Again, open your Bibles to Acts
chapter 8, and we'll continue our study in this wonderful book,
the Acts of the Apostles, which is written for our learning.
And we've seen that this book exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand up and read verses
12 to 17 together. Acts chapter 8, verses 12 to
17. But when they believed Philip,
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, in 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 calmed down, prayed for
them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he
was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus. My, oh my. they laid their hands
on them, and they received the Holy Ghost." Okay. Now, the beginning of this chapter,
I brought up five points that were in the first 25 verses,
and I'm going to go over those again. Five points are, the gospel
of Christ is an offense to man, which we see in verses 1 to 4
of chapter 8. Number two, the Lord God The
Lord God, our King, has a people whom he will save, and that's
in verses 5 to 12. And then God always causes the
sinner he's purposed to save to hear the gospel, which is
found in verse 4. And then all supernatural apostolic
gifts ceased with the apostles. which is in verses 14 to 17 of
chapter 8. And then wherever the gospel
is preached, both true believers and those who make a false profession
of faith will be found, which is found in verse 12, verse 13,
verse 20, and 21. The name of the message is a
false convert, a false convert. Have you ever noticed, beloved
God, what a great difference there is between the God who's
revealed in the Bible and the God who's being preached
in some of the pulpits in this world? There's a stark difference. There's a stark difference in
some pulpits. The God of the prophets and the
apostles somewhat not even similar to the God of today's preachers. Let's begin with verses 13 to
17. Let's read this in the book of
Acts. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also.
Look at that. And when he was baptized, he
continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs
which were done. Now when the apostles were at
Jerusalem and 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 fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost. We see in our text that it's
obvious that Philip had received special gifts from the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when he was preaching the
glorious gospel of Christ and him crucified, our Lord accompanied
his preaching with miracles, right? Remember, people were
healed, the lame were healed, and these miracles occurred. Proving that his preaching was
from the Lord. And also, Proving to those who
were born again by the Holy Spirit of God that God had sent them.
Sent him. And we see in verse 13 that Simon
Magnus made a profession of faith. Now we looked at him last week.
Let's look at verse 9. But there was a certain man called
Simon who was before time in the same city used sorcery. He
bewitched the people. Remember? and bewitched the people
of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one. Oh, he said,
I'm a great one. People said he was a great one.
He liked that. And I said last week, there's
many false teachers out there. They love the praise and applause
of men, don't they? Remember what I mentioned in
Sunday school, that we preachers preach for the glory of God.
We don't preach to get applause from men. We preach for the glory
of God. You testify of Christ not to
get the applause of man. You won't get the applause of
man if you tell him the truth, right, which we do. You won't get the praise and
applause of them. But there's certain preachers
out there in the world that have a huge following and they like
that following. And they're just tickling people's
ears. Well, this guy here, he had a huge following. He used
sorcery. He had a huge following. Look
at this. And to him, they had regard because
that of a long time he had bewitched them with sorcery. But when they
believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and
women. They said, we don't want nothing to do with you. You bewitched
us. See, Brother Jim, remember when
we were looking at the book of Acts earlier in chapter five
or so, and you said, you said, well, those Jews, they lost some
money. Simon lost some of his fame.
He probably lost some contributions. He's like, well, what's going
on here? They're listening to this folk, fella. Oh, my. And Simon, we see in verse 13,
he made a profession of faith. My oh my. He was baptized, but
we're seeing later in the text that he's nothing but a hypocrite.
He's a false convert. He's a false convert. Simon was
so full of wonder at the works that he beheld, the miracles
and the signs, He just wanted to get on the bandwagon. I want
some of that. He'd lost some praise there.
He wanted it back, didn't he? And he figured, I get even more
with this stuff. My stuff's just sorcery. This has got something to it. I want to be on that bandwagon. And Philip had received these
supernatural gifts after the apostles had laid hands on him.
That's the key. We're gonna see in this text
that Philip couldn't lay hands on them for the spirit to fall
upon them. It had to be the apostles. Showing us that those gifts are
no longer, after the apostles are gone, they're no longer. Does God still do miracles? Of
course he does. Of course he does. He still heals?
Of course he does. Yes, he's pleased to do it. And
you know, every believer is a miracle of grace. You're walking miracles,
beloved. Huh? Pretty amazing, isn't it?
Walking miracles of grace. Well, we were dead, now we're
alive. How do you make someone who was dead alive? Well, by
the power of God and of God only. We were dead spiritually, now
we're alive. That's a miracle right there. Look in verse 14. We see that
the apostles, which were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received
the word of God. And they sent unto them Peter
and John. They were excited. They sent
down Peter and John. Look at this. Now when the apostles,
which were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the
word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. And then we see
in verses 15 to 17 what happened next. Who, when they were come
down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet, he was fallen upon none of them, only they were
baptized in the name of the Lord. Then laid their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost. Well, the apostles were still
at Jerusalem. They heard the news that, my,
there's many converts in Samaria. That would excite them, wouldn't
it? That excite us, as believers. When we hear the Lord save someone
that we've been praying for, or save someone we haven't been
praying for, that somebody else is praying for, we rejoice, don't
we? My oh my. They'd received the word of God,
which means they'd received Christ and his gospel. So, the other
apostles sent John and Peter to Samaria. And when they got
there, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost,
for as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were
baptized in the name of Jesus, in the Lord Jesus. They'd been
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. How do we know that?
How do we know that they'd been regenerated by the Holy Spirit
of God? Because they believed. Would they be able to believe
without being regenerated? What this is talking about is
the ability to do signs and wonders. That's what this is talking about.
See, people take this and say, well, see, they weren't born
again. Yeah, they were. If they weren't born again, they
wouldn't believe. So they're born again. Oh, yeah. They testify to Christ. And they've
been baptized. My, oh, my. But what's being
brought forth here is the special endowment to do signs and wonders. Again, this confirms. Because look what happened. Look
at this. Think of this, too. Philip wouldn't
have baptized them if they hadn't confessed Christ, would he? No. And he just wouldn't have. But the Holy Ghost hadn't fallen
upon them as it had upon him, which gave him special gifts
that Philip had. But when the apostles, Peter
and John, and two of our Lord's apostles laid their hands on
them, then these new followers of Christ received these extraordinary
gifts from the Holy Ghost. Now this confirms a point that
I made earlier, that the sign gifts ceased with the apostles. Philip couldn't pray for them
and have them do these extraordinary things because he had received
them from the apostles laying hands on him. Oh my. And we see also with the profession
of Simon being false, the other point that I mentioned, wherever
the gospel is preached, there be true believers, true converts,
and there be false converts. That's why the Lord says, or
the scripture says, make your election calling sure. And how
I do that personally is, who am I trusting right now? Who
is my hope? Christ is my hope. And I didn't have that hope before. No. Before, I hoped in myself
that I was good enough, a good person. And then I found out
there's none good, no not one. Did you find that out? And who's
our hope? Who's our hope, beloved? Christ
is our hope, isn't he? And we're trusting him right
now. I don't care what I said, and I remember. I remember what
I said back then, but that don't matter. It's who am I trusting
right now? See, people lean and lay upon the profession of faith,
and then never in church, never, and say, well, I'm good. I'm good. I fixed that up. Oh my. No. No, you didn't fix nothing up.
You prayed a prayer that somebody else told you to pray. And there was no regeneration.
Now this guy here, he, from the outward, he looks like he's been
regenerated. He's going and he confessed Christ. But it was a false confession.
And we're going to see that. It was a false confession. And it says, verse 13, then Simon
himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he
continued to fill it. Well, some might ask again, how
could he be a hypocrite if he believed? Well, he didn't really
believe. And that's going to be evident
as we go through the next portion of scripture. Turn, if you would. Now this
is chillin', and I'll tell you what. These are religious folks.
Turn, if you would, to Matthew. I haven't preached on this, but
I want to. Look at this. Matthew. Start in verse 18 of
chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7, verse 18.
Look at this. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit. We looked at that this morning.
We talked about that this morning. Neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast in the fire. Wherefore,
by their fruit ye shall know them. Now, here are some chilling
verses. These are religious people, beloved.
How do we know that? How do we know that? Because
they said, Lord, Lord. Now, I want us to think about something before
we look at this. We ascribe all our salvation to Christ. And
we ascribe anything we do for Christ for his glory and his
honor and his praise. We don't want attention for it, do we? Have you ever been around religious
people and they brag about what they've done? I used to do that
in religion. But you probably experienced
that yourself, right? They want to tell you what they've
done. And again, I was guilty of this.
Praise God he delivered me from this stuff. But look at this.
This is chilling. Not everyone that says unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he
that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many. Look
at this. Not just a few. Many. will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord. Now watch what they're gonna,
watch what they're gonna justify themselves with. It's gonna be
by something they do. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name? Have we not preached in your
name? That's what that is. And done in thy name cast out
devils? Well, I'll tell you what, you
go on YouTube, or you can do it if you want, and there's these
folks that say they can cast out demons and they can do all
this stuff. That's a bunch of hogwash. Christ already defeated
Satan. He's crushed at the cross, beloved.
We serve a victorious king, and Satan is on the leash. You listen to some folks, they
think Satan has more power than God. That's a lie from the pit
of hell. God is sovereign. Remember, in the book of Job,
Satan had to come and ask permission to go at Job? And the Lord said, you can do
what you will, but you cannot take his life. That shows you
his sovereignty. And God sustained Job, didn't
he? Just like he sustains us. Hadn't he sustained you and I,
Brother Tom, and all the believers? He sustains us through this whole
world. Oh my, look at this. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Oh, what are they relying on? What they've done. This is why
I say, look to Christ. Cease from your labors and look
to Christ and Christ alone. He's the only hope for any sinner. The only hope for this old sinner,
I'll tell you what, my, look at this, and then will
I profess unto them, I never And that word in the Greek, new,
is ginoska, intimate relationship. It means, I never ginoska'd you. I never had an intimate relationship
with you. Now, he knows them as God, right?
He knows who they are. See, we have a ginoska relationship
with the Lord. We who are born again. We have
an intimate relationship with the Lord. He saved our souls.
He ginoska's us. He's loved us. were his bride. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. That love drove him to come to this earth to save us
from our sins on Calvary's grounds. I remember, who was it? Spurgeon,
I think, wrote, he said, we can't come close to this love. We can't
come close to this love, humanly, but a love that a mom has for
their children is just a sampling of. Because you know what? No
matter what your child does, you still love them, don't you? Even the guys in prison, their
mamas think they're good boys. Right? Oh my. Look at this. I never knew you. Depart from
me ye that work iniquity." All these wonderful things they've
done for him was wickedness in his eyes. Because they were done
for self. They weren't done for Christ.
Remember what I said earlier on Sunday School, the fruits
of righteousness, which is the works that God has ordained for
us to do? We don't even know when we do them. It's God working
in us. And as we saw in Philippians
111, they come by the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. Then look at this. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a
wise man that built his house upon a rock. Now, see, we've
all heard that story about this is what comes before it no one
ever talks about, which is what we just read. They always tell
this story about building your house on a solid rock. Yeah,
that's Christ, isn't it? But what he's bringing this narrative
out is because many will say unto him, many will have a false
refuge. Look at this. I will liken them
to a wise man which built his house upon a rock, and the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat
upon that house, and it fell not. For it was founded upon
a rock, founded on Christ. This is a picture. And everyone
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall
be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the
sand. And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and it beat upon the house, and
it fell, and great was the fall of it. So one had a solid foundation,
the rock, and the other had a foundation, the sand, which sank. And then
the winds came and just destroyed. I watched a dash cam yesterday.
I'd never seen anything like this. I watched a dash cam. It
was on YouTube video of the hurricane that went through Oklahoma recently. And it's a dash cam. You watch
this. It's a great big building in there. You watch this. Dash
cam. And the wind starts swelling.
I showed it to Vicki. It was unbelievable. Wind starts
swelling. And all of a sudden, pieces of the building start
flying. And the tornado hadn't even got there yet. And then
this, and I'm talking, this is a huge whale. And all of a sudden
you see pieces flying. And I read in the comments, and
one of the guys said, did you see that thing that flew by with
all the fans? He says, I installed one of them
on the roof like that place, and it took six men to install
that thing, to lift that thing up. And it's flying like it's
a piece of stick. Oh. When someone dies without Christ,
a sudden storm comes upon them. And the king of terrorists comes. Oh my. I was talking to someone
who I loved dearly yesterday and telling him, I said, I said,
what do you think happens after you die? What do you think happens after
you die? I said, well, I don't think anything happens. And I said, well, I said, I'm going to tell you
something I heard Henry say a long time ago. He said, I believe in Christ, and that
person don't believe in Christ, right? He's talking to him. If
I'm wrong, I've lived a moral life and a good life. He says,
but if I'm right, whoa. And we know we're right, don't
we? He says, well, he said to me,
well, lots of other people in religion feel just as sincere
as you do. And I said, yeah, but none of
those religions are based on the fact that God became a man.
God himself has saved my soul. Right? Yours too, if you're a
believer. That's our rock. The solid rock of the foundation
of our souls is that God himself has saved us by the shedding
of his precious, precious blood, beloved. God became a man to
save our eternal souls. And we say, praise his mighty
name. What a wonderful, merciful God. My, oh my. Let's look it over now in Acts
chapter 18. No, I'm sorry, Acts chapter 8,
verses 18 to 25. Remember Now just like I said, how can
people say, how can you say, he says he believed, how can
you say he was a hypocrite? We're going to see now. Remember also
when the Lord did all those miracles and fed folks and everything
and he said, you're just here to fill your bellies. And then he also told them that
it's impossible to save themselves. And scripture says a lot of them,
a lot of them walked with him no more. Many shall say unto me, Lord,
Lord, have we not done these wonderful works? He says, depart from me. Ye cursed,
ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. But what's he going
to say to God's people? What's he going to say to us,
Tom, by the grace of God? He's going to say, well done, my beloved servant. Enter into the joy of my rest.
And that's all because of what Christ has done for us. Isn't that amazing? By the grace
of God, by the grace and mercy of God, we're going to put it
right here. Well done. I have not done anything
good in my life of you. Christ did it all for me. And
because of Christ's righteousness is imputed to me and to you if
a believer. Well done. Isn't that going to be wonderful
sister and brother? Well done. Enter into the joy of my rest.
What did I do? You didn't do nothing. It's all
done by God. It's all done by Christ. Oh my,
I'll tell ya. It's incredible. Absolutely incredible. Look at this. Now here we're
gonna find out that Simon Magnus, Simon Magnus was a false convert. Look at Acts chapter eight, verses
18 to 25. And when Simon saw that, through
laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he
offered them money. Brother Tom, it would be like if you and I
were doing that, and somebody come up to us and said, I want
that, give me some money. Here's $100,000. This appears
to us here, just this statement alone. This man does not know God. Now, remember, he's famous. He got lots of money. People
have been following this fellow for years. You don't think he
got tons of money? He has so much he's offering
money for this supposed gift. I want what you got. Well, doesn't
the scripture say, in Isaiah, I believe it is, come. by bread
and milk without money and without price. See, the gospel's free. Salvation's free. It don't cost
nothing. It costs Christ, right? He died on the cross, of course,
but it doesn't cost us nothing. You ever hear people say this
all the time? I remember saying this to people. I remember saying
this to people when I was lost. They say this. They say, well,
if I believe, then I ain't going to have no more fun. I'm not going to be able to enjoy
my life. I'm not going to be able to do what I want. Well, I tried some of the things
they call fun. They weren't fun. But see, in
our depraved mind, we think they were fun. We got enjoyment. And scripture says sin is pleasurable
for a season, doesn't it? But it leads to death. Do you have more joy now as a
believer than you ever had before? Now we have a hope, don't we? And the hope is not based upon
us, it's based upon Christ. It's not based upon our doing.
It's based upon what Christ has done. And we, Brother Bruce Crabtree,
we can't mess it up. Praise God, eh brother? We've
talked about that. If it was us, we'd mess it up.
But praise God, we can't mess it up. Because it's in Christ. Look at this though. So he says,
he offers the money, saying, give me this power. I want it.
I want this power. That on whosoever I lay hands,
he may receive the Holy Ghost. So we know what he's after. He was a man well-known. He bewitched
the people in Samaria with his sorceries. He may have, as we talked about
that one time, he lost a little bit of his following. He lost
some money. I want to get that back. And surely with this I
could get all kinds of stuff. But Peter said unto him, thy
money perish with thee. See, we can't take a cent with
us, can we? We store up stuff. We can't take
a penny with us. My mom, when she died, before
she died, she said, well, I got some money set aside for you.
And I said, mom, take it and enjoy it. Go to Branson. Go to
somewhere you enjoy. Go spend it all. I can't do that. I said, yes you can. Enjoy it. Oh my. Thy money perish with
thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God, look at
this, this is the problem here, that the gift of God may be purchased
with money. Who's the gift of God? The Lord Jesus Christ, isn't
he? What else, for by grace are we
saved through faith? It's a gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. He's
saying, you can't get this gift with money. And I'll tell you what, this
is strong language. Peter's not just going, well,
you know, Simon Magnus, I don't want to offend you today, but
you know. No, look what he says to 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. Look what he just said to him.
He said, you are not saved. You don't have a part, you don't
have a lot in Christ. For thy heart is not right in
the sight of God. He's not born again. He's not being born again. His
heart is set upon what he can gain. Repent therefore of thy wickedness
and pray if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven
thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity. That song Sister Kathy sang,
Bound Up in Sin, right? That's where we were. That's
where Simon Magnus still is. Then answered Simon and said,
Pray ye the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye
have spoken come upon me. Now notice something there. You
notice something there in that verse right there? This is really
incredible. This shows you his heart. He
says, well, pray for me. He didn't say, Lord, I repent. Peter just said, repent. Remember the publican? God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. Remember the Pharisee? I thank
God that I'm not like that publican over there. So he asked someone to pray for
him rather than crying out to God himself. He's not sincere. He's not sincere, beloved. He
said, pray for me to the Lord for me. Pray ye to the Lord for
me that none of these things which ye 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. We see that Simon made a profession
of faith. He was baptized. Philip had no
reason to doubt Simon. He couldn't see what was in his
heart, could he? Couldn't see what's in his heart. And all
a preacher can do is take your word for it. I can't judge who's
saved and lost. I can just take a man's word
or a woman's word by a profession that they make. Only God and, you know, the only
one who knows if you're saved? There's only two people who know
you, two, that know if you're saved. You and God, or God and
you. Right? I talked to a dear sister. We
had a wonderful talk last week, and we were talking, and I brought
up what Spurgeon said. You ever doubt if you're one
of God's people? Let's just be honest. Have you ever doubted
that? You know what Spurgeon said about that? The only people
who ever doubt their salvation are saved people. The unsaved
don't care. Isn't that amazing? What do we say? How can I be
a Christian and be so wicked? By the grace of God. Aren't you
thankful it ain't dependent upon us? It's all dependent upon him.
Spurgeon, I'm going to bring another quote up on him. He said,
I sin enough to damn a thousand souls just from getting up out
of my bed and going to the kitchen table to eat breakfast. Isn't that amazing? That's a man who knew something,
right? He knew who he was. He knew what he was. But he also
knew that he had a great savior. who had forgiven him all his
sins and iniquities, washed in the precious blood of Christ.
Come unto me, our Lord said. Sinner friend, come unto Christ.
All ye that labor in our heavenly laden. He says, I'll give you
rest. I'll give you rest. His yoke is easy and his burden
light, isn't it? And we're told to cease from
our labors. Cease from trying to justify ourselves before God.
Just trust in the one who justifies us before God. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. The only way a sinner can be
justified before God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's it. No other way. So Philip had no
reason to doubt Simon. And you know what? An old commentator
said, let a man talk enough and he'll expose his heart. It's
true, isn't it? It's true. And you, man or woman,
let a man or woman talk enough and it'll expose their heart.
Oh my. In Luke, chapter 6, verse 45,
we read these words from our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, a
good man Of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that
which is good. And an evil man of the evil treasure of his heart
bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of
the heart, his mouth speaketh. See, we speak the things that
come out of our heart. Oh my, and Simon by his own words
exposed who he really was, what was really in his heart when
he offered our Lord's apostles money in exchange for the power
to do what the apostles were doing. And Peter knew Simon was
filled with hypocrisy. And he said to him in verse 20,
thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. And this truth applies to any
of God's spiritual gifts, including the gift of eternal life, it
can't be bought with money. The gift of saving faith, it
can't be bought with money. The gifts that God gives to his
people, they can't be bought with money. None of them. And you know it ceases to be
a gift if we can purchase it or earn it. Listen to this from Romans. Actually,
turn to Romans chapter 4. Turn to Romans chapter 4. Just
the next book over there. Romans chapter 4. And we'll read
verses 4 to 8. Romans chapter 4. Salvation can't
be purchased. Now the hymn that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justify the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Look at that. To him who don't
work, meaning work for our salvation. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. That's every believer. We've had righteousness imputed
to us without any work that we've done. No works of ours. And then look
at this, verse 7 and 8. These are just mountaintops.
Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. So if
you're a believer, you're blessed. All your iniquities are forgiven
by the precious blood of Christ. And whose sins are what? Covered. Amen, sister. Covered. Covered
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. See, our sins,
as believers, were imputed to Christ. All the sins of God's elect,
all the sins of his sheep, were imputed to Christ. And his blessed
righteousness is imputed to us. Woo! My! Now, it says blessed
twice there. We're twice blessed. We're more
than that, but we're, look at this. I'm going to read those
verse seven and again. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. My, oh my beloved. And Peter, let's go back to a
text. Peter said, look at what Peter said to him. He said, you
don't have any lot. You have neither part nor lot
in this matter. For thy heart is not right in
the sight of God. He's not been born again. He's
a false professor. He said the right things. Right? Do you know people can even believe
right doctrine and not be saved? Yeah. You can learn doctrine.
I was a Calvinist before the Lord saved me. I was a mean Calvinist. Man. Oh yeah. Gotta prove I was right all the
time. Now I realize I don't got to prove nothing. I just present. Right? Just present the truth. And say you're not arguing with
me, you're arguing with God. I'm just a messenger. My oh my. So when you talk to
folks you love and friends, if it comes up about what we believe
and you present to them, just present it to them. Don't argue
with them, just present it. This is truth. This is truth. So Peter could not look into
the heart of Simon. But he knew from his words that
his heart was not right. Just from his words. because
he thought he could purchase God's gift with money. And Peter exposed him for what
he was, a hell-deserving hypocrite who had neither part nor lot
in this matter of salvation through the gift of God's grace, and
through the gift of God's faith alone, and through the gift of
Jesus Christ and his finished work. See, what we have has been
revealed to us, hasn't it? And by the grace of God, we believe.
Now look at verses 22 and 23. Peter's not without compassion
because look what he says in verses 22 and 23. He didn't say,
well, you're wrote off now. No, look what he says. Repent,
therefore, of this wickedness, this thy wickedness, and pray,
God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Now notice what he said. And pray, God, you pray. See, there's a key there that
we could slip right by if we don't go slow. Look at this.
So he said, he said, and pray God if perhaps the thought of
thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art
in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. Repent. It means to turn from our wicked
ways. We preach repentance. Repent
before God. of our sinfulness, and we do,
don't we? Even still after we're saved, we still repent, don't
we? How do I know that? Lord, I'm so sorry. Did it again. Or forgive me,
Lord. Forgive me, I shouldn't have
acted that way. I shouldn't have said that. Now we know what sin
is. But notice he says, and pray
God. He tells him, you pray to God. Peter knew that those sinful
words that came from Simon's mouth were formed in his heart
and mind, in his heart and in his mind. And he spoke them as
evil thoughts. And evil thoughts are just as
sinful as evil deeds. How do we know that? The Lord
said, if you look on a woman with lust, you've already committed
adultery with her, even though you haven't done the act. Oh my. And vice versa for women
too. Right? See, the Lord spiritualized
the law and we're all guilty. We're all guilty. My oh my. So Peter told Simon to repent
of his wickedness, turn from his evil thoughts, turn from
his evil ways. Turn to Christ Jesus and beg
him to forgive you. Beg him to forgive you. And why
did Peter tell Simon to repent? Well, we see in verse 23 that
Peter knew by Simon's words that he was a hypocrite. He said,
for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and
in the bond of iniquity. You're bound up in your sins
still. You're not born again. And Peter was again telling Simon,
you're still dead in trespasses and sins. You're still an unregenerate
man with an old sinful nature. And Simon was manifesting by
his very words that his heart wasn't right. And remember, these are preserved
for our learning, right? These are perfect. So again,
let us examine ourselves. Who are we trusting right now?
Well, by God's grace and mercy, we trust in Christ, right? Oh, my. One might ask, well, didn't Simon
ask Peter to pray for him, that none of these things which had
spoken come upon him? Yes, he did. And there's nothing
wrong with asking other people to pray for us. But if Simon
had been serious about what Peter had said, that he didn't want
any of these things to come upon him, he would have fallen on
his face and cried out to God. Wouldn't he? He'd have fallen on his face
and cried out to God. Cried out with his own lips that
the Lord Jesus Christ would forgive him. And after Peter rebuked him,
the ancient writers portray Simon as one who mocked the apostles
in the gospel, one who lived in open sin, and one who continued
to portray himself as some great one. He didn't change. Didn't
change at all. Supposed to be a very lewd and
wicked man who carried about with him a prostitute whose name
was Helena, whom he would call the mother of the universe and
gave out the angels were made by her and the world by them.
He was just a deceiver. He never changed. And Simon's not the only one
that's named in the New Testament. We looked earlier in the study
at Ananias and Sapphira. Right? Oh, we sold the land for
everything. You got it all. Oh, my. Was that one fellow,
Paul says, Demas. Demas hath forsaken me. Love
the world. Love the world. So they turned out to be nothing
but hypocrites. And again, many, if you read
in John 6, many, many who profess to believe went back and walked
no more with the Lord. They spoke things they didn't
want to hear. They didn't want to hear about those things. Well,
they didn't believe. And they were nothing but hypocrites.
It's a very sobering, sobering message today. But as we said, we're going through
the text. Oh my, and the Apostle John spoke
of those who went out from us, because they were never of us. And any pastor who's been with
a congregation for any length of time knows, through the painful
experiences of this truth, concerning false professors meeting
with true believers. Look at verse 25. Now this we're
going to leave on a high note here. Look at this. This is wonderful. Our Lord had
told them to go out and preach the gospel in all of Judea and
Samaria, right? And then to the other most parts
of the world. Look at this in verse 25. 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 went through and just kept
preaching the gospel. Peter and John had confirmed
the gospels preached by Philip. They had established the young
converts in it. And against the heirs of Simon
Magnus, as they preached the word of the Lord, And when they
had preached the gospel in the city of Samaria, the same gospel
Philip had preached before, which showed that there was harmony,
harmony and agreement between them and the saints at Jerusalem. They told these things to the
rest of the apostles in account of how they had found things
at Samaria. And we see, though, upon their
journey back to Jerusalem, that they stopped at several places.
Think of this, all ordained by God. Which lay in their way, and they
preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. They preached
the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
salvation only comes in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him
alone. And in the rest of this chapter, which we'll look at
next week, Lord willing, Philip is sent by God to the Ethiopian,
to the Ethiopian, a eunuch, a Gentile like us, a Gentile like us, who
was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, just
like we were. Oh my. So this passage of narrative
before says, plainly brought forth the purpose of God, isn't
it? That God's purpose will be accomplished. He sent Philip
into Samaria for a reason. Because he has some sheep there.
And the Lord saved them. And then down comes Peter and
John. My. all according to the purpose
and will of God. And then when they're leaving,
they're preaching the gospel all the way home. So this passage of narrative
before us is plainly brought forth. The purpose of God and
the salvation of his chosen people. He will send a preacher. God's sheep will hear the gospel.
And they shall be saved by the power of God. God the Holy Spirit
regenerating us. How? Through the merits of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we'll be saved, through
the merits of Christ and Christ alone. And praise God. We've been delivered, sister.
We've been delivered from spiritual darkness. We've been delivered
from all our sins. We've been washed in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we say? Oh, glory
to his name. honor and praises and blessings
to his name. Brother Neil, can you close us
in prayer?