Blessed be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above. Before our Father's throne, we
pour our ardent prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims
are won, our comforts and our cares. We share our mutual woes,
our mutual burdens bear. And often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear. When we asunder part, it gives
us inward pain. But we shall still be joined
in heart and hope to meet again. Be seated. We'll sing in our course books,
page 21. How tedious and tasteless the
hours when Jesus I no longer see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer sun shines but
dim, The fields strive in vain to look gay, But when I am happy
in him, December's as pleasant as May. His name yields the richest
perfume, And sweeter than music His voice, His presence disperses
my gloom. A true man makes all within me
rejoice. I should, were he always thus
nigh, Have nothing to wish or to fear. But no mortal less happy
as I, My summer would last all the year. Content with beholding
his face, might all to his pleasure resign. No changes of season
or place would make any change in my mind. While blessed with
the sense of his love, Palace a toy would appear All
prisons would palaces prove If Jesus would dwell with me there
Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine, If Thou art my sun and my song,
Say, why do I languish and pine? And why are my winters so long? O, drive these dark clouds from
the sky, Thy soul-cheering presence restore, O'er, take me to thee
upon high, Where winters and clouds are no more. First time I ever heard that
congregational song. Always had people do it special. We're special tonight. Acts chapter
8. Acts chapter 8. And we'll read the first 25 verses
and hopefully by God's grace have a few things to say about
it. And Saul was continuing unto his death. talking about Stephen. And Saul was consenting unto
his death. And at that time there was a
great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem.
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea
and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burrow, and made great lamentation over him. As for
Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and
hailing men and women, and committed them to prison. Therefore they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached
Christ unto them. And the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing
the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with
loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them,
and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
And there was great joy in that city. But there was a certain
man called Simon. which before time in the same
city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving
out that himself was said great one, to whom they all gave heed,
from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great
power of God. And to him they had regard, because
out of a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both
men and women. Then Simon himself believed also,
and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered,
beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the
apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received
the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when
they were come down prayed for them. that they might receive
the Holy Ghost, for as yet he was fall upon none of them, only
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid
they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
And when Simon saw, through laying on of the apostles' hands, the
Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also
this power, that whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy
Ghost. But Peter said unto him, thy
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight
of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God,
if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art
in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Then
answered Simon and said, pray ye to the Lord for me that none
of these things which you have spoken come upon me. And they,
when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned
to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the
Samaritans. Our great and glorious God and
Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Holy Father, our blessed
Lord, we thank you that we have had this opportunity, this blessing,
this privilege to gather here this evening. And Lord, we've
read a lot of words, but Lord, those words have no meaning unless
you give them to us, unless you bless us to say something about
them. And Lord Jesus, we pray that the gospel would be a blessing
here tonight, Be a blessing to those who are not with us. Please
be merciful and gracious to the sick, the weak, the frail. Lord,
we pray that according to your will, you'd restore them. Forgive
us of everything that's unlike you. Bring glory to yourself
tonight. Have mercy, oh God, have mercy
on those that we love that's lost, undone, without God and
without Christ in this world. Please meet with us, bring glory
to yourself through your word. For Christ's sake we pray, amen. Hymn number 257. 257. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise,
just to know ? The saint, the Lord ? Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him ? How I've proved Him o'er and o'er ? Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus ? Oh, for grace to trust Him more Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust His cleansing blood Just in simple faith to plunge
me Neath the healing, cleansing flood Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him How I've proved Him o'er and o'er Jesus, Jesus, Precious
Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more. Yes, it is sweet to trust
in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease, Just from Jesus simply
taking Life and rest and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how
I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
Oh, for grace to trust Him more I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend And I know that Thou art
with me Will be with me to the end Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I prove Him Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, hope for praise
to trust Him more. All right, we'll go back here
to Acts chapter 8 and see if we can find some things here
that would be a blessing to our hearts. The title of my message
this evening is Persecution, Preaching, and Profession. That's what you call alliteration.
I know some preachers that they use that all the time, everything
they do. It's got A's or B's or C's or
D's. Tonight I'm using Ps. But our Lord told His people,
His apostles, that they would be witnesses of Him and for Him. Now you hold Acts chapter eight
and look back in chapter one in verse eight and you'll see
why I'm doing this because our Lord told them here in verse
eight, Acts chapter one, verse eight, But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be
witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So tonight, this is
the first time they've went to Samaria. They've been in Jerusalem. Oh, starting in Jerusalem. They
had been there for several years. Now they're going to Samaria.
Why are they going to Samaria? Because Stephen's death, that's
why. You remember Stephen being stoned
to death? And there was a great persecution
that had come upon the church. And look what it says in verse
1. And Saul was consenting unto his death. Back up in verse 58
of chapter 7, And they cast him out of the city, stoned him,
and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet,
whose name was Saul. Saul. You know, they had been
persecuted before. They had been put in jail. They had been beaten a couple
of times. They had been turned loose. They
had been warned not to even preach in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ or even mention His name. You know, but now blood has been
shed. Now one of God s people has been
killed, been slain, been martyred, and there was a great persecution
now. The whole body of believers were
now in danger. All the church was now in danger.
One time of persecution had occurred here, and it increased GREATLY,
GREATLY, and that s why it starts out telling us about it. Saul
was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a
great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And that's where they all were
at that time. A great persecution, great persecution. You know,
and Saul was contending. And let me tell you something
about Saul. And it says in verse three, and Saul,
they carried Stephen to his death. As for Saul, he made havoc of
the church, entering into every house, hailing men and women,
and committed them to prison, not jail, prison, prison. Now Paul was at this time a very,
very wicked man. He hated Christ, He hated what
Christ stood for, and you know, keep Acts and look over in Galatians
chapter 1 and verse 13 here and see what it says about Him. You
know, He told Himself and admitted to Himself, even when He talked
about Christ come to save sinners of whom He was chief, He said,
I persecuted the Church of God. I persecuted it, even unto death. But I did it ignorantly, and
I did it in unbelief, but God had mercy on me. God had mercy
on me. And look what he says here in
verse 13 of Galatians 1. For you have heard of my conversation,
and that word conversation means manner of life, not what you
say, your life itself. For you have heard of my life
and time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure, without
being measurable, I persecuted the church of God," and listen
to this, "...and wasted it," wasted it, "...laid waste to
it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions
of my fathers." He said, you think these fellows were zealous?
I was really zealous. I wasted the church of God, profited. I mean, I really, and then he
told us over in Philippians 3, he said, he said, what was gained
to me was lost for Christ. And what was lost for Christ
was gained to me. He said, I profited. But now
I count all things but dung, everything that I ever profited,
I count but dung that I might win Christ and I might know Christ
and I might be found in Christ. So here was a man and it says
he was making havoc of the church. And that word making havoc, hailing
men and women into prison back over in Acts 8. That word make
havoc means to destroy. It means to ravage. It means
to lay waste. It means to utterly destroy and
just do everything you possibly can to do away with everything
that s there. It s like this earthquake had
come over, it laid waste to that country. And that s what he said,
I want to do the church, I want to lay waste to it. I want nothing
but ruins left. That s what he s saying. And
then look what it says there also in verse 1, And because
of this great persecution, which was at Jerusalem, they were all
scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,
except the apostles. Oh my, so now we got, we had
the persecution. Paul's making havoc of the church.
He enjoyed seeing Stephen killed, slain. He enjoyed that. He rejoiced
in that. found pleasure in seeing a man
killed and slain, taking women. If he'd come in here, he'd take,
if we'd have been in those days, they would have come and got
us, and he would have had a bunch of people take us out and put
us in prison, separate the husband from the wife. The husband goes
to prison, the wife goes to prison. It made no difference to him.
All you had to do is profess Christ to be your Savior, Christ
to be your Lord, Christ to be your King. And I tell you, there's
a lot of religious persecution going on right now, even here
in America. There really is. And, oh, then
they went preaching. It says, they were all scattered
abroad. All scattered abroad. In verse
four. Therefore, they that were scattered
abroad, whenever were preaching the Word. Went from persecution
to preaching. And our Lord told them, you know,
you're gonna have to leave Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and all,
and they've scattered abroad, but the apostles, the apostles
stayed in Jerusalem. What did they do when they had
this great persecution? Did they hide? No, no. They said they went everywhere,
everywhere, preaching the Word. Oh, my. Wherever they went, they
was preaching the Word. Preaching the Word. And you know,
when it says preaching the Word, all they had was the Old Testament.
There was no Mark, Matthew, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in those
days. There was no 1st and 2nd Corinthians. There was no Philippians.
There was no Hebrews. There was none of the Bible that
we know of today. All they had was the Old Testament.
When it says they preached the Word, they had to preach from
the Old Testament. That's all they had. They didn't
have anything else. And I'll tell you what, you remember
when our Lord went down to Samaria? He went down there to Samaria.
You remember how he was talking to that woman at the well? And
she said, you being a Jew don't have nothing to do with us Samaritans.
And here's a bunch of Jews going down to Samaria now. And they're
preaching the word. Old Testament scriptures and
Samaritans They worshiped idols. They had all kinds of things
that they believed. They were half Jew and half something
else. And some of them weren't even
Jewish. And then it says not only there, but look what he
went on down to say in verse five. Then Philip went down to
the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. Oh my, preach Christ unto them. You keep, you keep back and say,
look over in Colossians with me. Colossians, right after the
book of Philippians, look in Colossians chapter one and verse
27. You know, he preached Christ
unto them. Now I tell you, the only place
he had to preach Christ from them was from the Old Testament.
You know, I can, I could get up here on any given day and
take the first five verses out of Genesis and preach the gospel
as clear as anybody could. I could preach the gospel out
of the first five verses of Genesis. Very simple thing to do because
there is the gospel plain and clear. And that's why Paul said
when he told the Corinthians, he said, as God commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, talking about creation, he has
shined in our hearts. What for? To give us knowledge.
Knowledge of what? Of God's glory. Where is it at?
In the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what he was doing.
He would take Isaiah, he would take Jeremiah, he would take,
oh, he took all so many verses of scripture. But look what it
said here in Colossians 127. Now there was a mystery that
people didn't know. And that mystery was that God
was gonna save the Gentiles. to whom God would make known
what is the richest of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles."
Well, what is this mystery? Well, it's Christ in you. It's
going to be your hope of glory. Now see, salvation was of the
Jews until God opened the door to the Gentiles. And then listen
to what he says. Whom we preach was Christ in you, the hope of
glory. Whom we preach Preach this Christ in you, this riches
of glory. We preach warning every man and
teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus. May present him mature, may present
him as adults, may present him as people that's grown up in
the faith, grown in the faith. And so that's what he done. Well,
how did he preach Christ? He didn't have the Old Testament,
he didn't have the New Testament. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. Look
at 1 Corinthians 15. You know, all they had was the
Old Testament. You remember last week we was
talking about that prophet out of Acts chapter seven, that prophet
that should come. Moses says, God's gonna raise
up a prophet like unto me. His word is gonna be in his mouth,
and that's the one you have to hear. He'll do whatever God tells
him to do and commands him to do. So Christ was that promised
prophet. He was promised to be a savior.
He was promised to be born of a woman. He was promised to be
the seed of the woman. But look what he said here in
1 Corinthians 15, verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which
you also have received and wherein you stand, but which also you
are saved by that gospel. And if you keep in memory, hold
fast to it, what I preached unto you, unless it proves to be you
believed in vain. Now watch this, for I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scripture. Well, what scriptures
you reckon he is talking about when he said Christ died according
to the scriptures? Well, Isaiah 53 says there's
four different places it says where he died. Four different places it says.
God made his soul a living sacrifice. He offered himself as a lamb
without spot, without blemish, wounded for our transgressions.
And then also not only that, but he talked about, you remember
that lamb that Abel offered and God accepted his sacrifice, God
accepted his blood, God accepted that sacrifice and did not change? You remember that? He said, that
was the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you remember that when
God was getting ready to bring Israel, Jews, out of Egypt? He said, you remember when they
had that Passover lamb? Everybody had a lamb, but there's
considered one lamb. You remember that? When the blood
was put over the door, that was Christ, he said. He was the Passover
lamb. And you remember that rock that
they smote out in the wilderness because they murmured that it
had no water? God's Moses smote a rock and
water gushed out of it. And everywhere they went from
then on, that rock followed them, is what the scripture said. And
that's what he had to preach from. Oh my. And then that tabernacle,
remember the tabernacle? He said, Moses made it according
to the pattern. He said, on the outside is an
old badger skin, just looked like an old tent right out there
in the middle of nowhere. But when you walked in, you saw
gold boards. You saw all this beautiful white
embroidery. You saw all this glory in there.
And then you saw a brazen altar. Christ was offered on the altar,
and He Himself is the altar. And so He goes through these
things, and He said, listen, and then you remember there that
altar of incense? That was Christ, His incense,
His intercession going up for us. And that high priest that
had to go behind the veil? and put the blood on the mercy
seat, he was the priest that went behind the veil, he was
the priest that put the blood on the mercy seat, and it was
his blood that was put on the mercy seat. So that's all they
had to preach. And that sounds like, I'd like
to hurt one of them, wouldn't you? You know, we all gotta be,
they're not doing anything that I'm not doing, but oh my, they
went through that. And then the priesthood, He said,
you been Melchizedek? He was a priest after the Most
High God. He had no beginning of days,
no end of days. He had no pedigree. He wouldn't
have a mother and a father. He said, you know what? That
was the Lord Jesus Christ, the priest of the Most High God.
Huh? Oh my. And you know what? Abraham
and all them, Abraham and them, he gave, he served them bread
and wine and Christ is our bread and Christ is our wine. His blood
is our wine, his body is our bread. And oh my, then he was
prophesied to come. Let me give you quickly this.
In Psalm 22, when he was forsaken of God, That was the good shepherd
that laid down his life for the sheep. In Psalm 23, he was the
Lord our shepherd that makes us to lie down in green pastures,
causes goodness and mercy to follow us all the days of our
life. Spread a table in the presence of our enemies, death, sin, and
hell, and everything that was against us, he spread a table
in the presence of our enemies. Put us down in these wonderful
green pastures. And then in Psalm 24, you know
who he is? Who is this king of glory coming
in here? That's the great shepherd of the sheep that's coming again
to do something for us and receive us unto himself. Oh, and Isaiah. talked about him. Malachi said,
When the Son of Righteousness arrives with healing in His wings,
and when the messenger of the covenant shall suddenly come
to the temple, that s talking about Christ. Daniel said, He
would make an end of sin and bring in an everlasting righteousness.
Now back over in our text over here again. So you see, they'd
had nothing but the Old Testament. Talked about him being buried,
talked about him being risen again. And I tell you, I could
take you to several places that shows you that. But look what
he says, God gave witness to him. In verse six, he went down
and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord
gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing
the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with
loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them,
and many were taken with palsies that were lame and healed. God
gave witness to the gospel that he preached, the Christ he preached.
And listen to what it says. First of all, they gave heed.
They listened to what he had to say. He started preaching
and they started listening. Listen, I'm hearing what that
fellow said. They started listening. They started listening. They
gave heed. And then they accepted His message.
Look what it says. And with one accord gave heed
to those things. Those things, what things? The
things that He preached to the Lord Jesus Christ. They accepted
His message. Oh, hearing and seeing. And then
it says there, you know, in the last part of verse six, and it
said, hearing and seeing. Hearing the miracles, hearing
the gospel, and seeing the miracles that God did by Him. And oh,
He done so many wonderful miracles, and God used Him, and that was
evidence of God being with Him. And look what it said in verse
8. And there was great joy in that city. Oh my. That's what preaching
Christ does for you. It produces great joy. It does
for me anyway. It produces great joy. And I
tell you what, preaching and believing Christ causes great
joy. You know, happiness is fleeting.
I mean, you know, if you're, one minute you're happy, and
you know, everybody says, I want to be happy, I want to be happy,
I want to be happy. Well, happiness, all you got to do is somebody
say a harsh word to you, happiness gone. But when Christ gives you
his joy, and you have the joy of the gospel, and you have the
joy of believing Christ, nothing can take that away. We just sung
it, how tedious and tasteless the hours. And I tell you what, joy, joy
of sins forgiven, joy of having the righteousness of God, joy
of having salvation full and free and accomplished for us
with us doing nothing but believing, Oh my. And then look at this
profession. Look at this profession. Many
believed, look down verse 13, or excuse me, verse 12. Many believed But when they believed, Philip
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name
of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon
himself also believed. When he was baptized, he continued
with Philip and wondering the miracles and signs that he did.
Many believed, but Simon, Simon is singled out. Why is Simon
singled out? Because he made, it says, he
himself believed also. Why? To show how easy it is and
how dangerous it is to make a false profession. Here's a man that
said he believed, but look what it says about him in verse 9
and 10. There was a certain man called
Simon, who was aforetime or before time in the same city used sorcery. You know what sorcery is? It's
magic. It's witchcraft. It's pretending
to have magic. Pretending to know things that
nobody else does. Pretending to try to tell people
things. And you know, and that's what
he was. He was a pretender. He was a, heck, he had powers
and he had, and it was witchcraft. And you know, people say, well,
there's black witchcraft and there's white witchcraft. There
ain't no such thing as good witchcraft. Ain't no such thing. But Simon
was a sorcerer, he was a magician. He made people, and the Scripture
says, and he bewitched the people of Samaria. He bewitched them. He absolutely had those folks
mesmerized. And that s why Paul told the
Galatians, Who hath bewitched you that you should so quickly
turn from the Gospel? And I tell you, bewitched means
confused, amazed the people. And listen to this, giving out
that Himself was some great one. That's all you gotta do, just
tell somebody you do something great. You're great at this,
you're great at that, you're great at something else. And
oh my, it's awful. And look what it says on in verse
10, to whom they all gave heed. Oh, they listened to Him, from
the least to the greatest. And now listen to this, He had
bewitched them for such a long time that they all gave heed
and said, this man's the great power of God. He couldn't do
the things he does without having the power of God. And you know,
if you watch a magician, have you ever watched a magician stand
amazed and say, boy, how in the world did he do that? Well, that's
what they'd done with him. He bewitched them so they said,
how does he know that? How does he do that? But they heard preaching. they
heard preaching down in verse 12. But when they believed Philip
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, he said,
there's a kingdom that's not of this world. There's a kingdom
that has a king. There's a kingdom, a spiritual
kingdom. There's a living kingdom and
it's a kingdom of God. Oh my, it's not of this earth. They don't have nothing to do
with this earth. They don't have nothing to do with a throne or
somebody being great in this life. But what it goes on to
say, the kingdom of God concerning the name, concerning the kingdom
of God in the name of Jesus Christ. He said the kingdom of God has
a name to it. It has a place to it, it has
a name to it, and it has authority in that name. The only name that
us has authority with God, the only name that has authority
to save us all, the only name that has authority that God will
listen to in glory. And oh my, there's power in that
name. And then it says this, they were
baptized. They were baptized, both men
and women, believing, they believed. And then it says, Simon also
believed there in verse 13, and he was baptized, but listen to
what it said, he followed Philip around. The rest of them didn
t, they listened to him, but he followed Philip everywhere
Philip was at. And he wondered, he was stood, and that word wondered
mean amazed, at the miracles and the signs. He just didn't
wonder. He said, how can he do these things? How's this stuff
happening? He was seeing something that
real. What he was doing had no reality to it. But now he's seeing
something that's real, something that God's doing, not magic,
seeing things that he couldn't do. like Pharaoh s magicians. When they was called in, when
Moses first went in there, they done a couple of things that
Moses could do, but after that, they couldn t do anything, couldn
t do anything. And I was reading today about
a bunch of magicians and soothsayers and that before King Nebuchadnezzar,
and he said, If you fellas can t tell me what I want to know,
I m going to have every one of you killed. So I mean, you know,
what do I need to tell this man? What could I need to tell this
man? But oh my, I tell you this, and they sent, so they, you know,
and I tell you what, Pharaoh's magicians and astrologers, they
couldn't do it. They couldn't do it, but then
look what it says. Now when the apostles, which were at Jerusalem,
they stayed up at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received
the Word of God, they sent down Peter and John. Peter and John
come down there. They heard, sent them to see
if these things are so of God's saving Gentiles. And then look what they did in
verse 15. They came down there. Let's go down there and see if
that's what they, if what's really, if God is doing this thing for
the Samaritans, if God's saving these Samaritans down there.
who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might
receive the Holy Ghost. These men were baptized, but
now the Jews, when they heard the gospel, the Holy Ghost fell
on them. But these were Gentiles, they didn't know anything about
that. For as yet He was fallen on none of them, only they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then laid they their hands
on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. So it gives them
power, gives them strength. It s the Holy Ghost that makes
them understand things. Now, I ll tell you what, this
is the only time this ever happened. And this was to prove to Peter
and John and the apostles that this was indeed God s work. If
these men were not of God, and if these men hadn't been believers,
then God wouldn't have given them the Holy Ghost, but it was
to prove to the apostles that this was the work of God. Samaritans
were despised, and it was to reveal to them that all believers,
that God had tore down every wall between every race, between
every profession and every God that ever was, He tore down that
wall. Tore down that wall. Between races and their prior
religion. I've got to hurry, I've got to
hurry. Look what it says now. Simon's profession exposed. It
is a false profession. In verse 18, and when Simon saw
that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost
was given, he reached in his pocket and said, man, I've got
a lot of money here. I'll pay you well for that. I'll
pay you very, very well. Saying, give me also this power. See, he was the power of God
before, and now he wants it. That's all he's interested in,
is power. That's all he's interested in, power. He's not interested
in Christ. He's not interested in the gospel. He's not interested
in believing. Give me also this power, that
whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. Oh my. He tried to pay him. He wanted
this power. He wanted a power that he had
never had before. And then look what he says now.
But Peter said unto him, Your money and your going to perish
together. Thy money perish with you. Oh
my! Because thou hast thought Thou
hast thought that God's gift might be purchased with money? You think you can buy God's presence
and power with money? You think Christ can be bought
with money? You think God can be bought with
money? No, no, listen, he said, oh,
your heart's not right. Listen to what he said. Thou
hast neither part nor lot in this matter. You ain't got nothing
to do with this business of the gospel and the Word of God. For
thy heart is not right in the sight of God. And that's where
everything counts, in God's sight. Your heart's not right where
it counts, in the sight of God Almighty. That's why Paul told
them over in Galatians, he said, justified in the sight of God. In the sight of God. Oh my. And this is the only place it
matters in God's sight. Before he had been great in people's
eyes, before he had been great in people's eyes, but he never
was nothing in God's eyes. That's what people have got to
understand. You may be great in this world, but in God's eyes
it don't mean nothing. And oh my, his words, his thought,
his intent was wicked. And then he goes on to say this,
Peter goes on to say, Repent therefore of this thy wickedness,
and pray, pray to God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may
be forgiven thee. For I perceive, I understand,
I see plainly that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in
the bond of iniquity." Oh my. And Peter then answered Simon
and said, Pray for me, pray to the Lord for me that none of
these things which have spoken come upon me. Pray for me. Peter told him to pray for himself.
You pray to God, you ask God. Peter told him to pray for himself
and repent, repent of your wickedness. And then look what the conclusion
is. We had a persecution, preaching, and profession. And they, when
they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned
to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the
Samaritans." They just went right back to preaching. They started
right where they was and started back preaching. Went right back
to preaching. Persecution made them go, had
to leave where they was, where they was comfortable. Our blessed Lord Jesus, our glorious
master, the redeemer of our souls, one who washed us from our sins
in your own precious blood. Oh, Father, we come to thank
you, to bless you and praise you for your word. And Lord,
I pray that it'd be a blessing to your dear saints. And Lord,
as we separate tonight, go with us. Let us all make it home safely. Keep us until we can gather to
worship again. Bring glory to yourself through
each and every one of us, and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich and free. See you Sunday, God
willing. I'm glad you're feeling better.