The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Acts 8:25-40)

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

Acts 8:25-40

Introduction

In an amazing turn of events, this year the Detroit Lions have been doing well. But that is explainable, I think. I think a large part of their success is due to their new quarterback, Jon Kitna, who of course came from Cincinnati.

But what you might not have heard is that Kitna is a committed Christian. In fact, he used to go to my parents’ church when he played for the Bengals. And Kitna is not one of these guys who simply puts his finger in the air when a play goes well.

In fact, if you read ESPN magazine you will know that since Kitna came to the team last year, 20 of the Detroit Lions have been saved.

While that is something we should rejoice over, it is not something we should be surprised by. What is shows is that Jon Kitna is simply doing what all Christians should be doing – sharing their faith.

This morning, as we continue our series in the book of Acts and finish looking at what God did through Philip, we want to see his experience of personal evangelism and draw some application for our lives in the 21st century as we seek to share Christ as well.

Acts 8:25-40

Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. [26] Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. [27] And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship [28] and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. [29] And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” [30] So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” [31] And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. [32] Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. [33] In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” [34] And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” [35] Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. [36] And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” [38] And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. [39] And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. [40] But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

1. Obey the Call to Evangelize (8:25-27a, 29)

One very popular book that has come out in the last 15 years or so, says this is the paradigm for knowing God’s will – look where God is working and go join in. Unfortunately, that thesis fails on a couple of levels.

First, how do you know God is working? There are large churches that do not preach the gospel and do not hold to Christian theology yet continue to grow large. Clearly God is not at work there, but to some it may appear that he is.

Second, that means that it is never appropriate to seek to revive a work that had previous been active. Every church that’s in decline should be scrubbed and a new one begun? That’s doesn’t sound right, does it?

The final and most important problem is this – God doesn’t always work that way.

Remember the setting we have just come out of earlier in the chapter. Philip had been engaged in what we might call ‘mass evangelism.’ He was preaching to the crowds and many were being saved. Then look at what happens –

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. [27] And he rose and went. . . . [29] And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” [30] So Philip ran to him,

Most of us – if we were mature – would have wanted to stay and continue to minister. People are getting saved, so let’s keep preaching. But God calls Philip away. In fact, he calls him away from the crowds to go out to the middle of nowhere – the desert.

And how does he respond? With immediate obedience. Philip knows this is God’s will and he obeys. Not because he better than us, but because he has come to grips with glory of God and wonder of salvation – both his own, and that of others which comes through the preaching of the gospel.

Thus, Philip embodies Jesus’ teaching in that he was willing to leave the 99 sheep to rescue the one that was lost.

The truth is, though we do not need a supernatural call to ministry. We don’t need God to send an angel or guide us by an extraordinary move of his Spirit. Each and every one of us has basic marching orders that need to be obeyed –

Peter said, “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;” (1 Peter 3:15).

I said it time and time again, and we have seen it over and over again in our study of Acts – every Christian is called by Christ to be evangelists.

We are take every opportunity to called to share the gospel in order that God may call those in spiritual darkness into his glorious light, redeeming their lives sin and bringing them into fellowship with himself.

One of the things that will give us confidence to do this, will be recognizing that before we share the gospel, God prepares the person’s heart.

This is our second point of application this morning – we are to,

2. Recognize God’s Preparation of the Heart (8:27b-28)

Luke says that after Philip obeys God’s call and heads south towards Gaza, there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship [28] and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

These are some of those verses that we are tempted to pass over quickly, thinking perhaps that Luke has simply put them there to give us some context, or some historical background, all the while failing to see their importance.

What we have here is nothing is certainly all of those things, but so much more. Stop and think about what Luke is telling us. It’s an amazing series of providential workings in a man’s life that ultimately bring him to faith in the gospel. God is preparing the man’s heart to hear of Christ.

So who is this man? What exactly has God done in his life? Luke says he is a eunuch – someone physically dedicated to the service of his king. In this case, the man was in service to the regent of Ethiopia.

If you remember, about a thousand years before this, the Queen of Sheba – from that same region – had visited Solomon. The result was surely an exchange of ideas. Most likely a copy of the Law had gone to Ethiopia.

But more than that, Luke goes to great lengths to tell us that Cornelius – whom we will meet in chapter 10 – is the first Gentile convert. Thus, most likely through the exile of Israelites centuries before, this man’s lineage is such that he is part Jewish and part Ethiopian. Even today, there are many black African Jews like this man.

What’s more though, is that he is not just ethnically Jewish. This eunuch was also spiritually inclined towards his Jewish roots to pursue understanding and worship of the Hebrew God. Furthermore, whether before this trip to Jerusalem or as a result, he has obtained a copy of the entire Old Testament.

And in a final act of sweet providence, we find him reading of the Old Testament passages that most clearly point to work of Christ. After all of this, then, God commands Philip to go to him and share Christ.

When you see all that God has done – all of the preparation he has done – to bring this man to Christ, it’s amazing isn’t it?

What we sometimes forget is that God does the same thing today. No one wakes one day, or hears the gospel for the first time and say, ‘yeah, okay, I’m ready to become a Christian.’

No, God does a supernatural work in their hearts to prepare them to hear and give them the ability to believe. But more than that, God often works in the circumstances of their lives to prepare them to hear the gospel.

Do not think the salvation of others all depends on you. Do not think it will be so difficult to share Christ. Brother and sisters – God is at work; often behind the scenes and in unexpected ways.

Sometimes, when you share Christ you are preparation so that months or years later the next person who says gets to reap the harvest.

Let that encourage you to share Christ unashamedly and boldly, knowing that God has prepared the hearts of those who will believe.

This will also make it easier for you to,

3. Communicate Across Cultural Barriers (8:27-28 )

This is our third point of application – when you share Christ, be prepared to communicate across cultural barriers.

Think for a moment of all the things that socially and culturally separated Philip from this eunuch –

· First, they were from very different parts of the world. Philip was from Jerusalem, and the eunuch from Ethiopia (then, a large region of Africa south of the Egypt).

· Philip was a deacon, but that didn’t give him any kind of social status, especially in the world. On the other hand, the Eunuch was a court official. He was the royal purser, in charge of the Queen’s treasury.

· Simply by observing that the Eunuch is being driven in a chariot while Philip is walking, eating his dust as it were, we see their difference.

But did that stop Philip from obeying God’s call? No.

Many Christians are put off by cultural or social differences. We think don’t know how to act, or what to say, and so we begin to make excuses and rationalize why we shouldn’t share Christ with them.

We meet someone of higher social standing and think things like, ‘Why would they listen to me? They have so much more money than me, they’ll just ignore me.’

And so though we have a chance to speak a word for Christ, we walk away from it.

Or we meet someone that is very different from us in how they their live their life. We may think, ‘I just don’t understand them. Why do they do that? I just don’t get it, and I’m sure they don’t get me – they’ll never listen if I try to share Jesus with them.’

If you think that way, you’re forgetting what we have already said about God’s preparation of the heart, and the power of the gospel.

The message of the gospel transcends culture, it transcends any differences we might have – because its message is rooted in a universal need. The need to have forgiveness for our sins and experience salvation from God.

We’ve talked about trying to understand the culture and present the gospel in such a way that it is clearly heard. And that’s a good thing.

But if you find yourself having a hard with it, or not really even understanding what I mean when I say things like that, don’t let that stop you from sharing Christ.

Don’t get hung up on cultural difference, remember and feel the weight of the person’s need for salvation and just preach the gospel.

This bring us to our next piece of application –

4. Teach the Bible with a Christ-centered Focus (8:29-35)

Luke says, And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” [30] So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” [31] And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. [32] Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. [33] In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” [34] And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” [35] Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

Philip runs up alongside the chariot and is walking quickly enough to stay with it. And close enough to hear what the man is reading. (Everyone read out aloud in those days). I can only imagine the grin that swept across his face as he heard these words from Isaiah 53 being read.

‘And he asks the man – do you understand what you’re reading?’ Surely what Philip means is, do you know this is talking about Jesus Christ?

For when the eunuch asks for his help, Luke says – and I love the way this is worded – Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

I think that to ‘teach the Bible with a Christ-centered focus’ means at least two things for us.

First, we have to know our Bibles. Though it can be taken a little too sentimentally, I basically think it’s okay to call the Bible ‘God’s love-letter to his people.’

It not only describes for us who God is, but what he has done in his grace and mercy to overcome our sin and bring us to himself.

About 9 or 10 years ago, I was on spring break my junior year in college and I proposed to Melinda. Thankfully, she happily said yes. But then I was gone the entire summer. I spent 3 weeks in Peru on a mission trip and the almost 10 weeks away for a pastoral internship.

Before I left, Melinda bought like three boxes of cards or something, and wrote me up a card for every week that I was gone. Sometimes, I had two or three per week.

And some she had scented with her perfume, all of them had words of love and encouragement. She had them all dated and sometimes I couldn’t wait to open them.

Now, can you imagine if after that summer when I got back, she asked me if I liked the cards, and I said, ‘oh the cards, yeah, I didn’t get to read most of them – I was just too busy.’

Can you imagine? I probably would have gotten my ring back along with a black eye and a bill for postage or something. It’s just unthinkable.

How much more so with God? How horrible to not read the Bible – to not cherish every word, over and over again, year after year as a reflection of how much you cherish the One who wrote it.

You are essentially spurning the love God has demonstrated for you.

If you don’t know the word, you will never be able to reach Christ from the word. But then secondly, it’s not enough to know the word well. Many will try to get you caught up in debates about homosexuality, or apparent contradictions – all kinds of things.

Sometimes these need to be addressed, but for the most part we just need to teach about Christ. From the Old or the New Testament – just tell them about Jesus.

That’s what Philip did. It would not have really mattered where the man was reading from, Luke says Philip began at that passage and told him the good news of Jesus.

We have to be familiar with God’s word, so that when we encounter a lost person who might be reading the Bible, or have a question about it, we have start with where they are at and quickly move to the gospel.

Our goal should always be to get to Jesus when talking with a lost person. To tell them of his work on the cross.

To explain how though all of us are separated from God by our sin and deserve death and hell, God has sent Christ to suffer our punishment for us so that we can be made right with him.

That’s the message of salvation – that’s the gospel of Christ that we must preach.

And when we do, when we share about Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, then we must,

5. Expect a Response of Sincere Belief (8:36-40)

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. [36] And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” [38] And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. [39] And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. [40] But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Philip tells the Eunuch about Christ. And through his sharing of the gospel, God brought man to faith. If we are faithful to share the gospel, we should expect to see people come to faith in Christ. Though, it may not be every time.

I was reading about one man being converted. After a young man had shared the gospel with him, and he believed, the young man became very excited. The older man who had just been saved said, ‘Don’t think too much of yourself, young man – you’re number 25.’

The young man asked what he meant, and man said, ‘you’re the 25th person to share the gospel with me.’

We never actually see the person we share the gospel with receive Christ and experience salvation. But if God has determined to save that person, he will save through the message of the gospel.

On the other hand, lost people will never experience salvation if someone does not tell them about Christ.

If the gospel message is not heard, their hearts will not be regenerated by God’s Spirit, and faith will not be imparted so that they can believe.

Instead, they will stay in their sins and they will eventually die and experience a just punishment of eternal torment for their rebellion against God.

How incredible a privilege it is, to be called by God to be his messengers. God has entrusted to us – weak, imperfect, lazy, sinful people – his glorious message of salvation by faith alone in the work of Christ alone.

When we consider the glory of God’s work in Christ, the mercy and grace which he shown not only in our lives, but in the lives of all those who ever or will ever believe –

how can we not work at taking the gospel from our neighbor’s door to the ends of the earth?

False Faith in the Midst of Revival (Acts 8:4-24)

False Faith in the Midst of Revival

Acts 8:4-24

 

 

Acts 8:4-24

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. [5] Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. [6] And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. [7] For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. [8] So there was much joy in that city.

[9] But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. [10] They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” [11] And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. [12] But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. [13] Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

[14] Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, [15] who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, [16] for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [17] Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

[18] Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, [19] saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” [20] But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! [21] You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. [22] Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. [23] For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” [24] And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

From this passage, we see two things.  First, we see a ministry that produces true faith and we also see a life that evidences false life.   In looking at these things we see contrasted the true faith of the Samaritan believers with the false faith of Simon.

Ministry that Produces True Faith (8:4-8, 14-17)

1. Proclaims Christ

The very first thing we read in this passage is “those who were scattered went about preaching the word. [5] Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.”

I have said this before and today will not be the last time you hear my say this. Preaching the gospel is essential to any Christian ministry. I don’t care if you’re in a church, a Bible study, a youth group, college group, men’s or women’s group. You might be in campus ministry, a missionary to a foreign country, or a lay person in Bay City.

The only kind of effective, God-honoring way of life and ministry is that which is centered around the proclamation of Christ. We must tell people of his life, death, and the resurrection for us. That Jesus willingly gave his life for others when he died on the cross.

That on the cross, God poured out his wrath on his own Son, though we deserved it for our sins. We must tell people of the great exchange – Jesus receiving the punishment for our sins, and us having the righteousness of his earthly life counted towards – when we place our faith in him.

We can do lots of others things. We can hand out food baskets, pay bills for people, visit them in the hospital, have community parties, build homes – all kinds of things. But not of that will make an eternal difference if it is not seen as simply supporting the preaching of Christ.

2. Involves everyone

What we see happening in Samaria – both this week and next week – is nothing less than true biblical revival. God is pouring out his Spirit to enable sinners to respond to the proclamation of the gospel. People are getting saved.

But it’s important that we notice who is carrying out this ministry. Who has gone into Samaria? Whose ministry is God’s blessing? It’s not the apostles – it’s a deacon. It’s Philip. Do you remember him from back in chapter 7? He’s one of the men set aside to serve as a deacon.

Remember that we saw that the deacons were not the spiritual leaders of the church. By that I mean they weren’t responsible for teaching and preaching to God’s people. And so it might be tempting to think that, like any other lay-person, it wasn’t their responsibility to be involved in evangelism.

My point is this – from the words of Jesus in the gospels, to his final words before he ascended in Acts, the command is clear. Jesus calls all of his people, from its leaders to the laity, to share the gospel. Some may be gifted as evangelists, but all are called to engage in evangelism.

Kenneth Latourette is a church historian who teaches at Yale University. He is considered the authority on the history of missions. In his writings he says the chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not to have been those who made it a profession (evangelists ministers), but men and women who carried on their livelihood in some secular manner and spoke their faith to those they met in this natural fashion. Thus, the expansion of the church at this point didn’t depend upon the apostles, but on the grass roots, men and women sharing the gospel as they went about their daily lives.

As we look to the future of the church, the same is true. If God’s church – even this local church – will grow through people coming to faith in Christ, then everyone; not just the pastor, but you in the pew as well, must join together in preaching Christ.

Whether we are out to lunch with friends or co-workers, in our living rooms with neighbors on a Friday night, Saturday afternoons on our couch during a football party, talking with the server at the restaurant – these are times when we share the gospel, when we proclaim Christ.

3. Demonstrates power

At one level the power of Philip’s ministry is obvious. Luke writes that the people “saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.”

Certainly these were demonstrations of the power of God. These things were done through Philip to serve as signs of the validity of his message. But there is something even more powerful that we see in this passage – the power of the gospel to reconcile peoples that are hostile to one another.

It’s actually amazing that two major figures in Acts – two people that push forward God’s plan for reaching the nations are not apostles. Remember we saw Stephen’s importance in the last few weeks, and now here is Philip. What does he do? He is the first to take the gospel beyond the ethnic borders of the Jewish people to the Samaritans.

The Samaritan people had been hostile to the Jews for a thousands years. Then you will remember that 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel split away from the rest of the country and made Samaria their capital. Then in 722 BC Samaria was captured by the Assyrians and thousands of Israelites were deported, with many Assyrians moving in. Inter-marrying took place among the 10 tribes, contrary to God’s law.

After the exile of the other two tribes a couple hundred years later, in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews refused the help of the Samaritans in rebuilding the temple. Then in fourth century BC, the Samaritans built their own temple, and discounted all Scripture except the Law.

The result of all this was a deep schism between the Jews and Samaritans, with the Samaritans being despised as crossbreeds in race and religion. And the Samaritans resenting the Jews attitudes towards them. In the end, there was a culturally-ingrained attitude of hatred from both groups towards the other.

Thus for Philip to specifically go to Samaria to preach the gospel was almost unthinkable. Only Jesus himself had ministered to the Samaritans at this point. Yet, this is the power of the gospel. The saving message of Christ that can not only reconcile men to God, but also break down the walls of hostility among men.

Thus, even today, the way you speak of the gospel, the way you let the gospel transform your way of life should demonstrate this power as well.

You see, when the world says, white people and black shouldn’t get along and should be wary of each other, we say the gospel calls me to love all people. When the politicians seek to pit us against people who think differently than us, we say the gospel calls me to share Christ will all people. When the culture says we should always look out for number one, we say the gospel calls me to sacrifice and put everyone else first – even my enemies.

Again, the power of the cross is not only seen in the saving of sinners. It is also seen in its power to create a new people for God where “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).

4. Produces joy

This is the result of Philip’s preaching – there was much joy in that city. And the presence of joy is very much a clear sign of embracing of the gospel.

In several of his books, Pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones has made the observation that the chief characteristic in the life of those who truly come to faith in Christ is joy. It is the outshining of the inward work of God in the heart. Joy cannot be contained. It is the overflow of the Christian life. It is evidence that our greatest delight is knowing and glorifying our Lord.

You see when you have been graciously brought to the place of forgiveness and the knowledge of God through Christ, you cannot help but be joyous. It should be an oxymoron to use the term ‘a joyless Christian.’ How can we be joyless when the source of all joy dwells within us?

This is the thing that makes missions exciting. When we share the gospel, we are bearing the good news of Jesus Christ to joyless people who are living in the darkness of sin. When they embrace the truth of Christ and their darkness is turned into light and their sorrow into joy!

And you have the privilege of seeing God at work! This is the privilege all of us can have, for all who belong to Christ are to be ambassadors of the gospel throughout their lives in every place they go.

And if we faithful to present the biblical gospel, those that embrace it will experience a life of joy.

Transition

As far as we are told, Philip did everything right. His ministry was a model for us. Not just a model for pastors, but for all Christians; for you in the pew as well.

Nevertheless, it is possible to everything and still see little fruit, or bad fruit. Jesus explained this to the disciples didn’t he? Do you remember the parable of the sower in Matthew 13?

The sower went out to sow the seed, but only about a quarter of the seeds sown actually produced healthy plants that bore good fruit. Jesus explained the parable was about those that would spread the gospel. The pure seed of the gospel can be spread to many people, but that doesn’t guarantee that all will believe or that all of those that say they believe actually believe.

Remember Jesus said, some hear the word and appear to believe, but then temptation comes and their false faith collapses. Others appear to have faith, but then the lure of sin pulls them away and proves they never really believed.

This is very much what we see in Simon. Someone who professes to believe in Christ, to embrace the gospel, but whose life reveals that he never really believes.

And so from this passage, we not only see a ministry that produces true faith, but we also see a …

Life that Evidences False Faith (8:9-13, 18-25)

1. Sees God as a means to an end

Before Philip came to Samaria, Simon was the center of attention. He would perform powerful magic that caused people to say, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”

Magic in the first-century was a mixture of science and superstition. It combined astrology, divination, and occultic practices along with history, mathematics, and agriculture. There’s no way for us to know if Simon’s magic was simple deceit and effects, or truly supernatural events empowered by demonic forces.

Regardless, his practices had earned him the reputation of being a great and power person – someone who had the power of a god himself.

But then real power came to Samaria. Such was the miraculous ministry of Philip – empowered by the Spirit of Christ – that even Simon was astonished. And it was that amazement that drew him to Philip, even to the point of making a profession of faith.

As will become evident, Simon’s profession of faith was not genuine. It is not hard to imagine what happened here. Simon was used to a huge following of people in the city. And along comes Philip. Suddenly, one by one, family by family, those that once thought Simon was great are now leaving him to hear Simon’s teaching and worship the risen Christ.

Simon still wants to be at the center of things, so he decided to stick close to this guy Philip. And in order to do that, he says that he believes in Christ and is baptized according to Philip’s instruction.

When I was in high school, I had a friend I was brining to church. Eventually, he made a profession of faith, was baptized, and joined the church. But as time went on, it became apparent he was not really saved.

In fact, he had only made his profession so the girls in the youth group would date him. There was a worldly self-interest that motivated his decision and revealed that he only God as a means to an end.

We have to be careful not do the same thing as false believers, making God a means to an end. We have to make sure, we do not serve or attend church or do other religious things hoping to get something from God in return – the Christian life doesn’t work that way.

2. Shows no change in lifestyle

As soon as the Samaritan’s receive the Spirit, Simon’s true colors are exposed like a flag run up the main mast of a sailing ship.

Simon had been on Philip like glue since he associated himself with the Christians. And now the apostles come and he sees something even more impressive than the healings Philip had done.

[17] Then [Peter and John] laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. [18] Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, [19] saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

The apostles laid hands their hands on the Samaritans and God dramatically poured out his Spirit so that all may know that they were just as saved as the Jewish Christians. It’s likely the Samaritans spoke in tongues, or experienced some other visible manifestation of the Spirit’s outpouring.

In fact, so spectacular was the event, that Simon asks – pleads – that Peter and John sell him the trick. You see in his day, magicians would often buy tricks from each other. From his request, though, we see that there has been no change in Simon’s heart. He is still living the same pagan life as he did before he made his profession of faith and was baptized.

It’s become almost cliché because people say it all the time, but the saying still holds true – ‘no change, no Christ.’ If you call yourself a Christian and there’s no difference in your life and now and before you became a Christian, then there’s a good chance, you weren’t really saved.

3. Lacks real repentance

When Simon asks to buy the apostle’s power, the response isn’t a smile, a chuckle, or a shaking of the head. No, Peter is outraged. Why? Here is someone who has claimed to be a brother in Christ, deceiving Philip and the other Christians, and now belittles and profanes the power of God with his request.

[20] But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! [21] You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. [22] Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. [23] For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” [24] And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

Even when confronted by Peter, notice that Simon doesn’t repent. He regrets what he did because he fears the consequences. He is not truly sorrowful for the sin itself. As one pastor says, “What was missing was a heartfelt recognition of sinfulness and a turning to Jesus with a broken and humble trust for forgiveness. Amazement and excitement about signs and wonders is not saving faith.”

I fear that this is major problem today. Many regret the consequences of their actions, but they do not come to a place of true repentance. As Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 7, they have a world grief, but not a godly grief that leads to salvation (7:10). Many hear the gospel, but somehow fail to actually behold the glory of Christ and so never really trust him as savior.

It is not enough to be sorry for your sins and regret its effects on your life, you must see your sin as an offense to a holy God. You must see that the just penalty for your sins is death and hell for all eternity. And you must see Christ as the one who bore that penalty for you on the cross. You must see Christ as the one who enables you to not only escape death but bring you to God.

Conclusion