OPEN: In February 2001, Adam Burtle, a 20 year old student at the University of Washington put his soul up for auction on eBay.
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).
APPLY: 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
BUT… let’s back up a little and examine what kind of man – this Simon – was
I. When we 1st meet Simon, we find that he is described to us as a Sorcerer. He is a magician - capable in the art of prestidigitation. In other words… sleight of hand.
Now, we don’t know if he made rabbits appear out of thin air.
Or cut lovely assistants in two.
Or made large buildings seem to disappear.
But – as with every magician – he specialized in fooling his audience - making them believe he was doing something that he wasn’t.
ILLUS: Now… 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.
In other words… just like Simon the Sorcerer, they gained their religious following by deception.
Now, look again at 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." Acts 8:20-23
II. Now… before we get into issue of Simon “selling his soul” we need to explore a couple of misleading concepts here in the text
If you didn’t look real close at this passage you might not see the most obvious problem. Has anybody seen the problem in this text I’m talking about?
(pause…)
That’s right… it tells us here that “When (Peter & John) 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.” (Acts 8:15-16)
Now… for those of you who don’t understand WHY that would be a problem, it would help for us to go back to Acts 2 and read what Peter told the crowd at Pentecost:
Acts 2:38 says: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
In other words:
If you want to be saved:
Repent of your sins
And be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
AND – when you do that
You shall receive forgiveness of your sins
AND the gift the Holy Spirit
BUT… in Acts 8 we have hundreds of people who responded to Philip’s preaching
They believe… they’re baptized and yet they don’t seem to have the Holy Spirit yet!
What’s the deal?
What complicates this is that… IF the Samaritans didn’t have the Holy Spirit until Peter & John then they would not have been saved.
Ephesians 1:13 “… you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”
In fact Romans 8:9 tell us: “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
You CANNOT be a Christian if you don’t have the Holy Spirit
You CANNOT belong to Jesus without God’s Spirit dwelling within you.
So.. we this leave us with only two options:
1. Either the Samaritans were not saved until Peter and John came to Samaria (EVEN tho’ they had BELIEVED and were BAPTIZED)
2. OR, something else is happening here.
And of course… this is “something else”
Just a few facts here:
· Salvation was never given by the laying on of hands
· When you had hands laid on you one of three things was being done
1. You were being healed (ex: Luke 4 tells us Jesus healed by laying on of hands
2. You were being ordained to a certain responsibility – the church laid hands on Paul & Barnabas when they went off to plant churches - Ephesus & Colossae
3. You were receiving a special “outward” sign or expression of God’s Spirit.
Acts 19:6 tells us that after Paul baptized some men from around Ephesus: “… Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”
The Apostle Paul didn’t lay hands on these men to give them salvation. He laid his hands upon them so that they could have special outward expressions of the Spirit’s presence: They could speak in languages they’d never learned and they could prophecy.
Both were miraculous abilities that not every Christian had AND they were both visible and obvious manifestations of God’s Spirit.
When Acts 8:16 tells us that “the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” it’s not trying to say that baptism didn’t accomplish anything (in fact the Greek tense – perfect tense - of the word here implies that when the Samaritans were baptized there was a result).
As Acts 2:38 tells us, the result of baptism (when preceded by repentance) was forgiveness of sins and the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What Acts 8:16 is saying is - baptism wasn’t intended to impart these dynamic gifts of the Spirit (things like tongues and prophecy) that apparently could only be received by the laying on of Apostolic hands.
AND that’s obviously what had happened in Samaria because Acts 8:18 tells us “…Simon SAW that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands…”
- He didn’t just THINK that this is what had happened
- He wasn’t just TAUGHT that this is what happened…
- He actually SAW results when the Apostles laid hands on the Samaritans
And that is what prompted Simon to offer money – so he could do that too.
III. Peter’s response has always struck me as harsh.
I mean, think about it
Peter doesn’t make small talk
He doesn’t explain to Simon that he doesn’t understand what he’s asking
He doesn’t try to talk Simon out of offering the money
Peter looks this man dead in the eye and basically says – You’re going to hell!”
In fact, J.B. Phillips translation says exactly that: Peter replied: “Go to hell with your money.”
Look at what Peter says again:
Acts 8:20-23 Peter answered: "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."
If we didn’t know better, we’d think Peter was being unreasonable. But he wasn’t!!!
He was just throwing some cold water on this guy’s face to wake him up
Once in a while, a person’s attitude or actions will give them away.
The moment they’ve said something, or looked at you in a certain way…
· you know what they’re thinking.
· you know what is in their heart.
ILLUS: During my 2nd year as a preacher, a couple in their late 20’s came into my office wanting to know if I would marry them. They’d both been divorced… and so I questioned them a little about what had happened in their previous marriage.
First, I asked the woman how long she had been married to her last husband and what had happened to her marriage. She responded they’d been married about 2 years and that her husband had beat her, run around on her, and eventually simply left her.
I explained that I understood how hard that must have been on her.
Then I turned to the man and asked him the same question.
“How long had you been married?” I asked
“About 5 years” he responded
”What happened to your marriage?” I asked
“Well,” he said, “we just fell out of love.”
“You fell out of love,” I repeated – just to be sure I’d heard him right.
“Yes” he nodded.
“So… when did you ‘fall out of love?’”
“About the 3rd year.”
“Ok… why do you think you ‘fell out of love?’”
“Oh I don’t know - we just drifted apart.”
His attitude was careless, almost cavalier – and between his attitude and his explanation of why he got divorced - red flags went up all over the place in my mind.
If he “fell out of love” with his 1st wife. And he didn’t even care enough to try to figure out why… it was a good bet the same thing was going to happen to this marriage.
So… I did something I’d never done before… and have never done since
I treated him the same way Peter treated Simon the Sorcerer:
Ø I told them… I’d marry them… but I’m going to tell your right now I don’t give your marriage much chance of success.
Now, the groom was a big construction man and he literally came up out of his chair:
“What do you mean – you don’t give our marriage much chance of success?”
I said: “Well let me rephrase that… without Jesus at the center of your relationship, this marriage will not last!”
It goes without saying that they didn’t have me marry them. They went down the street to another church to have that preacher perform the ceremony. But they stayed married all during my 7 years of ministry at that church. And, as far as I know – they’re still married. I suspect they may have stayed married just to spite me… BUT THAT’S OK
You see: I didn’t tell them what I told them that day because I was trying to be mean. I simply recognized that I only had one chance at changing this man’s attitude. And so I threw some cold water in his face.
Likewise, Peter wasn’t trying to be “mean” to Simon the Sorcerer. Peter could clearly see what was going on inside this former magician. He saw the bitterness and underlying sinfulness that lurked in the man’s soul. And he realized that radical surgery was necessary. So, he spoke with harsh tones because that was the only thing that was going to get Simon’s attention.
CLOSE: I had an illustration like this in my files, but I didn’t have all the facts... the preacher from one of our local congregations filled me in on what really happened:
Down south, there was a man named Harry. Harry was “mentally challenged” – he was slow. But Harry loved Jesus.
Every night, Harry’d dress up in suit and tie, take his Bible and he’d go down to the local Tastee Freeze and preach to anybody who’d listen. One of his common phrases was “Do you know the Lord?” And he’d repeat that over and over again.
Now, on the other end of town there was another man who had fallen on hard times.
His life was falling apart,
Drank a lot.
He had problems at work.
And he had problems at home.
His wife finally left him and took the kids.
His life deteriorating all around him, and he didn’t know what to do.
One night, he went down to the Tastee Freeze, and as he got out of his car, Harry began to preach to him.
“You Know the Lord?” Harry asked.
There’s a meeting tonight at Bro’ Lonnie Forehand’s church – you want to go?
Somewhat amused, the man was polite… “no thanks,” he said. And then he went inside to get some ice cream.
When he came back out… there was Harry again. And Harry began to preach at him – almost like he’d never seen him before.
“You Know the Lord?” Harry asked. "There’s a meeting tonight at Bro’ Lonnie Forehand’s church – you want to go?"
By this time, the man was getting a little irritated and he briskly said: “No, I don’t need that!”
Harry, didn’t miss a beat: “Well then,” he said “you can go to hell!”
A little shaken, the man got in his car and drove off
But as he got near the church building, he decided he would stop in after all. At the end of the message – he got up out of his seat, came forward and was baptized into Christ that night.
