The Dynamics of the Holy Spirit
Acts 8:14 – 8:25
Jeff Hughes – June 1, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. Last week, we were introduced to a man named Simon. Simon was a Samaritan. If you remember last week, there was a great deal of tension between the Samaritans and the Jews. Simon had a really odd job though. He was a sorcerer. Now, sorcerers in that day were generally important people in their communities.
b. Simon was influential in a lot of circles in Samaria. People came to him for advice. He was similar to a palm reader or some other kind of spiritual medium. Now, as we covered last week, there is real power in these kinds of things, but the power comes from Satan, and always to deceive, and to harm people, never to build up and exhort.
c. Also we saw last week, how, since the church was mainly Jews, they tended to think that since they were God’s chosen people, that the gospel was just for them.
d. But, Jesus had told them to take the gospel to Judea and Samaria, and even the ends of the earth. As persecution came to the church, God moved Philip to Samaria to proclaim the gospel.
e. The people of Samaria embraced the gospel, and responded to the gospel message in droves. This took business and influence away from Simon. Simon saw Philip move in power by the Holy Spirit.
f. Simon embraced the gospel message, but, as we will see today, he didn’t quite get it. We will look at Simon and how the Holt Spirit moves as we continue on in our journey through Acts.
g. Let’s pray.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. Bible teacher F.B. Meyer once had a firewood factory that employed released prisoners. Meyer would give them a job to do, good wages, a place to live, and, when possible, spiritual encouragement. In exchange, he expected them to render good employment.
b. They didn’t, and he lost money. Finally, he fired them all and purchased a circular saw powered by a gas engine. In one hour, it turned out more work than the combined efforts of all the men covered in the course of a whole day.
c. One day, Meyer had a little conversation with his saw. “How can you turn out so much work?” he asked. “Are you sharper than the saws my men were using? No? Is your blade shinier? No? What then? Better oil or lubrication against the wood?”
d. The saw’s answer, if it could speak, would have been, “I think there is a stronger driving power behind me. Something is working through me with a new force. It is not I, it is the power behind.”
e. Meyer later observed that many Christians and many ministers are working in the power of the flesh, in the power of their intellect, their energy, their enthusiastic zeal, but with poor effect. They need to become linked to the power of God through the Holy Spirit.
f. A lot of people have different ideas about the Holy Spirit and how He works. What amazes me is that people really try to define and catalogue the work of the Spirit, and how He goes about His work.
g. We will look at the dynamics of the Holy Spirit, and not try and catalogue or define Him, as we continue our study through Acts today.
h. Our study is found in Acts chapter 8, verses 14 through 25. Acts is the book just past John in the New Testament, and just before Romans. Follow along with me as we read.
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." 24 Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me." 25 So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
ii. God gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us in our daily life as Christians. One of the most basic principles of scuba diving is this – “Don’t stand on your air hose!”
iii. It is unfortunate though, that many people do just that. They cut off their lifeline to God, the Holy Spirit. As I said before, people have a lot of different ideas about the Holy Spirit and how He works. Some people say that He still works the same way. I tend to agree with that point of view. Some others, feel like He doesn’t work the same way.
iv. Whichever view you take, we both agree that the Holy Spirit is God. We both agree that the Holy Spirit is necessary for conviction of sins, and bringing people to Christ.
v. But, oh, how the church has divided over this issue in the past. You know, it amazes me how sectarian we are as human beings. We want to separate ourselves according to groupings that we find comfortable. But, we often find God leading us into situations that defy our little groupings. God does that because He doesn’t want us to form our little clubs, he doesn’t like schisms in the Body of Christ.
vi. People tend to think that the Holy Spirit works the same every time, and guess what? He doesn’t. He’s God, and He really doesn’t pay too much attention to how we think He should work.
vii. The truth is that God often touches us in different ways, in different manners. If we don’t respect and appreciate how God ministers to each of individually, we miss out.
viii. Gayle Erwin, another Calvary Pastor, had a really good illustration I have heard about this. Jesus came to a village and found a man there who was blind. He laid hands on Him and prayed over the man, and he was healed completely.
ix. The townspeople were so appreciative that they built a church, and they called it the first church of laying on of hands and healing.
x. So, Jesus goes to the next village, and there He found another blind man. So, Jesus spits on the ground and makes some mud, and applies it to the man’s eyes. He then tells the man to go wash in the pool, and the man receives his sight.
xi. The townspeople are so overjoyed that they decide to start a church in Jesus’ honor, and they called it the first church of Here’s mud in your eye and be healed.
xii. Jesus goes on to yet a third village, and finds a third blind man there. So, Jesus tells the man, “If you go and wash in this pool seven times, you will receive your sight back.” So the man does as Jesus says.
xiii. The third set of townspeople was so appreciative of God’s work that they built a church in Jesus’ honor too. They named it the first church of washing seven times and healing.
xiv. One day, the Lord calls all these groups together for fellowship. But, over the course of time they began to break down over doctrinal discussion as to how healing takes place.
xv. One group said, “You can’t heal unless you lay hands on those who are sick.” A second group said, “That’s fine, but if you forget the mud in their eye it doesn’t work.” The third group said, “You guys only have part of the truth, washing seven times is the real key.”
xvi. The contention became so great among them that they broke fellowship between them, none of them wanting to fellowship with heretics any longer.
xvii. The reality is that their judgments were based on a sliver of insight that God had given them each individually.
xviii. Today, we will look at a group’s sliver of insight into how the Holy Spirit works, as we continue our study today.
xix. We will look five points from our passage today – the delegation, the demonstration, the deception, the discernment, and finally, the departure.
xx. Our first point tells us about how the church at Jerusalem responds to the gospel’s spread and revival in Samaria. We find this in verses 14 and 15.
b. The Delegation (Acts 8:14-15)
i. 14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
ii. So, last week, we saw that while many in the church were fleeing Jerusalem due to persecution that the apostles stayed behind. They weren’t just sitting around, kicked back though.
iii. No, they were doing the work that God had called them to do, but, now with the gospel on the move, they had a little more responsibility. They had accountability concerning the care of the church that Jesus had given to them.
iv. They had to see that the church was functioning properly, and that everything was under God’s control. They apparently had heard about the work the God was doing through Philip in Samaria. Obviously, the church grapevine worked just as well then as it does now.
v. So, the apostles as a whole decide to send Peter and John down to Samaria to check out what is going on. Now, what’s interesting is that they send Peter, because Peter becomes widely known as the apostle to the Jews. John would later have a ministry to the gentiles at Ephesus, as we can surmise from his later writings, the Book of John, Revelation, and the three letters of John we find in the New Testament.
vi. But, at this time, there guys were focusing on evangelizing the Jewish nation. They had been together in the temple when the lame man was healed, and they got hauled in front of the Sanhedrin for doing it.
vii. So, we see in verse 15 that the apostles prayed that the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit. The question is, why did the apostles have to pray that the Samaritans get the Holy Spirit, and why didn’t Philip just pray for them to receive the Spirit? That’s a good question. I’m glad you asked.
viii. We find the answer in verses 16 and 17.
c. The Demonstration (Acts 8:16-17)
i. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
ii. The first thing we see in verse 16 is that the Holy Spirit had come upon none of them as of yet. This is one of the most intriguing passages in the New Testament because of this.
iii. That’s a pretty neat thing to work out, but let’s answer our question first. Why didn’t Philip just pray for them? Well, there are two possible explanations.
iv. The first is that Philip simply wasn’t gifted that way. Philip was gifted in preaching and teaching, that much was obvious. Multitudes were coming to believe and even the local sorcerer walked the aisle.
v. But, maybe laying on hands and empowering people just wasn’t how Philip was gifted. This possible explanation really illustrates how we in the body should all work together to accomplish God’s work on the earth.
vi. Honestly, I don’t buy that explanation. I think the reason why Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, and Philip didn’t just lay hands on them himself is that God wanted continuity in the church. He didn’t want separations or schisms in the Body of Christ.
vii. Romans chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 tell us this - 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
viii. What that means is that there is no difference between us in God’s eyes. It really doesn’t matter to God whether we are Jewish or not, no matter what color we are, no matter how rich or poor you are, we’re all the same. We can only look to ourselves to the walls that we tend to put up as believers.
ix. Think about this – if Peter and John didn’t come to lay hands on the Samaritans, and Philip did it, it would be a separate experience from what happened in Jerusalem, when the Spirit fell upon the apostles. The Jews would have their church in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans would have theirs in Samaria, and if you missed it last week, there was 500 years of animosity and hatred between them. Peter and John served as a link, a demonstration that God’s church was to be one body.
x. The Samaritans worshipped God, but not in the Biblical fashion, as we see in scripture. The Jews wrote them off as a bunch of heretics.
xi. If Peter and John hadn’t come, if the “big guns” from Jerusalem had not come down given their approval, then there would be a tendency to divide the church, and that was not God’s intention at all.
xii. This leads to our answer as to why this is one of the most intriguing passages in the whole New Testament. Many people read this passage of Scripture, and assume that there is a separate experience of getting empowered by the Spirit. Many folks call this a second blessing, or “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit”.
xiii. If you’ve been around church for a while, you have no doubt heard these terms. What is sad is that people have used this to divide the church over the years.
xiv. Personally, I believe in my heart that when you truly accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you get all of the Holy Spirit. You get the whole package.
xv. Now, if people come up to me and ask for me to lay hands on them and pray for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I’ll do it. I believe in a second blessing. I also believe in a third, forth, fifth. To walk a victorious Christian life, we need to be filled with the Spirit all the time.
xvi. Why was the experience of the Samaritans different than that of the apostles in the Upper Room? We saw back in Acts 2:38 that many people in Jerusalem got the Holy Spirit when they were baptized in the name of Jesus.
xvii. In Acts chapter 19, we some Ephesians who are baptized, and they don’t receive the Spirit until Paul laid his hands upon them.
xviii. Elsewhere though, Acts chapter 10, verse 44 we see the Spirit fall on some people before they are baptized. So, it’s pretty clear to me that water really has nothing to do with it.
xix. I have often said that if you get baptized and you don’t really believe in Jesus, then you aren’t a Christian, you’re just a wet lost person. Getting water baptized doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger.
xx. The common thread throughout all of those people’s experiences was that they all believed at some point. They put their faith in Jesus. Some people may not make that true profession of faith until they take the step to get water baptized.
xxi. I believe that may people don’t actually make a true step of faith until the re-commit their lives to Christ. Maybe they had a belief in Jesus as a youngster, but walked away completely, for several years. Were they saved the first time around? I don’t know, that’s for them to work out between them and the Lord, but I have seen that life change take place in many people after re-commitment, and that’s how you can tell, the fruit in their lives.
xxii. People have offered many different explanations as to what was going on here. When exactly did the Samaritans get saved? They try to distill the gospel down into a simple formula for us to follow today.
xxiii. The first explanation was that the Samaritans weren’t saved listening to Philip’s preaching; that when Peter and John came, the really trusted in Jesus and then received the Holy Spirit.
xxiv. Another is that they were really saved, and then, the received the Holy Spirit, and that we should follow that pattern today.
xxv. Some commentators think that the Samaritans really were saved listening to Philip’s preaching, but God, in a unique move, withheld the gift of the Holy Spirit until it could be bestowed on them by Peter and John.
xxvi. The last, and the one I personally believe was that they were really saved, and did really receive the Holy Spirit at the time of conversion, but were given special gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit at the laying on of hands by Peter and John.
xxvii. Do we sit here and split hairs over when exactly they made their profession of faith, or what did they do or say? No, the important thing is that they’re saved, and there’s so many more people that we know that aren’t.
xxviii. Like I said though, we know from verse 15 that the Samaritans did receive the Holy Spirit, so it is real obvious that they did actually make that decision in their lives. Is it important for us to sit around and debate when that occurred? No, it’s not. So, how did they know the Samaritans were filled? How could they tell?
xxix. Well, we can’t be for certain, because we aren’t told here, but we see in other places in Scripture that when people are filled by the Holy Spirit they operate in the gifts. They may have spoken in tongues; they may have had a few people prophesy. We don’t know, and can’t be for certain.
xxx. There was one guy there that really had no fruit in his life, he had just made a verbal commitment to the Lord, but it is obvious from his next actions that he truly had not made that decision in his life. This was Simon the sorcerer. We find this in verses 18 and 19.
d. The Deception (Acts 8:18-19)
i. 18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit."
ii. Simon saw what was going on. From his vantage point, the apostles were putting their hands on people, praying, and people presumably started speaking in other languages, and doing all of these miraculous things by the power of God working through them.
iii. Simon’s interest was piqued by Philip. Simon was impressed by him, but what he saw going on when the apostles got there floored him. He saw an opportunity.
iv. Simon’s error was that he thought that the power of the Holy Spirit was a commodity that the apostles could sell him. He wrongly assumed that the apostles were magicians like him, and he wanted to negotiate a price to buy their secret power.
v. This one act, led to the term “simony” being coined. What it describes is church offices, like deaconships, and pastorates being sold at a price. This has been a problem throughout church history, and I have seen it at work in some churches I have been around – not a good thing at all.
vi. Really, when you think about it – nothing God has is for sale. The Holy Spirit was definitely not for sale. What can we, as sinful, helpless human beings offer the Lord of all creation that could possibly interest Him? Nothing.
vii. But, you see people doing it. Some ministries tell you – you won’t be blessed financially unless you give to this ministry. Nothing could be more wrong. God’s blessings aren’t for sale, and He doesn’t need your money, what He desires is our faith, obedience, and praise.
viii. When you look at this passage though, what did Simon really want? If he had desired the Holy Spirit, then that would have been a good thing, right?
ix. Well, that’s not what Simon was after. Simon wanted to have the power to give people the power of the Spirit at will, a tangible something that he could sell and manipulate for his own ends.
x. Simon wanted to rule who the Spirit went to and not. He was deceived into thinking that he could rule Holy Spirit, not that the Spirit should rule him.
xi. G. Campbell Morgan said that Simon’s sin was a desire to possess spiritual power for personal ends. People are still guilty of that today.
xii. The good news was that Peter saw right through Simon’s ideas, and confronted him with the truth. We see this in verses 20 through 23.
e. The Discernment (Acts 8:20-)
i. 20 But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity."
ii. Peter discerns the issue, jumps out, and in his normal, bold fashion confronts Simon in his error. I think that Peter was totally right in this situation.
iii. But, if this had happened today, I would guess that Peter would get a “Hey, Pete! Lay off of old Simon there, He’s a new believer you know!
iv. Peter had the guts to share the truth in love though, even though it was probably a very tough thing to do. One interesting thing to note is that a more accurate way to translate verse 20 from the original Greek goes something like this – “Then Peter said to him, “To hell with you and your money, Simon.”
v. Now, don’t look at me like that! It may be offensive to some people, but that’s how the verse reads in the original language.
vi. Peter tells Simon, “Hey, man your heart’s not right. You need to do some serious praying, because you’re not even saved if you’re coming up with stuff like this.”
vii. Peter saw Simon’s heart, and saw that it was full of the poison of bitterness, and the bondage of iniquity, or sin. Simon wasn’t freed from his sin because he never really gave his heart to Jesus. He never really made that commitment with all of his heart. Peter than urges Simon to repentance, prayer, and righteousness.
viii. Peter didn’t hate Simon. Peter loved Simon enough to tell him the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts though, doesn’t it?
ix. The truth was that Simon had given outward evidence of his salvation. People though he was saved. He made a verbal commitment, and he even went to meetings.
x. Many folks do this today. They walk down an aisle, make a verbal commitment to Christ, and then they show up to church whenever it’s convenient. They might even get involved with a ministry, and plug in and serve.
xi. To most anyone, even me as a pastor, it appears that this person is saved. 1st Samuel 16:7 tells us that the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
xii. What is important is what’s in here. In your heart. Simon had missed God by twelve inches. What he heart Philip teaching made sense. He felt like it would be a good thing for him to become a Christian, everybody else was doing it.
xiii. But what Simon had missed out on was that God wasn’t concerned with Simon’s verbal commitment. He wasn’t concerned with Simon’s baptism. He wasn’t concerned about how many times Simon went to church.
xiv. No, God was concerned with what was in Simon’s heart. Peter exposes what was in Simon’s heart, for what I believe is a very valuable lesson to us today.
xv. Making a commitment to Christ is a serious thing. It’s more than religion. Religion is just going through the motions. It is about a relationship. A relationship with the living God, through Jesus Christ. If you’re here this morning, and you haven’t made that commitment. Or maybe you feel like you just went through the motions, and now, you want to make that commitment, that heart change towards Christ, then after I finish up this last point, as we close the message, I want to give you the chance to make that commitment.
xvi. Well, Peter and John had done what they had come to do. Their mission, so to speak was two-fold. First, they came to make a strong bond in the body of Christ, both at Jerusalem and Samaria. Second, they came to observe the church and try to resolve any problems. They had accomplished both, and now it is time for them to go. We see this in verses 24 and 25.
f. The Departure (Acts 8:24-25)
i. 24 Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me." 25 So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
ii. Simon comes back with his answer. Peter urged him to prayer and repentance, and as we can see from the text, Simon wasn’t interested in that, he was just interested in saving his own skin.
iii. Simon wasn’t interested in humbling himself before God and asking for repentance. His statement shows that God was convicting him of his sin, but Simon did not want to change. Simon was too proud. He wanted Peter to do it for him. If he were saved, he would have prayed himself; he rejected God on his own. Simon chose to reject God.
iv. We see in Simon, that in the midst of a revival, such as what was going on in Samaria, we can have people that never really get saved. People that think they can profit somehow from the gospel. They aren’t interested in the higher calling, just what’s in it for them.
v. What do we do for people like this? We can pray. Pray for people like this, and maybe they will see the error of their ways and repent, and really be saved.
vi. Guys don’t go through life like Simon. Be more interested than Simon in getting your heart right before God, and humbling yourself in prayer. Be where God wants you to be, instead of just trying to skate by.
vii. We don’t know for certain what actually became of Simon the sorcerer. Church tradition says that Simon lost it, went off the deep end, and started a heretical movement called Gnosticism. The book of First John deals with the problems of Gnosticism.
viii. Gnosticism is a dangerous thing. Among other things, it denies the deity – the divine nature of Jesus Christ. They surmise that matter is evil and spirit is good. In light of that, they believe that God could not have created the world out of matter, nor could Jesus have become Man and died for our sin.
ix. Who are the Gnostics nowadays? You may have had some on your doorstep lately. They like to call themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses. I don’t call them that because they are neither Jehovah’s, nor witnesses, I simply call them JW’s. They are deceived, lost people, that need to experience the love of Christ in their lives.
x. I want us to notice verse 25 though, and realize what it means. Once the apostles dealt with the problems of Simon, the revival continued. They continued to teach and preach the gospel in Samaria, and then they returned to Jerusalem.
xi. Next week, we will see the revival continuing, as Philip moves on under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I’d like to close today’s message with a short story.
g. Conclusion
i. A preacher in the Midwest tells about a young couple in his church who boasted to all their friends & neighbors that they were flying to New York City. They were only going to be able to spend one day there, but the highlight of their trip would be to go & see the Broadway play, “My Fair Lady.” They were so proud of this, & everyone was really impressed because no one else in that small town had ever been to a play on Broadway.
ii. The day came, & when they arrived in New York they took a taxi to the theatre where “My Fair Lady” was playing. To their dismay, they found that the play was sold out for the night.
iii. They thought, “What do we do now? Everybody knows that we came to see ‘My Fair Lady.’ We don’t dare tell them that we didn’t.” So they found a couple of ticket stubs on the sidewalk & picked them up. They bought a program that described the various acts of the play. They went home singing “I Could Have Danced all Night.” And they told everybody that they had gone to see “My Fair Lady.”
iv. The preacher said, “That’s right. They had the ticket stubs. They had the program. They had been to the theatre. They knew the music. But the trouble is, they didn’t see the performance.”
v. Then he added, “A lot of Christians are like that. We come to church. We have the bulletin. We know the songs. We know what to say & what to do. The problem is that many of us have never really made Jesus the Lord of our lives.”
vi. That’s how Simon was. He had the baptism, he made a verbal commitment, he even went to church, but he didn’t make that transfer between his head and his heart. He didn’t have that humbling experience when we just let Jesus take it all over for us. What about you? Have you made that transfer? If not, I’m going to give you an opportunity right now. With every head bowed, let’s close in prayer.
V. Closing Prayer
