The making of a counterfeit believer
Acts 8:15-25
Good morning everyone, Glad you have joined us.
Please turn in your bibles to Acts chapter 8:9-25
As you are turning there, I will test some of your memories- Do you remember years back when they improved the formula for Coke a Cola? The Original Coke classic and the New and improved Coke. Pepsi had gained some ground on Coke and they were still number one but they felt that they had to do something to slow down Pepsi. They came up with a new formula for Coke and truth be told, it was an attempt to be sweeter like Pepsi and it flopped badly. They were receiving over 5000 phone calls a day with customers who were not fooled. April 1985, Coke learned a valuable lesson- Don’t mess with the original brand of something that is working and don’t pretend to be something that you are not.
The text is about Simon and his attempt on deception and his attempt to take what is an original and work it for his own personal use when it is a God thing!
It is about Simon who thought that he was a believer but reverted back to his own ways and was trying to live in both the converted Christian life and the unsaved past before Christ.
Acts 8:9-25 Read from Bible clearly
In the early days of the church, sorcerers and magicians were numerous and influential. They worked wonders, performed healings and exorcisms, and practiced astrology.
Some of their wonders were magic tricks and some were done by satanic empowerment.
Simon had done so many wonders that some believed him to be the Messiah.
Simon’s powers did not come from God.
“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 one.”
Anyone see a problem here? This man Simon had been deceiving people into believing that he had special powers and that He was the great one. His self proclaimed Greatness because he could do some things others could not.
It is not unusual for Missionaries in other countries to fight demonic representation from witchdoctors who have fooled the people into believing that they have special powers.
Illustration- (SermonCentral)
This practice (of using magic to manipulate a religious audience) wasn’t something unique to Simon.
Rod Cameron is now retired from managing Rainbow Christian camp. But when he was a missionary in Africa – one of the ways he would grab the attention of his audience was to pull out his wooden dummy (Gabby), or his snake sock puppet (Oscar) and amaze the Africans that had gathered to hear him by making these puppets talk. He was a ventriloquist.
Part of his presentation included explaining HOW he threw his voice. He would explain that it was not magical, and he’d have them come close and watch as moved his tongue around in his mouth to create the words they heard.
Now, this didn’t entertain everyone… in fact this would absolutely infuriate the tribal witch doctors in the area because they practiced ventriloquism too! But when they did it – they tried to convince their people that these voices were voices from the Spirit world that only they – the witch doctors – could summon forth.
(11) “They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. But when they believed Phillip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Phillip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.”
Peter and John were sent to Samaria to find out whether or not the Samaritans were truly becoming believers.
The Jewish Christians, even the disciples were still not sure whether Gentiles (non Jews) and half Jews could receive the Holy Spirit.
It was not till Acts 10 records Cornelius that the disciples believed that the Holy Spirit was for all people.
Remember it was John who asked Jesus if they should pray that the village of Samaria be burned up because they did not welcome the disciples.
It was a critical moment for the spread of the gospel and for the growth of the church. Peter and John had to go to Samaria to help keep this new group of believers from being separated from the other believers.
Simon the sorcerer became a believer- now we are going to see that as a believer he had the wrong idea of God’s power and the function of the Holy Spirit.
The disciples came to Samaria to bring the gospel and show the Jews salvation through Christ.
(14) Apostles show up in Samaria…They receive the word of the Lord and come to salvation…They repent and then they are baptized by the disciples. The disciples lay their hands on the converts and they receive the Holy Spirit.
Hear the word of God
Repent of your sins
Baptized
Receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands from a believer.
But now Simon a new convert himself has other ideas of how to receive the Holy Spirit and what he will do when he receives the Holy Spirit of God.
Simon displays an attitude like most of the world today… He believes everything has a price and in our world of bribes, wealth and materialism, he thinks that the Holy Spirit is for sale and he can buy him.
He does not know that the Holy Spirit is not an it or an item, He is a part of the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and at no time can the Holy Spirit be bought with a price or bottled for your own personal profit.
Peter rebukes him harshly and tells him that the only way to receive the Holy Spirit is to turn from your sins, ask God for forgiveness, and then be filled with the Spirit.
YOU CANNOT BUY SALVATION, FORGIVENESS OF SIN AND GOD’S POWER.
These are only given by repentance and belief in Jesus Christ.
Quote-
“Dr. John Maxwell said, “Manipulation is moving together for my advantage. Motivation is moving together for mutual advantage.”
The Holy Spirit was given to the Church for the benefit of salvation to the lost, not the individual profit and gain.
Some people try to bottle the Holy Spirit to use for their own advantage.
You cannot manipulate the Holy Spirit for your own gain.
Simon had the wrong idea of the power of the Holy Spirit and how we obtain the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
“Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit
Till you understand that Simon wanted the gift of the Holy Spirit not so more of the people would be filled with the Spirit but because he had his old thinking that he could deceive people by thinking that He had the power to lay hands on someone and give them the Holy Spirit.
He thought he could buy the rights to laying hands on someone and they receive the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes, when a new believer comes to Christ, there is that temptation for them to fall back into their old way of life. That’s what happens here with Simon.
Apparently, greed was one of his weaknesses, and he saw an opportunity to make a buck.
So, he asks Peter and John to sell him the ability to lay hands on people and have them receive the Holy Spirit.
Paul said in 1 Tim. 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
He thought that he could manipulate the Holy Spirit with money.
Sometimes it takes time and the Holy Spirit to lay the right things into the heart of the believer-
Remember the story of the Seven sons of Sceva- Acts chapter 19
This time it is Apollos in Corinth, He asks believers, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered No, We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.: So Paul asked them, then what baptism did you receive? John’s baptism, they replied. Paul said, John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.
He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is in Jesus.
God did miraculous things through Paul and some thought they were going to get in on it.
(13) “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord over those who were demon- processed. They would say in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out. Seven Sons of Sceva. A Jewish high priest were doing this. One day, the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know and I know about Paul, but who are you? Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.””
Illustration-
Another first February 2001
Adam Burtle, a 20 year old student at the University of Washington put his soul up for auction on eBay. Yes you heard me right!
The ad read: "Hardly used. I make no warranties as to the condition of my soul. As of now it is near mint condition, with only minor scratches. Due to difficulties involved with removing my soul (he wasn’t dead yet), the winning bidder will either have to settle for night of yummy Thai food and cool indie flicks, or wait until my natural death."
The bidding started at a nickel; his ex-girlfriend bid it up to $6.66, the mark of the "Beast."
In the final hour of bidding, the price rose from $56 to $400, placed by a woman in Des Moines, Iowa…
But then eBay officials learned of the auction and removed the listing before bidding closed - not because auctioning a soul over the Internet is improper, but because eBay requires that EBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove explained "you have a piece of merchandise that a seller can deliver to a buyer,". (EBay also forbids the selling of drugs, alcohol, guns and body parts).
People will do all kinds of things for money… some are apparently even willing to sell their souls on E-Bay
Here, in Acts 8… we find a man - Simon the Sorcerer - who was in danger of doing just that.
For the price of power and prestige, he nearly endangered his relationship with God
Simon as with every magician – he specialized in fooling his audience - making them believe he was doing something that he wasn’t.
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, 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.
For a long time, Simon fooled people into thinking he was more than he was. And he made a good living by deceiving people.
BUT THEN…Someone “real” came to town.
Someone who didn’t fake it. Someone who didn’t try to deceive people. Someone named Philip.
Now (like Simon) Philip did miraculous things too. We’re told in Acts 8:13 “ Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.”
You can’t kid a kidder. Simon was a man who made his living by fooling people, and he obviously realized that these miraculous deeds that Philip did were NOT magic
… they were NOT slights of hand
… they were NOT deceptions
When Simon saw Philip… he realized this was the real deal.
And Simon – along with hundreds of other Samarians – believed and were baptized into Christ
Upon hearing of this great Revival in Samaria the Apostles sent Peter and John to lay hands on these new converts so that they would “receive the Holy Spirit”
Acts 8:18-19 tells us that “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."
At this, Peter rebuked Simon and told him "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 he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.
As I close,
How many counterfeits are pretending to be Christian?
How many pretend to be following Jesus?
Claim that the Spirit of God is dwelling in them?
Trying to buy something that only comes from the Lord by following Him and asking Him for His guidance.
Ask God to forgive you…
