So no opportunity or time in Simon's newfound Christian life to do that, and so he's still thinking much like a pagan. He was wrapped up in signs and wonders before he got saved, so now he's attracted to the signs and the wonders in Christianity, as are being executed by Philip. So the story of Simon is sort of interrupted at this point, and as you go down to verses 14 through 17, you see now Peter and John having to travel from Jerusalem, which is where the leadership of the early church was, to Samaria to figure out if these Samaritan salvations are really true or not. And so that becomes the subject of verses 14 through 17. You have a concern, verse 14, a problem, verses 15 and 16, and then a solution, verse 17. So notice the concern. It says, now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they're believers in other words, They sent to them Peter and John. So are these Samaritans who we've had a racial conflict with for 700 years, Are these people really believers or not? And that's why Peter and John basically leave Jerusalem, which is down south, and had to journey up north to Samaria to see if these conversions were really true. So the Jerusalem church sends their leaders, Peter and John. Now this is interesting because this is the last time John is mentioned in the book of Acts. The focus of the book of Acts is not on John. The focus of the book of Acts is not on the other apostles. The focus of the book of Acts is on two apostles, Peter, and then later Paul. So John is mentioned sort of in a tangential way. He's not the focus of the book, and he basically disappears from the book of Acts at this point. But the early church, in addition to John, they send Peter. from Jerusalem to Samaria to see if these conversions wrought at the hands of Philip as the Holy Spirit was using Philip are true. Now, why in the world would the Jerusalem church send Peter to investigate these conversions? And the answer is found in something the Lord said to Peter in Matthew 16, verse 19. There the Lord said to Peter, I believe this conversation took place far up north in a place called Caesarea Philippi. I've actually been there myself. Once you're standing there, you understand why the Lord surfaces the things that he surfaces in the conversation. It fits the geography of the area perfectly. But he says to Peter, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. So to Peter, we're given these keys. Keys to entrance into the coming kingdom. The kingdom, the basilea, always portrayed as something future. So we are not today building the kingdom. What we're doing is we're winning citizens or heirs or sons of the coming kingdom. And Peter was given these keys. And what do you do with a key? You open a door. He was given the privilege of opening the door of citizenship to the coming kingdom to men. And Peter in the book of Acts took the keys, metaphorical keys that Jesus gave him, and he opened the door several times to several groups to come to know Christ. The first group Peter opened the door to was to the Jews, because he is the speaker on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter two. And through that sermon, around 3,000 Jews were saved. So Peter took the keys and he opened the door to the Jews. Now Peter in Acts chapter eight is taking those same metaphorical keys and he's opening the door to the Samaritans, this half-breed race to come to Christ. And then there's a third time in the book of Acts where Peter's gonna take the keys and open a third door. He'll open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10. So Peter used the keys in Acts 2 for the Jews, Acts 8 for the Samaritans, and Acts 10 for the Gentiles. And the way it works is once the door is opened, and only the person that has the keys can open the door, is the door stays open. It's very similar to what the Lord said to the church at Philadelphia. He said, I have set before you a door which no man can shut. And that's essentially what happens every time Peter takes these metaphorical keys and turns them in the metaphorical door. He's opening the door to these various groups so that they can be saved. So that's why Peter is involved in this whole investigation of Samaritan salvations to see if it's really true, they're really true or not. But that's the concern, but now a problem emerges. And here's the problem, verses 15 and 16. Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them, that's the Samaritans, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he, that's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person. Yes, he's the eternally existent third member of the Godhead, that's all true, but he is also a very real person with a very real personality. You know, you can offend the Holy Spirit. Paul in Ephesians 4 says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. So don't think of the Holy Spirit like Star Wars, don't get your theology from Star Wars. you know, the force and there's this impersonal force and use the force, Luke, you know, all that kind of stuff. And they kind of portray this force as some kind of, you know, impersonal source of energy that you have to kind of delve into. That's how Luke was able to destroy the Death Star, as you remember, because he used the force. So I've got a pretty good memory going back to the late 1970s when I saw that. But that's not what the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is an actual personage, an actual personality. So that's why it says he here. It says who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for he, the Holy Spirit. masculine pronoun he, used to describe the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen upon any of them, the Samaritans, even though they had believed in Christ for salvation. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here is a, we would call this a transitional problem in the book of Acts. This is a non-normative, unique situation in which a person believes, but does not get the Holy Spirit until later. The Samaritans were believers, but did not yet receive the Holy Spirit until the Jerusalem apostles, Peter and John, traveled to Samaria to lay hands on them. Now, why is this happening? First of all, it's not normal. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9 says, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. I mean, typically the way it works is the moment you believe, you're regenerated. You're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That's what's normative in the age of the church. But here's something different is happening. It's an odd occurrence. It's not normal. They believe and they don't get the Holy Spirit until later. Now, why in the world would the Holy Spirit and the Jerusalem apostles operate in this manner? The answer relates to the Samaritan Jewish conflict, which we had a chance to develop in detail, not in the last lesson, but I think the lesson just before. The Samaritans and the Hebrews hated each other's guts. going back 700 years. And you want to talk about racial hatred. They were a half-breed race, the Samaritans. They were brought into the land by the king of Babylon from Babylon after the Assyrians had kicked the northern kingdom out. They were Babylonians and they were brought in and they started to kind of intermarry with Jews, they wouldn't follow the program. They wouldn't go to Jerusalem to worship. They would go to Mount Gerizim to worship. We kind of went into all of that and explained all of that. Which was the amazement of the apostles as to how Jesus would waste his time in John 4 with a Samaritan woman. What are you talking to her for? She's the wrong gender, she's the wrong race, she's immoral, and she's the wrong religion. Answer, Jesus doesn't care about stuff like that. He cares about people. But man is all wrapped up in these, you know, intense racial conflicts. I don't even like to use the word race, because according to the Bible, there's one race, the human race. Amen? We're all descended from one man, Acts 17 verse 26 tells us. But within humanity, there's slight differences of skin pigmentation, color, all of that kind of thing. And so people turn that into some sort of racial divide, and you have racial antagonism. And that's what you have going on here for 700 years between the Hebrews or the Jews and the Samaritans. They hated each other's guts. That's why James and John, one of the guys that's coming to investigate this, In Luke 9, at the end of the chapter when Jesus went to a Samaritan village and they would not receive his ministry, James and John, the love apostle, John, same guy here, says, Lord, shall we not call down fire from heaven and consume these people? I mean, why would you, that is so over the top. Why would you say something like that? Well, it makes sense if you're caught up in seven centuries of racial hatred. So they've got to go and they've got to figure out, are these Samaritans really saved? And so to determine that, the Holy Spirit is not given to the Samaritans right away. Now think with me just for a minute. What if the Samaritans had received the Holy Spirit immediately? totally independently of the Jerusalem Apostles laying hands on the Samaritans. What you would have had right out of the chute in the age of the church is two churches. You would have had a Jewish church and you would have had a Samaritan church. And such an idea is contrary to the nature of the church. So consequently, in this particular case, to demonstrate that the Samaritans now belong to the Jews as Christians, and the Jews now belong to the Samaritans, and we're all one in the body of Christ, and the body of Christ transcends man's racial divisions, the Holy Spirit was delayed. So the Jerusalem apostles could lay hands on the Samaritans. That way, when the Holy Spirit came through the laying on of hands, The stubborn Jews now understood that the Samaritans were part of the body of Christ. And the stubborn Samaritans now understood that they were part of the body of Christ as well, just like the Jews. So this is a one-time occurrence in the book of Acts. That's why there's a delay here in the giving of the Holy Spirit. So the solution happens to this division in verse 17. It says, then they began, that's the Jerusalem apostles, laying their hands on them, that's the Samaritans, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. So now the Samaritan believers knew that they belonged to the Jewish believers, and the Jewish believers now realize that they belong to the Samaritan believers, And without the delaying of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands right out of the gate in the age of the church, you would have had there in the nation of Israel two churches. And that's not what the church is. The church consists of all nations, all people groups, all tribes, all tongues. In fact, the church in the book of Revelation is portrayed as worshiping the Lord in heaven, the full bride of Christ, and it says over and over again, people from every nation, every tribe, every tongue, every people group are worshiping the Lord. So we don't have an American church, you know, we don't have Hispanic church, you know, we don't have an Asian church. We don't have a Caucasian church. We don't have a European church. What we are all part of, regardless of minor dissimilarities between us in terms of where we live and what language we speak, and the slight difference of skin color, is we are all one in the body of Christ. That's kind of a new concept. That ministry of baptizing or identifying people regardless of their racial background into Christ's body when they trust Christ for salvation is a work that started in Acts chapter 2. Jesus said it's coming in Acts 1 verse 5 prior to his ascension. He said, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Speaking of the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit where he takes anybody in any part of the world, that hears the gospel and believes it, connects that person with the body of Christ regardless of their ethnicity, nationhood, gender, et cetera. Paul develops it, I read this verse to you earlier in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13. It's what water baptism symbolizes. Notice the word one, for by one spirit. We were all baptized into one body. Now there wouldn't have been one body. You would have had two. The Samaritan body and the Jewish body. Which would have been contrary to the purposes of God. So that's why there's this delay in the giving of the Holy Spirit. So we are all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greek, whether slaves or free. Those are big socioeconomic differences. We were all made to drink of one spirit. Paul describes this in the book of Galatians chapter three, verse 28. What is it in the body of Christ? There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. Now don't worry, you're still a male even though you got saved. You're still a female even though you got saved. You're still a Greek even though you got saved. You're still a Jew even though you got saved. But the societal divisions that those differences bring don't exist anymore in the body of Christ because we are all part of the same body. Christ's body. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all what? You are all what? One, there we go, just want to make sure you guys are awake there, in Christ Jesus. Paul explains this in the book of Ephesians a lot. Ephesians 2 verse 14, for He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. What groups? Hebrews and Gentiles, who didn't like each other. The Hebrews called the Gentiles dogs. And the Gentiles called the Hebrews arrogant. I mean, there's just intense dislike in the time of Christ between those two groups. And Paul says, well, if you all are both believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that division just ended. Because you can't have a division in Christ's body any more than you can separate your arm from your shoulder, from your knee, from your foot. I mean, we're all part of the same body, so any type of division between anybody on these grounds is artificial. And I think what's happening here is that artificial division between the Samaritans and the Hebrews, if you understand that 700 years of hatred, go back a couple of lessons where we developed this, and it's sort of hard to understand this chapter unless you understand that background. Seven centuries of racial division would have continued right into the church age, and very easily you would have had two churches instead of one. There is a wonderful book on this by my late professor, J. Dwight Pentecost. It's called New Wine, A Study of Transition in the Book of Acts. And he, in this book, does not do a verse-by-verse commentary of the whole book of Acts. What he focuses on are chapters like this where something is happening that is abnormal. Something is happening that is atypical. Something is happening that is uncommon. Like the things happening in Acts 2. They're selling their property. the things happening in Acts 8 and other such occurrences in the book of Acts. So if you're looking for something that explains these transitions, that would be my recommendation. So it's very important to understand this. We do not take the book of Acts as a doctrinal book. We take the book of Acts as a historical book. meaning we acknowledge that there are some things taking place in the Book of Acts because it's a transitional book that are not normative today. And this puts us in a very different place of understanding the book than the modern day charismatic movement, which basically places a total emphasis on the Book of Acts. I mean, there's even movements today called Acts 29. So we're going to just continue living out the book of Acts. And I'm thinking, well, are you going to go get stuck in the ocean? Because that's what happens in Acts 27. And by the way, do you own a house? Because you shouldn't own a house if you want to live out the Book of Acts. You should sell your house, because that's what they did in Acts 2. And this is just another example of it. We don't accept the idea that people get saved and get the Holy Spirit later, although you can find an instance of it in the Book of Acts. It does happen in the Book of Acts, because the Book of Acts is historical and not doctrinal. in the sense that there are some things in the book of Acts that are unique. So if you're gonna tell people that something is normative in the church, you cannot just build your case from the book of Acts. You have to also build it from the epistolary literature. Paul's 13 letters and then the eight general letters which are written to the church. So for example, the practice of communion. Should we practice communion today? Yes, because I see it in the gospels. Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. Yes, because I see it in the book of Acts. They were breaking bread together from house to house. But I don't just stop in the book of Acts. I also see it in the epistles. because in the epistles, Paul, 1 Corinthians 11, lays out the rules and ritual and ordinances and so forth for the Lord's table. So there's a practice I could say is normative in the church, because I found it in the gospels, I found it in the book of Acts, and I found it in the epistles. The danger is when you have people standing up as teachers saying, if it's in the book of Acts, that's what's normative in the church. We believe that that is an abuse of the book of Acts, because the book of Acts contains some non-normative activities, as Luke the historian is simply describing what happened, rather than prescribing what we should be doing. So, verse 12, It says, but when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. Verse 17 indicates they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. So there's a pause between belief, then later baptism, then later receiving the Holy Spirit. And that's not normative today. That's a transitional problem in the book of Acts, because what is normative today is found in the epistles, Romans 8 verse 9, among many other passages, which says, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. So when I was in college, I was around a lot of really good people, but they were more of the charismatic Pentecostal mindset. And they would tell me that, it's nice, Andy, that you're a believer, but you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, because that's where the true power comes from. And they pulled out their Bible, and they showed me Acts 8, verses 14 through 17. And I thought, well, it's in the Bible. Must be true. So I asked to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I asked for the gift of tongues. I mean, I asked for all kinds of things. And I never was really able to speak in tongues. And they said, well, you need to sort of prime the pump, is what they told me. So just sort of start talking in a certain way, and this language will come over you. So none of that ever worked out for me, and I thought it could work out for me, because it's right here in the book of Acts. But when you get into the epistolary literature, Ephesians 1 verse 3, what it says is, we have been blessed with every blessing in the spiritual place, in the heavenly places. There is no blessing that you need that God hasn't given to you already. And it's just a matter of learning what you already have, rather than going to God and sort of, you know, begging Him, groveling before Him, you know, for something additional. I mean, there is nothing additional for the Christian. Everything that God wants you to have, He gave it to you at the point of faith alone in Christ alone. Your spiritual gift came to you at that point. The Holy Spirit came into you at that point. The new nature came into you at that point. The forgiveness of all of your sins, past, present, and future, came to you at that point. Your relationship with God the Father, where you can call him Abba Father, which means Daddy, came to you at that point. I think it's Lewis Barry Chafer that identifies 33 blessings that we receive at the point of faith that we didn't have before. And there are probably many others. But what do you do with Acts chapter eight, verses 14 through 17, where they believe and they don't get the Holy Spirit until later? Well, that's the book of Acts. That is a transitional issue revolving around the Hebrew Samaritan conflict. If you're gonna say that what's happening in Acts 8 is normative in the church, then you have to find the same concept in the epistles, which you don't find. So this relates to a proper understanding of the book of Acts. I love the book of Acts. I'm not trying to devalue the book of Acts at all. I'm just trying to get us to appreciate its proper role in the life of the Christian in terms of trying to establish something as normative in the body of Christ. So it's Peter and John that lay hands on these Samaritans. They receive the Holy Spirit. This is a second example where Peter has taken the keys of the kingdom and opened them to the Samaritans. And now that the door is open to the Samaritans, it stays open. And any Samaritan that believes from this point forward is immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit. So that unit, as important as it is, interrupts Simon's conversion and Peter's rebuke of Simon. So at this point, verses 18 through 25, we learn of Peter's rebuke of Simon. Simon makes a illicit request, verses 18 and 19. Peter rebukes Simon, verses 20 through 23, Simon responds, I think with remorse, verse 24. And then there's a conclusion, verse 25. After all is said and done with Simon, it says, as the apostles, Peter and John, went back to Jerusalem, they were preaching the gospel to many of the villages of the Samaritans. So the door that's been opened here stays open. But notice, first of all, Simon's request, verses 18 and 19. First, Simon makes an observation. Now keep in mind, you're dealing with someone that's been steeped in paganism and satanic magic for a long time. Keep that in mind as you read the things Simon is wanting here. He's wanting power. And there's a lot of people like that in Christianity. They want some kind of position in the church. You know, they want a place of influence within the church because they have some sort of psychological need for being important, being powerful. You know, it could be that they got some kind of esteem need met like that on their job, and so now they want it in the church. And it takes a lot of exposure to mature Christians. and exposure to the word of God over and over again to undo our thinking in that area. And just because you got saved doesn't mean the less of the flesh suddenly disappeared. Because you still have an old nature to contend with. There's a teaching today that after you get saved, you don't have an old nature anymore. That is completely false. Your old nature is alive and well. It's just now you can tell it no. You didn't have the power to tell it no as an unsaved person. You were a slave to it. Now you can tell it no under the resources of Jesus and live according to the desires of the new nature. Now what does Simon know about that? You know, the old nature and the new nature. He doesn't know anything about that. He hasn't been discipled. In fact, most of the New Testament hasn't even been written yet. So it's no doubt that this guy coming out of paganism, without his mind being renewed, would still act like a pagan. He's interested in power, because that's what he knew in his former way of life, power. In fact, the Samaritans would all rally around him thinking he was someone great because of his black magic. Verse nine, now he just wants a Christian version of this power. So this is an immature baby Christian at work here. So verse 18, it says, now Simon saw the spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands. He saw power at work. And coming out of power encounters, he had a great interest in power. He just kind of slapped a Christian coat of paint over it. But it's the same old fleshly desire, which he hasn't learned to reckon dead yet. So this is where you get the whole idea of simony, meaning trying to purchase things from God. It says in verse 18, After he saw this power encounter, the apostles laying hands on the Samaritans so that they would receive the Holy Spirit, Simon wanted that power for himself, so he offered them money. I'll pay for it. And the reason he wants this with no time for progressive sanctification or even an understanding of what it is is because he has ambition. I mean, obviously the man had a lot of ambition. He was used to everybody calling him great because of his black magic in Samaria. Now I wanna be great in Christianity. By the way, I keep using that word Christianity. The early church isn't even called Christians yet until Acts 11, so I'm a little bit ahead of myself. But the newfound faith in Yeshua, in Jesus, So Simon's ambition is given in verse 19, saying, give this authority to me as well. Notice the emphasis on me. So that everyone on whom I may lay my hands upon may receive the Holy Spirit. He's on a power trip. Not to publicly out anybody, but well, I'll just go ahead and do it. Benny Hinn, you ever watch him on TV? Benny Hinn, I was watching him very carefully, and he saw someone who was kind of a mentor to him. have these kind of spirit-empowered abilities, so-called. I think they're demonic. You know, you blow on people and they fall over and all that kind of stuff. He saw that exhibited by someone earlier in the charismatic movement, long before Benny Hinn became popular, called Kathryn Kuhlman. Have you ever heard of that name? And I remember listening to Benny Hinn when he saw this power working through Catherine Coleman. I remember him specifically saying, I want that power for myself. And I thought, well, that's Acts chapter eight. I mean, this is exactly what Simon wants because Simon was used to power. So Simon essentially wanted apostolic authority that God only gave to the apostles. I mean, it was only to Peter he gave the keys of the kingdom to. He didn't just give them to anybody. And Simon saw the power associated with the keys of the kingdom. He may not have understood what the keys of the kingdom meant, but he wanted that apostolic authority and power. He wanted greatness. Why did he want greatness? Because that's what he was used to. Back to verse nine. They kept claiming him to be someone great. He wants to be great again. Just give me a Christian version of it. So satisfy, it's a lust really. A lust is a desire from the sin nature that God doesn't want gratified. You know, we think of lusts as sexual. You know, lusting sexually after someone you're not married to. That is a form of lust of the flesh, but it is not the only form of lust of the flesh. Lust of the flesh can take place in terms of the appetite for wanting to be recognized, wanting to be powerful, wanting to be popular, and this is the error And I see Christians fall for this error all of the time. Somebody from the world that's very popular or very well-known gets saved. And I'm not denying the authenticity of their salvation any more than I'm denying the authenticity of Simon's salvation. But we're so happy they got saved that we wanna put them on a pedestal in the church. We want to put them on a platform. We want to jam a camera and a microphone, you know, in their face. We want to let them speak for us. And that is a complete and total mistake that never ends well. In fact, Paul is pretty clear in 1 Timothy 3 that when you lay hands on someone, appointing them to a position of leadership, he or she should not be a novice. And here we're talking about elders and deacons, so it would be a he. They should not be a novice, a new Christian, lest they fall into the trap of Satan, which is first comes pride, then comes a fall. Every time you take someone who's famous in the world and you wanna promote them immediately within the church, you're setting them up for a fall. Because they haven't been discipled yet. They probably haven't even read the whole Bible yet. And they will take their lust of the flesh, which they had in the unsaved world, and they'll just Christianize it. and want that same lust of the flesh satisfied in the church. And believe me, the church world is filled with these kinds of people. You wouldn't believe the people that tell me, hey, I wanna speak in your pulpit. Well, excuse me, I hardly know you. You've been here for two weeks. It's like a lust, a desire to be recognized. They think the pulpit is some kind of way for popularity. They don't have the foggiest idea of the criticism you set yourself up for the moment you step up into a pulpit and teach the Word of God. So they're totally unprepared for it. But at their place of employment, they're recognized for being a public speaker or a famous writer. Hey, I'm a famous writer. I wanna publish some journal articles. I wanna go into Christian publishing. I wanna get well-known. So what they're doing is they're taking a lust of the flesh that they haven't learned to crucify and reckon dead, and they're just transferring it into the Christian world and putting a Christian fresh paint on it, but it's the same old lust of the flesh. That's what Simon is doing here. It's exactly what Benny Hinn did with Kathryn Kuhlman. Give me this authority, so that everyone on whom I may lay my hand, see the repetition of me, I, my, that's the flesh at work, may receive the Holy Spirit. So the Christian is dual-natured. Simon hasn't learned to live according to the desires of the new nature and reckoned dead the desires of the old nature. So this leads to Simon's rebuke, verses 20 through 23. In fact, this rebuke is so juicy, I need to read verses 20 through 23 altogether, which I don't have time to do right now. So we'll stop here. And we'll be in the rebuking mode, in a Christian way, of course, next week. So let me pray. Father, we're grateful for your truth, grateful for your word, grateful for this record of Simon and Simony. Help us not to fall into the same trap. Help us to walk out the principles of discipleship. And when it's time for you to promote or move us into a different sphere of influence, we want that to be your timing. Only after our character is molded the way you would have it molded. Help us not to be the type of people that wanna an end round around the walk of discipleship. Help us to receive that from you as well. Help us to mature in the faith. so that we can be legitimately used by you down the road. We'll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name and God's people said, amen.