You have your outlines we're
going to be dealing with verses 13 and following Cleaving with
flatteries is where we left off last week We'll continue to develop
that as we look at the intervention that will take place now by the
Apostle Peter in this Battle that's raging on a spiritual
level where this one Simon is seeking to infiltrate the church
and Engage in a kind of manipulation and a kind of deception that
That if he were to succeed Would cause the church to believe that
he was the truth But he did not succeed and we are thankful for
it. Now if you guys remember we saw in verse 13 that Then
Simon himself believed also when he was baptized, and he continued
with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and the signs which
were done." That's verse 13. Remember, Simon was this false
prophet. He was this pseudo-messiah. He was this individual that made
himself out to be great among the Samaritans. He actually practiced
witchcraft, sorcery, Of all kinds, it was actually magic. That's
what our word, magio, means in the Greek. He was a magician,
but he came off as if he was one who was possessed by the
Spirit of God. And what that means is that human
beings are easily gullible. That's all that means. That means
that you and I are easily gullible. When someone comes along and
they are able to do something that impresses us, that mesmerizes
us, that influences us. And we don't actually know what
they're doing, but what they are doing causes us to wonder,
what do they have that I don't? That puts us in a very vulnerable
position. And that vulnerable position
will cause us to be susceptible to raising that individual or
those individuals to a level that is not appropriate, to a
position of influence, at least in our life, that's not correct.
This is this great one that we are saying Simon has not only
himself asserted being, but the others did too. If you recall
verse 11, and to him they had regard, because that of a long
time he had bewitched them with sorceries. They all gave heed
to him, verse 10, from the least to the greatest, saying, this
man is the great power of God. It is very important for us to
lift that up and remember again what these people are doing.
They are putting him on a platform and a par with Jesus Christ.
So hold on for a moment now, because I do want to make sure
that we enter into the application of his Simon's intention of cleaving
to fill up. But but I do want you to grasp
that human beings are fickle and particularly religious folk
is really true. There's a certain gullibility
on our part. We do far less being critical
in our thinking than we should. There's a there's a sense in
which what Christian folks do religious folks do is we we make
assumptions That that person has our best interest in view
and then we buy into very flawed and security modes. Like if a large group of people
happen to say they're okay, then we kind of calm down and say
they must be okay because a large group of people say they're okay.
This is kind of a consensus orientation where if the multitude agrees
that this is the right way, now it's the right way. And I would
submit to you that that kind of thinking makes you a non-discerning
Christian. Have you ever heard Proverbs
chapter 14 verse 15 Proverbs 14 15. Let's look at that briefly
I just want to lift this up before we go into the transition that's
about to take place obviously Philip has entered into Samaria
by the will of God Obviously this Simon has for a long time
Bewitched the Samaritans Proverbs 14 verse 15. Are you there? Listen
to what it says the simple is Believe every word Now that's
not to be taken in the positive This is a satirical statement
simply saying that people are open to every idea without being
critical about it The simple remember in the Bible we have
this antonym between the simple and the prudent and the Proverbs
the simple man is the person that can be seduced and He's
also called the man void of understanding. And the harlot woman can suck
him in. That's Proverbs 7. Now the prudent man looks well
to his going. Isn't that the next line? The
prudent man. Who is the prudent man? He's
the one of whom Proverbs opens up saying, if you take heed to
my words, I will make you a man of discernment. a man of prudence,
a man of subtlety, a man of wisdom, a man who knows the fear of God.
And the very fear of God, which is a healthy messianic attribute,
will keep you from closing the deal with crooks and cons to
your own hurt. The very fear of God will keep
you from closing the deal on a flawed premise of because the
multitude says he's all right, or the multitude says she's all
right, or the multitude says they're all right. and thus fall
prey to the common colloquialism that happens in churches frequently. And that's this. Christians seem
to leave their brains at the door when they enter into the
church. And I've told you before, do not, do not, do not do that. If you don't, if you don't care
about being a deeply rooted, deeply committed follower of
Christ, then education means nothing. But if you are a true
believer, math, the two O is another term, for being a disciple,
that's a word for learner. And if you and I are not primary
learners, we will never be ready for this spiritual battle because
you can only see as God gives you eyes to see. And so in the
account that you and I are dealing with, go back to our text, Acts
chapter eight, Simon had deceived the whole Samaritan group, hadn't
he? They called him the great power of God. You and I exegetically
learned that if we call an individual the power of God, who are we
making this individual when we call him the power of God? Jesus. When we call this individual
the power of God, we are making this person the savior is not
Christ God's power. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses
18 through 24. And so when this man is lauding
himself as being some great one and the people are calling him
the great power of God, he is now occupying Christ's seat. That means he is an antichrist. Because an antichrist is one
who takes the place of Christ to obscure the glory of God,
to blind you to the true so that you actually put your trust in
this one. Thankfully, however, God sent
a true gospel preacher, didn't he? In Philip. And when Simon
saw Philip's preaching and teaching and how he had drawn many of
those Samaritans, so much so that they were baptized, verse
13, men and women, then Simon himself believed also. And when
he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding
the miracles and the signs which were done. The second thing I
had stated in one of your previous outlines is to be baptized is
not the same as being saved. To be baptized does not equal
being saved. It's important for you to know
that. We'll be teaching baptism this Sunday because several people
will be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. Baptism is important. It means a lot. Those who are
truly obedient to Christ will be baptized. But those who understand
the gospel know that nothing you and I ever could do could
produce salvation for us. that water baptism could never
be rightly understood as an act that produces salvation or brings
us into a savable state or even brings us closer to God. One
of the things I have to do is kind of keep this tension between
encouraging people to come to the waters of baptism if they
believe the gospel and at the same time telling them do not
enter the water. If you think that the water is
going to make you a better Christian. Can I say something to you about
that? Generally, this is how it works. That when once a person
actually enters into the waters of baptism, having been baptized
by a legitimate minister of the gospel, they are making an open
public announcement to the world and hell that they are Christ. And the battle is on. I will
tell you more times than not, the people who have climbed up
out of the water of baptism, and I have done hundreds and
hundreds of baptisms in my ministry. Virtually every one of them got
out of the water right into the trial. Isn't that the pattern,
the paradigm? We're learning that in Greek.
Isn't that the model paradigm construct? Christ came up out
of the water to go directly into what? The temptation. So a man
or woman must understand that going into the water does not
secure you. It doesn't make you safe. It
doesn't make you holier. It doesn't make you better. It
just simply makes you more public. And if you're not ready to put
on the whole armor of God and go to work after that water baptism,
the devil is going to whip your butt. He sure is. A month after your baptism, you
will wonder whether or not you are even saved. So let's go on. Let's go to work a little bit.
Um, if we have our, I don't know, do we have our PowerPoint that
we still are under point number four and then we'll get to point
number five. We, um, uh, we asserted that this confession or this,
uh, being baptized on the part of, uh, Simon was a false baptism. We saw that later on down the
line. But what I noted in the construction of verse 13, for
some of you who are new with us, we saw that Simon himself
believed in when he was baptized, he continued with Philip. And
we said that that term meant that he stuck with Philip with
the one objective of trying to figure out what Philip was up
to, remember? Because he was beholding not
God, He wasn't contemplating the grace of God. He was beholding
the miracles and the signs which were done, right? So now again,
as we are contemplating... As we are contemplating that,
we're still under point number four. I don't know if you can
pull it up to point number four. If we're contemplating that,
understand this, that in that first century, authentic miracles
were done. Absolutely so. But miracles should
never be understood as an end in themselves. In other words,
you are not spiritual just because you acknowledge a miracle. You
are not spiritual just because you long for a miracle. You can
be just as endangered for hell as anyone else, as the atheist
or the agnostic or the person that denies all forms of supernatural. You can be just as much in danger
of hell as they are if your pursuit is after signs and wonders. Remember
what our master said to the Pharisees? This adulterous and perverse
generation seeks after a sign and a wonder. And there shall
no sign be given it, but the sign of the cross, no legitimate
sign, no sign that has saving efficacy, but the sign of the
son of man who was in the earth for three days and three nights.
And so our master, he, he, he constrains our infatuation with
miracles by telling us if you are pursuing miracles, you're
not pursuing God. That's true. That's so true. This guy wanted the power, didn't
he? How do we know that? Let's work our way through this.
Verse 14 says, Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard
that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them
Peter and John. What's taking place in verse
14? God the Holy Spirit is moving the apostles now to enter into
Samaria to intercept this man Simon. The Spirit of God now
is about to come and rescue the sheep from someone who actually
has historic relationships with these people of whom, if the
Spirit of God does not intervene, he could influence them, overthrow
their faith, muddy up their faith, retard their growth, impede their
faith. Here's the problem that would
occur if Peter and John did not show up. If Peter and John did
not show up, I could hypothesize, ladies and gentlemen, that over
time, Simon would have once again regained his popularity. But
he would have been popular now as a Christian. But he would
have been a Christian mystic. You understand that? He would
have been one of those Christians who had a little Bible in him,
a little astrology, a little numerology, a little, uh, uh,
uh, Taoism, uh, and, um, uh, some, a hodgepodge of, of sort
of, uh, esoteric teachings that would have been able to sway
ignorant and unlearned people. Now, and actually what I'm talking
about right now, again, is this sort of Bel Pior mentality. Pior
is the Hebrew word for meaning to be open, wide open. This is
the idea of Proverbs 14, 15, again, where the simple believe
everything. Well, if a person knows that
you don't have a prism, a grid, a framework by which you test
things, then they know they can throw at you everything plus
the kitchen sink to get you distracted from the most important thing.
And the next thing you know, you're infatuated by. That's
why the Bible would tell you and I to be simple when it comes
to evil. That you and I should not find
ourselves investigating all kinds of forms of evil that go on in
the world. We're going to talk about this
a little bit this week, but more or less next week, the depths
of Satan as they speak. in the church at Thyatira. This
prominent female had risen up and she were teaching the disciples
to actually commit the cultural sins that were taking place at
that time under the rubric of having a prophetic word. And
that prophetic word was leading them into depths of satanic teachings. They were entering into these
secret chambers, secret places. private meetings, private studies,
to where they were going so deep into this kind of esoteric experience
that they were utterly lost in it, failing to see the uniqueness
of the gospel. Have you ever gone down that
track? How many of you have been trapped by that kind of esoteric
false doctrine? You don't have to raise your
hand, but I know most of you have. You don't have to raise your
hand, it's true. Especially when you're not grounded in the faith.
It's easy to slip, even for a week or a month, even for a few days
by some very slick talking religious person. When you don't know,
you don't know. We're all like dumb sheep. And
I know that this is a prominent experience for many American
Christians, that they've gone down the road of cults, experienced
cultic-like dynamics, being lured in by a very charismatic person. who started taking you down paths
that was non-christocentric and unbiblical. And the only thing
that kept you was God's mercy to stop you from going into the
depths so deep that you were trapped. And for some of you,
you were actually trapped and God broke the trap and brought
you out anyway. This is true. This is true. So
what we know is we don't have the ability in and of ourselves
to discern false teaching from true teaching until God teaches
us true teaching. And then even when he teaches
us the truth, he has to give us a kind of internal fortitude
to say no to the luring temptations of salacious teaching, because
it's powerful. And especially when we're vulnerable
and when we're weak. And so this is an intervention
on the part of, um, God to help us. So verse 14 says they came,
verse 15, 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 they their hands on
them and they received the Holy Ghost. You guys see verses 15
through 17? Just a brief warning, we'll affirm this in chapters
nine and 10. Don't make this a model for receiving
the Holy Ghost. This is not a model. No model
for receiving the Holy Ghost, because we are so quick to want
to bottle the Spirit of God and sell it. This is not a model.
What I love about the Book of Acts is it destroys fixed paradigms
wherein people assume that if you use this technique, you can
get the Holy Ghost. Like a lot of churches will have
a certain methodology by which you are to get the Spirit of
God. And one of them is they lay hands on you. You understand? And so the assumption that the
Holy Ghost is received by laying on hands is a flawed assumption.
It is not exegetically sound. And what I love about the Book
of Acts is the Lord intentionally breaks patterns to demonstrate
His sovereignty, to keep the church from building manuals
on how you get the Holy Ghost. But we still do it, don't we?
We still tell you, you got to do this, you got to do that,
you got to do the other thing. In chapter 8, they lay hands
on them, don't they? In chapter 9 and 10, guess what?
Peter's just talking, the Holy Ghost comes down. Isn't that
right? Are you guys aware of that? While he's talking, the
Holy Ghost comes down. You know what that asserts and
establishes? The sovereignty of God to save whom he will,
anoint whom he will, when he wills. Not even the apostles
could say emphatically that the way you get the Holy Ghost is
through us by the laying on of hands. So we break those rules
because then those rules are lifted up. Those rules are now
augmented. Those rules are sold for hundreds
of thousands. I have the key to the anointing
and that's a sad, sad reality, but it's prominent in church
too. So I say that to simply say, do not use this portion
of scripture as a precedent. This does not become an axiom
for receiving the spirit of God. It's not a model. It's not a
model. If we are going to say anything
about the application of Precedent our consistency with regards
to the impartation of the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts. Here's
what I would say It's not X. It's not exclusively by laying
on of hands It's not by water baptism Water baptism does not
automatically mean the outpouring of the Holy Ghost Although our
Lord was water baptized and what happened at his baptism. He received
the Spirit of God But it was not because of the water even
though there was an association and always is in the new testament
water spirit water spirit except you be born of the water and
of the spirit you will not enter into the kingdom of god so symbol
And then substance often will be accompanying one another.
The symbol being the water, the substance being the spirit, right?
But the symbol does not demand, the symbol does not demand the
substance. It can't tell the substance that
it must happen. In other words, you and I ought
never to assume that God will actually do that because we climb
into the water. So how many of you guys have
believed that? Quite a few of you did. I did. I was 18 years
old when God saved me. And, and, and because my understanding
was deficient, but I was absolutely jazzed by the word of God. I
said, okay, Lord, I'm getting baptized now. I understand what
this is all about, but I am desiring you to do something for me. I
went into the water, wet, came out of the water, wet, nothing
happened. Nothing happened. So I said,
you know, I wonder maybe, maybe I didn't stay under long enough. And over time I understood that
God had already baptized me with the Holy Spirit. And that the
water was simply a symbol of my union with Jesus Christ, as
we shall be taught on Sunday. Because I came out straightway
preaching, I'll tell you that. But it wasn't because I went
into the water. It was because the Spirit of God had entered
into me. And that's so very important for us to understand. So when
they had come down, they had prayed that they might receive
the Holy Ghost. He had not yet fallen upon the Samaritans to
confirm that evangelical projector. Remember, remember Jerusalem,
Judea, and then what? Samaria. He laid hands on them,
they laid hands on them, they received the Holy Ghost. Now
here's verse 18. And when Simon saw that, through the laying
on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered
them money. There is the exposure of his
motive. He thought God could be bought. Proverbs 17, 16 is where we were
last time, just in case you're new with us. Why is there a price
in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing that he has no
heart for it? Why would a man or a woman, our
group, think that they can actually buy the gift of God? Do you know
what Isaiah says in Isaiah chapter 55 verse 1? Come, buy wine. five
mil without money and without price. It's free. Isn't it free? It's free. And also the reason
for which God would tell us to not buy it with money is in order
for us not to be able to steal his glory. The gospel is free
in order that men and women might not boast. It's free in order
that we might know that salvation is not obtained by those who
are wealthy or prominent. The assumption that you could
purchase levels of spiritual maturity would then indict us
and condemn those of us who are poor, right? But the gospel is
for poor and rich men. It's for all, is it not? All
who come to Christ sincerely are able to receive both the
gospel and its blessings. So now there's this other aspect
that we need to deal with now because for many, many years,
people have assumed that Simon was just misguided. He was a
believer, but he was misguided. I would assert to you that that's
not an accurate view of this man, Simon. And we are about
to see this. It says in verse 18, when Simon
saw that the laying on of hands by the apostles resulted in the
outpouring of the Holy Ghost, he offered them money. See now
he leaves Philip and he goes to the Apostles This is a man
given to change of which the proverb says do not go with them
that are given to change verse 19 saying give me Also this what? What was he after? That's right
He was after power He had dark power that he was working with
all those years black magic He was under the power of Satan.
He was influenced by Satan. He was taught by Satan. He was
cuddled by Satan. He was Satan's child. He still
is, but he had come across a real authentic power that was so absolutely
far more superlative and real than he had ever known that he
was willing to do all he could to get it. His motive was absolutely
wrong. This man, Simon was still lost. He was not saved at all. And we need to work through that
because we need to understand that it's possible for us to
visibly see the work of God in people's lives, misinterpret
that work and crave after that work on a, on a, again, on a
flaw premise or a bad motive, having no real interest, no real
interest in a saving relationship with God who wouldn't want this
kind of power. So we are dealing now again with
our outline point number five the keys to the kingdom exercise
the keys to the kingdom exercise you remember what our master
told the disciples in Matthew 16 when he says I will build
my church and the gates of hell will not prevail and I give unto
you the keys of the kingdom and He said whatever you open will
be opened and whatever you shut will be shut Those are keys of
authority That's the power that the apostles had to deal with
people who were trying to enter into the kingdom the wrong way.
They had the ability and we see this consistently through the
book of Acts. We saw this in chapter 13 and
we'll see this again in chapter 13 again, where certain persons
were trying to enter into the kingdom the wrong way. Humility
was not there. He says in verse 19, give me
also this power that on whomsoever I may lay my hands, he may receive
the Holy Ghost. He was ready to follow that pattern,
wasn't he? Verse 20, but Peter said unto him, we're getting
ready to now run a number of points, critical insights that
the apostles about to make to help us understand just how lost
Simon was. Peter said unto Simon, watch
this, your money perish with you. Those are harsh words. Ladies and gentlemen, what, what's
Peter saying? He was saying that Simon was
in a state of perishing. And that just as money, as our
master described it in the Gospel of Matthew, is understood as
unrighteous mammon. Mammon is a Greek term that actually
had to do with the deity of that culture, the pagan deities of
that time. And Christ knew, just as well
as any of us should know, that wherever there is dark powers
and negative influences, that the tool and instrumentality
that they use most prominently is money. Money becomes a power,
a instrument by which they manipulate and control and coerce and reward,
by the way, those who are in that kingdom. This is what makes
the kingdom of God so radically different than the kingdom of
the world. And this, by the way, is why I would warn you not to
cozy up to prosperity preaching. I would warn you Do not cozy
up to prosperity preaching because the notion that God must make
you wealthy is so enormously contrary to the nature and tenor
of the gospel that the only reason you contemplate that as being
an authentic proposition is because of the weakness of your flesh.
The only reason that you and I would be drawn in by God promises
to prosper you even as your soul prospers All you need to do is
claim your blessings. He has given us all things. All
of the passages that they quote are true passages, but the motive
upon which they are actually quoting those passages are wrong.
And the assumption that God must actually fulfill those passages
on a literal level is to the detriment of people who think
that the only way that you can be affirmed that God loves you,
has embraced you, is walking with you, is if he opens the
heavens and pours out material blessings on you. Are you guys
following what I'm saying? And that's dreadful. That's dreadful
because you and I know in the economy of God that God does
not always actually give people material blessings. That some
people, meaning this, that some people will find that they will
have to struggle to trust God every day for him to meet their
needs until they die. I mean, not only just some people,
I'm talking about whole ethnic groups. I'm talking about whole
nations. There are nations who have yet
over the last 2000 years to rise to a level of economic promise
of whom out of that nation were multitudes of believers. having
to trust Christ in little straw huts and mud huts and they don't
even have running water. I'm talking, I'm thinking about
the myriad of my brothers and sisters around the world who
have lived and died in the hope of the gospel, never even once
fantasizing that God must somehow pour upon them blessings of some
enormous level in order to prove that he loves them. And when
I think about the infrastructure of many of our third world countries,
where there is dynamic ministry taking place. I mean, dynamic
ministry. You know what some of our preacher
brethren are doing in these third world countries? They're simply
asking for the Western church to give them Bibles. They don't
want anything else from you but Bibles. And they're walking from
village to village, dozens of miles to go preach to the people
in the dirt, on the ground, while they sit there and hear the word
of God. All they want is the word of God. They don't want
your money. They don't want your prosperity
promises. They don't know how to build a bridge from a radical
third world country scenario to a first world scenario. They
don't see how that's going to happen, but they're happy in
Jesus. If they can have their daily
needs met. And after all that corresponds
with new Testament truth with food and Raymond, let us be there
with content. Father, give us this day our
daily bread. Whatever happened to that principle
of temperance? Am I making some sense? It's very important for
us to understand that when we are falling prey, falling prey
for more than the basic staple, we are missing the point altogether. And I think that this man, Simon,
he was nowhere near, nowhere near that. Your money perish
with you. That's the first condemning statement
that Peter makes with him. that this man is completely attached
to his money. What does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and lose his soul? Richest profit
not in the day of wrath. Are you guys hearing me? You
cannot pay for your soul. The wealth of your soul, the
psalmist says is beyond price. You can't pay for your soul is
beyond the monetary means. that we use as commerce in this
world. Here's what he says. But Peter said unto him, Your
money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. See, Peter penetrated
into his thoughts. It was obvious. He may have been
stating the obvious, but it was clear to Peter when he came there.
Who knows, when we are reading our Bibles and we read these
terse statements from verses 13 to verse 20, it seems like
the apostles rushed in, quickly laid hands on the people, the
people received the Spirit of God, and Simon quickly rushed
to Peter. But the reality is, in all probability,
there was a number of days that transpired. This was a whole
city they were ministering to. Philip may have begun to talk
to Peter about this man, Simon, who seemed to be hanging on his
every shadow. Say, hey, Philip, I mean, hey,
Peter, John, see this dude back there, man? Kind of creepy. I
mean, every time I wake up, I go right out of my house. Here he
is on my porch. I'm at the store. He's following me to the store.
He's asking me a thousand questions. You know, I'm not real sure how
to deal with him, but I don't think he's right. Peter and John
would say to Philip, don't worry about it. The Lord got your back. That which is in the dark will
come out in the light. That which is done in secret
will be made manifest openly. Don't judge anything before the
time. When the Lord comes, he'll make manifest everything. Is
that true? And that's what he's doing here, isn't he? And so
he goes on to say, you thought you could purchase the gift of
God with money. Now here is where he begins to
now actually expose his nature. You have neither part nor lot
in this matter. Do you see that? The word part
and lot is the inheritance term. the inheritance term. You don't
have any lot in the kingdom of God. That means you're unsaved.
You don't have any part in this ministry. That means God is not
calling you to preach the gospel. The word part and lot has to
do with not only the kingdom of God, but the ministry of the
gospel that Peter and John had taken up that was given to them
as a gift from Christ. Evidently Peter saw that this
man really wanted to be on a par with the apostles. I will pay
you for your holy gifts, holy ghost, so I can pour the holy
ghost out on people through the lane of his so that they can
view me as an apostle too. No, you have no apostolic calling,
nor do you have a part or a lot in the kingdom of God. You're
still lost. You guys got that? So this is
a word of knowledge that comes to Peter where he can be frank
with this man about the condition of his heart. There's a word
of knowledge that comes to Peter where he can be frank with this
man about the condition of his heart. And then he goes further.
Watch this. For you have neither part nor
lot in this matter for your heart is not right in the sight of
God. Now, you know, if Peter were
preaching that today, the whole church would be saying, Peter,
don't judge. You can't tell what's going on
in that man's heart. See the word right there. It's
the word straight. It's the word for orthodoxy. What Peter was saying to that
man was your heart is wicked. You don't have truth operating
in your heart. Truth is not running through
your veins. Your heart is still twisted. Your heart is still
crooked. It's still corrupt. It's still
blackened by sin. You're still lost. It's not straight. There's a couple of verses I
want you to see with regards to that. Chapter 13, verse 10. This is where Peter is dealing
with another nefarious character along these lines. Listen to
what he says in chapter 13, verse 10. And then we'll go back. This is this is Paul and Barnabas
dealing with this guy bar Jesus and listen to what I said in
I'm gonna start back at verse I'll start at verse 6 and when
they had gone through the aisles of Paphos, they found a certain
here's another one sorcerer Right a false prophet a Jew whose name
was bar Jesus that means son of Jesus Which was with the deputy
of the of the country? Sergius Paulus, a prudent man
who called for Bonibus and Saul and desired to hear the word
of God. Here's the conflict. You got this crook hanging out
with this dignitary or this man who is in the judiciary. He happens
to be the deputy of the country. But the deputy of the country,
Sergius Paulus, he's a prudent man. He wants to hear the word
of God. So now the sorcerer is going to come up over against
the word of God. The sorcerer is walking in darkness.
The apostles are walking in light. What's about to happen? An exposure
is about to take place. Look at verse 38, verse eight.
But Elimus, the sorcerer, for so his name by interpretation,
which stood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the what?
See there, you see how darkness and light cannot coexist together.
I love it like that too, I really do. Why I love it like that is
because it makes it easier for you and me. Remember I told you
a couple of weeks ago in the Sunday message that the spirit
of God works with the word of God to sever the sheep from the
goats, the wheat from the tare, the chaff from the wheat, the
godly from the ungodly, that God in his prerogative to keep
you and to bring you to the place that he has purpose for you will
separate you from people that mean you no good. Have you experienced
that in your life? Have you experienced craving
for a relationship with someone in your naivete and God ruins
that relationship? Now watch this. And you kind
of cry and whine and wonder what happened. God's saving you. God save you. You wonder why,
you know, it wasn't working. Just rubbing each other the wrong
way. Every time we get together, we're
in conflict while we argue, especially we call ourselves Christians.
While we arguing, man, coming close to home. Am I coming close
to home while we arguing and we wanted to work for whatever
reason and God won't let it work. When he cares about us, he won't
let it work. When he cares about us, he won't let it work. This
guy, however, here, the sorcerer, is just an open hostility to
the apostles. Verse nine, then Saul, who is
also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost. Remember what
we learned long ago in the book of Acts? Whenever you read that
term, filled with the Holy Ghost, that means there's a present
infusion of the Spirit of God in the life of the apostle or
that servant, and he's going to now work in an unusual way
of manifesting his power. Paul set his eyes on him, that
bow, locked in on him, honed in on him like a heat seeking
missile, beamed in on him, put his scope on him, locked in,
ready to fire. That's a mess. Now this is the first time Paul
set his eyes on people. In fact, Luke uses this term
for Paul and Peter. Remember Peter and John set their
eyes on the layman at the gate, honed in. So sometimes we hone
in on people whom God is calling us to minister to. You hone in
and you pay attention. You regard that person. Wait
a minute. Maybe this is a mission. And then other times you hone
in on people because they are harmful to the kingdom. especially
when you're called to be a guard of the kingdom, you hone in,
you lock in on that person, you get a beat on him. And now you
start to map him. We use the word mapping, right?
We start following his tracks and watching his behavior. See who he's hanging out with.
We do that in church. I just want you to know that
we map people in church. We check you out, especially
the brothers coming on up in here, trying to get friendly
with the sistering. We watch you. It's a good thing to do. Now
watch this. He set his eyes on him and said, Oh, full of all
subtlety and all mischief. That's not nice, but it's the
truth. Listen to what he said. Oh, full
of all subtlety. He didn't even say to the man,
you just misguided in your theology. No, you're full. of deceitfulness. He didn't say deceitful. He said
full of deceitfulness, all full running over, brimming over with
deceitfulness and all mischief. Are you ready? You child of the
devil. That was cold. Well, I picked
up Paul. You take no prisoners. That's
right. Here's how he explained it. You
enemy of all righteousness. He's heaping upon him those pejoratives
because it's true of them. You know what's interesting about
the two cases that we're dealing with right now? If you don't
really, if you haven't actually inferred from our account really
what's taking place, these are quick judgments. quick judgments. These are quick assessments and
quick judgments. So, you know, what we're going to learn on
Sunday is that the reason why Thyatira got in trouble is because
they were way too tolerant with Jezebel. By the time Jezebel
was dealt with, Christ had to tear up half the church because
they were way too tolerant. And sometimes we are way, way,
way too tolerant of a person. See, there's a window when you
are dealing with people who are not right, where there's a clear
signal and it's hot, red hot. That is a problem that needs
to get dealt with. And when you cross that line of discernment
and concern, that signal starts to dim and wane. Now that person
who hasn't done anything but become a little bit more familiar
with your environment and has learned how to settle down and
kind of just wait his turn, he now knows that you are kind of
retreating. And so your alarm starts to diminish. And before long, that person
knows how to work with you and the group under the radar. This
is what is meant in Jude 4 when it says, and they crept in privately. unawares. It's a very strong
verb form for them to come in subtly, quietly, sit down, take
a place of, uh, unassumed position and gradually incrementally start
to work their stuff. I'll talk about it on Sunday,
but that's what they do. And what should happen is that
when leadership sees the first unorthodox thing, Get together
with that man. Get together with that woman.
Find out where they're coming from. Ask them some questions.
Let them know this is what we teach here. This is how we deal
with our people here. You know, we give people a little
bit of room, but there are a bunch of you who know that we don't
wait too long before we deal with people. Is that true? Is
that how many of you guys have seen me dealt with people? My men
have. We give a person just a little time to understand you're dealing
with the kingdom here. Just because we nice people,
we try to be nice. We're trying to be safe, folks,
aren't we? So we're nice people. We're going to eat. We're going
to have coffee with you. We feed people and everything. We're
trying to be nice. You know, that's what we're trying
to be. But if you come in here with the wrong motive and try
to plant your flag, you're going to find yourself on the street
real quick at grace. We're not going to have any damage
in our master's kingdom. And we don't feel real sorry
for you. And we're not gonna be making
a whole lot of excuses to the saints. Where did he go pastor? He gone, don't worry about it.
He gone. Just enjoy the peace. Cause that
person was disturbing the peace. Was he not? Disturbing the peace,
not knowing how to conduct himself, not knowing how to conduct herself,
just disturbing the saints. Well, they're not here. I understand
you feel a little bit, but settle down. It's peaceful again. That's
what's happening here. They were not waiting. They dealt
with it. I commend them because churches
today, they don't let their churches be destroyed from the inside
out by people who are unprincipled and have no concern for the unity
of the saints. Here it is. You enemy of all
righteousness. Will you not cease to pervert
the right ways of the Lord? See that word right ways. That's
the same word that Peter is using concerning the heart of Simon. He's saying, Simon, your heart
is not in the right way. What Paul is saying to the sorcerer
here is you are perverting the right way. See, Simon, Peter
caught Simon before he even got started talking. He caught him,
caught him. Let's go back now. Caught him. caught him before he could work
his damage. We've seen it. We've seen people
come in and we've seen people settle down and use their gifts
and draw people to themselves as Acts chapter 20 said, speaking
perverse things. And when they left, people left
with them. That's what they're trying to
do. They're trying to get their own little flock so that when
they actually are finally kicked out, they take a group with them.
of unstable souls who do not understand the necessity of church
discipline. Are you guys following what I'm
saying? And that happens. He was nice, I don't know why
you did that. I'm uncomfortable, pastor, with
the fact that you guys were so swift in your judgment. What
did you want us to do? Take a vote? 700 people, children
too? Get a consensus whether or not
he should stay or not? Make him front and center. See,
sometimes these crooks come up into the church actually to become
the center of attention. They do. Especially when you
come into a gospel church. This is the thing that kills
narcissistic self-centered persons. When you come into a gospel church,
the gospel church levels everyone. You get brought down to the same
level. If you're going to enjoy grace,
you're going to have to enjoy Jesus. be in front and center.
He becomes the big dog. You understand? He becomes the
big dog. Not your gift, not your gifting, not your anointing,
not your this, not your that. You understand that? He becomes
the big dog. And that's very important in
a church. One of the reasons why there is a need for a crystal
centric theology is because when we have a crystal centric theology,
we can all more or less focus on Christ. And that focus on
Christ minimizes you and I now getting into petty squabbles
because we have turned our neck and started getting into other
people's businesses. A Christocentric theology makes us have to walk
in unity because in order for me to keep my eyes off Christ,
I gotta leave you alone. That's good stuff. That's good
stuff. As you know, in churches, we
get nosy and gossipy. Because our eyes are not fixed
on Christ, we get to now diverting and getting busy in other people's
business. And the whole church is filled
with that, of which the New Testament says it should not be. Back in
Acts chapter 8, now let's go through this subsequent list,
which is going to further demonstrate Peter's discernment, the keys
of authority that he has to bind this man and keep him out of
the kingdom. And I want you and I to just
think through some of the Very very very serious implications
of these statements that are now about to be drawn out He
says again over in verse 22 verse 21 you have neither partner a
lot in this matter for your heart is not right in the sight of
God see it Peter calls on the highest authority in the universe
to affirm his judgment What Peter was saying to that man and those
around him was, this is not my assessment. This is God's assessment.
God has just revealed to me that you are not in the kingdom. That's powerful. Verse 22. Here's Peter's suggestion. Here is Peter's solution to this
man's dilemma. Repent. Do you see that? Repent. Now, Repentance can be understood
in the sense of the child of God. You and I are called to
repent, are we not? When we do wrong, repentance
is the idea of turning, isn't it? Turn around, not 360 degrees,
180 degrees. You got that? You turn around
360 degrees, you're in the same spot, right? So understand, we
ain't talking about, I made a 360 degree turn, we can see. We can
see that you're still in the same spot, brother. No, cut that
in half and go in the other direction. But, but, but you and I are called
to turn in the opposite direction and we'll get, we'll see the
implications of that on Sunday. He was called to repent. And
again, this term is a radical term, which means now repent
now. Therefore of this, your what? Wickedness. Now watch this and
pray God. if perhaps the thought of your
heart may be what? Now let's work with that for
a moment. This gets us into the question of the source of repentance
and the efficacy of repentance, the grounds of repentance. Peter
suggests to this man of whom he has been given a word of knowledge,
a very clear insight into his spiritual condition. He's outside
of the kingdom. He doesn't have any part in the apostleship.
He's not on any level called to preach the gospel, to do what
the apostles do. Plus he's unsaved. He's called
there for the repent of the wickedness of his heart under the potential
that God may grant him forgiveness. So let's ask him some questions.
Can a person of their own strength Repent. That's good to hear because
you will hear again in Christianity that people have the power to
turn. You have a power to change. You have the power to change
your life. You have the power to come out of a bad practice
into a good practice. You got free will. You have the
strength to do it. Just do it. You hear that all
the time. It's so funny because we are
so inconsistent in our culture around the idea of human agency
and human power. On the one hand, uh, we tell
people that they can do anything they want to. And our boys kept,
we had a great, great camp. It was awesome. One of the things
I had a chance to, there you go. Thank you. It was awesome.
The cat, was it awesome, John? It was awesome. One of the things
I had a chance to share with those young men from eight to
17 years old was that they could not do anything that they wanted.
I told them, I said, I know your mama told you. your religious
auntie told you, child, you can do anything you want. I had to
help those young men understand that this is the day that you
start thinking logically and rationally. You cannot do anything
you want. No one can do anything they want. That proposition, which is an
absolute statement is ludicrous on its face. No human being can
do anything that they want. You are human. You are limited. You are fragile. You are weak.
It's not possible. Neither is it in God's cards
to let any one of his creatures do anything they want. Even our
God doesn't do what he wants. You understand that? He's not,
he's bound by his own nature. God's not going to just violate
his nature because he can. You know, today I just want to lie.
God cannot what? You know today I just want to
fail God cannot what that's right So there are a number of things
for which God is bound by his nature not to do and here's what
you and I must know as human beings We are bound by our nature
never to do right unless God gives us grace to do This is
true. So don't tell your children you
can do anything. Here's what I told them you can do everything
that God wants you to do That's what you tell them Honey, sweetheart,
son, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Now we have the source, now we
have the grounds, now we have the motive for doing things,
right? Otherwise, we're stealing God's
glory. And when it comes to repentance, do you know that repentance is
a gift of God? Do you know that? So again, our religious churches,
we laud the ability for men to do everything. Here's what we
plainly say, according to 2 Timothy 2.24, God has to grant you repentance
unto the acknowledging of the truth. If per venture, he might
deliver you from the snare of the devil, of which you are taken
at your own will. Second Timothy 2, 24, read it.
We do not strive with men as if they have power to change
their lives. We recognize, here it is, the
servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all
men, apt to teach, verse 25, here it is, in meekness, instructing
those that oppose themselves. Do you see that? Now watch, see
the word meekness? The word meekness is not weakness.
The word meekness means being constrained by the teachings
of scripture. I am bound by the scripture to
encourage you or instruct you. That's my meekness. My meekness
is me not taking off the reins of biblical truth and using all
kinds of other methods to try to get you to do what I want
you to do. I'm bound by the word of God. That's my meekness. I
can only tell you what the word of God says. That's my meekness. Are you guys following me? Meekness
means to be submissive to authority like Christ was meek But he was
bold was he not That's right. So my point is meekness is not
weakness when you are meek, you know what a meek person is It's
an individual who knows they have authority and they exercise
their authority within the bounds and scope of their authority
and not anymore so those who are ministers of the word are
are instructing those in the meekness that oppose themselves. So here's an insight that you
and I actually acquire when we're dealing with people frequently,
that when people are not walking in biblical truth, they're opposing
themselves. That's called being subverted, by the way. And there's
a sense in which sometimes you can tell that they know that
they are actually opposing themselves. Like our children. Right? You know, when we're dealing
with our children and our children are out of sorts, we call them out
of sorts. They're opposing themselves. Now, they know we have taught
them what's right. But for a season, they just want to lose their
mind, right? And you look at them and you say, now, you know,
I have taught you better than that. I mean, sometimes I don't
even want to say that I'm so upset. Why should I tell you
what I know you know I told you? Why should I have to labor with
you? You know, and then you go, you proceed to tell them with
your authority. Don't do that. That's meekness. You are bound to tell them they
must hear it again because they're opposing themselves. They're
not even happy. That's called the mystery of
iniquity. Did you know that? That's called the mystery of iniquity.
That's when that thing rises up in you and just causes you
to be mischievous. Have you ever woke up one day,
just mischievous head on backwards? Just what you just, you actually
wanting to do something stupid. Let's see. I know only got a
few people in the house who understand it. That's a temptation. You,
you actually, listen, you will go 24 hours that way. And you
actually will be looking at yourself saying, man, this is crazy. I'm having a horrible, horrible
day because I'm doing stuff I know better. Right? I am out of sorts. And you recognize that you need
to call on God because you can't get back on the right path on
your own. Is that true? I'm out of sorts. Look at...
And you know, even the people that love you and care about
you, they may want to speak into your life, but they kind of know
that it's like water running off a duck's back. They know
that at this moment that you're not paying them any attention.
But what you are doing, whatever it is you're doing, it's not
helping you. You're not happy, you're not
prospering, you're not blessed, you're not fruitful, you're not
spiritual, you're not productive. In fact, many times when we're
out of sorts, we're utterly miserable. Thank you, Brother Mac. You know,
my brothers and sisters act like they don't get out of sorts sometime.
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if peradventure,
old Saxon term, if God willing to give them what? Repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. God has a grant repentance. God
has a grant repentance. When you and I are stuck in these
pits, that we've gotten ourselves into for our own purposes. We
can't get out of that pit until God gives us grace to get out.
And when we do get out, we thank him for it. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for getting me out
because my head was on backwards. I was thinking bad. I was in
a dark place for a long time, and I knew I was not right, but
I did not have the wherewithal to get out. My heart was too
hard. I'm just telling you the truth.
My heart was too hard. That's the subtlety of the heart.
See, this is we're talking about a heart matter. Do you understand
that it's easy to harden your heart? Oh, do you understand
that? Do you understand? Listen, your heart hardens or
softens constantly. Your heart hardens. Please, am
I on another planet right now? I'm looking at 60, 65 people.
I'm trying to figure out, do you understand what I'm talking
about? Do you understand how that in the micromanaging of
your life, in the micro decisions that you have to make daily,
that your heart hardens or softens, hardens, softens, hardens, hardens,
hardens, hardens, softens, hardens, hardens, hardens, hardens, softens,
hardens, hardens, hardens. And when you go in that kind of trajectory,
you're going down the wrong path. That's right. That's right. Don't act like that's not what's
happening. That's what's going on. And it's remarkable because
what you're actually doing is making occasion for the lust
of the flesh. You just want that thing. And
it doesn't matter what advice you get, you are just hardening
yourself over against the light. Yes, it is. That's the subtlety
of it. This is why Hebrew chapter 3
says, harden not your heart. Be careful of the deceitfulness
of sin. And right now I'm exhorting us as believers. I'm not even
talking about unbelievers. I'm talking about believers.
I'm not talking unbelievers. I'm talking about saved foes.
I'm not even talking about the unbelievers because the unbeliever
has no control of the madness of his own heart. He just runs
his course until he hit a wall. And once he hit the wall, he
bounces off and goes some other direction, hit that wall, then
goes in another direction. Just as lost as could be. With
a hardened heart at least you and I wrestle with that thing
because we have a new nature All right, we wrestle with that
thing television program pop on harden or soften See i'm telling
the truth right now. See Hardness often walk down
that street. You know what's down that street
hardness often There's so many doors so many traps so many options
so many Temptations harden or soften You child of God must
know that God has to give us grace To make right choices You
have to know that takes the grace of God Let's takes the grace
of God now. Let's work through the last few
I got five more minutes. Listen to this He says repent
therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought
of your heart might be forgiven for I perceive It is my judgment,
my apostolic insight, that you are in the gall of bitterness. That's horrible. You're not just
in the bitterness, you're in the gall of bitterness. The gall
of bitterness is one of those Hebraic phrases that means to
be deep in sin. deep in sin, gall of bitterness. Bitterness is like the adjective.
Gall is that central noun. It's the bitterness of evil. You're in the gall of... You
live in the dregs of evil. If evil were a potion, if evil
were some type of ointment or apothecary, you're at the bottom
of the dreg of it. He's telling the truth. about
Simon. This is remarkable because see, you and I, we don't believe
the Bible concerning the heart of man, but I'm going to share
it with you again tonight and you'll hear it again on Sunday.
Jeremiah chapter 17, nine, pull it up. You should learn this
one by memory. I learned this one the first
year I was saved. The heart of man is desperately wicked, not
just wicked, Desperately wicked above every kind of desperation
So profoundly desperately wicked he can never plumb the depths
of his own wickedness That's the interpretation Now how many
of you know, that's true? That's right The heart is deceitful
above everything and Desperately wicked who can know it? only the Lord Only the Lord can
drop the plumb line of truth down into the abyss of your heart
and hit bottom You and I don't have it. See see every now and
then we get surprised at how evil we can be And it ought to
scare you to death It ought to it ought to cause you to say
I agree with you God. I agree I'm a wretch I'm a wretch
by nature My thoughts are horrible. I agree with you, God. Everything
about you is lovely. I don't know how on earth I could
think like I'm thinking. This is horrible. And I know your word says it
can get worse. And I don't want it to, because this is bad enough. He said that man was in the gall. Again, that's one of those terms
that God uses for ungodly men, wicked people, reprobates, those
he judges in the Old Testament. gall and warm wood are strong
bitter herbs that are given to the men under the curse. Our
Lord had to drink of it. This is what the Hebrew writer
had said when he spoke about Esau and he was speaking to the
church in Hebrews 13, when he said Hebrews 12, when he said,
see to it that a root of bitterness, a root of bitterness does not
spring up, corrupting the whole group. So actually what Peter
was giving insight to, can I share this with you as we get ready
to deal with this last aspect of verse 23? There's something
that I know to be true, but it's hard for us to prove right now.
Now God will prove it one day, but this is true. When you and
I are disconnected from God, and we are born that way, disconnected
from God, no one is born saved. You understand that? A few have
been anointed in the womb, but none of us are born saved. We are all conceived in sin. Most of us go from the womb speaking
lies. We are little bitty serpents,
cute, Some of us grew up in churches, so we have on theological diapers,
but we're still vipers in theological diapers. Vipers in diapers, vipers
in diapers. Swirling around, hissing. The
kids even hiss. Those cute little kids you call
angels? Full of the ass of the viper. You know how you know? They grow up. The nature didn't
change from saved to unsaved, from angels to devils. They were
always snakes. They came out of your womb snakes.
Pastor, what that mean? You were a snake too. Kind begin
kind. That's right. You look at your
kids and you wonder sometimes, man, are they even my children?
Yeah, they're your children. They're just like you. The only thing is, is grace has
kept you and old age has slowed you down. But if old age has
not slowed you down, you still look a whole lot like your children.
That's right. I'm just, sister Steve, loving
it. She loves it. It's the truth.
I'm telling the God that it's true. What? You think somebody
else gave that brood of vipers that came from your womb? They're
your children. They have your nature. It's designed
to make you pray. You're supposed to go, Lord,
have mercy on me. How on earth did I have this?
You know, we do, we think like that. Don't we think like that?
Why on earth did I even do it? It's true. It's true. It's true. Sometimes we think that way,
right? I mean, you guys, you go, you know, cause this, we
have some kids in our world that can tear up stuff. I mean, they
can tell stuff all by themselves. They can keep hell on fire all
by themselves, but they got it from us. They are just like us. And the reason why God allows
us to have children is to keep us on our knees so that we stop
pretending that we are more than what we really are. Our kids
will show you just how bad you are by nature. That's right. It's only grace. It's only grace. N-O-H. I'm glad I'm old. I'm
glad I'm old. I'm glad I don't just have the
strength to do what I want to do anymore. I'm glad. I'm glad. See, because we used
to have the strength to do it. And then when we had the strength,
we did it. We ruled the moment that we did it, but at least
we had the strength to do it. Remember those days, Jeff? You
remember how you tore it up, Jeff? You did what you wanted
to do and you tore it. You had power. The young man
glory's in his what? Strength. And then when it's
gone, all we can do is, you know, ruminate on the memories. Remember
that? I'm telling the truth. I'm telling
the truth. See, so what you do is you come
to church now, 785 years old, you're looking for a church where
ain't no real stairs, everything flat. And now you're gonna act
like you always been holy with your kids. Cause you, you know,
you, you don't get upset. You don't, you know, you don't
cuss as quick anymore. Now you're gonna act like you
were always this way, but you weren't always this way. You
were just like them. Just like them. It scares you.
Man, just like me. For I perceive that you are in
the gall of bitterness, And here it is, the bond, the bond, the
bond of iniquity. Do you see that? Now, what Peter
just stated right here, whether you know it or not, is that he
is saying to this man, your heart is black and you are a slave
to sin. You are in the bondage of iniquity. Your heart is black and filled
with the bitter, bitter herbs of hatred and hostility towards
God, and you are a slave to iniquity. It's clear, isn't it? Now I'm
gonna show you without even doing an exegete on this verse or these
words here, how this is so. Let me show you how this is so.
Watch this. Then answered Simon and said,
pray ye to the Lord for me. that none of these things which
you have spoken come upon me." Do you see that? Two things. His asking for prayer was a clear
indication that he was not saved. His asking for prayer was a clear
indication that he was not saved. See, Peter didn't say, do you
want me to pray for you? See, that's this syrupy therapeutic
age in which we live, where we think we can solve everybody's
problem by praying for them. Let me help you with something.
You don't solve anyone's problem by praying for them. We pray
for a lot of people and we desire God to bless people, deliver
people, bring them out of their iniquity, out of their problems.
And we have seen them do it. We never ever assert that we
have the direct capacity to liberate people because we lay hands on
them. That's why you will never see that happen in this church.
Because as soon as we get a practice of laying hands on people, people
will take their eyes off of Christ and run up to the great man of
God, the great woman of God. Are you hearing me? This won't
be. See, because you're human, you are human. What Peter did
is what we do is we lay people at the foot of the cross. We
demand that you go to the highest authority in the universe. You
go to God right where you are. Only God can fix your problem. And if you go to anyone else
beside God, you are securing your doom. Are you guys hearing
me? Only God can fix your problem.
It don't mean that we don't pray for one another. Are you guys
understanding what i'm saying? Sincerely pastor pray for me.
Are you praying for yourself? Because see listen watch it some
people won't even pray for themselves They're just listen they'll put
their whole responsibility to pray on you Are you praying for
yourself with me? You know, I ain't got time man,
but I know that's what y'all do Would you would you pray for
me? I ain't really got time. I I got my I gotta get my hustle
on but would you pray for me? No, I ain't praying for you Let
me know. Let me ask you the question.
Are you praying for yourself? No, then i'm not praying for you
I'm not praying for you God's not gonna hear you for my sake If I regard iniquity in my heart
the lord will not hear me Psalm 32 says this shall all
the godly pray in a time when God may be heard, when God may
be found. Read full Psalm 32 up verse five
and six, I'm done here. See, this is how we know he wasn't
saved. Can I tell you what saved folk do when they get in trouble
and get brought to their last in? They pray. Saved folk pray. It's native
to our being. It's part of who we are. The
moment God gives us a relief from the hardness of our heart,
We pray. That's how we know we are on
the brink of deliverance because he's granted me a largeness of
heart to cry out to God. I acknowledge my sin. I acknowledge my sin unto you. And my iniquity I have not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions
not unto Peter, but the Lord. And you forgave the iniquity
of my sin. Is that true? Is that true? Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank
you for this time. Thank you for my brothers and
sisters. Thank you for this study. Help us understand the importance
of the kingdom of God, getting it right with you, taking the
apostles serious. They were serious about this
business. Help us to be serious about the gospel too. We need
you, O Lord. Yes, we do. We can't make it
without you, O God. Without you, we can do nothing. Not a thing. Grant us grace to
depart now, O Lord. Take us to our home safely. Prepare
us to worship you on Sunday, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.