The book of Acts chapter 8. We'll probably spend the whole
day in chapter 7 and chapter 8. But let's look this morning
at chapter 8, a portion of this chapter. Let's read the first four verses
to begin with. Romans 8 chapter 1. And Saul
was consenting unto his death, Stephen's death. never cease sometimes to be amazed
at the division of these chapters. As you read the last portion
of chapter 7, it's so obvious this first sentence belonged
in that. I have no idea why they didn't
put it in there. It's certainly not inspired,
is it? And at that time there was a great persecution against
the church which was at Jerusalem. They were all scattered abroad
throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentations over him. As for
Saul, he made havoc of the church, entered into every house, hauling
men and women, committed them to prison. Therefore they that
were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching The Word. This was
upon the occasion of the stoning of Stephen in chapter 7. And
then it says here in verse 1 that at that time there was a great
persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. Jerusalem itself was the very
seat of this persecution. As I read that and thought about
this, I thought, you know, how sad. This is almost shocking
that at Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, the persecution was against the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, against the children of God,
against believers in God. And the persecution was coming
from the Jews at Jerusalem. And I thought how sad this is
when we consider the history of this place and how God had
been there now for all of these hundreds and thousands of years. You remember when we first read
about the location of this place. This was Mount Moriah. This was
the same mount where Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain. to offer Isaac and to worship
God. This is the place where Abraham
offered his only begotten son, right here at this place. Here
is the place God appeared to Abraham and said, I'll offer
myself a lamb. I'll provide myself a lamb. This
is the very place where God kept telling Moses all through Deuteronomy
and Exodus and Leviticus. I'll put my name there. I'm going
to put my name there. This is the city that I'm going
to choose and I'm going to put my name in this city. This is
the place where Solomon built that beautiful temple and dedicated
it to the worship of the Lord. And God came down and filled
that temple with His Shekinah glory. Such a beautiful place
that the Queen of Sheba said, when she saw it, the half has
never been told of the glory of this place. Jerusalem. It was a city the Jews longed
for. Every time they went off into
captivity, Daniel opened his window toward Jerusalem and prayed
three times a day. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. It was
the place the Jews from all over the world came to on these certain
feast days to offer sacrifices to God and worship Him. This is the people, this is the
city, and this is the temple. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, came to when He came as a man. born of a woman. He came to His
own. He came to this city. This is Mount Zion of old. It is often referred to as the
City of God. The City of God. And isn't it
sad? Isn't it almost amazing that
in this city, A great persecution arose against the church of Jesus
Christ, against those who were followers of God as dear children. But that's what it said. That's
what we're told in verse 1. Great persecutions at Jerusalem. But having said all of that,
we say this and we take great comfort in this, nothing takes
our sovereign Lord by surprise. as surprised as they may have
been and as surprised as we may be, the Lord wasn't surprised
when these persecutions arose against His church. He even told
His disciples about it before it ever happened. He said, You're
going to be hated. They're going to hate you. Your
own people are going to hate you. They're going to put you
out of their synagogues. And some of you, they're going
to kill thinking they're doing God's service. And he said, before
this ever comes to pass, I tell you of it, that when it comes
to pass, you might remember that I told you. Nothing takes our
Lord by surprise, does it? He knows everything that's going
to happen. He knows our sufferings, our
trials. The persecutions and tribulations
and afflictions of God's people don't take our Lord by surprise. And you know something? They
shouldn't take us by surprise either. He's purposed these things,
hasn't He? He either brings them to pass
directly or He allows them to come to pass. And you know something? He fulfills a good purpose in
bringing these things to pass. You say, Bruce, what in the world?
What good could come out of the persecution of the saints at
Jerusalem? Well, he says something here
that gives this away that lets us know that it was good. He
tells us here in verse 1, At that time there was a great persecution
against the church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all
scattered abroad, throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria
except the apostles." And down in verse 4, "...therefore they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word."
Now here's what happened with these persecutions. They did
exactly what the Lord told them to do to begin with. Now you
hold that and look back in chapter 1 of Acts. Here's what I was
saying. Look in Acts chapter 1. And look down in verse 7. They were asking the Lord about
when He was going to turn back to the Jewish nation and set
up the kingdom there. And He says here in verse 7 of
Acts 1, He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times
or the seasons which the Father has put in His own power. But
here is what He said you should be concentrated on and give your
energy and time to. But you shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost parts of the earth." But here's what was happening.
They were just going to stay at Jerusalem. Everything was
happening at Jerusalem. And the Lord was blessing the
work there at Jerusalem. So they just settled down in
Jerusalem until persecutions came. And when persecutions came
and they were scattered, where did they go? They went to the
very place the Lord told them to go to begin with, Judea and
Samaria. And you know it didn't stop there.
Look over in Acts chapter 11. There's such a good lesson in
this for all of us. In Acts chapter 11, look in verse
19. Not only did they go down to
Judea and Samaria, but look in verse 19 of chapter 11. Now they
which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about
Stephen, traveled as far as Phanasi and Cyprus and Antioch preaching
the Word to none but unto the Jews only. But they not only,
they didn't stop at Samaria. They went over 200 miles north
to a place called Antioch in Syria and they preached the Gospel
there. At first they only preached to
the Jews. But if you run some references
on this, they begin to preach to the Gentiles also. You remember
Antioch? You remember what takes place
in Antioch? When the Lord converted the Apostle Paul, Barnabas went
to Tarsus, to Paul's hometown, and found him and brought him
back to Antioch. Remember that? And there was
a bunch of Gentile converts in this church. And this is where
Paul and Barnabas settled down and made it their home church.
And it was this church that sent them out to preach all over the
world. Remember that? It was this place
that Peter came down to to eat with this church. And he was
eating with the Gentiles, or the Antioch. And some of the
Jews come down. He separated himself and went
and ate with the Jews. So what happened in this persecution? What happened when the church
was scattered at Jerusalem? Well, they went to Samaria, they
went to Judea, they went to Antioch, and from there they went out
all over the world, and they fulfilled the Scriptures when
the Lord told them, you're going to preach My Gospel. You're going
to begin at Jerusalem, you're going to Judea, you're going
to Samaria, and then you're going out all over the world. But boy,
they got settled down. They got relaxed. Boy, the Lord's
blessing us here at Jerusalem. So they never even thought about
anything until the Lord sent persecutions. I'm saying this from our text
that what a blessing it is when this great commission that we
sometimes call it is revived in our own hearts. Whatever means
that the Lord is pleased to bring it about, that I get uncomfortable,
that I'm afflicted, that I'm tried, something happens in me
and something happens in you and it's not just enough to come
here in these four walls and worship a couple of times a week. We say, man, I've got to tell
somebody about the Lord. I've got to preach my Savior
to somebody. I've got to talk to somebody
about His eternity-bound soul. And we go to our neighbors. We
go to our coworkers. We go to other people. I love it when that happens,
don't you? Do you ever just get settled down in a little routine?
And boy, something happens, I mean, to make you serious, to make
you concerned. I've gotten a habit when I go
for a walk in my town. I've got a habit. I've got some
little tracks around the wicket gate. I just love that little
book. I don't know how many times I've read that thing and people
talk to me about what a good little book that is. I've got
a habit. I stick a couple of copies in my hip pocket when
I walk trying to meet somebody. You just never know, do you?
I wish I felt more of that. I wish I felt more of a burden
for the lost. I don't want to be afflicted.
I don't want to suffer. But Lord, if it makes me more
concerned about people, afflict me. Do whatever you have to do
to me to make my heart concerned about other people, that I go
preaching the Word of God to people outside these walls. Ben
Cody was talking when he was up here about How sad it is. And I've seen this. And this
is one of the saddest things. I've seen churches die. I've
seen churches just absolutely dry up and die. And that's one
of the saddest things in the world. Sometimes they get old.
It's different reasons, but they just dry up and they die. They
lock the doors or they sell their building and there's no worship
there anymore. And you know one of the reasons
that causes that? You know one of the causes for
that? They got content. They just got content. Well,
we go to church and we worship and that's enough. That's enough. Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad? That's what was happening to
this church. Sure, the Lord was blessing it. But if they didn't
go to Judea, and they hadn't retched out to Samaria, and they
hadn't tucked the gospel into the uttermost parts of the world,
you know what would have happened? That church would have dried
up and died. And whatever it takes to cause
our hearts to seek the glory of God, And the good for poor
sinners outside these walls, in our neighborhood, at work,
or wherever, Lord, bring it to pass. That's what I say. And
you, bring it to pass. Revive this great commission
in my own soul. And that's what we see here in
Acts chapter 8, verses 1 through 4. We see what this trial did
for them, and it was good. It was good. They didn't see
a thing, did they? We always have to look back, don't we?
It's retrospect we see how God deals with us and brings these
sufferings sometimes good out of them. Here in verse 3, you
see something else about this. Back in our text in chapter 8
in verse 3. As for Saul, This was later called,
he made havoc of the church, entering to every house and hauling
men and women, committing them to prison. Isn't this sort of
ironic that this man who persecuted the church and put men and women
in prison was finally persecuted himself? and wound up in prison
himself. Boy, I tell you, the Lord's got
a way, has He not, of never letting us forget our sins. He's got
a way of reminding us of our sins. He never remembers them. He forgets
them. But He has a way of never letting
us forget them. We never forgive ourselves even
though He forgives us. And that's what we find here
with the Apostle Paul. Look over in chapter 22 right
quickly. In chapter 22, look in verse
19. One of you were telling me just
the other day about a dear lady was saying something about she's
going to have to forgive herself. And you told her it just didn't
work that way. It's not the way it works. We're
not all about self-forgiveness, are we? We're about His forgiveness. And that's the assurance we live
in. Not that we've forgiven ourselves.
You ever forgive yourself? My sin is just as contemptible
as they were when I committed it. I'm not seeking self-forgiveness. That don't make me feel better.
That's presumption, isn't it? We seek His forgiveness. And
if He has forgiven us sin, that's all that matters. Not you forgiving
yourself. And I tell you, Paul never did
forget. Boy, he never did forget these persecutions. He never
forgot what he did to Stephen. He never forgot what he did to
the Lord's churches. Look at it in Acts 22 and look
in verse 19. This is where the Lord appeared
to Paul and was comforted in Jerusalem. In verse 19, he said,
Lord, here's what Paul said, Lord, They know that I imprisoned
and beat in every synagogue them that believe on Thee. And when
the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing
by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiments of them
that slew him." He never forgot that. This was years after he
did that. And he still said, I forgot it. I forgot what I did. I forgot
those awful sins against the Lord and against His church. Well, King David had committed
that awful sin against the Lord, lay with Bathsheba and killed
her husband. And basically, the Lord told
him, You're never going to forget this, David. I'm going to make
sure that you never forget what you've done. I'm going to raise
a sword up in your house that's going to continue to remind you
of what you've done." And he did, didn't he? David lay with another man's
wife. And then a man turned right around
and lay with David's concubines. How do you think that made him
feel? David stole another man's wife. Then turn right around and a
man stole David's wife. David killed a man. And then
he had to watch while two of his own sons were killed. Boy,
the Lord's got a way of reminding us, hasn't He? Even though He
forgives us, He lets us know that we'll never forget it. He
doesn't remember. But we do. Have you ever done
something awful and you knew it was so wrong and displeasing
to the Lord and you confessed it and you were so thankful that
nobody knew about it? You even thanked the Lord that
it was hid. And it never did come out. But
boy, He has a way of bringing something to pass that reminds
you of what you've done. Does that ever happen to you? I am filled with grief about
my rebellion against my parents when I was a teenager. And one of the ways that I've
not been able to forget it is I've seen it in my own kids. And I've seen it in my grandkids. And so often when they rebel
and I see it, I'm reminded in my own conscience just like you,
remember? Remember? Boy, here was a man that he persecuted
the church, and we'll see that this afternoon. Wasted it. Put him in chains. Now he's in
chains. Now he's suffering. He put some
of them to death. Now he's going to be put to death. Boy, the Lord's got a way, has
He not, of reminding us? He has, doesn't He? Back in our
text again, beginning in verse 5, look at this. We learn something
else from this. Beginning in Acts chapter 8 and
look in verse 5. And Philip went down to the city
of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with
one accord gave heed unto those things, which Philip spake, hearing
and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits,
crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed
with them. And many taken with palsy, and
that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy. in that
city. This is an incident that I've
always thought was very strange concerning these two deacons,
Stephen and this man here, Philip. And the reason I think it's strange
is because you remember why they were chosen to be deacons. These men were two deacons in
the early church. Remember what was happening?
They had a lot of widows in the early church. And some of the
people rose up and said, our widows are being neglected. You
need to make sure they're being watched over and helped. And
the Lord moved upon the apostles and said, get them to pick out
seven men full of faith in the Holy Spirit and ordain them for
deacons. And that's what they did. And
this was two of those men. Stephen and Philip, men full
of faith in the Holy Spirit. And boy, when they ordained those
deacons, the church said, man, that's what we've been needing.
This just suits us. This solved the awful problem
that we were having and kept down this controversy. And then
turned right around the same time, and Stephen preached that
wonderful message in chapter 6 and 7, and they stoned him
to death. And then all the persecutions
began to arise, and everybody scattered, and Philip left Jerusalem
and wound up finally down at Caesarea preaching the gospel
to different towns. And you wonder, what in the world
happened? Here the Lord told them to ordain
these deacons, and they picked seven of them, and one of them
is already killed, and one of them is left gone preaching.
What in the world happened? The Lord is strange when He deals
with His people, is He not? You talk about throwing you some
curveballs and turning the world upside down, and that's what
He does here in this. Who's going to replace these
two deacons? It's obvious the Lord was in
it. He was the one that told them
to ordain them. But now one of them is stoned and the other
one is going off preaching. You know something? We don't
have any idea what the Lord's doing until He does it. And we
don't have any idea who He's going to use until He's used
them. And that's what we see here in
this incident. Israel was being oppressed with
the Medianites. Nobody knew how they were going
to throw off their yoke. They had rebelled against the
Lord and the Midianites had come down and was taking their food
and their crops. And the Lord appeared to a man
by the name of Gideon. It is strange the way He said
this to him. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said,
The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And he said, What? He was a coward. He was full
of doubt. You follow poor Gideon. And he
was always saying, Lord, if this is true, do this or do that. The Lord told him to go down
to the camp of the Midianites and hear what they were saying.
Give him some courage. He said, I don't want to go myself.
He said, well, take your buddy with you and go. He was hiding
from the Midianites so they wouldn't take his wheat when the Lord
appeared to him. You mighty man of valor. But here was the thing. The Lord
is with thee. The Lord is with thee. And the
Lord took this ordinary nobody. His tribe was the least of the
tribes. He was the least in His Father's
house. And the Lord took this nobody
with 300 men and whipped the whole army of the Medianites. You just never know, do you?
Who would have ever dreamed that the Lord was going to take these
two deacons who already had jobs in the church, important jobs,
and was going to use these men for His great glory? Who would
have ever dreamed that Philip was going down to preach to this
city of Samaria and the city as a whole would be saved? Who
ever dreamed that? You never can tell, can you,
who He is going to use? until he's done. The Lord took poor little David,
just a little lad, when nobody even ever believed that David
was anybody but just a little shepherd. And the Lord sent him
out to fight a giant and delivered the children of Israel from the
Philistines. He can use anybody. He can use
anything. And here's the wonder about it.
He does. He does. He used a little donkey
to rebuke a false prophet. I preached a message one time
where Peter said, The dumb ass forbid the madness of the prophet.
And I entitled my message, Lord give us more dumb asses. That's
what we need, isn't it? We don't need a bunch of smart
people. We need some more dumbasses that the Lord will put it in
their hearts and uphold them. And then they can rebuke these
false prophets. He used a rooster to break the
heart of one of His apostles. He used five loaves and two fishes
to feed thousands. You just never know what means
He's going to use. You never know who He's going
to use. That's what we see in this man here. Nobody in the church at Jerusalem
imagined the Lord was going to use these two deacons in the
manner that He did. They were surprised. They were
shocked. They were shocked when poor Stephen
got stoned. Oh, they just cried. They let
him out and they said, this is our deacon? We just put him in
this office? We knew He was going to be such
a blessing and a help, and their hearts were heavy. And they wept
as they took Him out and buried Him. And here's Philip. Where's Philip? We've lost another
one. Where's he at? It was only looking
back that they saw the blessing of what the Lord was doing. And
that's what we have to do sometimes, is it not? when the Lord turns
our little world upside down? And we say, what has happened? And we're grieved. And we spent
the night in agony, as the song said. There's coming a day, brothers
and sisters, I am convinced of this, there's coming a day in
which we'll see all of these things that the Lord is doing
in a clearer light than we see it now. He has a purpose. He's bringing
that purpose to pass. And sometimes it just hurts. And we can't figure out what
He's doing. Why? Why? Why? But the old songwriter
said, In heaven's clear light we'll see. All things worked
out for good. And I bet you there was not one
single Christian complained against the Lord when they finally saw
what had happened. You think Stephen had any complaints?
No, he had no complaints. I see the Lord. I see my Savior
standing on the right hand of God. And he was received up into
heaven. He had no complaints about what
the Lord had done. Philip had no complaints. Man,
he was rejoicing that the Lord was using him. Samaria had no
complaints. They were rejoicing at what the
Lord was doing. And I tell you, when you and
I are enabled to look back on our life, we'll say this, Lord,
You've done everything well. I wouldn't change a thing. Wouldn't
change a thing. Let's look at this incident here
also. Let's start here in verse 9 and
look at this because this is very interesting. I want to see
two things about this incident that took place here. Look in
verse 9 in our text, in chapter 8. But there was a certain man
called Simon which before time in the same city used sorcery,
trickery, witchcraft. And he bewitched the people of
Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one, to whom they
all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This
man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because
of the long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, They were baptized, both
men and women. Then Simon himself believed also,
and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered,
beholding the miracles and the signs which were done. But when
the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received
the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when
they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive
the Holy Ghost. For as yet he had 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. And when Simon saw that through laying on of hands,
the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them
money, saying, Give me also this power. that on whomsoever I lay
hands they may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him,
Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight
of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy
wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart
may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art
in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.' Then
answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none
of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. Well, Peter made this statement
here and it shows us how deceived a man can be. This man was in
danger of losing his soul. Peter said, ìYour money perish
with thee.î But hereís the strange thing that it was said that this
man believed. And he believed Philip's preaching
concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.
And he wasn't ashamed to confess it. He was baptized. And he seemed to like the preacher.
Wherever the preacher went, he went with him, kept company with
God's preacher. And he witnessed these miracles
and signs and wondered at them, and yet Peter says here he was
in danger of losing his soul. And here was Simon's whole problem.
Brothers and sisters, here was his whole problem. You don't
have to try to figure out the false faith that he had, his
false profession, and anything else. Here was his whole problem.
Here's what made his faith false. Here's what made his profession
false. Here's why his association with God's preacher was meaningless. Here's his whole problem. Your
heart is not right in the sight of God. That was his problem. His heart was not right in the
sight of God. The heart is the center of our
being, isn't it? It's the seat of who we are and
what we are. And if the heart is not right
in the sight of God, then everything else is wrong. If our hearts
are not right in the sight of God, it doesn't matter what kind
of faith I have. It's false. It doesn't matter
how sincere I may be in my profession. It's hypocritical. It doesn't
matter how I may pretend to love the church or the preacher. If
my heart is not right in the sight of God, everything else
is wrong, isn't it? Your heart is not right in the
sight of God. What does this tell us? That
God looks on the heart. He looks on the heart of people
first and foremost. And if that heart doesn't have
the light of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God in it, If
it is not honest and truthful with God, then outward religious
duties mean nothing. Look at the stress Peter puts
upon the thoughts of Simon's heart. He says it twice. He says
it here in verse 20, Peter said unto him, By money perish with
thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be perished.
And he says in verse 22, "...repent therefore of this thy wickedness,
and pray to God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be
forgiven thee." Peter seemed to tell him, your whole problem
is your heart. And it's what you're thinking.
Sinful thoughts are evil, aren't they? They're evil. evil in the
sight of God. And He threatens you to punish
Simon because of his thoughts. Man, that's a scary thing, isn't
it? That's a heart-searching thing.
We worry about our hands, our eyes, our ears, what we hear.
Boy, we don't want to watch that show. My goodness, that's an
awful TV program. We don't want to go there and
look at what people are doing. It's our hearts first and foremost
that even God is concerned about. I have no idea what all they
were doing before the Lord destroyed the earth. When He told Noah,
I will destroy man whom I have made from the earth, for he has
corrupted his ways upon the earth. I don't know what he was doing,
but I know what God was looking at. He said this in chapter 6
of Genesis, God saw that the imagination of man's heart was
only evil continually. The imagination of the thoughts
of his heart. That's where God was looking.
And the thoughts of the heart is enough to bring total destruction
to man. That was Simon's whole problem.
His whole problem. I don't even think Philip detected
it. He's sort of like Larry was telling
us about Judas. Nobody knew that Judas was the
traitor. And here's a man that says, Philip, I believe what
you say. I believe what you say. Would
you baptize me? I want to confess Christ and
I want to baptize. Do you mind if I go with you on your preaching
engagement? I'd just love to hear you preach. I'd love to
see God working with these miracles and signs. And nobody knew it until he finally gave himself
away and said, I want to purchase this power when I lay my hands
on somebody. And boy, as sometimes happens,
the Lord opened his heart up and let old Peter look right
in there. And he says, what a wicked thought. I know what you're thinking. I know the thought of your heart.
And you're going to perish. Your heart's not right with God. My son, give me your heart. Why does the Lord tell us that?
If he don't have the heart, he don't have anything. If he don't
have the heart, he don't want anything. Give me your heart. Because it's out of the heart
the issues of life come from. It's out of the heart we worship
God and know Him. and serve Him. Give me your heart. Lord, I'll give you my wallet.
You keep your wallet. I've got enough money. Don't
need it. Lord, I'll give you my time.
Don't need any. I'm the eternal God. Don't thank
you. Lord, what do you want? I want your heart. I want your
heart. Give me your heart. Here's what I encourage myself
to do and I encourage you to do. Lay your heart open before
the Lord and ask Him to search it. Lord, search my heart. Know my heart. See if there is
an evil way in my heart. And wash me and cleanse me. And cast out every idol. And
subdue me. And let me live only to You. Boy, that is a good prayer, is
it not? I can keep my ways. That's no problem. I don't have
any problem getting drunk anymore. I haven't been drunk in 45 years. I haven't used God's name in
vain since He saved me. I've got no problem running off
after someone else's wife. The problem I have is keeping
my heart with all diligence. That's my problem. And I've found
out if I don't lay it open before the Lord for Him to keep it and
cleanse it and bind it to Himself, my thoughts, it's going to be
enough to cause a frown from the face of God. The heart, the
heart, the heart. One more thing quickly. One more
thing quickly. I think here's another good lesson
for us to learn, especially in our day. What was going on here with these
miracles? Here in verse 13, Simon believed
and he was baptized to continue with Philip, wondering and beholding
the miracles and signs which were done. And these apostles
came down from Jerusalem and, verse 17, they laid their hands
on these people, these believers. These were believers. These were
not unbelievers. They were believers. And they
received the outward manifestation of the Holy Spirit. All of these
miracles that was going on and signs and wonders. And here's
the problem we see in our day. You and I believe these signs
have ceased. They ceased. They ceased with
these apostles and the early church. Wouldn't it be presumptuous
on our part to stand up and say, I have power to lay my hands
on you and you receive the Holy Spirit? What would you think about me
if I started saying things like that? We're going to have a bunch
of miracles here Wednesday night. You better show up. What would
you think about me? All of these things ceased at
the death of these men. They ceased. This is why you
never find these signs and wonders and miracles going on all back
in the history of the church. You never read about them because
they quit happening. And the reason they happened
at this particular time was the Lord was establishing His church. And especially these apostles
and their writings, they were the foundation. They laid the
foundation of the church. When you go to Peter's writings
and Paul's writings and John's writings that Wayne read to us
this morning, those writings are the foundation of the church,
the foundation of the truth. And so what does the Lord do?
He said, I'm going to magnify these people. I'm going to let
people know I'm doing something here. If he hadn't done no more in
their day than he's doing now, openly, nobody would have ever
believed them, would they? Look over here, one last text.
Look over here in Hebrews chapter 2. Here's what I'm saying. Hebrews chapter 2 and look in
verse 1. Here's what he's saying. Here's
why these men They'd cast out devils and here's why they laid
hands on believers and they received the outward manifestations of
the Holy Spirit and spake in tongues and healed people and
all of this. Here's exactly why that happened.
Look in Hebrews chapter 2. We ought to give the more earnest
heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip, drift away, drip out. For if the word spoken by
angels in giving the law on Sinai was steadfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompense of the Lord, how shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first
began to be spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and was
confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, James and Peter and
Paul and these people. God bearing them witness both
with signs and wonders and with diverse miracles and gifts of
the Holy Ghost according to His own will. That's why these apostles did
these miracles. That's why some like Philip and
Stephen did these miracles in the early church. God was confirming
His gospel by these men. It's been confirmed, hasn't it?
We've got the record of it now. We don't need signs and miracles
anymore. I fear that these so-called miracles
claimed in our day is nothing more than tricks It's nothing
more than that old attitude and spirit of Simon the Saucer has
risen up in our day. You say, Bruce, what about these
fellows that's doing all these miracles and signs? You know,
how they're doing that? How does Simon do his? I don't
know how they're doing it. I was watching one of these preachers
just not long ago, and he had a big line of people. And they
would walk him up, and he's putting his hands on their head, and
down they would go. Another would walk up, put his
hands, and down they would go. How does he do that? I don't
know. I don't know. But let him come to the pulpit
and preach the gospel, and let people believe the gospel, and
they'll never get in that line again. They called Simon the great power
of God until the year of the gospel. They never believed him
anymore. He lost his job, didn't he? I saw another fellow. He was
this huge congregation. He was standing there and he'd
do like this and the whole auditorium would go over there. He'd do
it this way and the whole auditorium. They didn't practice that stuff.
I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they did it.
I don't know how Simon did it. But he bewitched the people.
And they said, man, he's the mighty power of God. What was
Simon wanting? What was he wanting? He was wanting to be exalted
among the people. He's wanting the praises of men.
He just longed to hear people say again, the mighty power of
God. And if he could have got Peter
to sell him this gift for money, Can you imagine what he would
have done with a gift like that? What an awful blasphemous thought
he had to think that he could do such
a thing. And brothers and sisters, I have no hesitation in saying
that these fellows that are in all of this stuff today, this
charismatic stuff and this tongue speaking and all of this junk,
that's nothing but blasphemy. I'm sorry, but it's nothing but
blasphemy. And when they hear the gospel
and the Lord sends the light of His grace into their hearts,
they will come out of that stuff. Those fellows will lose their
jobs just like Simon the Saucer did. What would the Apostle Peter
tell these fellows today doing all these silly things? You know
what he would tell them? Your heart is not right with
God. Your heart's not right with God.
You're actors. You're bewitching people. And
all these silly gifts that you claim are going to perish with
you in hell if you don't repent. What's the Lord Jesus going to
say to them when they stand before Him and say, Look what we've
done! Look at these amazing things we've done! You know what He's
going to say to them? You're workers of iniquity. I
saw your heart. I knew the thoughts of your heart.
Depart from Me, you who work iniquity. Here's what I want,
brothers and sisters. I want a heart. I want a heart
that's been regenerated. I want a heart that's been washed.
I want a heart that lives for the glory of God and in the faith
of Jesus Christ and in the hope of the Gospel. That's what I
want. I heard a man say the other day,
bless his heart, poor fellow, on one hand he preaches the Gospel
and on the other hand he turns right around and says he would
love to speak in tongues. I for the life of me can't understand
that man. I could tell you his name, but
I won't. I've got one tongue. I don't want another one. I can't
control the one I have now. I don't want another time. Lord,
put a bridle on this one. And the stand is starting to
jabber when I don't even know what I'm saying. And then stand
up and say, I've got a gift. I've got a gift. You know what
Solomon called him? He that boasts himself of a false
gift is like a cloud and wind without water. He's just passing
away. That's it. Good lesson. Good preaching,
Bruce. Good preaching. Good preaching. Oh, let's go back and eat. The
Lord knows we're thankful for our food. Next Sunday,