In the first half, the big animals were winning. The score was 70 to nothing when half-time came. When the second half began, the big animals got in their huddle and planned their strategy. They decided to send the elephant down the left side with the ball. They threw him the ball and he ran hard as he could and just as he was about to step across the goal line he crashed and didn't make it. This caught the big animals by surprise, but not to be discouraged, they made a new plan. They decided to send the giraffe down the right side with the ball. Well, all went well until he was about to step across the goal line and he crashed. When the big animals regrouped the coach said, "We are going to send our fastest player right down the middle.” The ball was thrown to the zebra and he, like the others, got almost across the line and he was smashed before he could step over.
Well, there was no small stir among the small animals by this time. The coach called for time out and gathered them together and said, "Now I want to know who tackled that elephant!" A little voice in the back said, “I did.” It was the centipede. The coach then asked, “All right, then who smashed that giraffe?" Again, the centipede admitted that he had done it. The coach asked, “And, I want to know who stopped that zebra!" For the third time, the centipede said, "I did.” The coach asked him, “Well, where in the world were you during the first half! The centipede answered, "I was in the locker room getting my sneakers tied...”
In every church there are some soul winners who could do an outstanding job for the Lord if they would just get out into the harvest field, put their spiritual shoes on, and begin doing what God has called them to do!
The New Testament is full of stories of the Christians who chose to put their spiritual shoes on and work diligently in the harvest field, winning souls. God had this all recorded in the sacred pages of His Book so we might follow their good examples. Let us look at one of the examples today and pray we will be influenced to follow in his footsteps.
WE HAVE BIBLE EXAMPLES FEARLESSNESS.
There are FIVE THINGS in Acts 8:9-13 that tells us about Simon, the sorcerer:
I. SIMON'S DEALINGS.
Look at verse 9, We read, "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one."
The Bible tells us Simon "...used sorcery…”
Also, notice, the Bible tells the RESULT of his WITCHCRAFT. “...Simon ... bewitched the people of Samaria...”
The word translated "bewitched" here, means: "To entrance or charm the people.”
Evidently both meanings of this word applies to what Simon did to the people because they had been both CAPTIVATED and CHARMED BY HIM.
Look at the last part of verse 9, it says of Simon, the sorcerer, "...giving out that HIMSELF was some GREAT QNE.”
So we see that Simon DEALT IN WITCHCRAFT.
Now one might ask, “What is wrong with witchcraft?”
There are MANY things wrong with it! For one thing, it causes people to DIRECT THEIR ATTENTION and TRUST toward an individual instead of toward God.
For example, a psychic that advertises on television, tells people to call her on her 900 number if they have any problems and she will give them an answer and the customer will be charged $4.95 for each minute. The ad shows her eyes peering out from beautiful clouds, as if she is some kind of god, looking down on mankind.
• Today we see and hear of witchcraft more than ever before. We can ride down the highways and see signs advertising palm readers who claim we need to go to them for GUIDANCE and UNDERSTANDING.
• We see ads on television of people who claim they have psychic ability and can tell you everything you need to know if you will call their 900 number. They are all a bunch of MONEY HUNGRY DEGENERATES who will SAY ANYTHING and DO ANYTHING for your money.
They would love to "bewitch' every person alive so they will be dependent on them, so they can become rich. They do not know any more about the future than you do.
James 4:13-15 says, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
Nevertheless, we are told that some people are so entrapped by these practicing witchcraft that they spend literally hundreds of dollars each month on palm readers and phone psychics.
Well, Philip, that GREAT, COURAGEOUS SOUL WINNER WENT TO SAMARIA AND INVADED SINFUL SIMON'S TERRITORY.
Yes, Philip was greatly outnumbered, but he did not back down.
HE WAS A FEARLESS WITNESS, and a POWERFUL EXAMPLE TO US TODAY TO FOLLOWI Also, look at...
II. SIMON'S DECEPTION.
The Bible tells us that Simon was, “…giving out that himself was some great one.”
Illus: That should have been a dead give-away that he was not to be trusted. You need to WATCH OUT for anyone who is a fast talker and promotes himself as being a GREAT ONE!
Have you ever had a fast-talking salesman try to sell you something? He talks fast because he does not want you to think. He wants to do your thinking for you.
This is the way Simon was. He was a fast-talking salesman, and he was selling HIMSELF.
Look at verse 10, he did a fantastic job of selling himself. The Bible said, “To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.”
The people did not know the difference between the power of God and the power of Satan so they were fooled by Simon's tricks.
Those were not the only people fooled! Many today are fooled for the same reason!
Illus: In 1992, on “Primetime live” - ABC went undercover and began to expose some of the men who claimed to be God's ministers on television. They proved that the ones who were deceiving the people were not interested saving souls, but that they were money hungry degenerates who would SAY ANYTHING AND DO ANYTHING for the almighty dollar.
Thousands of people who knew very little about the Word of God were being taken in by the tricks those men pulled.
They made them think they were GREAT MEN OF GOD when possibly they were not even saved.
Yes, our text tells us Simon had built a solid base of Samaritans who thought he was the GREAT ONE to turn to instead of turning to God.
So far we have seen SIMON'S DEALINGS AND SIMON'S DECEPTION. Now, let us look at...
III. SIMON'S DURATION.
In verse II we read, "And to him they had regard because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries."
Do you know what this mean?
Did you know that those who are hardest to pull out of the clutches of Satan are those who have been there a long time?
For example: A preacher, one day, was witnessing to a young man who was having some domestic problems. That young man, with tears in his eyes acknowledged that he knew he needed Jesus, but he would not accept Him then. Six or seven years went by and the same preacher was talking to that same man, but now the man had no tears and he said, “I am not even sure there is a God!”
We hear people, all over this nation, saying, “I do not know when things are going to get better.”
Listen, when a person is in sin it does not get better. They just get deeper and deeper in sin.
That is why Satan wants to hold onto people, so he can get them so deep in sin that they will not even try to find their way back to Christ. He wants them to be bound in hell for eternity.
But, Jesus wants to SET THEM FREEI
For a long time Simon, in his greed, gave "...out that himself was some great one” and bewitched the people, from the LEAST TO THE GREATEST!
They regarded him as a great one among them.
Into this stronghold of Satan, FEARLESS PHILIP went and began witnessing for Christ. What happened? We see...
IV. SIMON'S DESTRUCTION.
Jesus says those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior are the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
What happens when you walk into a dark room and turn on the light? The light drives back all the darkness.
In verse 12, We read, “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women."
We live in an age today when preaching is becoming a thing of the past. All across this country, in many churches, we have teachers instead of preachers.
Some ask, “Aren't the two the same?” No! We need good teaching, but we also need some good preaching of God's Word also.
In some places in the Bible it talks about Christ going forth TEACHING and PREACHING. The Bible makes a distinction between the two.
Notice, in our text, it says they BELIEVED when they heard “Philip PREACHING (not teaching) THE THINGS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD..."
Paul's instruction to young Timothy was, “Preach the Word.”
In I Corin. 1:21 says, “...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”
God's Word has always made a distinction between preaching and teaching, and God has always blessed a church that preached AND taught His Word.
And we see, in Samaria, God blessed Philip's preaching to the point it DESTROYIED ALL THE FALSE TEACHNG THAT SIMON HAD BEEN TEACHING FOR YEARS!
We will have conversions in our churches across this nation when men of God, who have the COURAGE like Philip, will stand up before the people and PREACH TO THEM THE WORD OF GOD AND TELL THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO HEAR, instead of just telling them what they want to hear.
Philip was a FEARLESS WITNESS FOR CHRIST.
For years and years the devil had wrapped those Samaritans around his little finger through Simon - "...from the least to the --greatest."
But when Philip, that courageous saint, walked into that town preaching the things of God, they believed the Word and were marvelously saved.
V. SIMON'S DECISION.
Notice that not only did Simon's followers stop following Simon and start following the Lord, so did Simon!
Through the centuries theologians have argued whether or not Simon truly got saved.
Well, verse 13 says, "Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done."
Now remember, Simon came from a background of witchcraft. When a person has come from a life of sin, sometimes it takes some time to get his theology straightened out.
But the Bible says what happened when Philip preached the things of God, We read "Then Simon himself believed also."
But, just because a person has come to know Christ does not mean he has everything in order. The Bible says after Simon became a believer he continued to follow Philip in WONDERING…beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Then he did something questionable. Later, when he saw God working miracles through Peter and John, as one who was used to buying tricks, he wanted to buy the power because he thought it would be a neat trick to have.
Well, you know Peter! He lowered the boom on Simon.
In Acts 8:20-21, We read, But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Well, we need to consider a few things here. In the first place, only God knows who is saved and who is not saved.
How many times have we heard Christians say, "I do not think so and so is saved.”
I dare say that perhaps we have done things that were not right with God and people even wondered if we were truly saved.
Well, you are welcome to your opinions, but we are going to be surprised when we get to heaven.
There will be people there we thought were not saved, and some who are not there that we thought saved.
In verse 13 we see two things that cause us to believe Simon was a true believer.
1. In the first place, he “BELIEVED."
That is, it was not exactly good for his business when he announced he believed on the Lord Jesus.
God's Word does not say that when Simon heard Philip preach he became instantly mature as a Christian. It says he "believed.”
The Bible says, “Faith cometh by hearing...”
He heard the gospel of Christ and believed it!
While repentance is a necessary part of salvation, it is BELIEVING, THAT SAVES US! IT IS OUR FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD!
If we could be saved by REPENTANCE, it WOULD BE OUR WORKS THAT SAVES US!
Any time someone is born again, he repents of his sins, but he is saved because he becomes a BELIEVER.
• Isn't this what happened in Acts 4:4, when they heard the Word of God presented to them. It says, "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand."
• Isn't this what Peter said a person must do to be saved in Acts 10:43? We read, To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
• Isn't this how the Philippian jailer became converted. He asked what he must do to be saved and he was told, “...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved...”
If anyone ever tells you that you can be saved any other way than BELIEVING IN CHRIST, ask them to show you that in the scripture and watch them squirm - no other way can be found in the scriptures.
Simon did the same thing that these other people in Samaria had done and they got saved - he BELIEVED IN CHRIST.
Also notice he did something else a believer will do after he is saved.
2. He was baptized.
Remember when Philip led the eunuch to the Lord.
In Acts 8:36-37 says, "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Notice, he was baptized on the basis of his belief - "...I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
This is the same basis that Simon was baptized on.
In Acts 8:13, "Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized...”
God used Philip to reach a town with the gospel. He not only was able to reach the people of the town, he was also able to reach the SORCERER.
Did you know that God can use you?
Perhaps you may not win a whole town to the Lord, but you can -
• Be the reason a whole office staff where you work will turn to Christ.
• Be instrumental in reaching your whole family to the Lord.
• Be instrumental in reaching your best friend to the Lord.
But, it will never happen until you get out into the harvest field where lost souls are.
Illus: Any fisherman will tell you that before you can catch fish, you have to go where they are. Sometimes it means you have to he willing to fight mosquitoes, be out in hot sunshine etc., but if you are going to catch them, you have to go where they are.
You have to be willing to go, now, before it is too late.
Conclusion/Summary:
A Christian man had an aunt dying with cancer. For three years she had fought a loosing battle. In the last stages she would lay in bed and fight for every breath she took. She soon reached the place where she would lay there for hours and hours. One evening she perked up. She opened her eyes and said she wanted out of bed. He went to her and asked her how she felt. She said, “I want to sit up!” Everyone told her, “No, you can not get up. The nurse said you might fall and break a bone.” She looked so pitiful. It seemed that to her the most important thing in her life was to just sit up in a chair for a few minutes. The Christian man decided that if she wanted to get up, he was going to get her up at least one more time. With some assistance, he reached down and picked her up like a little baby and placed her in a sitting position. After about five minutes he had to put her back, she was tired. She looked at him and said, “I thank you so much for that!” It was only a few days later that she died.
The point is, if we are ever going to do anything for our loved ones and our friends, we had better do it now. If we are going to PICK THEM UP, we need to start doing it before it is too late!
The Bible states clearly, “He that winneth souls is wise.” We have the example:
I. Simon’s Dealings.
II. Simon’s Deception
III. Simon’s Duration.
IV. Simon’s Destruction.
V. Simon’s decision.
