"The Bond of Iniquity" (Acts 8:9-25)

Transcript:

Scripture reading today is from Acts, chapter 8, verses 9 through 25. If you're using the pew Bible in front of you, this is on page 1089. Hear now the word of the Lord from Acts chapter 8, verses 9 through 25. But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying this man is the power of God that is called great.

And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued with Philip and seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them.

But they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money, saying, give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the off tenth of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. When Simon answered, pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me now. When they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated. Let's pray now and ask that God's Spirit would bless the reading and preaching of his Word. Pray with me. Gracious Heavenly Father, we confess that according to your word and the teaching of your Word, we know that every word that you have spoken in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament was breathed out by your spirit, inspired by the Holy Spirit. We pray that just as your Holy Spirit inspired this text, that the same Holy Spirit would shed light on what we are reading.

That these words are not dead and old and outdated, but they are living and active, sharper than any two edged sword piercing to the division of joint and marrow, the division of soul and spirit. We pray that as we study your word, that you would give us hearts to understand, eyes to see and ears to hear all that is contained in the good news of the Gospel of your son Jesus our Savior. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Well, last week as we studied the first part of Acts chapter 8, we read the first installment of the progress of the Gospel into a new era. The Gospel had started being spread in Jerusalem and in Judea, but because of the persecution, particularly led by Saul, the church was scattered into a new to the area of Samaria. And what was interesting is that in this morning's text we see the growth and development and establishment of the church in Samaria in a way that parallels the growth and development of the church in Judea and Jerusalem. If you remember the early stories in the book of Acts where the Gospel was the beginning to take root in Jerusalem and Judea, you remember that it wasn't very long down the road that we read a story of greed and a story of hypocrisy and a story of God's judgment on Ananias and Sapphira. Back in Acts chapter five, they lied to the Holy Spirit, pretending that they were giving all of the proceeds from the sale of property to the church to the relief of the needs of the poor, when in fact they were holding back a portion to themselves.

Now they didn't have to give any of the money. They didn't have to sell the property whatsoever. The problem was not that they gave only part of the money to the church. The part was that they lied. They said, here it is, all of it right here.

And though they were perhaps able to fool others, they were not able to fool God. Well, here we have a very similar story of hypocrisy in the church in Samaria. This man named Simon, who had great standing in that community before the arrival of the Gospel. We see from all outward appearances this man looks to be converted to Jesus Christ. Look, just like all the other Samaritans who are believing and being baptized both men and women.

But what we see through the course of this story is that once again there is hypocrisy and God's. At least the threat of God's judgment in the church in Samaria, just as there had been hypocrisy and judgment in Jerusalem and Judea. This passage puts once again a terrifying, uncomfortable spotlight, then, not only on the hidden thoughts, desires and intentions of these people who lived 2,000 years ago, but implicitly into our hearts as the Holy Spirit takes this text and shines light from this text, continues to speak through this text to us, posing a very important question for all of us to consider. Are we really seeking after Jesus, or is Christianity for us merely a means to some other end? Our theme this morning is that the Gospel of Jesus announces great forgiveness, not great power.

The Gospel of Jesus announces great forgiveness, not great power. We'll look at three parts to our text this morning. First of all, false faith, the false faith of Simon. Second, full equality, the full equality of the Samaritans, putting them on the same level as the Jews in Judea and Jerusalem. And then third, forgiveness for the heart.

Forgiveness for the heart. We'll start here with false faith in verses 9 through 13. We talked a little bit last week about something that most people who are familiar especially with the stories of the Gospels of Jesus know very well, namely that Jews and Samaritans did not like one another. Now, that went both ways. Certainly the Jews hated Samaritans.

They saw them as half breeds. They saw them as apostates. But the Samaritans also did not like the Jews. One of the ways that this difference shows up is that they hold to different religious books, religious texts. The Samaritans acknowledged only the authority of the Pentateuch, and they had their own version of the Pentateuch, what's been called the Samaritan Pentateuch, which is very similar to the first five books of the Bible, as even we have them today.

But certain adjustments have been made to really emphasize the Samaritan city of Shechem and to emphasize the Samaritan mountain of Mount Gerizim instead of Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai. Gerizim is really spotlighted in that particular Samaritan Pentateuch. And though the Samaritan Pentateuch is different in some ways, the Samaritan Pentateuch is nevertheless very clear to prohibit the use of magic and sorcery. Nevertheless, the spiritual condition of Samaria, when Philip arrives with the Gospel, is very, very dark. People are amazed.

They're captivated by the magic that Simon has performed. And Simon is pretty good at building his own brand. He declares that he himself was somebody great, and the rest of the people run with it. And so they're all talking about him, paying attention to him, amazed by him saying this man is the power of God that is called great. Now, I want you to notice that there are a couple of repeated phrases here, especially in verse 11.

And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. This idea of paying attention and amazed is very important as we move forward, because they're going to be reversed as the gospel comes into this area. But in these first three verses, the most important thing that we are supposed to see is the backdrop, the status quo, where things were when the gospel arrived. And the spiritual condition again is very, very dark. All of their attention is captivated by this man who amazes them, by the demonic power, the magic that he wields.

And so it comes as a great disruption to what's happening in Samaria in verse 12, when Philip comes preaching the good news of the Gospel of Jesus. And notice that in verse 12 we read but when they believed. And again, this is sort of going back to what we had read in the previous passage, that as Philip comes into Samaria and starts preaching the gospel, as the church is scattered like seeds carrying the word of God into a new area, people are believing and are being saved. And here's the follow up to that, verse 12. But when they had believed Philip, what did they believe?

Well, when they had believed Philip, as he preached good news, that word is there very close to the gospel. That's a different form of saying the gospel. When he gospel to them, you might say when he preached good news, preached the gospel about, first of all the kingdom of God, and second of all the name of Jesus Christ. Now, the kingdom of God was one of the main focuses of Jesus preaching. If you read through the Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Luke, again, Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke and then he wrote the sequel to the Gospel of Luke, this book of Acts.

And throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of God, about the rule and the reign of God come to earth, particularly to the king through Jesus Christ. This, however, is the very first time that the kingdom of God has been mentioned in the Book of Acts all the way since the very beginning in Acts chapter one, when there was confusion, when the disciples are asking, is now the time when you restore the kingdom to Israel? And he says, it's not for you to know times and seasons. We're sort of wondering then where has the kingdom been? And what we have seen all the way since Acts chapter one until Acts chapter eight, is that again and again we have seen the demonstration that Jesus Christ, who has ascended into the heavenly places who is seated on the throne of David in heaven, has been reigning and ruling, especially as he has expanded the gospel in Judea and Jerusalem, especially as he has continued to press the church forward in and through waves of persecution that have come.

And now we see the reign of Jesus Christ spotlighted again in a new area as the gospel comes to Samaria. Now Philip is starting from square one. You haven't seen all that God has been doing, all that King Jesus has been doing in Jerusalem and Judea. Let me tell you, Jesus is. Is the king.

Jesus is reigning. But he also talks about the name of Jesus. The idea of name in the Bible deals with one's reputation, their fame, their character, what they are known for, particularly surrounding the deeds that they have done. At the end of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says something very significant about his name. He commissions his apostles, particularly that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

So you can see what's associated with the name of Jesus. Well, what the name of Jesus declares is all that Jesus has done through his incarnation and birth, which we celebrate in this Christmas season through his perfect life of obedience, through his sufferings and death on the cross, his burial, his resurrection on the third day, and then his ascension into heaven, where he is reigning at the right hand of his Father. And here we see that the name of Jesus is declaring forgiveness of sins. And that's what the people are believing, that Jesus is king and that at the name of Jesus Christ, men and women can be forgiven of their sins to all those who look to Jesus in faith. And so not only did Philip preach this message, but people are believing this message.

And we read that they are being baptized. They were baptized, verse 12, both men and women. Now, this phrase that they were baptized, both men and women is actually more important than you might think. First of all, we read a very explicit statement here that women were baptized. Now, in the old covenant, the sign of the covenant was circumcision, which was only applied to males.

But here we read very explicitly that the sign of the new covenant, baptism, is to be administered to both men and women. That's important on that front. It is also important as we remember the phrase that we saw in the previous passage in Acts, chapter 8, verse 3. But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Saul, barbarically, the word here for ravaging the church again is a word of a wild animal, a bull, in A china shop who is destroying everything he's coming into contact with and where he persecuted the church by dragging off both men and women to prison.

Now we are reading that men and women are being baptized in Samaria. Again, what Saul is attempting here, what Saul meant for evil, God meant for good. That's what we saw last week. And we're seeing an extension of that idea. What Saul meant for evil in attacking both men and women, God meant for good, for bringing men and women into his kingdom through faith and baptism.

Well, in verse 13, now we read about this figure, Simon. We heard about them at the beginning that he said that he himself was someone great, and they called him, this man is the power of God that is called great. And now Luke comes back around and says even Simon himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued with Philip and seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed. Now that sounds great.

Fantastic. You have the leader of demonic pagan magic who is converted and he's baptized and he's continuing following after Philip. This is all good, right? Well, even from this verse, and one commentator, Polhill, points this out, is that there are a couple of clues here that really should raise some red flags as we evaluate the profession of faith of this man. Notice that we read in the previous verse about what all of these people who were baptized in Samaria believed, namely verse 12, when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, there was a real content to their faith in terms of Jesus as the king of the kingdom of God and in the name of Jesus Christ, namely, that forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed through his name, that Jesus said at the end of the Gospel of Luke.

But now we have simply that Simon himself believed, and we have nothing else about. Well, what exactly did he believe? He believed something. We're just not told what. And we do read that he went through the motions of being baptized.

And then we read this phrase that he continued with Philip. Now, this is a phrase that expresses a kind of clinginess to Philip. And again, outwardly, you might say, well, this is a man who just wants to be discipled. He just wants to grow. And again we see that seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

But this is, as one commentator Bach points out, this is not the normal word for discipleship. Another person wrote, this is sort of like a groupie following around rock stars. He continued, he was clingy. He was following after Philip, and everywhere he goes, he was just amazed. This is amazing power that he's Seeing everywhere that he goes, seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

We read more about his interest in the power that Philip wields than in the Gospel that Philip preached in terms of what Simon himself believed and what he was attracted to. Now, what this does is there's a contrast. There's a contrast between whatever is happening with Simon and whatever happened genuinely with the rest of the Samaritans. Now, before we go any further, it's so important to remember that the Scriptures regularly distinguish between true living, saving faith and false dead, hypocritical faith. Think of Jesus in his parable of the Sower, that he did talk about some of the seed which was immediately swept away by the enemy that fell on the hard ground.

And then on the other hand, he talked about that seed which fell on good soil and grew up and bore much fruit. But he also talked about seeds that fell on other soils. Some of it was rocky, some of it was thorny. The seeds sown in the rock believe the word for faith there for a while and at a time of testing fall away. And those who fall among the thorns, we read that they hear, but they are choked by the cares and the riches and the pleasures of life.

The idea being that whatever kind of faith is exercised is not true living, saving faith. It is rather false, dead and hypocritical faith. And even more so than this, James puts this explicitly in James 2:19. He says, Even demons believe and they shudder. They don't have active living, saving faith.

They have false dead, hypocritical faith. And what Luke is starting to do is starting to plant some seeds that we are going to see sort of come to full blossom to show us that Simon's faith is a false faith. Only hints, just so far, it doesn't reveal this fully yet, because for the moment, Luke wants to turn his attention from false Simon to true believers in Samaria. And this brings us to the second section of Full Equality in Acts, chapter 8, verses 14 through 17. Now, as we come to this section, we read that the apostles at Jerusalem, Remember, the apostles remained in Jerusalem during the persecution while the rest of the church scattered.

But the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God. And when they heard this, they sent to them Peter and John, two apostles who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now, we are told later in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 21, verse 8 that Philip is an evangelist. He's an evangelist. And as an evangelist, whenever we see evangelists, they never are laboring under their own authority.

They are not like apostles who labor under their own authority. They're specially commissioned by Jesus Christ. Evangelists are always working in tandem under the authority of the apostles. And though Philip has moved some distance from Jerusalem, he is still under the oversight of the apostles. His role is to spearhead this evangelistic ministry in Samaria as a sower of seeds of the Gospel of the Word of God.

But when those seeds take root, you see the connection between Philip and the apostles, because the apostles then come to sort of bring to fruition, to sort of bring to completion the work that Philip spearheaded, particularly for the Holy Spirit to fall on these Samaritans. Now, what does it mean that the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on any of them? Well, it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit was not involved in their lives. The Holy Spirit was very involved in the lives of these people. Old Testament, New Testament Only the Holy Spirit opens hearts to believe in Jesus Christ.

But the idea is that the Spirit did not come upon the Samaritans as he had come upon the Jews at Pentecost. Now, the Holy Spirit was given once for all at Pentecost. But the reason the apostles come here is to make very clear that now what had happened originally only in Jerusalem and Judea had now spread in a very dramatic way from just Judea into Samaria. What this emphasizes is that the Samaritans are put on equal footing with the Jews in Judea and in Jerusalem. And we'll see the same thing happen when the Gospel goes into Gentile regions again.

There will be a special time when, through the apostles, the Holy Spirit will fall on Gentiles, showing that the Gentiles also are being put on equal footing. But we're seeing this spread from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Now, this scene is put in the center of stories about Simon. We read about Simon. Now we're reading about the Holy Spirit coming to the Samaritan.

And next we are going to read more about Simon. There's sort of a sandwich here, a Holy Spirit sandwich, where by putting this story about the Holy Spirit's coming to the Samaritans in the center, that puts this as the emphasis of this passage. Because what we are seeing is that there are extraordinary blessings here, incredible power coming to dwell with the Samaritans. But this comes through true living, saving faith in the name of Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners. Now, by way of contrast, we come back to Simon, who is really only interested in power for himself.

And so we come now to the third section, forgiveness for the heart, in verses 18 through 25. Now, again, as we come to this last section, we're reminded of Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Spirit because they were greedy for money. They wanted to hold back some of their money. Well, here Simon is using his money to buy something else. Money for him is not the goal.

It is rather a tool to buy what he really wants, namely, power. He wants to buy this power that the apostles demonstrated. Now remember, he was amazed by the signs and wonders that he saw Philip perform. And now he sees the apostles do something even more extraordinary by laying hands and conferring the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. And so he wants this ability for himself again.

How much more would that advance his standing in Samaria? He'd regain the ground that he lost when these Christians came and started preaching the Gospel in their midst. And so when he offers money to Peter, Peter rebukes him sternly, but graciously. Graciously, to tell him that he is in eternal danger and peril. In verse 20, Peter tells Simon that though Simon deserves to perish along with his money, that he does deserve to perish with his money because he thought he could buy it from God.

In verse 21, we read, Although other Samaritans had gained full equality with the Holy Spirit, Peter now says, you have neither part nor lot of this. You don't have any possession of this, because his heart was not right before the Lord. Then in verse 22, Peter urges him, you need to repent. You need to seek forgiveness if possible. Now notice not so much for any actions that Simon has done, but because of the intent of his heart, because he thought something wrong about the Holy Spirit as a power to be bought, and because he wanted to possess that and was willing to pay money for it.

And so, in verse 23, Peter summarizes this, saying that this is revealed that he is in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. His heart is still in bitter bondage to sin. Now, one commentator, Bach, writes this, and it's critical. Peter is testing Simon's heart with this rebuke. How does Simon respond?

Because remember, the Gospel proclaims forgiveness from repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus, even for those who are held in the bond of iniquity of the heart. So how will Simon then receive this. And in verse 24, Simon's response is unsatisfying at best. Though Peter said, you need to pray and ask for forgiveness. He says, pray for me.

Simon says, pray for me. He's not willing to pray for himself. He's looking to Peter, potentially seeing Peter as some kind of priestly, magical role, interceding for him instead of personally looking to Jesus, to the one who by his name has offered an extended forgiveness to him. He still seems not to be looking to Jesus. It's a very sad thing.

And some are inclined to read this a little bit more positively than I do. At the very least, this presses us on how we might respond to this question.

Well, this passage ends in verse 25 with a summary statement. As we've seen in the Gospel or in the Book of Acts at several points, the Gospel now not only per permeated Jerusalem and Judea, but also Samaria, not just the cities of Samaria, but this is even coming to the many villages of these Samaritans. The Gospel is on the move. What's our application? Repent for the wicked intentions of your heart and pray for forgiveness.

This passage shines light on two sides of the coin of the Gospel of Jesus. First of all, we see that our deepest problem is not the sinfulness of any individual action, but rather the corruption of the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity and the wickedness of our hearts. But second, this passage also holds out the hope that we have that forgiveness of sins, including the sins that go to the heart, can come through faith in the name of Jesus. You see, sometimes people think that Christianity is about managing behavior. Christians are people who act in certain ways that are good and righteous, and that may be a fruit, and that is indeed supposed to be the fruit of Christianity.

But it is not the foundation, it's not the root of Christianity. If love and righteousness and holiness is the fruit of Christianity, Christianity starts by talking about the root which goes down into our hearts. Apart from Christ, you stand condemned, not first and foremost because of what you have done, first and foremost because of what Adam did, but then from that, what you have received, which infects and corrupts your heart and the deep wellsprings of your heart, there exists a corruption, a cauldron of sin and God. Although you might trick everyone else, God knows about this. God knows your secret thoughts, he sees your secret lusts.

He will hold you accountable for the hidden impulses of what bubbles up from the depths of your heart. And if you are honest with yourself, and if you believe that the Almighty and most holy God saw every thought and intention of your heart, you would be gripped with fear over this. But this fear is meant to lead you to faith, not past the necessity of faith like Simon did. Let's just get to where I can become a powerful magician again. This is to lead you to faith in Jesus.

To know that faith has three parts to it. The knowledge of what Jesus has done, a center agreement with what that is true. But even demons agree with this. They believe and they shudder. But the third part that demons don't have, that Simon didn't have, is trust.

A genuine looking to Jesus saying that what you have done is for me. Do you personally trust him? Are you looking to him? Are you personally entrusting yourself to him? Repent and pray for the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins in his name.

Because not you. But he truly is the power of God that is great. He is the eternal Son of God who for you and for your salvation was born, lived, died for you and was raised for you. And he now reigns from heaven and sends gospel ministers to preach to you this good news in his name. Will you repent and believe?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would help us by your spirit to examine the recesses of our hearts. And as you hold up the mirror of your word to the seed, secret thoughts and intentions and desires and loves that are cherished within our hearts. I pray that you would lead us to repentance and faith in Jesus. I pray this for all those who have not yet known him and for all those who have known him their entire lives that we would look again to Christ and be saved.

Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.