Acts 8B. He s performing sign and wonders and many are believing. He s also confounding a man named Simon

Transcription

1 Acts 8B We re in the middle f Philip s experience in Samaria where he has brught the Gspel He s perfrming sign and wnders and many are believing He s als cnfunding a man named Simn Befre Philip, Simn the magician has lng impressed the crwds with signs and wnders But he did these things with the pwer f the demnic realm And he s transfixed by the greater pwer f Philip And he has prfessinal jealusy ver Philip s stunning success S Simn jins in Scripture says even Simn believed and was baptized And then Simn began fllwing Philip studying his technique Meanwhile, we saw the Apstles Peter and Jhn cme dwn (nrth) t see if what they heard was true Acts 8:14 Nw when the apstles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the wrd f Gd, they sent them Peter and Jhn, Acts 8:15 wh came dwn and prayed fr them that they might receive the Hly Spirit. Acts 8:16 Fr He had nt yet fallen upn any f them; they had simply been baptized in the name f the Lrd Jesus. Acts 8:17 Then they began laying their hands n them, and they were receiving the Hly Spirit. The apstles traveled t validate the reprts f Samaritans cming t faith As we discussed last week, Peter had the keys t the Kingdm 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Acts 8B! 2 Matt. 16:17 And Jesus said t him, Blessed are yu, Simn Barjna, because flesh and bld did nt reveal this t yu, but My Father wh is in heaven. Matt. 16:18 I als say t yu that yu are Peter, and upn this rck I will build My church; and the gates f Hades will nt verpwer it. Matt. 16:19 I will give yu the keys f the kingdm f heaven; and whatever yu bind n earth shall have been bund in heaven, and whatever yu lse n earth shall have been lsed in heaven. With each new grup that received the Gspel, Peter was always the ne Gd used t usher them int the family f Gd This was the hnr Peter received since he was the first Apstle t recgnize Christ He in turn wuld be the ne t pen the Gspel t Jews, Samaritans and later Gentiles Once Peter turned the key fr a given grup, they remained an pen dr fr the Gspel The pening f ne f these drs by Peter was always marked by the arrival f the baptism f the Hly Spirit in a visible, bvius way Once that manifestatin f the Spirit had ccurred, it quickly subsided In it s place came the nrmal experience f new faith accmpanied by an invisible dwelling f the Spirit It s als wrth nting that the three parts f a salvatin experience are shwn t happen in a different rder in each f the first tw grups In the case f the Jewish disciples wh began the church, first they experience faith, then they experience the indwelling f the Hly Spirit (Spirit baptism) at Pentecst, and lastly they perfrmed water baptism after Peter s speech In chapter 8 as the Samaritans enter the church fr the first time, the rder is first belief fllwed by water baptism and then lastly by Spirit baptism with the laying n f hands And the Jewish church never experiencing the laying n f hands by apstles This step is nly emplyed fr the Samaritan and Gentile cnverts 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Acts 8B! 3 Finally, we need t nte that there is n speaking in tngues reprted amng this grup in Samaria This makes sense, since the stated purpse f the gift f tngues is as a sign t unbelieving Jews, accrding t Paul in 1Cr 14:22 Since there are n unbelieving Jews present in Samaria, there was n need fr this sign t be manifested This is further cnfirmatin that the mment f salvatin will nt include this special manifestatin f the Spirit expect under Biblically-crrect circumstances Acts 8:18 Nw when Simn saw that the Spirit was bestwed thrugh the laying n f the apstles hands, he ffered them mney, Acts 8:19 saying, Give this authrity t me as well, s that everyne n whm I lay my hands may receive the Hly Spirit. Acts 8:20 But Peter said t him, May yur silver perish with yu, because yu thught yu culd btain the gift f Gd with mney! Acts 8:21 Yu have n part r prtin in this matter, fr yur heart is nt right befre Gd. Acts 8:22 Therefre repent f this wickedness f yurs, and pray the Lrd that, if pssible, the intentin f yur heart may be frgiven yu. Acts 8:23 Fr I see that yu are in the gall f bitterness and in the bndage f iniquity. Acts 8:24 But Simn answered and said, Pray t the Lrd fr me yurselves, s that nthing f what yu have said may cme upn me. Acts 8:25 S, when they had slemnly testified and spken the wrd f the Lrd, they started back t Jerusalem, and were preaching the gspel t many villages f the Samaritans. Back t Simn, he finally believes he s fund the surce f Phillip s pwer t perfrm the miracles the Spirit, and mre specifically the Apstles ability t bestw the Spirit Clearly the Apstles are in charge here Philip wuld have shwn them respect and hnr when they arrived S Simn draws the bvius cnclusin: these men are the surce f the Philip s pwer And naturally, he hpes that these men may be willing t empwer ther men...men like Simn Especially if he ffers them an inceneve 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Acts 8B! 4 And Simn ges a step further He desn t just want Philip s pwer He wants the Apstles t grant him their pwer He wants t g t the tp f the ladder if pssible It s fair t cnclude frm this scene that Simn has nt received the laying n f hands himself And therefre, he never experienced the arrival f the Spirit It s never described in the text And what is described is very disturbing - his willingness t btain smething spiritual with mney S as we cnsider Simn s ffer, we have t ask urselves the bvius quesen Is Simn merely an immature believer sell caught up in his ld ways r is he an unbeliever psing as a ChrisEan and nw he shws his true nature? Many cmmentatrs have lined up n either side Rather than trying t guess, I believe we shuld leave it t eyewitnesses wh were present in that mment Let s lk at Peter s respnse We shuld ask Peter what he thinks abut Simn s heart In v.20 Peter says may yur silver perish with yu Literally in the Greek Peter said yu and yur silver g t Hell Strng wrds, but Peter is being literal He is declaring that this man is n the rad t Hell, nt heaven In v.21 he says Simn s heart is nt right befre the Lrd Because f that, Simn has n part r pren in this mauer The Greek wrd fr mauer is lgs Lgs is in The Wrd 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Acts 8B! 5 Part means present, while pren means future Simn has n part in the Wrd in Christ In v.22 he says that Simn shuld repent f his wickedness Pray fr frgiveness, that if pssible the Lrd wuld frgive Simn A believer wuld never need t hear such a statement While a believer culd certainly sin, and shuld pray fr frgiveness, there is never any dubt that a believer wuld be frgiven Only an unbeliever shuld hear such a statement Clearly, the apstles didn t believer that Simn was a believer In v.23 Peter says I see that yu are sell in the bndage f iniquity This wrd in Greek fr iniquity literally means unrighteusness This man is sell in bndage t sin, he is an unbeliever Rm. 7:14 Fr we knw that the Law is spiritual, but I am f flesh, sld int bndage t sin. Then perhaps mst telling f all Simn says t Peter please pray fr me This is the unbelievers brush ff We hear this whenever we encurage them t read the Bible, cme t church, repent and believe in the Gspel They tell us t pray fr them r they cmpliment us n ur faith These are plite ways t deflect the cnversaen away frm them and back tward us Simn clearly isn t interested in the truth And Peter s wn statements cncerning his heart are a clear indictment 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Acts 8B! 6 They tell us that Peter himself believed Simn was withut faith SImn merely saw Phillip as a cmpeetr, and he was willing t play alng t get what he wanted frm Jesus Simn has auached himself t a mvement fr selfish, cynical, hypcriecal reasns Simn is a type r example in Scripture f the false cnfessr Smene wh auaches themselves t the faith superficially but has purely carnal meves And even ChrisEans can reduce ChrisEanity t a means t an end rather than an end in itself The ChrisEan faith brings benefits...immeasurable benefits But they are largely spiritual and almst always delayed When we expect them t be immediate and earthly, then we are desened t be disappinted And if we preach a carnal gspel, which is n gspel at all, we will nly auract mre Simns What kind f respnse might we have expected frm Simn had he truly believed? Well, a later experience in the bk f Acts gives us a clue: Anther grup f magicians will hear the Gspel in Acts 19 and prfess faith in Christ, but then lk at what they d next: Acts 19:18 Many als f thse wh had believed kept cming, cnfessing and disclsing their practices. Acts 19:19 And many f thse wh practiced magic brught their bks tgether and began burning them in the sight f everyne; and they cunted up the price f them and fund it fifty thusand pieces f silver. Acts 19:20 S the wrd f the Lrd was grwing mightily and prevailing. While I am nt suggeseng that every new believer will immediately take dramaec steps t refrm their life (fr we knw many d nt), sell we shuld demand prgress in discipleship 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Acts 8B! 7 If the prgress is lacking, we either treat the persn as an unbeliever (i.e., cnenue t present the Gspel) Or we admnish them as a believer t serve the Lrd mre faithfully We shuld nt ignre it Having established the church in Samaria (nrth f Jerusalem), the Lrd nw uses Philip t spread the Gspel t the suthern parts f PalesEne But we ll nece the message is sell being directed utside the Jews and t thse wh are clsely assciated with Israel Acts 8:26 But an angel f the Lrd spke t Philip saying, Get up and g suth t the rad that descends frm Jerusalem t Gaza. (This is a desert rad.) Acts 8:27 S he gt up and went; and there was an Ethipian eunuch, a curt fficial f Candace, queen f the Ethipians, wh was in charge f all her treasure; and he had cme t Jerusalem t wrship, Acts 8:28 and he was returning and sitting in his charit, and was reading the prphet Isaiah. Philip leaves Samaria, which was abut 50 miles Nrth- Nrthwest f Jerusalem The Lrd directs Philip (the angel f the Lrd) t a desert rad in the middle f nwhere abut 50 miles t the Suth Here again we see the Lrd direceng the affairs f the Church Philip when t Samaria because f persecuen, nt because he had a great idea t reach Samaritans Likewise, he ges suth t the Desert nt because it made sense t prclaim the gspel in the Desert, but because the Lrd wanted His wrd preached there This rad in Gaza cnnects Jerusalem with the Via Mars, which ran nrth- suth alng the Med The Gaza rad runs suthwest frm Jerusalem thrugh the Negev desert and cnnects t the Via Mars in the twn f Gaza n the cast Fr lng stretches f the rad, yu find yurself in the middle f nwhere What d we assume Philip was thinking as he made this trip? 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Acts 8B! 8 He was literally in nwhere with n idea (presumably) f what wuld cme next Hw culd he spread the Gspel t empty desert? But the Lrd knew there wuld be an pprtunity t reach new places thrugh an encunter n this rad At a pint alng the rad a charit cmes up (prbably frm behind) and passes Philip In the charit is an intereseng character He was Ethipians nt a Jew Yet he had been wrshipping in Jerusalem we re tld Prselytes Gd- fearers And he wned a Jewish scrll f Isaiah, which wuld have been rare and expensive He was clearly devted t his faith in a sincere and serius way He was therefre wealthy And as a Eunuch in the curt, we knw he was pwerful and imprtant, riding in a charit driven by a chauffeur S here we have a man wh, in sme ways, represents the ther side f the cin in cnnecen with the Samaritans Like Samaritans, he was nt a Jew, but he wrshipped as a Jew Therefre, like the Samaritans he represented a unique grup that knew f a Messiah and anecipated His arrival Unlike true GenEles, wh never heard f a Jewish Messiah much less were anecipaeng His arrival, he was in a unique psien t receive the Gspel S the Lrd uses Philip t reach him in the same way as the Samaritans 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Acts 8B! 9 And the secnd half f the stry in Acts 8 fills in the picture fr the pening f the Gspel t the nearly Jewish camp The man is reading Isaiah alud we re tld, which was the nrmal tradien fr men in the East, especially in reading Gd s wrd Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said t Philip, G up and jin this charit. Acts 8:30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prphet, and said, D yu understand what yu are reading? Acts 8:31 And he said, Well, hw culd I, unless smene guides me? And he invited Philip t cme up and sit with him. Acts 8:32 Nw the passage f Scripture which he was reading was this: HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. Acts 8:33 IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH. Acts 8:34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me, f whm des the prphet say this? Of himself r f smene else? Acts 8:35 Then Philip pened his muth, and beginning frm this Scripture he preached Jesus t him. NEce Luke s emphasis n the acens f the Spirit and the imprtance f Gd s wrd in this encunter As Luke tells this stry, he is intenenally cntraseng several elements between the first stry with Simn and the Samaritans with this man s cnversin This is a classic mment f evangelism Lk at the elements A man seeking the true Gd Reading the Wrd f Gd Then the Spirit f Gd directs Philip t this man t explain the scripture And by that explanaen f the scripture, Jesus Christ is revealed t the man s heart Philip first asks if the man understands what he is reading The quesen in Greek implies did the man understand the persn described in Isaiah s accunt? 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Acts 8B! 10 Philip knws t ask because the man is reading ut lud The eunuch invites Philip up t explain, and s nw they ride n tgether fr a distance Philip desn t knw where he s ging and has n plan fr the evening He has apparently put all earthly issues r cncerns away fr the mment and is simply riding alng with the Spirit...literally The man was reading Isaiah 53 And in the verses quted, there is an intereseng line In v.33, the Scripture asks wh will relate His generaen? This means wh will explain Jesus t Jesus wn generaen, r family? The sense f this line in Isaiah 53 is a lament that Jesus wn peple will nt believe in the gspel Irnically, here is a nnjew reading abut and seeking t knw this Christ While a Jew explains it t him Fulfilling Isaiah s very wrds, that Jesus wn generaen will nt fllw while thers will The man then asks wh is this speaking abut, Isaiah himself r smene else? Then Philip seized the pprtunity He explained that this was Jesus f Nazareth But Luke says Philip used many ther OT Scripture as well t preach wh Jesus was accrding t Scripture While the text never cvers the eunuch s reacen t this news, we understand by what fllws that he believed it This cnversin is in stark cntrast t the way Samaria experienced evangelism 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

11 Acts 8B! 11 Here, belief in the gspel wasn t prduced by signs and wnders In Samaria the signs were included t validate the pening f the Gspel t Samaritans And t shw the Apstles f it s reality But even thugh the HS may use such things t further His purpses, this is nt the appinted methd fr new faith Faith cmes by hearing and hearing by the Wrd f Christ (Rm 10:17) Here we see a man hearing the gspel n the basis f the Wrd f Gd And unlike Simn the man is impressed by the message, nt the messenger And he respnds with true faith, nt a manufactured respnse design t get smething he wants Remember, this man is rich and pwerful and Philip is lwly, pr and thrughly unimpressive The tables have been turned here Nthing culd argue fr the eunuch s cnversin except the pwer f Gd Acts 8:36 As they went alng the rad they came t sme water; and the eunuch *said, Lk! Water! What prevents me frm being baptized? Acts 8:37 [And Philip said, If yu believe with all yur heart, yu may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Sn f Gd. ] Acts 8:38 And he rdered the charit t stp; and they bth went dwn int the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. Evidently smewhere in Philip s discussins with this man, he had intrduced the tpic f bapesm Philip must have explained hw Jesus Himself had cmmanded that any wh believe in Him shuld demnstrate their faith thrugh bapesm Of hw the inward change f faith in Christ prduced by the bapesm f the Hly Spirit must be fllwed by an utward witness thrugh a bapesm f water We can assume Phillip gave the eunuch this backgrund because lk what the eunuch asks next 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

12 Acts 8B! 12 He sees water and asks if he culd be bapezed Nw cnsider they are in the middle f a desert The dds f finding a pl f standing water in the middle f a desert are s astrnmical, that it can nly be Gd prviding the pprtunity And the eunuch recgnizes the rarity f this pprtunity, which is why he seizes n it and asks t be bapezed All believers are expected t respnd t their new fund faith in Christ in this same way By seizing the first pprtunity t be bapezed The eunuch didn t wait fr the pssibility f anther pl later He knew this was the ne And when he asked what prevented him frm being bapezed, Philip gave the right answers f curse If yu believe, yu may be bapezed N ther requirement, but that is a real requirement Acts 8:39 When they came up ut f the water, the Spirit f the Lrd snatched Philip away; and the eunuch n lnger saw him, but went n his way rejicing. Acts 8:40 But Philip fund himself at Aztus, and as he passed thrugh he kept preaching the gspel t all the cities until he came t Caesarea. Lastly, the encunter ends while Philip is still standing in the pl next t the Eunuch The wrd snatched is the same wrd Paul uses t describe the rapture f the Church He s nt saying that Philip is raptured here, because Philip lands smewhere else n earth In fact, Philip is placed in Ashdd, which is abut 20 miles nrtheast f the city Gaza n the cast There Philip cntinues t minister alng the plains f Palestine eventually reaching Caesarea where he stays 2010 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.