The Gospel Spreads Beyond the Jews

Transcript

GR 1599
04/03/2011
The Gospel Spreads Beyond the Jews
Acts 8:9-25
Gil Rugh

We're in Acts 8 in your Bibles. We're following the progress of the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ during the early history of the church. And we're seeing some remarkable changes. The church has experienced its first martyr with Stephen in Acts 7. That had to be a shocking event for the church and the impact of that continues because that marks the beginning of an intense persecution. And Saul who will later be converted and become known as the Apostle Paul becomes a key figure in leading the persecution. And we noted in the opening verses of chapter 8, Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death and on that very day a great persecution breaks out. So the family of Stephen, the church in Jerusalem, doesn't even have time to recover in effect from the impact of Stephen's death because on that very day persecution breaks out and it is of such savage nature that believers are scattered out of Jerusalem. Remember the church has been a local church, if you will. Large in numbers but it has been limited basically to Jerusalem and perhaps some of the surrounding region there. But now believers have to flee from Jerusalem and the region of Judea which would be the area where Jerusalem is located. Today we might call it the county, break it down with the city there. It's not safe to stay. I mean, Jerusalem is the focal point of Judaism, the capital if you will. Here is where the Sanhedrin is located and so on. So this persecution becomes very intense.

The apostles are able to remain centered in Jerusalem but the rest of the believers are being scattered because Saul and those working for him are coming into their private homes, arresting men and women alike. Paul will later refer back to these events that he wasn't showing any mercy. And men and women alike were being carted off to jail. His desire was to put an end to the church in its infancy.

But this is all part of a plan that God is going to use to accomplish what He said would happen, that when the Spirit came upon the followers of Christ, they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, then spread out from that region to Samaria. And then from there you go to the Gentile parts of the world. And so that which seems like such a terrible tragedy is used of God. And part of what happens is these believers in the early church do not lose their focus because we're told in verse 4, “those who had been scattered went about preaching the word, giving out the word of God, the message of Christ.” Then he'll pick up on Philip as an example. But you see they remain focused. A terrible catastrophe humanly speaking has happened. Stephen has been stoned to death for his testimony for Christ. And now you have vicious attacks being made on believers. The church is being torn apart in that sense. But in the other sense the responsibility of believers hasn't changed. As they move away, fleeing from Jerusalem in the surrounding regions, they are bringing the good news to those in the places they go to. They don't become absorbed in the tragedy and begin to sit and bemoan and wonder what went wrong. We have a responsibility. So they are carrying the message.

Now there is a dramatic change taking place. It's not the most dramatic change that will happen, but it is a significant change. Up until now the church has been Jewish in its makeup. Throughout the Old Testament the focal point of God's ministry in His work in the world and in salvation was in the nation Israel. When the church is established in Acts 2 and down until Acts 8, it's Jewish in makeup. So it seems God's program is going to continue to focus in Israel, and there are some changes, but basically as far as these early followers of Christ would have been able to determine, it's a program that will continue with the nation Israel. But that's not the plan of God. And so what we have in Acts 8 is that remarkable change.

Turn over to Ephesians 3. This is obviously later because where we are in Acts 8 the Apostle Paul hasn't even been saved yet. But then after his salvation and ministry in carrying the gospel to other places, he writes a letter to the church that he had established in Ephesus. Verse 4, we've been here before. Verse 3 refers to the fact that “by revelation there was made known to me the mystery,” something new had been revealed to him now as an apostle. By referring to this when you read you can understand the insight into the “mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Now we aren't to the Gentiles yet with the ministry to the Samaritans, where we are moving to in Acts 8. But we are moving out from the pure Jews. And so this is a change but it doesn't come with the same dramatic kind of impact that we'll have when the gospel comes to the Gentiles in Acts 10 and then the response to that by the apostles and church leadership in Jerusalem in Acts 11. But you see there has been no revelation given with the detail that God's plan and program is to build the body of Christ, the church, with Jews and Gentiles alike. And in reality have the dominant people in it be non-Jews.

Come back to Acts 8. When we pick up with verse 4 down through verse 25 talk about ministry to Samaria and the Samaritans. Verse 4, “those who had been scattered went about preaching the word,” then we're going to pick up and follow Philip's ministry. He goes down to the city of Samaria and was proclaiming Christ to them. We mention Samaria, these are mixed-blood Jews.

Come back to II Kings 17, because the background for this helps us appreciate what is going to go on in Samaria. God has brought judgment on the northern ten tribes who comprise the northern kingdom, they are known as Israel. The southern kingdom is comprised of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, but it is called Judah, Benjamin being a much smaller tribe, and Judah being the overwhelming one in size. What happens is the ten tribes are conquered by Assyria, the Assyrians. And so we are told in verse 22, “the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam,” verse 23, “until the Lord removed Israel from His sight” as He spoke through all His servants, the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day. The practice of the Assyrians, and again you see how God prepares unbelieving nations to be instruments of His judgment. The practice of the Assyrians when they conquered people was to deport all the people of any means or influence out of the land and resettle them in another part of the Assyrian Empire. It put down any possibility of any real rebellion because what you do then is import people from another realm that you have conquered and settle them here. Verse 24, “the king of Asyria brought men from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva,” and he lists all these places where the Assyrians had conquered and now they are bringing in people from there. They have deported large numbers of Jews, the poor and so on are left in the land. What happens then, because of God's judgment there, they bring a priest of Israel back into the land here because God is bringing devastating judgment on them.

But what happens is you have the people from these foreign lands come in, they have their own worship system, their own gods. You have the Jews who have been left in the land and now you are going to have a mixture take place. So verse 28 tells us, “So one of the priests whom they had carried away into exile from Samaria came and lived at Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord. But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made.” So you see now in this region of Samaria which is where the capital of the northern kingdom is. The city of Samaria and that region is also known as Samaria.

So you have the men of Babylon verse 30ff, they have their own gods. Down to verse 32, so what happens is the people in the land here, the region of Samaria, now remember there were no Samaritans yet. These were just Jews who dwelt here. They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places who acted for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord and served their own gods. So you see what happens, you have this syncretism develop where you have the corrupted worship that was already there from the days of Jeroboam, and now you bring in the paganism of these completely non-Jewish people and it gets mixed. And a statement, “they feared the Lord and served their own gods.” You have this mixture take place and that's what develops into the Samaritan religion down to the days of Christ. That's why the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings, because the Samaritans had established their own temple on Mt. Gerizim and their own worship system. But it had elements of the Jewish system because remember they feared the Lord and served their own gods. Keep that in mind as a background with what is going to happen with Simon, a Samaritan who professes conversion. But the danger of the syncretism being carried on.

Come back to Acts 8. So we're going to pick up in verses 9ff with events relating to a man named Simon. The crowds, Acts 8:6, we'll pick up with Simon in verse 9 in a moment, but the background for that in verse 6. “The crowd with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip. They heard and saw the signs which he was performing and in the case of many who had unclean spirits they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. There was much rejoicing in that city.” So Philip as he preaches the word, and he is a prophet obviously, and he has the gift of miracles. So his message to the Samaritans is being validated by miracle gifts.

“Now there was a man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great. And they all from the smallest to greatest were giving attention to him, saying, this man is what is called the great power of God.” They saw him as someone supernaturally empowered by God and he had great influence there. He is a magician but he is so good with what he does that the people assume he has supernatural powers from God. You know it's interesting, the scripture doesn't go into details on what is done, but it does indicate that these are not genuine works of God.

Come back to Exodus 7, we're familiar with the magicians in Egypt. These magicians could imitate the work of God through Moses in turning a rod, a staff into a snake in Exodus 7. Pick up with verse 11. And you are familiar with the background. Aaron's rod can be thrown down on the ground and it becomes serpent. Then he picks it up by the tail and it becomes a staff again, a rod. So verse 11, “Pharaoh also called for the wise men, the sorcerers and the magicians of Egypt and they did the same with their magic arts. Each one threw down his staff and they turned it into serpents. But Aaron's serpent swallows theirs up.” But how did they do that? You know the scripture doesn't go into it, doesn't talk about it. It is irrelevant. It's the act of godless men. You say, is it demonic? Did they really do this? No, it's magic, there is no explanation for exactly how they carried it out.

Down in verse 22. What happened in verses 20ff, Moses and Aaron strike the water, the Nile and it turns to blood. Verse 22, “the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts. Pharaoh's heart was hardened, he said, my magicians can do that.” You aren't anybody great. How did they do that? Well, we're not told.

In Exodus 8 the Nile swarmed with frogs, frogs came out covering the land. So verse 7, “the magicians did the same with their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt.” Just what you need, more frogs. But the point is they can do it. Now when you get down to verse 18 we go beyond what the magicians are able to imitate and they can't reproduce any of the subsequent miracles and they even acknowledge this is beyond their secret arts.

So the work of the devil in using people to produce false effects, whether it is just extraordinarily convincing magical acts. We see some programs on TV now where you have these magicians and they are doing tricks and you sit there and say, how did they do that? How could they do that? I don't know how they do it, I'm not a magician.

But when we come to Simon in Acts 8, he acknowledges in a backhanded way that these are tricks and he's been using them. And magicians would buy and sell some of their secrets with other magicians and Simon is going to try to do that here as we move along.

Just a reminder, believers don't have to get caught up in trying to figure out, “how do they do that?” Might be of interest when someone does a magic trick, but as far as having any convincing impact on us as believers, they are just false miracle workers. In other words the miracle is not genuine, it is not an act of God. That's all I have to know.

How did he do it? Was there anything supernatural involved? That's irrelevant. It's false, doesn't come from the living God.

So Simon is brought in to note something of the influence he has. But verse 12, “but when they believed Philip, the Samaritans, preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.” Amazing. Philip preaches the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. And the Samaritans are responding by the grace of God. Now there is a connection here.

Come back to John 4. Philip was giving the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus. When you come back to John 4, that's the account of Jesus as He is traveling through Samaria and He has a confrontation with the Samaritan woman at the well. And He tells her something of her background. And she said, verse 19, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Because how else would you, a Jewish man, have known about my sordid background.” So she changes the attention from her sinful condition and lifestyle to say, verse 20, “our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you, referring to you Jews, say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” And then Jesus tells her that “there is coming a time when the worship won't take place in Jerusalem or Mt. Gerizim.” But, that's not to say the difference is not important, verse 22, “you worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” So the Samaritans are wrong in their worship, clearly.
“An hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth” and so on. Then verse 25, “the woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming, He who is called Christ, the Anointed One.” So you see there are elements out of Judaism that she is aware of and the Samaritans have picked up. “There is a coming Messiah, the Anointed One of God, that when He comes, He will declare all things to us.” Now He is talking about a coming time of changed worship. And she said, “I know about a coming Messiah,” we know about that. “And when that Messiah comes, He'll be able to tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. I am that prophesied Messiah.”

So you see there is a background for the Samaritans. So when Philip goes and preaches to them about the kingdom and about the Christ, picking up a similar kind of setting that we have in John 4 that the Samaritans could relate to. A coming kingdom. And the focus of worship in that kingdom. And the Messiah, the Anointed One. This is what Philip is talking about, the kingdom that was prophesied and what is essential, the One who would come to be the Messiah, the Anointed One. Now he's not saying the kingdom has started. People pick up that verse and start running and say, he's saying the kingdom is here. No, he is not. He's telling them about that kingdom, about the One who would be the Messiah. He's presenting the gospel to them, that's what he went down doing, giving them the gospel. And how Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One is that Messiah.

Down in John 4:28, “the woman left her water pot, went into the city and said, come see a Man who told me all the things that I have done. This is not the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, is it?” So all these Samaritan people are coming out. Down in verse 41, “many more believed because of His word. And they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” There you have something of an outreach, a preliminary outreach, if you will, to the Samaritans.

So back in Acts 8, when Philip went down “preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and they are responding in faith,” he's telling them about the coming kingdom. And the Messiah that is prophesied to come and establish that kingdom. And how “He has come to earth and He had to suffer and die to pay the penalty for sin.” And so on. And “Philip's miracles were a demonstration of the power that the Messiah had manifested. And now we, as His representatives, are manifesting and calling you to believe in Him. He is the One who will come again and establish a kingdom. He is the Savior of the world,” as they declared back in John 4.

Now remarkably, “even Simon himself believed and after being baptized he continued on with Philip.” And you'll note the pattern is the same in the New Testament. People hear the gospel, they profess faith and they are baptized in identification with Christ. That takes place basically immediately. There is no room for secret believers. Well, I don't want to do it yet, it will offend my family. You take your stand now. Now the natural result of this, there are going to be some who hear the message, make a profession of faith and are baptized but are not genuinely converted. Now it says here even Simon himself believed and then he is baptized. But that's not the end of the story. And what follows will make clear that he makes a profession of faith, but Peter is going to say clearly shortly, that his heart has not been changed. And he is in danger of eternal destruction unless he experiences the mercy of God.

This is not new. Come back to John 2. Often in the gospels and it can be true in other places like we are in Acts, it will remark about people believing. It does not make a distinction between those who are simply professing faith and those who genuinely believe. That gets sorted out with the passing of time. Note John 2:23, “now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover,” referring to Christ, “during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus on His part was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men.” Verse 25, “for He Himself knew what was in man.” He realizes this declaration of faith is superficial, they are observing the signs He is doing but He knows their heart and He is not accepting this profession of faith, knowing what is in their heart. So it's the same kind of situation.

Come back to Acts 8. And we do the same. We respond and deal with people on the basis of their profession of faith. We baptize them on their profession of faith. That doesn't mean everybody who gets baptized here is truly born again. We can't see their heart, all we can do is hear their profession. A man confesses with the mouth but believes in the heart, and we can make professions with the mouth that don't reflect truly what is in the heart. Salvation only happens when a person has believed in the heart, then that confession of the mouth is revealing truly the condition of the heart.

Now something happens here, and you'll note, “Simon is amazed as he observes the signs and great miracles taking place.” He was constantly amazed. You see the man caught up, he has been a magician. He knows what it is to be able to do the kind of tricks that really impress people and overwhelm them. And he now as a professional magician, if we can put it that way, is watching what Philip is doing and he is amazed because he is taken with these miracles.

Now we break off for a moment, we go to Jerusalem. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, meaning they had believed it, they received it, they sent them Peter and John. Why? “They came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not fallen on any of them.” They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. “Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.” Interesting, now in Acts 2 it seems that people were receiving the Spirit as a result of the preaching of the word and then they were baptized. But these Samaritans believed, they are baptized, but they still haven't received the Spirit of God. I have to say I'm amazed as I read so many commentators that wander all over the place because they are afraid of picking up anything that might smack of dispensationalism. But the answer is clear here. What is happening in the new church? What would happen if the Samaritans heard the preaching of Philip, they believed it, they are baptized and they've received the Holy Spirit? Are they going to be submissive to apostolic leadership from Jerusalem? Not likely. So you have the potential to have a Jewish church in Jerusalem and a Samaritan church in Samaria. But what happens? The Samaritans don't receive the Holy Spirit until the Jewish apostles come from Jerusalem. What does that do? That brings them under the authority of the apostles, a clear recognition from the beginning that they are the leaders in the church. The Holy Spirit is given to them through the apostles.

So it guarantees a united church under the authority of the apostles and the apostles' teaching. So we are going to see these unique things occur. The book of Acts, that's why we say the book of Acts is a transition church, a transition book in history. And not everything that is done here is going to be repeated in the same way.

Turn over to Acts 10, just to look ahead. Going to happen a little differently. Here Peter is preaching the gospel for the first time to Gentiles and while he is preaching the gospel to them, verse 44, “while he was speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers, the Jews, verse 45, who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on Gentiles.” Why? They were hearing them speak with tongues. Which is how the Jews had manifested the fact that they had received the Spirit in Acts 2. So the Gentiles have the same gift. Then verse 47, “surely no one can refuse water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit.” So you see there the order is Peter preaches the gospel, they believe it and receive the Spirit and manifest His presence. And that gives reason for them to be baptized. So a different order than Acts 8. The Samaritans hear the gospel, they believe it, they are baptized but they don't receive the Spirit until the apostles come to be present. Philip has a powerful ministry but he is not an apostle.

So through the book of Acts we find this, every time we come to a new group of people. We start with the Jews, you have the Holy Spirit coming in the presence of the apostles and their ministry, confirming the salvation of the Jews and their reception of the Spirit. Acts 8 we have a new group of people, the Samaritans, who hear the gospel and believe it, and they are baptized but they don't receive the Spirit until an apostle is present. You come to Acts 10 when Peter goes to the Gentiles, he is an apostle, so when he preaches to them and they believe it, the Holy Spirit immediately comes upon them because the connection is already there. They are sitting under the ministry of an apostle. They hear the gospel and receive the Spirit in connection with His ministry. Then they can be baptized afterwards. In Acts 19 we're going to have another group, basically Jews who are disciples of John, but have the potential to form a different group. But they'll receive the Spirit as they hear the gospel under the Apostle Paul's ministry.

That's crucial because some people think, well the Spirit can be given at a subsequent time. Look at what happened to the Samaritans in Acts 8. And people think because we are in the New Testament and we are in the book Acts, since they received the Holy Spirit sometime subsequent to their faith in Christ, and being baptized as followers of Christ, some people can do that today. That fails to appreciate what is going on in the book of Acts and how it is important that the church as it spreads out from being Jewish and under Jewish apostles remain under apostolic authority and apostolic doctrine. And that's what is going on in Samaria.

So it's important that Peter and John be sent down from Jerusalem as apostolic representatives. So now these Samaritans are clear, we are under apostolic leadership. Even though we come from a different background, there isn't going to be any syncretism here. The leadership is united and the doctrine will be united.

Simon doesn't understand this. Look at verse 18. Remember how amazed he was in verse 13 as he observed the signs and great miracles taking place. He is constantly amazed. And now the most overwhelming. Verse 18, “when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands.” We have to stop here. How did he know the Holy Spirit was bestowed? It doesn't say they spoke in tongues, but that has to be the case. Because are the Jews going to accept as a real demonstration that the Samaritans have received the gift of the Spirit if it different than what demonstrated they received the Spirit? When we get to Acts 11 the apostles in Jerusalem want to know why Peter would preach the gospel to Gentiles. And Peter tells them that the Spirit of God had directed him to go there through a vision, and then when he preached the gospel to them, they spoke with other tongues. And the apostles say, well since the Holy Spirit gave them the same gift as He gave us at the beginning, we believe that God is now saving Gentiles. So you have that visible confirmation. I take it that's what would have to happen here. You don't see the Spirit come into a life. When you placed your faith in Christ and the Spirit came into your life, there may have been no visible manifestation. But that's not necessary because we have the confirmation of the Word that it happened when a person truly believes. But for confirmation for the Jews, Peter and John could go back and tell the church in Jerusalem, yes, the Samaritans were really saved under the ministry of Philip. And you know what? They received the Spirit when we laid our hands on them. The laying on of the hands becomes important because it ties it directly to the apostles. No reason to think that the Spirit came directly to the Samaritans and bypassed the apostles. That's so important to understand.

All right, “now when Simon,” verse 18, “saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money saying, give me this authority as well so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” This is where we get the term, Simoney, buying a religious office. Well it comes from Simon here who wanted to buy power for himself. He thinks this is the greatest magical trick of all. Put your hands on somebody, the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they begin to speak in other languages. And true to what magicians would do, they buy and sell some of their secrets. A magician developed a particularly effective magical act, they could be open to sell it to someone, particularly if he is not going to be a competitor. I do most of my traveling and magical work out here. I'd like to buy that trick from you. Just as magicians would do today. They want to start out as a magician, they go to a magical shop and buy certain magical tricks and start to learn how to do it. And some of them would tell you, I learned from this magician. So it's a matter of making money.

Serious, serious error because it demonstrates here that he hasn't understood the supernatural work of the Spirit of God going on. So we come back now to Simon. We talked about the Holy Spirit coming upon people. Doesn't say He came upon Simon here. Simon is watching what is going on and says, I have to get into this. So you see he has not really grasped even in Philip's ministry the tremendous heart-changing power of the gospel. He sees some kind of magic going on here. And Peter and John coming just carry it to even another level, and I want in on this. So I'd like to buy in. He offers them money, so that when I do this I can get the same result. How did you do that? You see he fails to see it is a work of God through His servants.

Peter, very direct, “may your silver perish with you.” That's strong language. We could translate it literally, may your silver go to hell with you. A word for perish, destruction. May your silver be destroyed in hell with you. In other words you are on your way to hell. Your money can go with you. Strong, strong statement that Simon is a perishing individual, not a saved individual. And your silver can perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You don't understand the work of salvation and what God does in salvation. That's a gift given in God's grace, you don't buy it.

And so you see we are going to draw a line here very clearly, there is not going to be any syncretism here. He has made that clear to any who would be watching. You have no part or portion in this matter. And my Bible has a marginal note for matter which says teaching. It is literally the word logos, in this word.

Come back to Acts 8:4, “those who had been scattered went about preaching the word,” referring to the gospel. Followed up with Peter went down proclaiming Christ to them. That's the word they went about declaring.

Now Peter tells Simon in verse 21, “you have no part or portion in this word, the gospel that we are preaching. For your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours and pray the Lord that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness, the poison of this bitterness, and in the bondage of iniquity.” I mean, this is awfully strong language. That's why I say in verse 13 when it says, “even Simon himself believed and was baptized.” And then we immediately go on, he's traveling around with Philip, amazed at the miracles going on. So he's been caught up and made a profession of faith and followed up with baptism. And he's going around with Philip, not because he's had a changed heart and now wants to take in everything. He's just dumbfounded by the miracles he sees going on. Then when Peter and John come down, these men have learned tricks that are beyond what I can do. If I could get these, I would really be elevated to a greater position. So he tries to buy it.

There is a background for this. When Peter says in verse 22, “repent of this wickedness of yours and pray that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven,” he doesn't even tell him, the Lord will forgive you. Don't know whether he will be forgiven or not. And then his language, you are in the gall of bitterness, that poisoned bitterness.

Come back to Deuteronomy 29. And you see the context is similar here, and the warning. God is giving warning to Israel through Moses and look at verse 18. “So that there will not be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations.” Now note this, “that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit, this bitter poison that would corrupt the people.” So a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. And you'll note, that will impact the people, and thus verse 20, “the Lord shall never be willing to forgive him.” Serious, serious matter when unbelievers infiltrate among the people of God and then spread their poison. And that's why as a general rule you don't see false teachers in the church coming to salvation. They stand up and mix in truth and error. What a disaster. Simon has the potential and out of this in the early church fathers all kinds of stories develop about Simon, most of them don't have much credibility.

The danger that confronts the early church. What would have happened here? Simon going to mix now the gospel with magic. It's the desire. Think what I can do. I've claimed to believe the gospel, now if I could buy some of the magic tricks and mix it there. You have a magician going around preaching the gospel and doing magic tricks, like you have hucksters in the church today. Sometimes I am dumbfounded, they are proclaiming the gospel and they are doing all kinds of false miracles, corrupting the church. The Lord shall never be willing to forgive him.

So that's the background, the root bearing poisonous fruit. That's where that expression in the Greek translation of the Old Testament that Peter has picked up, that phrase when you come back to Acts 8. That gall of bitterness, that poison of bitterness. You are in the bondage of iniquity, your heart needs to be forgiven and if possible the Lord will do it. Peter doesn't give him a promise He will. He may be one of those who already have crossed the line. A serious matter. We sometimes trivialize it lightly, the Lord will forgive you. I don't know if He will or not. Serious, serious matter.

“Simon answered and said, ‘pray to the Lord for me yourselves so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.’” He still doesn't understand it. He has to repent, he has to cast himself on the mercy of God. He still doesn't grasp it and is an outsider. It is left there. He doesn't go on and say what happened. How did Peter and John deal with him any further? It's left there. But the indication would seem to be that Simon still doesn't have any grasp here of what has happened. You pray for me so none of this happens to me. No clear understanding of his casting himself on God's mercy, repenting of his sin. Just you pray for me so it won't happen. Still sees them as some kind of miracle workers, magician style. Interesting and a reminder to the church of the dangers they are facing and how we have to be careful.

“So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of God, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” So as they move to the city of Samaria through the Samaritan region they are stopping at different towns and villages on their way and preaching the gospel to them.

So now we've seen, we've moved out from Jerusalem, Judea to Samaria. And we'll have more of ministry going on, we'll pick up with Philip again and he's going to be witnessing to an official from the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. And then we'll be ready for chapter 9 and the salvation of Saul, which prepares the way for the ministry that will be carried beyond Samaria to the Gentiles.

So the gracious work of God. It is His intention that His church be comprised of all nationalities, all people, Jews and all kinds of Gentiles. But the Jews will not be the dominant people of the church, they were dominant to start but it will quickly move and be dominated by a variety and kinds of Gentiles. But the ministry will be the same no matter where it is going, giving out the gospel. And the Spirit of God uses the gospel for His purposes. It reached a point where it was a brick wall with the Jews, but that's not the end of the ministry of the gospel. It's carried to other people, now the Samaritans. We don't have a Samaritan church now. We have a church that may exist in Samaria but it's under the authority of apostolic leadership and apostolic doctrine. And down to today that hasn't changed. The church as the true church is under apostolic doctrine. We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets as we saw. And even the ministry of the prophets would be overseen by the ministry of the apostles who have final authority. And that guarantees the purity of the word that has been entrusted to us. And what happened? Someone came and told you the gospel and here we are, the church, established by God to continue on that ministry.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your gracious faithfulness. Thank You for those that You send out with the gospel, using suffering and death and persecution, hardship that the gospel might be carried to other places. Lord, it puts our trials and difficulties in this life in proper perspective. These are minor, they are passing, they are but for a time. But Your word is eternal. Heaven and earth will pass away, Your word will not pass away. We are privileged as Your people to be involved in that which is eternal in importance, we are Your representatives, we are ambassadors for Christ, we are lights in the midst of darkness, we are telling a message of salvation. Lord, we thank You that You are sovereign over all in our trials and our difficulties and of the painful times and in the easy times, the good times and the bad times as we look at it. Lord, in all of it our relationship to You is secure and we are instruments that are being used by You in these important days. Bless our fellowship now as we are privileged to relax together as a church family and enjoy one another's company. Bless the refreshment, bless the fellowship. We ask in Christ's name, amen.