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The False Faith of Simon the Sorcerer (Acts Sermon 19)

February 02, 2025

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The False Faith of Simon the Sorcerer (Acts Sermon 19)

The Holy Spirit sends Philip to preach in Samaria. Many profess faith, including a false convert, Simon the Sorcerer. The gospel unites believers in Samaria and Jerusalem.

Now, turn your Bibles to Acts 8. We’re looking this morning in our continuing series in the Book of Acts 8:9-25.

It is a terrifying thought that many who think that they are Christians will on Judgment Day be exposed as frauds. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.'” Therefore, I believe one of the purposes of scripture is to describe with perfect clarity genuine faith, the faith that actually saves souls, and to also describe counterfeit faith, the faith that deceives souls.

In Acts 8, we have two case studies, both of them tied to the ministry of Philip the Evangelist. The first that we’re studying this morning recorded in Acts 8:9-25 is the tragic case of Simon the Sorcerer. The text tells us he believed in some sense the message preached by Philip and was baptized. And even continued on with Philip, constantly amazed at the miracles that Philip was doing that he was seeing. But his supposed faith in Christ was eventually exposed as false or fraud. I believe the story is here written for succeeding generations as a severe warning against fraudulent faith. But in the last part of Acts 8, we have a counterpart story, an amazing story of Philip’s ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch and that man’s genuine conversion to Christ based on a great passage from Isaiah 53. It’s a case study of genuine conversion, a genuine faith, standing in direct contrast to Simon the Sorcerer. And God willing, we’ll study that one next week.

I. The Possibility of False Faith

So, let’s talk about the possibility of false faith. That may seem troubling that someone can be said to believe in Jesus, to believe in the gospel, and still end up condemned to hell. The Bible reveals that there are different kinds of faith. Jesus told a parable about different possible reactions or responses to the word of God, to the gospel message, in Mark 4:3-9, the parable of the seed and the soils.

“Listen,” he said. “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants so that it did not bear grain. Still, other seed fell in good soil. It grew up, came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying 30, 60, or even 100 times.” Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

He then subsequently explained the parable, each of its elements to his apostles, and then the Holy Spirit wrote it down for us so we could understand it. The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. I want you to hear that, with joy. They rejoice over the word. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among the thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown. Different outcomes, different responses to the gospel.

I believe the stony ground here, the one that initially receives the word with joy, may resemble Simon the Sorcerer or perhaps the third type, the one who wants other things, the worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, chokes it out, combination. But what we do see in the parable of the seed and the soils is we need to see the outcome, the fruit where the seed brings the individual to find out the genuineness of the response. So initially responding with joy to the gospel isn’t enough. It needs to be a deeper work. In Simon’s case, his true nature and his motives were exposed. We should not assume that just because it is said someone believes, that that faith is genuine converting faith. There are other examples of this in the New Testament.

For example, at the end of John 2. Jesus by this time is starting to do his miracles, many miracles, signs and wonders. And in John 2:23-25, it says, “Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many people saw his miraculous signs that he was doing and believed in his name.” It’s right there in John 2:23. “They believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man for he knew what was in a man.”

So, in some sense, you can believe in his name and Jesus isn’t going to entrust himself to you because there’s not been that genuine heart work done. This is very much like Simon in the case of Jesus here. They’re amazed at the miracles. They’re emotionally moved by them. They have some level of faith that God was working through Jesus. But Jesus would not connect with them and would not entrust or commit himself to them because he knew their hearts, that their faith was not genuine. We’re going to see that with Simon. There had not been a heart work in Simon concerning his own sinfulness and wickedness.

Also, James 2 asks the question, “What kind of faith saves?” “What good is it,” James 2:14, “my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith or that kind of faith save them?” So, James in James 2 is raising up the question of what kind of faith are we talking about? So, there is the possibility of a counterfeit faith, of faith that does not save.

II. Simon’s Faith Declared

Now, in our account with Simon, we see a faith described and we see the outcome. So, Simon’s faith is declared. Now, we need to step back and talk about the context. Where are we in the Book of Acts? The Book of Acts is about the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth, and then the movement of the gospel from Jew only to, by the end of the book, Jew plus Gentiles, Gentile believers greatly outnumbering Jewish followers in Christ. That’s the movement in the Book of Acts, the spread of the gospel.

We can’t just wait for the …pastors, the missionaries, but all the people of God are entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation.

Now, when the church was persecuted in connection with Stephen’s martyrdom, the church was scattered. We’re told that the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. Either they were under arrest, or they chose to stay there as a base of operations. We don’t know. But we know that the non-apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, and those who were scattered were told to preach the word wherever they went. So, the gospel is moving out, the gospel is spreading. And the lay people, not the apostles, took it upon themselves, they took the responsibility upon themselves to share the gospel. We talked about that last time and how it’s up to us. We can’t just wait for the great leaders, the apostles, those types, the pastors, the missionaries, but all the people of God are entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation. So, we see that.

Philip led the way in Samaria, a ministry in Samaria. Philip, we’ve already met him in Acts 6. He was one of the seven that was set apart by the church for ministering to the Greek-speaking widows in the daily distribution of food, of which Stephen was the great leader. But Philip also is known, Philip. And last week, we saw his ministry in verses 5-8, “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. And when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.” So, this is the liberation, the true liberation of the gospel worked by Philip the Evangelist, he’s called, as he preaches there in Samaria. What an incredible work this was.

And now in our account, we see an old stronghold, a satanic stronghold being addressed in that stronghold with that work by Simon the Sorcerer. So, we’re introduced to this individual, Simon, in verse 9. Now, for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city, or magic. So, we are introduced to Simon and his power and his popularity. Simon was a man with significant influence there in Samaria. He practiced magic.

The Greek word “mageuo” is the word translated in verse 9, sorcery or magic, directly tied to earlier cast of priests in the Babylonian and the Medo-Persian empires who we meet in the book of Daniel. They were known as magi. Of course, we meet a better version of them in the birth story of Jesus in Matthew 2, those who follow the star to the birthplace of Jesus. The magi practiced a mix of science, of actual studying of the position of the stars and the planets, but also the dark arts. They studied chemical potions. They were skilled at astrology, divination and the occult, interpretation of dreams, these kinds of things, and they played on the superstitions of the people and held them in their sway.

The Samaritans themselves practiced a strange mix of Judaism and paganism, so they were seen to be outcast by the Jews. They rejected the Samaritans, but the Samaritan saw themselves similar to the Jews or related to the Jews. So, they were susceptible to this kind of mix of paganism and occultic power. And almost certainly Simon’s powers were enhanced by demonic power, the demons getting behind him to give him power and influence because all false religions have a demonic basis. Now, Simon’s hold to the people was very powerful. Look at verses 9-11:

Now, for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people both high and low gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the great power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

But now it seems a far greater power, supernatural power, has come to Samaria through the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the miracles worked by the Holy Spirit of God through Philip. And so, the people were turning to Christ in large numbers. Look at verse 12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” So large numbers of Samaritans are coming to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Philip the Evangelist.

Simon himself, in verse 13, we’re told, believed. So, there’s why I’ve begun the sermon the way I had. Verse 13, “Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles that he saw.” So here we have the assertion of Simon’s faith is declared such as it was. The text makes it plain that what really captivated Simon were the miracles, the supernatural power on display through Philip. However, the outward signs for Simon seem so promising. If you’d been there at the time, you’d been a genuine Christian, and then you saw this large numbers of Samaritans coming. And Simon was one of them. I think you would think he was a converted man. You’d be very excited about it. He believed, and it says he was baptized. That he’s baptized by immersion in water.

But water baptism does not truly save a soul. It is meant to be an outward invisible sign of an internal transformation that has been worked by God, and core to that transformation is a recognition of sin and wickedness on our behalf. We have hearts of stone, dark hearts of wickedness and rebellion. And that is the very issue that Peter’s going to address with him. You don’t seem to have come to grips with who you really are. So, the water baptism is meant to picture that transformation work by God, but it doesn’t save his soul. It’s not any guarantee just because you’ve been water baptized that you’re going to go to heaven. As we become clear, Simon was not truly transformed. Rather, he saw the supernatural power worked by Philip, and he wanted to profit from it.

III. Simon’s Pride Exposed

So, we see Simon’s pride exposed. Simon was a proud man. Before the gospel came to Samaria, Simon was the spiritual influence and leader of the region. For a long time, the Samaritans revered him. They gave him their full loyalty. They hung on his every word. He was arrogant. He was flushed with the pride of his position. He boasted that he was someone great. Everybody gave him their attention. They said, “This man is the divine power known as the great power,” and they followed him. They were in his thrall because he amazed them with his magic powers.

Now, Simon, it turns out, was seen in later centuries by the church fathers as an early gnostic. When the people called him the divine power known as the great power, they were ascribing a kind of a supernatural deity to him, and his pride was off the charts. The early church fathers Irenaeus, Jerome, others, identified Simon the Sorcerer as the beginning of a cult known as gnosticism that plagued the church for the first few centuries of its existence. Now, gnosticism derives its name from the Greek word “gnosis”, meaning knowledge. The word agnostic comes from the negation, the Greek negation of not knowing. So, it’s a knowledge.

So gnosticism is levels of knowledge and its leaders taught that they were the ones with secret knowledge, and that as you got more and more enlightened by their instructions, you reached ever higher levels of knowledge. They would give you keys of knowledge, and you would unlock doors and move through in progress of this supernatural knowledge. They believed that they were the ones that had knowledge from God or the gods, and there were ever higher circles of knowledge available to those who followed their teachings. One scholar put it this way, the idea of gnosticism was that God had disclosed himself in a series of emanations, a series of ascending or descending depending on your perspective, emanations from himself. So, these emanations were called powers. There were the lower powers, middle powers, and then there were the higher powers, ascending all the way from the lowest part, man, all the way up to God. So that somewhere between man and God were these levels of divine emanations and divine power.

Now, the Samaritans were convinced by Simon himself that he was the highest at the highest level of those emanations. He was the divine power known as the great power, so to speak, the chief of these powers. So, he was almost like a God-like status for these Samaritans. The people were held enthralled by him, like in spiritual chains, and he had bewitched them in some sense. Simon himself, I believe, was swept along in this adulation. He didn’t want to lose that power. He didn’t want to lose that ego rush that came from playing that role, that power that he had. And apparently there was a financial side to it as well.

Now, Simon’s pride was overwhelming, but it was controlled in some sense. Simon, as he watched Philip do the miracles, he was doing the healings, he recognized a greater power than he had. He recognized that Philip was doing things he couldn’t do. It’s like when pharaoh’s magicians, remember they were able to imitate some of the early things that Moses did during the plagues, but there came a point where they said, “We can’t do that. This is the finger of God.” And I feel like Simon’s like that. He’s like, “This is a greater power than I have.” And Simon, it seemed, was humble enough, if we could use that language, or at least shrewd enough to say, “If you can’t beat them, join them. If you can’t beat them, join them. I would like to add, Philip, whatever tricks you have to my bag of tricks and move on.” That seems to be what’s going on with Simon the Sorcerer. So, he wanted to be able to do those kinds of miracles.

Pride is the devastating enemy of true salvation.

Pride is the devastating enemy of true salvation. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). And Jesus said, “Blessed are the spiritual beggars for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:). Pride is a deadly weed in the human heart. It robs it of the grace of God that God longs to give. Everyone who wants to be saved has to humble himself before God, like the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. “And the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner'” (Luke 18:13). That’s what the Holy Spirit works in a genuinely converted person.

IV. Simon’s Motives Exposed

Well, as the account unfolds, Simon revealed his pride in what he was really seeking. Simon’s motives are exposed when it came time for the giving of the Spirit. Look at verses 14-17,

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them. They had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

All right, so it’s vital for us to understand this. One of the pastors that I read and commentaries and all that said these are two different sermons. You’re getting two in one, and you’re hoping it doesn’t take too long, I’m sure. All right? But we have the issue of the separate giving of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritans and what it means and doesn’t mean, and we need to address that. Some might wonder how the Samaritan people could have become genuine followers in Christ when they heard and believed the gospel Philip preached and be genuinely baptized in water, but only later receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We might well say, “I thought that if you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not a Christian.”

And Paul openly teaches that later on in church history, as he’s written to the Romans. Romans 8:9, he says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” And he says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body -whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free- we’re all given the one Spirit to drink.” So, you receive the gift of the Spirit the moment you become a member of the body of Christ. And if you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not a Christian. That’s Romans 8:9, very plainly taught. So, what in the world is going on? And we need to be careful about this because some groups, Pentecostal groups and all that, zero in on things that happened in the Book of Acts and talk about a separate baptism of the Spirit through laying on of hands, et cetera. And then other scholars come along and say, “Look, the Book of Acts is descriptive, not prescriptive. It’s telling you what happened, not what we should do.” So that’s a little simplistic, but I think that there’s some truth in that.

So, let’s try to understand what’s really going on. I think what’s happening is back then, God did unusual things at key moments to teach the church vital lessons, specifically I believe on the unity of the body of Christ, the unity of the body of Christ. What do I mean? Well, the unity of the church is essential to the spread of the gospel, and it is where we’re heading in heaven. Jesus prayed in John 17 that all of us would be one as the Father and the Son are one. We will be as one with each other as the Father and the Son are one. And that we will be one for all eternity in heaven. No disagreement whatsoever, but it also has evangelistic power. “May they be brought to perfect unity to let the world know that you sent me” (John 17:21, paraphrase).And so fundamentally that prayer for unity, it’s vital.

Also in Ephesians 4:5-6, it says, “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is overall through all in all,” one body of Christ. What does that have to do with this account? Well, what it has to do with this account is the Jew-Samaritan divide. There’s a very, very deep divide. So, there’s three moments in the Book of Acts. This is the first. The second is with Cornelius. The third is later in Acts 19 with some John the Baptist disciples, those three times.

This first one is the Jew-Samaritan issue. Well, in order to understand that you have to know what it was like between the Jews and Samaritans. You get that mostly from John 4. Remember how Jesus went through Samaria, and he has that encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the beautiful encounter that he has with her. And we’re told very plainly in John 4:9, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” They don’t want anything to do with them. When one Samaritan village wouldn’t let Jesus come in, James and John said, “Lord, you want us to call down fire from heaven and burn them?” (Luke 9:54-55) They were ready to do that. That was that hatred that the Jews had and that arrogance and division with Samaritans.

Well, I believe God wanted to be sure the Jewish Christians and the Samaritan Christians would be one and see themselves as part of one church. And that meant that there had to be a unity between the leadership of the church in Jerusalem and the Samaritan Christians. You remember how the woman, when confronted with her sin, tried to misdirect. It’s like a smoke screen. Remember, it’s like Jesus said, “Go call your husband and come back.” And she didn’t want to talk about her marital state. Remember this whole thing? So, she said, “Well, you Jews say that we should worship in Jerusalem, and we worship here in this mountain in Samaria,” which is true. And Jesus addresses that by saying, “The time is coming when worship isn’t going to be locational. It’s not going to be one place you go.” But you can see how Jerusalem and Samaria were at odds with each other.

And so, what God wanted to do is to wait for the giving, the overt pouring out of the Spirit until the leadership came from Jerusalem, from the Jews to the Samaritan Christians. He wanted one work. And so, he withheld the gift of the Spirit until the apostles came from Jerusalem. You’re going to see the second thing with Cornelius where the pouring out of the Spirit happens in Acts 10 as a clear mark of Jew-Gentile unity. So, we’ll get to that in due time. And then in Acts 19, there’s this small group of followers of John the Baptist in Ephesus who we’re told there in Acts 19 hadn’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. I find that interesting. You do read about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, but this is how it was. And so, Paul lays hands on them, and they receive the gift of the Spirit there. So those are the three times, and they’re special cases.

Now, such displays are no longer necessary. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes at the moment of conversion. So, the Lord sent Peter and John from Jerusalem to Samaria to ensure the unity of the church between Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians. And at that moment, so Peter and John are there, they lay hands on the Samaritans that have been baptized, water baptized, and the Holy Spirit’s poured out on them, probably with the speaking in languages and other manifestations, supernatural manifestations of the Spirit. And Simon was watching this. He’s like, “Wow, that’s amazing. That’s incredible.” He was blown away by the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out in these overt supernatural manifestations with the laying on him hands of the apostles from Jerusalem.

Look at verse 18 to 19: “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'” Now, we see Simon’s true heart exposed. We see what he’s really about. He wanted to continue with the same powerful sway he had always had in Samaria. His motives were worldly: money, power, adulation, honor, those earthly things that people want. Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you as wolves in sheep’s clothing. By their fruit, you’ll recognize them” (Matthew 7:15). So, when you start seeing worldly motives, worldly methods, the same thing worldly people want, clothed in religious garb, then you’ve got false teachers.

God’s gifts are not for sale. That has nothing to do with money. Isaiah 55:1 says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat! Without money and without cost.” Also, when Jesus sent out his disciples, he said do not take along a purse or bag and don’t charge any money for your healings. Freely, you have received, freely give. I’m going to give you the power to heal. You better not charge money. And you have to imagine, they could have made a lot of money with those healings. Think about the woman with the bleeding problem. Remember that. And in Mark 5:26 we’re told she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. So even back then, people will spend huge amounts of money to get healthy.

And Jesus said, “Don’t do it. Freely, you have received, freely give.” God’s gift cannot be bought so he forbade this. Simon is showing by this what was really in his heart. Matthew 12:34-35, “How can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” So now we see what’s really going on in Simon’s heart.

Now, let me just stop and give you a note concerning church history and this man Simon the Sorcerer. Later in church history, the medieval Catholic Church was beset by a terrible practice, the practice of the buying and selling of offices within the Roman Catholic hierarchy. That practice was called simony named after this guy. So, to become an archbishop or bishop, sadly those roles were lucrative because there was a continual connection of the ministries of the church to money. And the poor people, the people that were coming, would pay money for certain spiritual services. And so, in this way, if you were a bishop or an archbishop, that was like owning a franchise and you stood to become very wealthy and very powerful. And so, the papacy required money from you to basically own that franchise.

And so, this is all a matter of true history. The beginning of the 16th century, this was going on. In 1513, a guy named Albert Hohenzollern became the archbishop of Magdeburg at the age of 23, archbishop at 23. A year later, an opening came up to be the archbishop of Mainz, which was an even larger bishopric, and he wanted to hold onto both of these positions. So, they were geographically separated from each other. Even though he was not old enough to even be a bishop and he had never received any theological training, and it was against Canon law to hold more than one bishopric at once. But the pope was in charge of all those things, and you could go to the pope and ask him to give you an exception. And the pope effectively said, “Yeah, but it’s going to cost you.”

And so, they settled on a price of 10,000 gold ducats, huge amount of money. And so, Albert went to the Fuggerhaus, a financial house in Germany, borrowed the money, and then hired a Dominican priest named Johann Tetzel to start preaching the indulgence in his region. And the indulgence was a piece of paper given by the Roman Catholics saying that a soul that was in purgatory has been set free, and those indulgences were for sale. As a matter of fact, Tetzel preached saying as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs. He had a little rhyme thing going on in the German language. And so, he was very effective, and money’s rolling in to repay him.

What was that money used for in Rome? The building of St. Peter’s Basilica. The whole thing was rife with money, and it was called simony, named after this man, Simon the Sorcerer. It’s tragic, really, absolutely tragic. Well, at this point, Peter answered and severely warned Simon, look at verses 20 and following. “May your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money. You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps, perhaps, it may be that he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I can see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

This may be one of the severest rebukes in all of scripture. It’s really quite terrifying. “May your money perish with you.” One commentator said effectively Peter was saying, “Take your money with you as you go to hell.” The perishing here is eternal perishing. Like John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish.” “May your money perish with you. Take your money on your way to hell.” God’s gifts are not for sale, but Simon thought they were, showing that his heart was truly worldly. As Peter said, “Your heart is not right before God. You have no part or share in this ministry because you’re not a Christian. You’re not a Christian and therefore you can’t do anything for this ministry. And so I call on you,” Peter would say. “Repent of this wickedness.”

Though Simon was in great spiritual danger, there was still hope while he lived. There’s always hope for a human being while he or she lives. God is gracious, if people only genuinely repent and truly believe. Peter discerned that his heart was full of bitterness and captive to sin. He was still an unconverted slave of sin and Satan. Well then, Simon requests prayer. “Pray to the Lord for me that so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” I don’t have any idea whether this is genuine or not. I don’t know. I don’t know if we’ll see Simon in heaven or not. I do know, as I said, the church fathers like Jerome and Irenaeus said he was a leader of a cult, a gnostic cult. So, it doesn’t seem like it. It doesn’t seem like it. But he said the right thing at the right moment.

There’s always hope for a human being while he or she lives. God is gracious, if people only genuinely repent and truly believe.

We have a final addendum to Peter and John’s ministry in Samaria, verse 25, “When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.” And so beautifully, aside from Simon, we see the unity that the gospel of Jesus Christ brought between Jews and Samaritans, ancient spiritual enemies now made genuinely one through faith in Christ. And that’s a beautiful thing.

VI. Application: The Marks of True Saving Faith

Now, applications. What are the marks of true, saving faith? How can I know that I’m born again? How can I know? While there’s still time to do something about it, how can I know that my sins have been forgiven? How can I know that my faith is genuine? I need to know that. If what you say is true, you could say to me, that there are such things as spurious faith or fraudulent faith or counterfeit faith, how can I tell if my faith is genuine? And I said the Bible is given to answer that question. What are the marks of true regeneration?

I believe 1 John, which we’re walking through on Thursdays with men’s Bible study, is an epistle of assurance. “This is how you can know,” he says over and over. It also reveals fraudulent faith. If you say X, but you live like this, you’re a liar. So, he deals with both sides of the equation. 1 John is written for genuine Christians to assure themselves so that they can have confidence in their walk with Christ, and it’s written to fraudulent claimers of Christian faith so that they can come to a genuine faith while there’s still time.

So, we start with 1 John and there are various tests that he gives.

The doctrinal test, starting with the incarnation. He says, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3). 1 John 5:1, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” 1 John 5:5, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.” You have to believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man. If you do believe that, he says, genuinely believe that, you’re born again. But that’s not all you have to believe in the doctrinal test. You have to believe that Jesus laid down his life for us as an atoning sacrifice, 1 John 3:16. He died as a propitiation for our sins, 1 John 4:10. And so if you get the doctrine of who Jesus is and what he did on the cross right then that gives you assurance.

Secondly, there’s the lifestyle test. What is happening in your actual life? How are you living your life? It’s not just false teachers that we can say by their fruit you’ll recognize them. It’s true of everybody. If you want to know if you’re a Christian or not, look at the fruit of your life. Is there fruit of Christianity in your life? So, 1 John talks about that comprehensive obedience to the law of God, the moral laws of God, a lifestyle of holiness and obedience to God’s word by the power of the Spirit resulting in good works. It’s the lifestyle test, what’s happening in your life. 1 John chapter 1:5-7, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he’s in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.”

So, walking in the light is a metaphor for a holy life. And what defines holy life? The laws of God. 1 John 2:3-6,

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

So, a lifestyle of walking in the light as God is in light as defined by the commands of God.

Now, you may say, “What are the commands of God?” There are more than I can possibly list for you. You’ve read the epistles. How many commands are there to Christian husbands or wives or children or masters, slaves? Commands about money, commands about prayer, commands about governing authority, it’s a lot. And so, a genuine Christian has forsaken rebellion and has taken his or her neck and put it under Jesus’s yoke, kingly yoke, to do what he says. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and you do not obey me?” he said (Luke 6:46). And so, it’s that pattern of obedience to the commands of God by the power of the Spirit, not thinking that by doing that you’re paying for your sins. No, we already covered that. That happens to faith in Jesus’s incarnation and his death and resurrection. That’s how sins are forgiven.

So, the doctrinal test on Jesus and his work, the lifestyle test in terms of how you’re living, including love for the brothers, the love test. We know that we pass from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. So, you look at, “Am I loving the brothers and sisters?” What does it mean? John tells us, “If you have this world’s goods and you see a brother or a sister in need and you don’t help them, how can you say the love of God is in you?” So, are you actually living a life of sacrificial love for the brothers and sisters in Christ?

Then there’s the Spirit test, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s direct assurance with our spirit that we are God’s children. We know that we live in him and he and us because he has given us of his Spirit. 1 John 4:13, “The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we’re children of God.” That’s the highest level of assurance. So that’s 1 John. I would commend that to you.

Also like to bring individuals that are struggling with, “Am I really a Christian or not?” to the Beatitudes. The beginning of the Sermon of the Mount. Jesus said there,

Blessed are the spiritual beggars, poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed of those who mourn for they’ll be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they’ll inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they’ll be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God (Matthew 5:3-7).

Now, you look at that list, those are heart states worked in us by the Spirit essential to conversion. Do you see those in Simon the Sorcerer? I don’t. A spiritual beggar knows he or she has nothing to offer. Like the thief on the cross, you know you have nothing to offer for your sins. You’re a spiritual beggar. You’re destitute. You have no good works that will win anything. You mourn over your sins. You’re grieving over it because it’s the thing that hurts your heart the most is your own sinfulness. And so, you mourn. You are meek, meaning humbled by the Spirit. You’ve been shown by the Spirit that you’re like the tax collector, beating your breast and standing at a distance saying, “I don’t…” There’s a humility and a meekness.

And it also extends to other people. You know you hope to be shown mercy by God and therefore you’re going to be merciful to others. These are humble heart states that God worked. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You yearn to be righteous. You’re not looking to be a whitewashed tomb that looks good on the outside. You want to genuinely be a righteous, a holy man or woman. And not only that, but you would like the world to be righteous too. You would like everyone around you to be the same. You want to be done with darkness forever. You hate sin. And so you hunger and thirst for righteousness. And blessed are the pure in heart for they’ll see God. It’s a heart work from inside of purity, of holiness. These are heart states that the Spirit works in those that are genuinely converted.

Final mark that I want to give you of genuine saving faith is perseverance. You make it to the end. Jesus said in Matthew 10:22, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” The author of Hebrews tells us that we should lay aside every weight and run with endurance to race marked out before us. How long do we run? Until you hit the finish line. What’s the finish line? You’re dead or Jesus has come. So guess what? You need to run today. You need to lay aside the sin that so easily entangles. You need to run with endurance until you are done. You don’t ever stop. This is not your work. It’s the Holy Spirit working in you to willing to do according to God’s purpose, but you persevere to the end.

So let me urge you in the language of 2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 13:5. “Examine yourselves to see whether you’re in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that crises is in you? Unless of course you fail the test.”

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we’ve had to study your word today. It’s a terrifying thing, this case of Simon the Sorcerer who looked good on the outside, was baptized, said he believed the message, but he was corrupt on the inside. Lord, I pray that you would help us to take to heart these marks of regeneration, take to heart and ask the Lord to search us and know us and show us our true condition. We thank you that Jesus came, he lived, he died, he rose again, and all we have to do is believe in him and our sins will be forgiven. But Lord, we want to live a godly life by the power of the Spirit. Help us to do it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

It is a terrifying thought that many who think they are genuine Christians will on Judgment Day be exposed as frauds. Jesus said this:

Matthew 7:21-23  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Therefore, one of the purposes of scripture is describing with perfect clarity both genuine faith—the faith that saves souls—from counterfeit faith—the faith that deceives souls.

In Acts 8, we have two case studies, both tied to the ministry of Philip the Evangelist. The first, recorded in Acts 8:9-25, is the tragic case of Simon the Sorcerer. The text said he “believed” in some sense the message preached by Philip, was baptized, and even continued on with Philip, constantly amazed at the miracles he was seeing. But his supposed faith in Christ was eventually exposed as false, a fraud. His story is written for succeeding generations as a severe warning.

Then, in the last part of Acts 8, we have the amazing story of Philip’s ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch, and that man’s genuine conversion to Christ based on a great passage from Isaiah 53. It is a case study of a genuine conversion, standing in direct contrast to that of Simon the Sorcerer.

I. The Possibility of False Faith

It may seem troubling that someone can be said to believe in the gospel and still end up condemned to hell. But the Bible reveals that there are different kinds of faith.

Jesus told a parable about the different possible responses to the gospel message:

Mark 4:3-9  “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.  4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.  8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”  9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Then he explained each element of this parable to his apostles when they asked for the explanation:

Mark 4:14-20  The farmer sows the word.  15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.  16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.  17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;  19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.  20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop– thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

The “stony ground” hearer is one who most resembles Simon in our account today. That hearer at once received the word of the gospel “with joy”… but he had no root. It was not genuine growth by grace. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he gives up.

In Simon’s case, his true nature and motives were exposed. We should not assume that just because it is said someone “believes” that that faith is genuine, converting faith.

Consider this passage:

John 2:23-25  Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.  25 He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

This is very much like Simon. In the case of Jesus’ hearers, they were amazed at the miracles and were emotionally moved and had some level of faith that God was working in Jesus. But Jesus would not connect with them and give himself to them because he knew their hearts, that their faith was not genuine.

So also James 2 asks the question, “What kind of faith actually saves souls?”

James 2:14  What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

Can “that kind of faith” save a soul? James goes on to talk about dead faith and the faith of demons.

Now, in our account we see Simon’s response to the gospel.

II. Simon’s Faith Declared

A. The Context: Philip’s Ministry in Samaria

1. When the church was persecuted in connection with Stephen’s martyrdom, it seems the apostles were imprisoned in Jerusalem and everyone else fled

2. Those who were scattered realized that it was up to them to carry on the Great Commission entrusted to the church by the Lord Jesus Christ; so they preached the word wherever they were scattered

3. Philip led the way in the ministry in Samaria

4. Philip was one of the Seven chosen by the church to minister to Greek-speaking widows in Jerusalem

Acts 8:5-8  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.  6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.  7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.  8 So there was great joy in that city.

The liberation worked by Christ has come to Samaria!!

And an old stronghold was about to topple… that worked by Simon the Sorcerer

B. Simon’s Power and Popularity

Acts 8:9  Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city

1. Simon was a man with significant influence in Samaria

2. He practiced magic… the Greek word mageuo is directly tied to the priests of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires who we meet in the book of Daniel

3. They were known as magi, and of course we meet them in Matthew 2 as those who followed a star to the birthplace of Jesus; they practiced a mix of science and the dark arts, studying the stars as well as chemical potions; they were skilled at astrology, divination, and the occult; they played on the superstitions of the people and held them in their sway

4. The Samaritans themselves practiced a mix of Judaism and paganism, so they were particularly susceptible to such a man

5. Almost certainly Simon’s powers were enhanced by demons as well, for behind all false religions are demonic influences

6. Simon’s hold over the people of Samaria was complete

Acts 8:9-11  Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,  10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.”  11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

7. But now, a far more powerful spiritual force has come to Samaria… the true gospel and Jesus Christ and the miracles worked by the Holy Spirit through Philip

C. The People Turn to Christ

Acts 8:12  But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

D. Simon’s Response to Philip’s Ministry

Acts 8:13  Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

1. Here we have Simon’s faith declared, such as it was

2. The text makes it plain that what really captivated Simon were the miracles, the spiritual power on display through Philip

3. However, the outward signs for Simon seemed so promising… the text says “He believed” and that he was baptized

4. But water baptism does not truly save a soul; it is meant to be an outward and visible symbol of a genuine, internal transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit

5. As will become clear, Simon was not truly transformed

6. Rather, he saw the supernatural power worked by Philip and he wanted to profit from it

III. Simon’s Pride Exposed

A. Simon was a Proud Man

1. Before the gospel came to Samaria, Simon was the spiritual leader of the region

2. For a long time, the Samaritans revered him and gave him their full loyalty, hanging on his every word

3. Simon himself was arrogant, flushed with the pride of his position

Acts 8:9  He boasted that he was someone great

4. Look again at the level of adulation

Acts 8:9-10 … and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.”  11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

B. Simon was an Early Gnostic

1. When the people called him “the divine power known as the Great Power,” they were ascribing deity to him; pride was off the charts

2. The early church fathers identified Simon the Sorcerer as one of the founders of a cult known as Gnosticism that would plague the church for centuries

3. Gnosticism derives its name from the Greek word gnosis, meaning knowledge; the leaders taught that they were the ones with the secret knowledge given to them by God or the gods, with ever higher circles of knowledge available to those who followed their teachings

John MacArthur: “The idea [of Gnosticism] was that God had disclosed Himself in a series of emanations, a series of descending or ascending – depending on perspective you take – emanations from himself.  These emanations were called powers; and there were lower powers, and there were middle powers, and there were higher powers, descending all the way down to man, so that somewhere between man and God were these levels of divine emanation and divine power.  The Samaritans were convinced by Simon himself that he was the Great Power of God, the chief of one of these powers, a very elevated emanation close to God Himself, almost a sort of god in human form.”

4. The people were enthralled by him, he had bewitched them in some sense

5. And Simon himself was swept along in their adulation; he didn’t want to lose that power, that ego rush that came from holding these people under his spiritual domination

C. Simon’s Pride was Overwhelming… But Controlled

1. Simon couldn’t deny that Philip was doing things, supernatural things, that he couldn’t do

2. Like when Pharaoh’s magicians at some point had to agree that Moses was doing things their secret arts could never imitate and said, “This is the finger of God”

3. Simon it seemed was like “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”… basically wanted to learn how to do those kinds of miracles so he could continue his dominion in Samaria

D. Pride is the Devastating Enemy of Salvation

James 4:6  God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Matthew 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Pride is a deadly weed in the human heart, robbing it of the grace that God longs to give

Everyone who wants to be saved has to humble himself before God

Luke 18:13  the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

As the account unfolds, Simon revealed his pride in what he was really seeking

IV. Simon’s Motives Exposed

A. The Giving of the Spirit

Acts 8:14-17  When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit,  16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.  17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

1. Vital for us to understand this

2. Some might wonder how the Samaritan people could have become genuine followers of Christ when they heard and believed the gospel Philip preached, but only LATER received the gift of the Holy Spirit

3. We might say, “I thought that, if you don’t have the Spirit you are not a Christian!”

4. That is true NOW:

Romans 8:9  if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body– whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free– and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

5. But BACK THEN, God had to do some unusual things to make sure the Body of Christ was UNITED

6. The unity of the church was vital to the spread of the gospel

John 17:22-23  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:  23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Ephesians 4:4-6  There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to one hope when you were called–  5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7. Three unusual moments with the Spirit in the Book of Acts

8. First, here with the Jews and the Samaritans

9. Remember the historic HATRED between Jews and Samaritans

John 4:9  Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

10. God wanted to be sure that the Jewish Christians saw the Samaritan Christians as part of the Body of Christ, and that the Samaritan Christians submitted to the leadership of the Jewish Apostles IN JERUSALEM

Remember the Samaritan woman’s bringing up the dispute over whether Samaria or Jerusalem was the proper center of worship

John 4:20  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

11. By withholding the gift of the Spirit until the apostles came from Jerusalem, God was humbling both sides of this ancient dispute

12. Secondly, when the gospel spread to the Gentiles, the giving of the Spirit came when a Jewish apostle (Peter) entered the home of an uncircumcised Gentile… something the Jews never did

13. When Peter had to defend this action of entering a Gentile home, he described the outpouring of the Spirit on the Gentiles

Acts 11:15-18  As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning.  16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  17 So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?”  18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

This was done to display the fact that, in Christ, the ancient barrier, the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile was destroyed forever… there would be “one new man”—Christian, no longer two: Jew or Gentile.

The baptism of the Spirit in that case was the outward sign of God’s intention

14. Thirdly, the same thing happened in Acts 19 with a small group of John the Baptist’s disciples in Ephesus, who had actually not even heard that there IS a Holy Spirit; Paul laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit then

15. All of these were SPECIAL CASES at the beginning of the church, outward displays of the UNITY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST for all time

16. Now, such a display is no longer necessary

17. So, the Lord sent Peter and John from Jerusalem to Samaria to ensure the unity of the church between Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians

18. Undoubtedly, the Spirit came as he did to Cornelius, with the new converts speaking in languages as the Spirit moved them

19. BUT the occasion of the giving of the Holy Spirit at the laying on of the apostles’ hands also exposed Simon’s heart motives

B. Simon’s Reaction

Acts 8:18-19  When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money  19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

1. Simon’s true heart is now exposed

2. He wanted to continue with the same powerful sway he had always had in Samaria

3. His motives were worldly… MONEY, POWER, HONORS

Matthew 7:15-20  Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

4. God’s gifts are in no way up for sale… money has nothing to do with the true power of the Kingdom of God

Isaiah 55:1  Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

When Jesus sent his disciples on a practice mission, he said this:

Matthew 10:8  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

In other words, “I will give you freely the supernatural power you need to heal sick people; so you better NOT charge any money for those healings.”

And people WOULD HAVE PAID HANDSOMELY for those healings… the woman with the bleeding problem is proof of that:

Mark 5:26  She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

But Jesus FORBADE his apostles from receiving any money at all for their supernatural gifts.

Simon by this offer showed what was really in his heart:

Matthew 12:34-35  … how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

Note: later in church history, the Roman Catholic church was beset by a practice of the buying and selling of offices within the Catholic hierarchy, a practice called SIMONY. These roles—like being an Archbishop—were extremely lucrative, like owning a franchise. The medieval Catholic church required money as in installation fee for such positions. Sometimes men held several of these posts simultaneously. In 1513, Albert Hohenzollern became Archbishop of Magdeburg at the tender age of 23. A year later, he sought to add the position of Archbishop of Mainz, though he was not old enough to be a bishop at all, had never been theologically trained, and it was against canon law to hold two bishoprics at once. The Pope had the power to grant an exception to Albert, but the cost was agreed to—10,000 gold ducats. A huge sum! To pay the fee, Albert borrowed the money from the Fuggers, a financial house, then hired Johann Tetzel to sell indulgences (certificates of pardon from purgatory) to the populace, thus paying off the debt. Tetzel taught that as the coin paid for the indulgence in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.

These were all examples of SIMONY… money paid for spiritual positions or privileges.

The term came from this man, Simon the Sorcerer. Tetzel’s indulgence led to the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther and the Reformation.

V. Simon Severely Warned

Acts 8:20-23  Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!  21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.  22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.  23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

A. One of the Most Severe Rebukes in the Bible

1. “May your money perish with you!”

2. One commentator said that effectively Peter was saying “Take your money with you as you go to hell!”

3. The threat of perishing is that of eternal damnation

B. God’s Gifts are NOT FOR SALE! But Simon thought they were… showing his heart was truly worldly… as Peter said, “Your heart is not right before God”

C. No part or share in this ministry: you’re NOT A CHRISTIAN and therefore cannot do this ministry at all

D. Peter calls him to REPENT of his wickedness

1. Though Simon was in great spiritual danger, there was always hope while he lived

2. God is gracious, if people will only repent and truly believe

3. Peter discerned that Simon was “full of bitterness and captive to sin”… in other words, an unconverted slave of Satan

E. Simon’s Request for Prayer

Acts 8:24  Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

It’s impossible to tell if this was genuine or not.

The church fathers tell us that Simon the Sorcerer continued as a heretical Gnostic cult leader, so it seems not.

Final addendum to Peter and John’s ministry in Samaria:

Acts 8:25   When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

The gospel of Jesus Christ healed the ancient rift between Jews and Samaritans making one new man out of the two!

VI. Application: The Marks of True Saving Faith

A. We Have Opened the Topic of False vs True Faith

B. So… What Are the Marks of Genuine Saving Faith?

1. 1 John gives various tests

a. Doctrinal test: Belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God

1 John 4:2-3  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,  3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.

1 John 5:1  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God

1 John 5:5  Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

b. Lifestyle test: Comprehensive obedience to the moral laws of God… a lifestyle of holiness in obedience to God’s Word by the power of the Spirit resulting in GOOD WORKS

1 John 1:5-7  God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 2:3-6  We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.  4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

c. Love test: Deep and consistent love for other Christians

1 John 3:14  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.

d. Spirit’s test: Spirit’s direct assurance with our spirits that we are children of God

1 John 4:13  We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

2. Beatitudes

Matthew 5:3-8  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Genuine Christians are characterized by these heart states worked in us by the Spirit: spiritual beggars, recognizing we have nothing good in ourselves to offer; mourning over our sins as the evil things they are; meek (humbled) by our status as sinners; hungering and thirsting for our righteousness and that of the world; merciful to others because we hope to receive mercy from God; pure in heart by the work of the Spirit within us

3. Perseverance

Matthew 10:22  All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Matthew 13:20-21  The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

C. Test Yourselves

2 Corinthians 13:5  Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you– unless, of course, you fail the test?

Now, turn your Bibles to Acts 8. We’re looking this morning in our continuing series in the Book of Acts 8:9-25.

It is a terrifying thought that many who think that they are Christians will on Judgment Day be exposed as frauds. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.'” Therefore, I believe one of the purposes of scripture is to describe with perfect clarity genuine faith, the faith that actually saves souls, and to also describe counterfeit faith, the faith that deceives souls.

In Acts 8, we have two case studies, both of them tied to the ministry of Philip the Evangelist. The first that we’re studying this morning recorded in Acts 8:9-25 is the tragic case of Simon the Sorcerer. The text tells us he believed in some sense the message preached by Philip and was baptized. And even continued on with Philip, constantly amazed at the miracles that Philip was doing that he was seeing. But his supposed faith in Christ was eventually exposed as false or fraud. I believe the story is here written for succeeding generations as a severe warning against fraudulent faith. But in the last part of Acts 8, we have a counterpart story, an amazing story of Philip’s ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch and that man’s genuine conversion to Christ based on a great passage from Isaiah 53. It’s a case study of genuine conversion, a genuine faith, standing in direct contrast to Simon the Sorcerer. And God willing, we’ll study that one next week.

I. The Possibility of False Faith

So, let’s talk about the possibility of false faith. That may seem troubling that someone can be said to believe in Jesus, to believe in the gospel, and still end up condemned to hell. The Bible reveals that there are different kinds of faith. Jesus told a parable about different possible reactions or responses to the word of God, to the gospel message, in Mark 4:3-9, the parable of the seed and the soils.

“Listen,” he said. “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants so that it did not bear grain. Still, other seed fell in good soil. It grew up, came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying 30, 60, or even 100 times.” Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

He then subsequently explained the parable, each of its elements to his apostles, and then the Holy Spirit wrote it down for us so we could understand it. The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. I want you to hear that, with joy. They rejoice over the word. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among the thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown. Different outcomes, different responses to the gospel.

I believe the stony ground here, the one that initially receives the word with joy, may resemble Simon the Sorcerer or perhaps the third type, the one who wants other things, the worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, chokes it out, combination. But what we do see in the parable of the seed and the soils is we need to see the outcome, the fruit where the seed brings the individual to find out the genuineness of the response. So initially responding with joy to the gospel isn’t enough. It needs to be a deeper work. In Simon’s case, his true nature and his motives were exposed. We should not assume that just because it is said someone believes, that that faith is genuine converting faith. There are other examples of this in the New Testament.

For example, at the end of John 2. Jesus by this time is starting to do his miracles, many miracles, signs and wonders. And in John 2:23-25, it says, “Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many people saw his miraculous signs that he was doing and believed in his name.” It’s right there in John 2:23. “They believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man for he knew what was in a man.”

So, in some sense, you can believe in his name and Jesus isn’t going to entrust himself to you because there’s not been that genuine heart work done. This is very much like Simon in the case of Jesus here. They’re amazed at the miracles. They’re emotionally moved by them. They have some level of faith that God was working through Jesus. But Jesus would not connect with them and would not entrust or commit himself to them because he knew their hearts, that their faith was not genuine. We’re going to see that with Simon. There had not been a heart work in Simon concerning his own sinfulness and wickedness.

Also, James 2 asks the question, “What kind of faith saves?” “What good is it,” James 2:14, “my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith or that kind of faith save them?” So, James in James 2 is raising up the question of what kind of faith are we talking about? So, there is the possibility of a counterfeit faith, of faith that does not save.

II. Simon’s Faith Declared

Now, in our account with Simon, we see a faith described and we see the outcome. So, Simon’s faith is declared. Now, we need to step back and talk about the context. Where are we in the Book of Acts? The Book of Acts is about the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth, and then the movement of the gospel from Jew only to, by the end of the book, Jew plus Gentiles, Gentile believers greatly outnumbering Jewish followers in Christ. That’s the movement in the Book of Acts, the spread of the gospel.

We can’t just wait for the …pastors, the missionaries, but all the people of God are entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation.

Now, when the church was persecuted in connection with Stephen’s martyrdom, the church was scattered. We’re told that the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. Either they were under arrest, or they chose to stay there as a base of operations. We don’t know. But we know that the non-apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, and those who were scattered were told to preach the word wherever they went. So, the gospel is moving out, the gospel is spreading. And the lay people, not the apostles, took it upon themselves, they took the responsibility upon themselves to share the gospel. We talked about that last time and how it’s up to us. We can’t just wait for the great leaders, the apostles, those types, the pastors, the missionaries, but all the people of God are entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation. So, we see that.

Philip led the way in Samaria, a ministry in Samaria. Philip, we’ve already met him in Acts 6. He was one of the seven that was set apart by the church for ministering to the Greek-speaking widows in the daily distribution of food, of which Stephen was the great leader. But Philip also is known, Philip. And last week, we saw his ministry in verses 5-8, “Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. And when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.” So, this is the liberation, the true liberation of the gospel worked by Philip the Evangelist, he’s called, as he preaches there in Samaria. What an incredible work this was.

And now in our account, we see an old stronghold, a satanic stronghold being addressed in that stronghold with that work by Simon the Sorcerer. So, we’re introduced to this individual, Simon, in verse 9. Now, for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city, or magic. So, we are introduced to Simon and his power and his popularity. Simon was a man with significant influence there in Samaria. He practiced magic.

The Greek word “mageuo” is the word translated in verse 9, sorcery or magic, directly tied to earlier cast of priests in the Babylonian and the Medo-Persian empires who we meet in the book of Daniel. They were known as magi. Of course, we meet a better version of them in the birth story of Jesus in Matthew 2, those who follow the star to the birthplace of Jesus. The magi practiced a mix of science, of actual studying of the position of the stars and the planets, but also the dark arts. They studied chemical potions. They were skilled at astrology, divination and the occult, interpretation of dreams, these kinds of things, and they played on the superstitions of the people and held them in their sway.

The Samaritans themselves practiced a strange mix of Judaism and paganism, so they were seen to be outcast by the Jews. They rejected the Samaritans, but the Samaritan saw themselves similar to the Jews or related to the Jews. So, they were susceptible to this kind of mix of paganism and occultic power. And almost certainly Simon’s powers were enhanced by demonic power, the demons getting behind him to give him power and influence because all false religions have a demonic basis. Now, Simon’s hold to the people was very powerful. Look at verses 9-11:

Now, for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people both high and low gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the great power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

But now it seems a far greater power, supernatural power, has come to Samaria through the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the miracles worked by the Holy Spirit of God through Philip. And so, the people were turning to Christ in large numbers. Look at verse 12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” So large numbers of Samaritans are coming to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ through the ministry of Philip the Evangelist.

Simon himself, in verse 13, we’re told, believed. So, there’s why I’ve begun the sermon the way I had. Verse 13, “Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles that he saw.” So here we have the assertion of Simon’s faith is declared such as it was. The text makes it plain that what really captivated Simon were the miracles, the supernatural power on display through Philip. However, the outward signs for Simon seem so promising. If you’d been there at the time, you’d been a genuine Christian, and then you saw this large numbers of Samaritans coming. And Simon was one of them. I think you would think he was a converted man. You’d be very excited about it. He believed, and it says he was baptized. That he’s baptized by immersion in water.

But water baptism does not truly save a soul. It is meant to be an outward invisible sign of an internal transformation that has been worked by God, and core to that transformation is a recognition of sin and wickedness on our behalf. We have hearts of stone, dark hearts of wickedness and rebellion. And that is the very issue that Peter’s going to address with him. You don’t seem to have come to grips with who you really are. So, the water baptism is meant to picture that transformation work by God, but it doesn’t save his soul. It’s not any guarantee just because you’ve been water baptized that you’re going to go to heaven. As we become clear, Simon was not truly transformed. Rather, he saw the supernatural power worked by Philip, and he wanted to profit from it.

III. Simon’s Pride Exposed

So, we see Simon’s pride exposed. Simon was a proud man. Before the gospel came to Samaria, Simon was the spiritual influence and leader of the region. For a long time, the Samaritans revered him. They gave him their full loyalty. They hung on his every word. He was arrogant. He was flushed with the pride of his position. He boasted that he was someone great. Everybody gave him their attention. They said, “This man is the divine power known as the great power,” and they followed him. They were in his thrall because he amazed them with his magic powers.

Now, Simon, it turns out, was seen in later centuries by the church fathers as an early gnostic. When the people called him the divine power known as the great power, they were ascribing a kind of a supernatural deity to him, and his pride was off the charts. The early church fathers Irenaeus, Jerome, others, identified Simon the Sorcerer as the beginning of a cult known as gnosticism that plagued the church for the first few centuries of its existence. Now, gnosticism derives its name from the Greek word “gnosis”, meaning knowledge. The word agnostic comes from the negation, the Greek negation of not knowing. So, it’s a knowledge.

So gnosticism is levels of knowledge and its leaders taught that they were the ones with secret knowledge, and that as you got more and more enlightened by their instructions, you reached ever higher levels of knowledge. They would give you keys of knowledge, and you would unlock doors and move through in progress of this supernatural knowledge. They believed that they were the ones that had knowledge from God or the gods, and there were ever higher circles of knowledge available to those who followed their teachings. One scholar put it this way, the idea of gnosticism was that God had disclosed himself in a series of emanations, a series of ascending or descending depending on your perspective, emanations from himself. So, these emanations were called powers. There were the lower powers, middle powers, and then there were the higher powers, ascending all the way from the lowest part, man, all the way up to God. So that somewhere between man and God were these levels of divine emanations and divine power.

Now, the Samaritans were convinced by Simon himself that he was the highest at the highest level of those emanations. He was the divine power known as the great power, so to speak, the chief of these powers. So, he was almost like a God-like status for these Samaritans. The people were held enthralled by him, like in spiritual chains, and he had bewitched them in some sense. Simon himself, I believe, was swept along in this adulation. He didn’t want to lose that power. He didn’t want to lose that ego rush that came from playing that role, that power that he had. And apparently there was a financial side to it as well.

Now, Simon’s pride was overwhelming, but it was controlled in some sense. Simon, as he watched Philip do the miracles, he was doing the healings, he recognized a greater power than he had. He recognized that Philip was doing things he couldn’t do. It’s like when pharaoh’s magicians, remember they were able to imitate some of the early things that Moses did during the plagues, but there came a point where they said, “We can’t do that. This is the finger of God.” And I feel like Simon’s like that. He’s like, “This is a greater power than I have.” And Simon, it seemed, was humble enough, if we could use that language, or at least shrewd enough to say, “If you can’t beat them, join them. If you can’t beat them, join them. I would like to add, Philip, whatever tricks you have to my bag of tricks and move on.” That seems to be what’s going on with Simon the Sorcerer. So, he wanted to be able to do those kinds of miracles.

Pride is the devastating enemy of true salvation.

Pride is the devastating enemy of true salvation. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). And Jesus said, “Blessed are the spiritual beggars for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:). Pride is a deadly weed in the human heart. It robs it of the grace of God that God longs to give. Everyone who wants to be saved has to humble himself before God, like the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. “And the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner'” (Luke 18:13). That’s what the Holy Spirit works in a genuinely converted person.

IV. Simon’s Motives Exposed

Well, as the account unfolds, Simon revealed his pride in what he was really seeking. Simon’s motives are exposed when it came time for the giving of the Spirit. Look at verses 14-17,

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them. They had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

All right, so it’s vital for us to understand this. One of the pastors that I read and commentaries and all that said these are two different sermons. You’re getting two in one, and you’re hoping it doesn’t take too long, I’m sure. All right? But we have the issue of the separate giving of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritans and what it means and doesn’t mean, and we need to address that. Some might wonder how the Samaritan people could have become genuine followers in Christ when they heard and believed the gospel Philip preached and be genuinely baptized in water, but only later receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We might well say, “I thought that if you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not a Christian.”

And Paul openly teaches that later on in church history, as he’s written to the Romans. Romans 8:9, he says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” And he says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body -whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free- we’re all given the one Spirit to drink.” So, you receive the gift of the Spirit the moment you become a member of the body of Christ. And if you don’t have the Spirit, you’re not a Christian. That’s Romans 8:9, very plainly taught. So, what in the world is going on? And we need to be careful about this because some groups, Pentecostal groups and all that, zero in on things that happened in the Book of Acts and talk about a separate baptism of the Spirit through laying on of hands, et cetera. And then other scholars come along and say, “Look, the Book of Acts is descriptive, not prescriptive. It’s telling you what happened, not what we should do.” So that’s a little simplistic, but I think that there’s some truth in that.

So, let’s try to understand what’s really going on. I think what’s happening is back then, God did unusual things at key moments to teach the church vital lessons, specifically I believe on the unity of the body of Christ, the unity of the body of Christ. What do I mean? Well, the unity of the church is essential to the spread of the gospel, and it is where we’re heading in heaven. Jesus prayed in John 17 that all of us would be one as the Father and the Son are one. We will be as one with each other as the Father and the Son are one. And that we will be one for all eternity in heaven. No disagreement whatsoever, but it also has evangelistic power. “May they be brought to perfect unity to let the world know that you sent me” (John 17:21, paraphrase).And so fundamentally that prayer for unity, it’s vital.

Also in Ephesians 4:5-6, it says, “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is overall through all in all,” one body of Christ. What does that have to do with this account? Well, what it has to do with this account is the Jew-Samaritan divide. There’s a very, very deep divide. So, there’s three moments in the Book of Acts. This is the first. The second is with Cornelius. The third is later in Acts 19 with some John the Baptist disciples, those three times.

This first one is the Jew-Samaritan issue. Well, in order to understand that you have to know what it was like between the Jews and Samaritans. You get that mostly from John 4. Remember how Jesus went through Samaria, and he has that encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, the beautiful encounter that he has with her. And we’re told very plainly in John 4:9, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” They don’t want anything to do with them. When one Samaritan village wouldn’t let Jesus come in, James and John said, “Lord, you want us to call down fire from heaven and burn them?” (Luke 9:54-55) They were ready to do that. That was that hatred that the Jews had and that arrogance and division with Samaritans.

Well, I believe God wanted to be sure the Jewish Christians and the Samaritan Christians would be one and see themselves as part of one church. And that meant that there had to be a unity between the leadership of the church in Jerusalem and the Samaritan Christians. You remember how the woman, when confronted with her sin, tried to misdirect. It’s like a smoke screen. Remember, it’s like Jesus said, “Go call your husband and come back.” And she didn’t want to talk about her marital state. Remember this whole thing? So, she said, “Well, you Jews say that we should worship in Jerusalem, and we worship here in this mountain in Samaria,” which is true. And Jesus addresses that by saying, “The time is coming when worship isn’t going to be locational. It’s not going to be one place you go.” But you can see how Jerusalem and Samaria were at odds with each other.

And so, what God wanted to do is to wait for the giving, the overt pouring out of the Spirit until the leadership came from Jerusalem, from the Jews to the Samaritan Christians. He wanted one work. And so, he withheld the gift of the Spirit until the apostles came from Jerusalem. You’re going to see the second thing with Cornelius where the pouring out of the Spirit happens in Acts 10 as a clear mark of Jew-Gentile unity. So, we’ll get to that in due time. And then in Acts 19, there’s this small group of followers of John the Baptist in Ephesus who we’re told there in Acts 19 hadn’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. I find that interesting. You do read about the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, but this is how it was. And so, Paul lays hands on them, and they receive the gift of the Spirit there. So those are the three times, and they’re special cases.

Now, such displays are no longer necessary. The gift of the Holy Spirit comes at the moment of conversion. So, the Lord sent Peter and John from Jerusalem to Samaria to ensure the unity of the church between Jewish Christians and Samaritan Christians. And at that moment, so Peter and John are there, they lay hands on the Samaritans that have been baptized, water baptized, and the Holy Spirit’s poured out on them, probably with the speaking in languages and other manifestations, supernatural manifestations of the Spirit. And Simon was watching this. He’s like, “Wow, that’s amazing. That’s incredible.” He was blown away by the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out in these overt supernatural manifestations with the laying on him hands of the apostles from Jerusalem.

Look at verse 18 to 19: “When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money and said, ‘Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.'” Now, we see Simon’s true heart exposed. We see what he’s really about. He wanted to continue with the same powerful sway he had always had in Samaria. His motives were worldly: money, power, adulation, honor, those earthly things that people want. Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you as wolves in sheep’s clothing. By their fruit, you’ll recognize them” (Matthew 7:15). So, when you start seeing worldly motives, worldly methods, the same thing worldly people want, clothed in religious garb, then you’ve got false teachers.

God’s gifts are not for sale. That has nothing to do with money. Isaiah 55:1 says, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat! Without money and without cost.” Also, when Jesus sent out his disciples, he said do not take along a purse or bag and don’t charge any money for your healings. Freely, you have received, freely give. I’m going to give you the power to heal. You better not charge money. And you have to imagine, they could have made a lot of money with those healings. Think about the woman with the bleeding problem. Remember that. And in Mark 5:26 we’re told she had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. So even back then, people will spend huge amounts of money to get healthy.

And Jesus said, “Don’t do it. Freely, you have received, freely give.” God’s gift cannot be bought so he forbade this. Simon is showing by this what was really in his heart. Matthew 12:34-35, “How can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” So now we see what’s really going on in Simon’s heart.

Now, let me just stop and give you a note concerning church history and this man Simon the Sorcerer. Later in church history, the medieval Catholic Church was beset by a terrible practice, the practice of the buying and selling of offices within the Roman Catholic hierarchy. That practice was called simony named after this guy. So, to become an archbishop or bishop, sadly those roles were lucrative because there was a continual connection of the ministries of the church to money. And the poor people, the people that were coming, would pay money for certain spiritual services. And so, in this way, if you were a bishop or an archbishop, that was like owning a franchise and you stood to become very wealthy and very powerful. And so, the papacy required money from you to basically own that franchise.

And so, this is all a matter of true history. The beginning of the 16th century, this was going on. In 1513, a guy named Albert Hohenzollern became the archbishop of Magdeburg at the age of 23, archbishop at 23. A year later, an opening came up to be the archbishop of Mainz, which was an even larger bishopric, and he wanted to hold onto both of these positions. So, they were geographically separated from each other. Even though he was not old enough to even be a bishop and he had never received any theological training, and it was against Canon law to hold more than one bishopric at once. But the pope was in charge of all those things, and you could go to the pope and ask him to give you an exception. And the pope effectively said, “Yeah, but it’s going to cost you.”

And so, they settled on a price of 10,000 gold ducats, huge amount of money. And so, Albert went to the Fuggerhaus, a financial house in Germany, borrowed the money, and then hired a Dominican priest named Johann Tetzel to start preaching the indulgence in his region. And the indulgence was a piece of paper given by the Roman Catholics saying that a soul that was in purgatory has been set free, and those indulgences were for sale. As a matter of fact, Tetzel preached saying as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs. He had a little rhyme thing going on in the German language. And so, he was very effective, and money’s rolling in to repay him.

What was that money used for in Rome? The building of St. Peter’s Basilica. The whole thing was rife with money, and it was called simony, named after this man, Simon the Sorcerer. It’s tragic, really, absolutely tragic. Well, at this point, Peter answered and severely warned Simon, look at verses 20 and following. “May your money perish with you because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money. You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps, perhaps, it may be that he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I can see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

This may be one of the severest rebukes in all of scripture. It’s really quite terrifying. “May your money perish with you.” One commentator said effectively Peter was saying, “Take your money with you as you go to hell.” The perishing here is eternal perishing. Like John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish.” “May your money perish with you. Take your money on your way to hell.” God’s gifts are not for sale, but Simon thought they were, showing that his heart was truly worldly. As Peter said, “Your heart is not right before God. You have no part or share in this ministry because you’re not a Christian. You’re not a Christian and therefore you can’t do anything for this ministry. And so I call on you,” Peter would say. “Repent of this wickedness.”

Though Simon was in great spiritual danger, there was still hope while he lived. There’s always hope for a human being while he or she lives. God is gracious, if people only genuinely repent and truly believe. Peter discerned that his heart was full of bitterness and captive to sin. He was still an unconverted slave of sin and Satan. Well then, Simon requests prayer. “Pray to the Lord for me that so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” I don’t have any idea whether this is genuine or not. I don’t know. I don’t know if we’ll see Simon in heaven or not. I do know, as I said, the church fathers like Jerome and Irenaeus said he was a leader of a cult, a gnostic cult. So, it doesn’t seem like it. It doesn’t seem like it. But he said the right thing at the right moment.

There’s always hope for a human being while he or she lives. God is gracious, if people only genuinely repent and truly believe.

We have a final addendum to Peter and John’s ministry in Samaria, verse 25, “When they had testified and proclaimed the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.” And so beautifully, aside from Simon, we see the unity that the gospel of Jesus Christ brought between Jews and Samaritans, ancient spiritual enemies now made genuinely one through faith in Christ. And that’s a beautiful thing.

VI. Application: The Marks of True Saving Faith

Now, applications. What are the marks of true, saving faith? How can I know that I’m born again? How can I know? While there’s still time to do something about it, how can I know that my sins have been forgiven? How can I know that my faith is genuine? I need to know that. If what you say is true, you could say to me, that there are such things as spurious faith or fraudulent faith or counterfeit faith, how can I tell if my faith is genuine? And I said the Bible is given to answer that question. What are the marks of true regeneration?

I believe 1 John, which we’re walking through on Thursdays with men’s Bible study, is an epistle of assurance. “This is how you can know,” he says over and over. It also reveals fraudulent faith. If you say X, but you live like this, you’re a liar. So, he deals with both sides of the equation. 1 John is written for genuine Christians to assure themselves so that they can have confidence in their walk with Christ, and it’s written to fraudulent claimers of Christian faith so that they can come to a genuine faith while there’s still time.

So, we start with 1 John and there are various tests that he gives.

The doctrinal test, starting with the incarnation. He says, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:2-3). 1 John 5:1, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” 1 John 5:5, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.” You have to believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man. If you do believe that, he says, genuinely believe that, you’re born again. But that’s not all you have to believe in the doctrinal test. You have to believe that Jesus laid down his life for us as an atoning sacrifice, 1 John 3:16. He died as a propitiation for our sins, 1 John 4:10. And so if you get the doctrine of who Jesus is and what he did on the cross right then that gives you assurance.

Secondly, there’s the lifestyle test. What is happening in your actual life? How are you living your life? It’s not just false teachers that we can say by their fruit you’ll recognize them. It’s true of everybody. If you want to know if you’re a Christian or not, look at the fruit of your life. Is there fruit of Christianity in your life? So, 1 John talks about that comprehensive obedience to the law of God, the moral laws of God, a lifestyle of holiness and obedience to God’s word by the power of the Spirit resulting in good works. It’s the lifestyle test, what’s happening in your life. 1 John chapter 1:5-7, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he’s in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.”

So, walking in the light is a metaphor for a holy life. And what defines holy life? The laws of God. 1 John 2:3-6,

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

So, a lifestyle of walking in the light as God is in light as defined by the commands of God.

Now, you may say, “What are the commands of God?” There are more than I can possibly list for you. You’ve read the epistles. How many commands are there to Christian husbands or wives or children or masters, slaves? Commands about money, commands about prayer, commands about governing authority, it’s a lot. And so, a genuine Christian has forsaken rebellion and has taken his or her neck and put it under Jesus’s yoke, kingly yoke, to do what he says. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and you do not obey me?” he said (Luke 6:46). And so, it’s that pattern of obedience to the commands of God by the power of the Spirit, not thinking that by doing that you’re paying for your sins. No, we already covered that. That happens to faith in Jesus’s incarnation and his death and resurrection. That’s how sins are forgiven.

So, the doctrinal test on Jesus and his work, the lifestyle test in terms of how you’re living, including love for the brothers, the love test. We know that we pass from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. So, you look at, “Am I loving the brothers and sisters?” What does it mean? John tells us, “If you have this world’s goods and you see a brother or a sister in need and you don’t help them, how can you say the love of God is in you?” So, are you actually living a life of sacrificial love for the brothers and sisters in Christ?

Then there’s the Spirit test, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit’s direct assurance with our spirit that we are God’s children. We know that we live in him and he and us because he has given us of his Spirit. 1 John 4:13, “The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we’re children of God.” That’s the highest level of assurance. So that’s 1 John. I would commend that to you.

Also like to bring individuals that are struggling with, “Am I really a Christian or not?” to the Beatitudes. The beginning of the Sermon of the Mount. Jesus said there,

Blessed are the spiritual beggars, poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed of those who mourn for they’ll be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they’ll inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they’ll be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God (Matthew 5:3-7).

Now, you look at that list, those are heart states worked in us by the Spirit essential to conversion. Do you see those in Simon the Sorcerer? I don’t. A spiritual beggar knows he or she has nothing to offer. Like the thief on the cross, you know you have nothing to offer for your sins. You’re a spiritual beggar. You’re destitute. You have no good works that will win anything. You mourn over your sins. You’re grieving over it because it’s the thing that hurts your heart the most is your own sinfulness. And so, you mourn. You are meek, meaning humbled by the Spirit. You’ve been shown by the Spirit that you’re like the tax collector, beating your breast and standing at a distance saying, “I don’t…” There’s a humility and a meekness.

And it also extends to other people. You know you hope to be shown mercy by God and therefore you’re going to be merciful to others. These are humble heart states that God worked. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You yearn to be righteous. You’re not looking to be a whitewashed tomb that looks good on the outside. You want to genuinely be a righteous, a holy man or woman. And not only that, but you would like the world to be righteous too. You would like everyone around you to be the same. You want to be done with darkness forever. You hate sin. And so you hunger and thirst for righteousness. And blessed are the pure in heart for they’ll see God. It’s a heart work from inside of purity, of holiness. These are heart states that the Spirit works in those that are genuinely converted.

Final mark that I want to give you of genuine saving faith is perseverance. You make it to the end. Jesus said in Matthew 10:22, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” The author of Hebrews tells us that we should lay aside every weight and run with endurance to race marked out before us. How long do we run? Until you hit the finish line. What’s the finish line? You’re dead or Jesus has come. So guess what? You need to run today. You need to lay aside the sin that so easily entangles. You need to run with endurance until you are done. You don’t ever stop. This is not your work. It’s the Holy Spirit working in you to willing to do according to God’s purpose, but you persevere to the end.

So let me urge you in the language of 2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 13:5. “Examine yourselves to see whether you’re in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that crises is in you? Unless of course you fail the test.”

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we’ve had to study your word today. It’s a terrifying thing, this case of Simon the Sorcerer who looked good on the outside, was baptized, said he believed the message, but he was corrupt on the inside. Lord, I pray that you would help us to take to heart these marks of regeneration, take to heart and ask the Lord to search us and know us and show us our true condition. We thank you that Jesus came, he lived, he died, he rose again, and all we have to do is believe in him and our sins will be forgiven. But Lord, we want to live a godly life by the power of the Spirit. Help us to do it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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