[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, a verse
by verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. [MUSIC PLAYING] In the last time
we were together, we saw a young man, who was
filled with the Holy Spirit, on fire, very articulate, very
knowledgeable in scripture, who had been a
deacon, a servant, in the Church of Jerusalem. His name was Stephen. And he stood before the
Jewish council in Jerusalem and was able, with
incredible precision, to outline the history
of the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation, and to prove
that he was not against God. He was not against the Law. And he was not against Moses. But that he was very
for God, for the law, and went right along with Moses. And cleverly, by the
power of the Spirit, drew out parallels
of Moses, Joseph, and how Jesus was so similar. Not only was he similar to those
two people that I mentioned, but the treatment of those
two people by the nation was very, very similar to the
treatment of Israel, of Jesus. And it didn't go well. It was an incredibly
spirit-filled sermon. But the audience that day
didn't like his preaching. And they killed him. We saw how the story ended. But we also saw that toward
the very end of chapter 7, the chapter closes
by introducing us to a character that will
take prominent position the rest of the book. And that is Saul. They laid their
clothes at the feet of a young man named
Saul, Saul of Tarsus, who becomes Paul the Apostle. Now chapter 8 opens
with that same person. It ends with Saul. It opens the next
chapter with Saul. Chapter 9 will give
us a little bit more. And we'll see his
conversion in chapter 9. And the rest of
the Book of Acts is going to highlight
how not only did God get a hold of Saul
of Tarsus and change him into the great apostle. But how the then went from
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost
parts of the earth, that's acts chapter 1, verse 8. That's the outline of the book. How the gospel, that began
at the heart of Judaism, managed to make its way to
the heart of the earth which was Rome because Rome was
controlling, effectively, the world at that time. Saul of Tarsus,
Paul the Apostle, called himself a Hebrew of
Hebrews in Philippians 3. We might have a chance to kind
of refresh our memory there. A Hebrew of Hebrews,
that is Hebrew speaking, born of Hebrew parents. He was a super Jew. I mean, he was a radical rabbi. He knew scripture. He knew the oral law. He was very zealous for the
traditions of his fathers, as we will see in this chapter
and in the next chapter. But where this is leading,
what Luke is doing is leading us to the
pinnacle of this man's life which is his conversion
on the Damascus road in Acts, chapter 9. It is, perhaps, the
high point of the book. At least it's one of the
high points of the book. To be fair, it's one of the
high points in church history. In fact, it's so
important that it is mentioned no less than
three times in this book alone, the book of Acts. So it becomes monumental. It becomes pivotal for the
rest of church history, the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus. And I'm telling you all
this because it answers a question that would
be a fair question to ask at the death of Stephen. So imagine you as
a young believer so excited at this young man
with such promising gifts named Steven. And you're listening to
him, and you're thinking this guy's going to go far. He's going to be
used mightily of God. He has years of ministry left. The Lord has invested so
much knowledge into him. But then, when he
breathes his last outside of the city of Jerusalem, to
look at his dead, lifeless body you would think Lord, why? First of all, why
would a God of love allow such suffering
for one of his children who is so faithful
to represent him? And then to allow his life
to be ended so prematurely at such a young age. What a waste. That's because you don't
know the rest of the story. Augustine said we owe Paul
to the prayer of Stephen. Once we see how
greatly Saul of Tarsus was affected by the
death of Stephen and the prayer of Stephen
as he looked toward heaven and saw Jesus at the
right hand of the Father, standing up, welcoming Stephen
into heaven and then praying, Lord don't lay this
sin to their charge. That must have
greatly affected Saul. So greatly that on
the Damascus road I believe that is what the
Lord meant when he said, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to
kick against the goads. Goads of conviction, his
heart was pricked, torn up. He had never seen
anyone die like this. He'd seen plenty of people die. He lived in the Roman Empire. But he had never seen
anyone die like that. He didn't know it
was possible to die with such a heart of love
and an innocent outlook. And I think that just
stuck inside of him. And he wrestled with it. And I think you see a man
under conviction wrestling with those goads in the next two
chapters until his conversion. Having said that,
you've heard me explain before that living with
somebody who is under conviction is very difficult.
If you have a spouse or you have a son or a daughter
or a parent who is not saved, and they see you
with your Bible, and they see you
with your smiles, and they see your joy and
your purpose and your meaning, you bug them. You are like sandpaper, man. You are like somebody
picking at the scab. They've got no peace of heart. And they are fighting,
and they're rustling, and they can lash out, and
they can say things and do things that are unbecoming. And it all begins with
the stoning of Stephen and continues on into chapter 8. So verse 1, "Now Saul was
consenting to his death." Kill him, kill him,
throw another rock. Take his life away. Consenting, amening to it. "At that time a
great persecution against the church
which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered
throughout all the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles. And devout men carried
Stephen to his burial and made great
lamentation over him." Please notice that
the godly believers, the first Christian
brothers and sisters, when Stephen was killed didn't
go, oh well, praise God. He's in heaven. Let's just rejoice. They wept. They made great lamentation. They were grieving deeply. And I bring that
to your attention because it bothers
me when I hear Christians sort of
minimalize somebody who has passed from
Earth into heaven. Of course, they've
gone into heaven. Of course, it's glorious. Of course, we all
want to go there. But have a little consideration
for the people who will miss their life's partner
or their son or daughter or parent. We're not weeping for the
person who is in heaven. We're not going, oh they're
in heaven, what a shame. No, It's great for them. We're not them. And we're not there. So that is what Paul meant in
Thessalonians when he said, we sorrow but not like
those who have no hope. Oh yeah, we have hope,
but we still sorrow. There is still grief. There is a good grief. And so it is fitting
for them to make "great lamentation over him." But here's something
I want you to note. Acts, chapter 1:8 and
Acts, chapter 8:1, they go hand in hand. If you take the scripture
seriously and decide to take the gospel to
the end of the world, you can experience persecution. So Acts, chapter 1,
verse 8 gives the outline of the book, the commission
of Jesus to go from Jerusalem the city, Judea the county,
Samaria the next region, and eventually to the
uttermost parts of the earth-- Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the
uttermost parts of the earth. That's Acts 1:8. If you do Acts 1:8,
expect Acts, 8:1. A great persecution broke
out against the church. You can't penetrate this
world with its ideologies and its aberrant value systems
and its satanic outlook without expecting to
have some kind of blow back, some kind of persecution. All who live godly in Christ
Jesus will suffer persecution. So Acts 1:8 will
guarantee Acts 8:1. A great persecution broke
out against the church. Now we are actually beginning to
see how Acts, chapter 1, verse 8 is going to be fulfilled. And it is going to be
fulfilled by persecution. Jesus did say Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria. But hey, it's all
happening in Jerusalem. It's a great place to hang out. It's exciting here. I mean the, church is growing. There's thousands and
thousands of people. There's healings taking place. A couple just dropped dead in
church, Ananias and Sapphira. I mean, there's always something
new and novel going on. What's going to happen next? Now things are multiplying even. But the Lord doesn't want
them all to stay in Jerusalem. He wants them in Judea,
Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. It seems that nobody is going. Oh yeah, I know he said that. Well, some day we'll do that. Well now they're doing it. How are they doing it? Why are they doing it? Because of the persecution. So it says, "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." That's what Jesus
told them to do. They hadn't done it yet. Now they're doing it. So the persecution
brings the dissemination of the believers
which will cause the expansion of the kingdom. Because in Judea, in
Samaria, and those who go to the uttermost
parts of the earth, they're going to be telling
the story, sharing the gospel. So it is the persecution that
the Lord is using as a catalyst to get them out. The apostles are
staying back, evidently to give leadership
to the church, until something
is going to happen in Samaria which will cause
a couple of them go out and follow up. But for now they're at
home, staying in Jerusalem. "Devout men carried
Stephen to his burial and made great
lamentation over him." Jesus said that the
gospel is like a seed that is sown in soil. And if it's sown in the
soil of good hearts, it brings forth fruit
30, 60, and 100 fold. But people are the seed bearers. And so think of seed being
thrown out on the field and then scattered by the wind. And as the winds of persecution
are blowing through Jerusalem, the seed bearers, the seed of
the gospel through their mouth, will go everywhere. Now here's the great
thing about the gospel. You just have to let it out. You know, there is a
place to defend it. And we sometimes we're so afraid
to just simply share our faith. Because we think, man,
they're going to ask me some question I can't answer. So I'll just zip it
and not say anything. But I've made some
astonishing discoveries. I've walked into
situations where I've just simply shared a few
words of the gospel and just sort of
let it take effect. And I've been amazed
what it can do on its own without my help or my defense. It's like, wow. Case in point, for
years people in the West were trying to determine
how many Christians were in mainland China. We figured there
were about 800,000 before the Cultural Revolution
of the 1940s, 800,000. The church at that point in that
revolution went underground. They were greatly persecuted. And those of us in the
West who observed it, church historian's
and theologians, got awfully worried that
the church is being killed. They're going underground. They're probably not
even believing anymore. So we thought it's
going to dwindle down. We wonder now how many
Christians are left. Once that curtain lifts,
once there's freedom again, how many Christian
believers will actually be in China after that
great wave of persecution and scattering and so forth? And we made an
astonishing discovery when that curtain
finally lifted, and we were able to look inside. The best estimates is that there
were, after the persecution, between 50 million to 100
million believers in China after that great
Cultural Revolution that forced them underground
and persecuted them. Fascinating, fascinating,
gospel worked. It spread. It penetrated. So in the midst of
great persecution, God has a great plan. We're seeing that. As for Saul, verse 3, he
made havoc of the church, entering every house and
dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Havoc is a word that was used
in antiquity in this language to speak of a wild
boar rampaging through a garden or an army
sweeping through a city and devastating it. Havoc, just disarray, not
caring about the outcome. I did mention a moment
ago Philippians 3. And we have been looking at
that on our weekend messages. But let me just refresh what
it says in Philippians 3. Paul giving his
background, his pedigree, "circumcised the eighth
day, of the stock of Israel, tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the Law, a Pharisee,
concerning zeal, persecuting the church." Now he says that to his shame. But at one time he thought
that was on his resume. I'm going to put
that on my resume. I'm so zealous I
will persecute people who aren't of my religion. I'll go after them. Concerning zeal,
I was so zealous I persecuted the church. Concerning the righteousness
which is of the law, blameless. So Saul of Tarsus is
an agent of the devil, at this point before
his conversion, to persecute the church. OK, think back to
what we have read so far in the book of Acts. Here's a phrase you'll remember,
"And they were all together and had all things in common." Remember that? Says that twice. They were all together. And they had all
things in common. Things were pretty good in
the church in Jerusalem. It was comfortable. It must have been very exciting. It's the place to be. Until Saul comes on the scene
making havoc of the church. Concerning zeal,
persecuting the church. So let's see what happens. "He committed them to
prison," verse four. "And those who were
scattered went everywhere." What are they doing? Preaching the word. That's the seed of the gospel. These are the seed bearers. The winds of persecution
are blowing them to these other regions that
were part of the plan of Jesus from the beginning. They were scattered. They went everywhere
preaching the word. "Then Philip went down
to the city of Sumeria and preached Christ to them. And multitudes with one
accord heeded the things spoken by Philip,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits
crying out with loud voice came out of many who were
paralyzed, who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed
and lame were healed." Stephen was one of the seven
deacons in the Jerusalem church. One of the seven servants
who served the tables when there was that complaint
with those group of gals. Stephen was one of them. Another one of them was Philip. Philip starts out as a servant. By the time we get
to Acts, chapter 21, he will already have a title. Here's his title,
Philip the Evangelist. Philip the Evangelist,
he will be known as that. Now he is just known as
one of those servants on the ministry
team in Jerusalem. So everybody gets scattered. He's one of them. He goes to Samaria and
preaches the Word to them. Now Jesus went to
Samaria, right? John, chapter 4, do you
remember how it opened? It said, but he needed
to go through Samaria. Which is a funny line if
you know the geography. It's like John is
telling a joke. Because nobody needed
to go through Samaria. Nobody needed to
go through Samaria. Samaria was off the charts. It was up in the hills,
difficult to get to. The Jews had alternate
routes when they wanted to go from north to south. Nobody went through Samaria. Not only because it was
isolated but because there was animosity. Way back in the
10th century BC, I'm going to give you a
little nutshell history. 10th century BC, there was
a split in the monarchy. You know, there was Saul
and David and Solomon and then Rehoboam. There was a split in that
monarchy so that 10 tribes went north with the
capital at Samaria. . And two tribes,
Judah and Benjamin, stayed down south with
the capital Jerusalem. The kingdom split
north and south; Israel, Judah;
Hatfields and McCoys. There was this long-standing
family feud, animosity. As time went on, an
empire in the northeast arose called Assyria. They took over the world. The Assyrians swept down into
that 10 northern tribal area, Samaria, and took the 10
northern tribes captive with them to Assyria. It was a practice
of the Assyrians to repopulate areas
that they took over by placing people
from other regions that they had taken
over into those areas. So now the 10 northern tribal
area, the 10 tribes of Israel, were now populated, though there
were a few poor farmers left. They kept them in
the land because they wouldn't cause trouble and
it would keep the land going. They essentially repopulated
it with non-Jewish people, Gentile people, from other
locations they had taken over. They're in the land. So what happens? Well, when you need to find
sons and daughters for-- You need to find partners,
marriage partners, for sons and daughters. They're going to marry
who is available. They intermarried with
those people groups from those different regions
and developed a group known as the Samaritans. By the way, just FYI, there
are 802 Samaritans alive today. We know that. Interesting story, I wish I
had a chance to kind of get into the modern
history, but I don't. So this group of
people up north, because of the
intermarriage, they're not pure Jewish bloodline now. They're producing children that
are part Jewish, part whatever. So the people down in Judah,
Judeans and Benjamites, saw the Samaritan
northern population as half-breeds, not pure. And so this animosity
developed and grew. Now eventually, Judah
will be taken captive, not by the Assyrians but
by the Babylonians, 586 BC. Boom, they go. Tree deportations,
that's the first one. By the time they come
back 70 years later, they start rebuilding their
temple down south in Jerusalem. As they rebuild it,
some of the Samaritans say, we want to help you. Nehemiah says,
thanks, no thanks. This is for the covenant people. So he refused cooperation with
the Samaritans, the people in Judea. That furthered the
animosity even more. So in 303 BC the Samaritans
built their own temple, very similar to the one in
Jerusalem, on Mount Gerizim up north. And they had sacrifices
on Mount Gerizim. And they even
said, this is where Abraham brought his
son Isaac and almost sacrificed him, not down
south, not down in Zion, not down in Jerusalem
but up here. So they retold the story similar
to what Muslims do when it comes to Abraham and Ishmael. So this rivalry developed. Yet, here's what I
want to really get to, Jesus had to go there. Come on, boys, we're
going to Samaria. Why? I got to go there. No, you don't. Uh-huh, I got to. There's a woman I got to meet. You can meet her, too. And so by a well,
he spoke to her. It got very personal
into her life. But by the end of it, not only
does she believe but many, it says, of the Samaritans
believed in His name. So they had heard the gospel
through Jesus being there. Now Philip gets the idea. Hey, I think I'm going
to go where Jesus went. He did that and there were
people who believed in him. I'm going to go back and
preach the gospel up there. So he does, very successfully. He preaches the gospel. Multitudes, verse six, "with
one accord--" this is amazing-- "heeded," listened
to, the things spoken by Philip,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. "For unclean spirits cried
out with a loud voice came out of many
who were possessed, many who were paralyzed
and lame were healed." This is pretty amazing
for the, let's call him, the church
janitor in Jerusalem to become this mighty,
miracle-working, articulate preacher, sent out on a mission
with incredible results. Now there is a principle. And the principle is
that of faithfulness. Jesus talked about being
faithful in little. If you're faithful in little,
you'll be entrusted with much. And you'll be
faithful with much. Because you're
tested on the little. Some people fail right here. Oh no, no, no, no I can't
do the little stuff. God has called me
to bigger things. And God never will call
you to bigger things unless you're faithful
with the small thing. That's his principal. You start small. You work your way
through it And you let the Lord humble yourself
before the mighty hand of God and in due time he
will raise you up. So that's the story of Philip. He humbled himself. The Lord used him. Many years ago, and since
the passage of time has gone, nobody will remember. But many, many,
many years ago, not in this building,
not in the other, but in previous buildings,
I had a worship leader here for a very short time. And it was a short time because
I was straightening chairs in the sanctuary one
day and making sure they were fitted together right. And I asked him to
come and help me. And, you know, he kind of
hesitated like, (SIGH), I don't know if I know how to
do that like it takes skill. But I said, no,
I'll show you how. This is how we do it. And so he started working
with me for a couple rows. But then he walked away. And at the end of
the day he goes, you know what, I didn't
come here for this. God didn't call me to this. God called me to
do great things. I said, I think you could
actually put a period, just God didn't
call me here period. I don't think God
called you here. Because part of the
ministry is doing what I'm doing right here, just
straightening those chairs. And, you know, in the
book of Zechariah-- So the long story short
is that was his last day. I wanted him to go
where God felt-- I didn't want to hinder him
to do the small things that he wasn't called to do. God forbid that I
would stand in his way. So in the book of
Zechariah, the people have been back building that
temple I told you about, down south in Jerusalem. They were discouraged. And it was off to a poor start. Zerubbabel the governor
laid the foundation, but it kind of looked
meager and meek. And even when it was done,
some of the people that remembered the previous
temple, they wailed and cried. It didn't look as
good as the old one. And other people were rejoicing. So just a cacophony of
confusion emotionally. So the Lord gave a
vision to Zechariah the prophet in chapter 4. And he sees a menorah, a seven
branched golden candlestick, in this vision. And above it he sees this
vessel, this pot of oil, and seven pipes going to
this lampstand, the menorah, sort of like an
automated menorah. It was automatic. The oil was coming from this
big vessel into the pipes, filling up the menorah that
the priest would usually have to do once a day. But it was just
filling it, keeping it going, keeping it supplied
so that it could stay lit. This is all a vision he had. Next to that vessel with the
oil there were two olive trees. So you have a direct feed
of olive from the tree even though you have to go
through a process of breaking down the olive, typically. In this vision, you know
how visions and dreams are, they don't always make sense. So there's two olive
trees supplying the vessel with the pipes supplying the
menorah so it stays refreshed. And so the Lord said, do you
know what you're looking at, Zechariah? And, you know, he's like a
typical [INAUDIBLE],, uh, no. He's saying, you
are seeing, this is the word of the
Lord to Zerubbabel that it's not by might,
it's not by power, it's by my spirit,
says the Lord. Zerubbabel laid the
foundation of this temple. And he's going to
finish the temple. His own hands that
laid the foundations are going to finish it. And then the Lord
says, don't despise the day of small things. It looks meager to you now. It looks so small. It looks so little. Well, just hang in there. One stone on another,
it'll finish. It'll go. It'll be successful. And I love that story. And I think of guys
like Philip who said, yeah, I'll serve tables. I'm not too good for that. I want to serve. I want to get my hands dirty. That was the great thing God
called him to do that day. But on this day he
went to Samaria. And the Lord, the same
spirit that gave him the gift to serve the body of Christ
in those little capacities, now adds to it. And look at verse 8, "And there
was great joy in that city." That is always the result
of the gospel, great joy. We've been talking about
joy on weekends, Sundays and Saturdays, the
epistle of joy. God is not a killjoy. God is the king of joy. He's the giver of joy. When you come to know
him, if you walk with him, your life should have joy. Doesn't mean you'll always
be happy at the way things are turning out. But no matter what's going on,
even with physical ailments, even with the loss
of employment, even with difficulties
relationally, you can have, it is
possible to have, the joy of the Lord
as your strength. There was great
joy in that city. But-- Now you know
the story's going to go a little south when
you read that word after what you just read. People came to Christ,
joy in the city, but there was a certain man. There always is a certain man. Every generation there's
some guy, there's some gal, or somebody is going
to do something to kind of mess it up. Am I right? So God's moving, but
there's this guy. Every church has them. Every movement has them. Every period of church
history has a certain man. Now you see this
word "but" because it introduces a contrast. You go from a powerful preacher
to this false practitioner named Simon Magus. That's how he is
typically known, Simon Magus, Simon the
magician or the sorcerer of the city of Samaria. "But there was a
certain man called Simon who previously practiced
sorcery," magic, "in the city and astonished the
people of Samaria, claiming that he was
someone great 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." This guy is an occultist. He's practicing sorcery,
an ancient form of magic, a very primitive science
along with astrology, what they would have
called astronomy. But it was astrological
nonsense, reading clouds, reading entrails of animals. But obviously, something worked. Because there was
a release of power even though it was from the
dark side, from the evil side. There was power. Things happened. Miracles happened. And that shouldn't surprise you. 2 Corinthians says,
concerning Satan, he can transform himself
into an angel of light. It should be no wonder
to us that his ministers can transform themselves into
ministers of righteousness. They all look good. They all sound good. They're doing amazing things. Listen closer. In fact, listen to what is
said to the preachers on TV. Listen to the doctrine. Listen very closely
and carefully. They said, this man is
the great power of God. Now let me tell you a little
bit about Simon Magus, this guy. Because you may have never
heard of him except here. Church history actually
writes about him. A guy by the name,
second century guy, by the name of
Justin Martyr, who happened to be from
Samaria actually, said that Simon
Magus was considered to be a God not only by
people in this region but even some in Rome worshipped
him as one of their deities and that there was
a statue in honor to Simon Magus in
the city of Rome. That his influence
had gone that far. Irenaeus, in the
second century, said it was Simon Magus who developed
a doctrine called gnosticism, that he was the founder,
you church history buffs, of gnosticism. That was later on developed
by Cerinthus and others but that it began, its
nascency, began with him. So just a little
back fill on that. Verse 12, "But when
they believed Philip as he preached the things
concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus
Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself
also believed." Before you get your hopes up,
oh awesome, because that's what we do when we
hear somebody famous, some rock star, some actor who
just drops God in a sentence. We go, oh he's saved even if
they say they believe in God. So it says he
believed, but watch. "And when he was baptized,
he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the
miracles and the signs which were done." Now we're going to be
questioning his salvation by the end of this chapter
because of the things that the apostles
will say to him. But he's amazed seeing the
miracles and the signs that were done. I'll just put it out there. I think it was a
fake conversion. I think he's losing business. He's losing adherents. His church isn't growing. His group is dwindling. People aren't looking
to him anymore. They're looking to Philip with
this new message of the gospel. So he comes along, and he
looks, and he's amazed also at the miracles, genuine
miracles, not sorcery, genuine healing miracles. He's getting a little
jealous because his business has been dropping off. The basis of Simon
Magus' faith seems to be, not in the God
who does miracles, but in the miracles of God. It's the miracles. It's the signs. It's not God. This is not different
from Acts, chapter 2, where it says when Jesus goes
to Jerusalem, Acts, chapter 2, the end of the chapter. And many believed in
His name when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not
commit Himself to them because he knew all men. And he had no need that
anyone testify of man for he knew what was in man. He could tell true faith
from shallow faith. I think Simon Magus
has this shallow faith. "Now when the apostles
who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, 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." We covered some of this
in our little prequel to the book of Acts, our three
part series on the Holy Spirit. They had only been baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands
on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. So it's time for follow-up. The crusade have
been very effective. A lot of people
have come to make decisions to follow Christ. But, you know, a
deacon did this. So let's send out the big guns,
the apostolic big guns, Peter and John, to kind of validate
this, give it the sanction. So they left Jerusalem. They go up to check it out. And when they come to
Samaria, these two apostles start praying for
them, in favor of them, that they might be filled
with the Holy Spirit. Now here's why I'm smiling. Because you know
this, you're just not remembering it right now. But there's a little
background you need to know about,
especially with these guys. So let me read it to you. This is out of the
Gospel of Luke. "It came to pass when the
time had come for him," Jesus, "to be received
up that he steadfastly set his face to go to
Jerusalem and send messengers before his face. And they entered a
village of the Samaritans to prepare for him. But they did not receive
him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem." Remember the animosity
that's been going on. And when the disciples
James and John-- so John was there, same John
who was with Peter in Acts-- saw this they
said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire
to come down from heaven and consume them?" Just as Elijah did. So they've gone nuclear. They're ready to
push the red button. He turned and
said, rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what
manner of spirit you are of. For the son of man did not
come to destroy men's lives but to save them. And so they went to
another village." Isn't that amazing? The apostles who were praying
fire come down from heaven are now praying
that they would be filled with the fire
of the Holy Spirit. They once wanted them scorched,
now they want them saved. Very different and humorous
because at one time they thought, I think
it would be good just to wipe them off the face of
the earth, don't you, Jesus? Isn't that in your
heart of love to do? Oh no, OK, we'll just
go on then, I guess. So I wanted to bring
that to your attention because here's the deal. Aren't you glad
for second chances? You blew it the first time. You come back the second time,
you say, oh, thank you, Lord. I'm glad you didn't
honor my prayer when I said kill them all. I love it, second chances. So they prayed. They landed their hands on
them and they, verse 17, received the Holy Spirit. "And when Simon saw that
through the laying on of 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,
now listen to Peter here. I think this sort of
gives us our verdict. "Your money perish with you." I'll tell you in a moment
how strong that actually is. "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 is not
right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of
this your wickedness. And pray God that perhaps
the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are
poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." Then Simon answered
and said, "Pray to the Lord for me that none
of these things which you have spoken of may come upon me." Again, it's all about the
consequences and the power, not about the changed heart. Now what we just read is where
the idea of a word comes from. There is a word in our
language called simony. And simony, you could look
it up in your dictionary. Please don't do that right
now on your little phone. But simony is a word that means
to buy or to get, to obtain, an ecclesiastical
office by paying money, to get some church position. You know, I want
to get ordained. I want to pay money
so that I can become an officer in the church. That phenomenon
known as simony comes from Simon Magus
of Samaria saying, hey, I got some money here. I want to buy the power
of the Holy Spirit. Now simony became a
problem in church history. If you know your
church history, you know that sometimes
the office of pope was auctioned off to
the highest bidder. Sometimes there
was not one pope, but there were three
popes duking it out, fighting for power. And the guy who won had
the biggest pot of money. So simony has marked the history
of some portions of the church. In fact, Benedict the Ninth who
was a scoundrel pope, a very profligate individual,
sold his position as pope to another guy,
Benedict the Sixth. It was John somebody
else, but he took the name Benedict the Sixth. And so he took the money,
the guy, and just retired with the money. It was just all
done, it was simony. So notice what Peter says. Peter says, "And your
money perish with you." Now, one of the
translations of the Bible, called the JB
Phillips translation, it's a very colorful language,
it's a very modern language, translates this verse,
I'm quoting now the verse so don't get mad at me, "To
hell with you and your money." What Phillips is
trying to do is show the strength of the original
language in English. You get the point
with that translation. So here he says, your
money perish with you. It's a very, very strong rebuke. And he got the message. And all the people
at Samaria went, whoa, don't mess with that dude. Have you heard the name
Jerome in church history? Jerome founded a
monastery in Bethlehem. Jerome said when
you preach, always aim at pricking the heart
not stroking the skin. Well, Peter didn't
know Jerome, but I bet they would have been buddies. I think Peter would
go, yeah, what he said, because that's how I preach. Then in church history, there
was a guy named Billy Sunday. I talked about him a couple of
weeks ago on a weekend service. Billy Sunday was a baseball
player turned evangelist. He was filled with
joy and filled with life, and at the same
time, very, very pointed in his preaching. So on one occasion
he said, they tell me that I rub the
fur the wrong way. I don't. Let the cat turn around. He was calling for repentance. He goes, I'm not going
against the flow. You just need to turn around
and it'll be all right. "Repent," he says,
"therefore, your wickedness. And pray God that perhaps
the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I've seen," verse 23, "you
are poisoned by bitterness and bound with iniquity." How did he know that? How could he say that? Well there is a gift
of the Holy Spirit called the gift of discernment. It's the same
discernment this man Peter had in chapter five
within Ananias and Sapphira. Why has Satan filled your heart
to lie to the Holy Spirit? You haven't lied to men. You've lied to God. Bam, you're dead. Wife come in. Why did you lie to
the Holy Spirit? Bam, you're dead. Take them out boys. Bury them. How did he know that? How did he know it here? Gift of discernment,
he had insight. And let me just say,
the gift of discernment is not a fun gift to have. It's a very unfun gift to have. Because if you're
one of 10 people, and you're the guy or
gal with discernment, and you see what with
nobody else sees. Oh, it's a wonderful ministry. It's a great church. It's a great book. It's awesome. One goes, eh, no it's not. See the gift of discernment
is like the liver in the body. The liver detects the poisons
and filters it all out and keeps the body clean. But yuck, it's not
a fun organ to be. I'm a liver. And so those with the
gift of discernment are like the liver in
the body of Christ. At this point, the
liver is Simon Peter. Verse 25, let's try
to finish this up. "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. Now, an angel of the Lord
spoke to Philip saying, arise and go toward the south
along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. "And he arose and went. And behold, a man of
Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace
the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of
all her treasury and had come to
Jerusalem to worship." Ethiopia, the
ancient kingdom south of the Nile, south of Egypt,
was considered by the Greeks and Romans the outer limits
of the world, the outer limits of civilization. But it was a great empire. Now when it says
Candace, the queen, Candace is not a name like her
name would be candy for short. It wasn't a name. It was a title. There were many
Candace's in the history of the Ethiopian nation. So the name Candace isn't
a name, it's a title, like pharaoh or Caesar. She was the queen, Candace. She was a Candace, a queen. So a eunuch, that word
actually means a bed keeper. And you can guess
what this guy did. In antiquity, kings had lots
of gals, a harem of women. And the eunuch was
the one who was in charge of the apartment, the
housing complex, for the gals, for the harem. And here's a guy, but
it says under Candace. Why is that? Because Ethiopian
kings were considered to be incarnations of the
sun-god and government was beneath their
dignity to actually do administrative work. That's for the chicks. That's what they thought. The women can do that. So the government was
actually administered by a Queen Mother,
one of the kings, his mother was a
Candace, a queen. And she administered it. But there was a King of
Ethiopia but they just thought it was below
the dignity of a sun-god to actually do any work. So his mom did it all for him. He was a mama's boy. The Ethiopian eunuch was the
Secretary of the Treasury under this queen, Candace. But what's
interesting is he must have been a Jewish proselyte. Because he has come all the
way from Ethiopia to the feast to worship in Jerusalem. Now he's going back. It's a long journey. He was probably a Gentile
who came to believe in the God of Israel. So he's a proselyte, a convert,
from Judaism, or into Judaism. And so he has come back. He has come to worship. And he's leaving like so many
do who are into their religion. He is coming back empty. Religion always
leaves you empty. You're going to see he's
empty, and his heart's going to be filled because
he's going to hear the gospel. But religion always
leaves you empty. It might be beautiful. It might have ornate practices
and traditions and songs that make you feel good. But at the heart, religion
doesn't satisfy anybody. And he's returning having
converted to Judaism, having relinquished the
foreign gods of Ethiopia. He would have to do that
to be a Jewish proselyte. But he's coming back. Something's not settled. And enter now, Philip. So he's returning, verse 28. "Sitting in his chariot," and he
was reading Isaiah the prophet, "and the spirit
said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and
heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said,
"Do you understand what you're reading?" That's a good opening line. He's reading the scripture. You see somebody in Starbucks,
hey, do you understand that? Now they might go, yeah,
but like better than you do. OK, but maybe not. Maybe he's going to
say to you or she's going to say what he says. He says, how can I unless
somebody guides me? And he asks Philip to
come up and sit with him And the place in the scripture
which he read was this, "He was led as a sheep
to the slaughter, as a lamb before a
shears is silent. So he opened not his
mouth in his humiliation. His justice was taken away. And who will declare
his generation for his life is taken
from the earth?" He just happens to be
reading isaiah, chapter 53, the great messianic text. So the eunuch answered
Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the
prophet say this? Of himself or of
some other man?" "Then Philip opened
his mouth and beginning at this scripture
preached Jesus to him. Now as he went down the road,
they came to some water. And the eunuch said,
see here is water. What hinders me
from being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and he said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Philip sees the chariot. He starts walking toward it. His heart is pounding. But he's got to
know this is a setup because the Holy Spirit said,
go, go, go, you got this, go. Talk about a setup. Here's a Gentile
convert to Judaism with a copy of the
scriptures, unheard of. First of all, a copy of the
scriptures is in a synagogue. Nobody privately owns
them unless they've got a lot of bank. Moreover, Gentiles
were never allowed to have a copy of
Hebrew scriptures, proselyte or otherwise. But he had one
because, you know what? Money speaks louder
than tradition. So he has one. He's reading his own copy. And his heart is open. He's teachable. So perfect, right time, right
place, right person, right attitude just all came together. He said, I believe Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. Beginning with that scripture,
he preached Jesus to him." They see water. He wants to get baptized. "Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered, and
he said, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the
chariot to stand still and both Philip and the eunuch
went down into the water. And he baptized him." Signifies immersion,
they went into the water. Not just like, here
let sprinkle this on. He went into full immersion. I know it was full
immersion, by the way. I'll explain in just a second. "When they came out of the
water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away." I'll explain that next time. "So that the eunuch
saw him no more. And he went on
his way rejoicing. But Philip was found." Wouldn't you love this as
a transportation method? "Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he
preached in all the cities until he came to Caesarea." To be a convert to
Judaism, number one you need an instruction. Number two, if you are a
male you needed circumcision. Number three, male or female,
you needed full immersion into water as a
symbol of cleansing. And Jews afterwards
had several cleansing before they went to worship. That's why there were these
pools of water in Jerusalem. And in gatherings where
Jewish people met, it's called a mikveh. Mikveh means a
collection of water. They would go into the mikveh
and come out of the mikveh. And they would be cleansed. If they had touched
a dead body, they would have to go through
a ceremonial washing. If there was a bloody
flux, through a washing. If they defiled themselves,
through a washing, et cetera. So baptism was
actually Old Testament before it became New Testament. But it speaks of, for
us, buried with Christ, united with him in resurrection. And so Paul says,
Romans, chapter 6, even so we should walk
in newness of life. Just Trying to end
this up quickly because I'm a minute over time. So it speaks of your
new status in Christ. When we baptize
people, we tell them we're going to bury
you in the water. But then we're going
to bring you back up. We're not going to
leave you there. All right, we take them down. And we bring them up. And that going
down and coming up is like death,
burial resurrection. Now walk in newness of life. It symbolizes the reality
of what Jesus has done. You are identifying
with his death, burial, and resurrection. Now we walk in newness of life. That's the symbolism of it. If you haven't been
baptized, get baptized. Don't wait 20 years. I always ask people, so
when did you get saved? Oh, 40 years ago. And you're waiting, why? I don't know, just
never got around to it. In the New Testament,
it was pretty immediate. You get saved, you get baptized. In other countries you get
saved, you get baptized. And they often will
give them a new name. They will often do
it in the town square so that their are other
neighbors will know that guy's a Christian now. He is making a
public declaration. So let me encourage you, if
you're a saved man or woman, and you haven't been baptized
as a knowing convert to Christ, in the words of
Nike, just do it. Father, thank you for
what you've done for us. Lord, thank you that
in the Book of Acts we are seeing the continuation
of the work of Jesus. It's what Jesus continues
to do and to teach even as the Gospel of Luke
is what Jesus began to do and to teach. Thank you, Lord, that we
could have a night together in the Word. Bless us, Lord,
as we go our ways. And for the
Afterglow, Lord, just make your presence, the power
of your Spirit, reside and work in Jesus' name, amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] For more resources from Calvary
Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig, visit calvaryabq.org.
