“A FAITH THAT CONDEMNS”
ACTS 8:9-24

I. Introduction
Are you between the ages of 50 and 70? If you are, you’re what is commonly known as a “baby boomer.” Baby boomers are those Americans who were born after World War 2 and before the war in Viet Nam. Think 1945 to 1965. If you’re a baby boomer your children are often called “generation X” or “gen Xers.” They were born between 1965 and 1985. Their children – born from 1985 to 2005 – have become “millennials.” They’re the generation that’s coming of age as we enter the twenty-first century (or the third millennium).

LBC is represented by all of these – baby boomers, gen Xers, millennials, as well as those who grew up during the Great Depression and fought World War 2 (sometimes called “the greatest generation”) and those born since 2005 (now being called “generation alpha”). But today we’ll begin by zeroing on the baby boomers and what has happened to the Church of Jesus Christ since they became the primary driving force in our culture.

In 2001 researcher Wade Roof wrote the book “Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion.” He argues that while Christians were once united by shared doctrines and moral beliefs, that is no longer the case. Roof says that Christians today tend to be united not by unchanging doctrinal and moral standards, but by experiences and emotions. How does Roof account for this? There are 77 million baby boomers in America; about 30% of them identify as “born-again” Christians. But listen to a few of the facts with regard to this 30% of professing believers. Here are just four of them.
• Only 5% of the 30% have any connection to a conservative Protestant church.
• About 50% of these self-proclaimed “born again” baby boomers think that the other major religions of the world are “equally good and true.”
• Around 35% of them believe in things like reincarnation and astrology.
• Nearly 50% of them support abortion.

“What Bible are they reading?” you ask. One of two things is possible. Either these people who profess to be born-again Christians know little or nothing of biblical truth – unchanging doctrinal and moral standards – or if they do know about them, they simply reject them out of hand. And yet, they claim to be born-again. But born-again from what and born-again to what? They claim to be believers. But believers in what? They claim to have faith. But faith in what? Do they even know what it means to be born-again, or what constitutes belief or faith? Do they know what conversion actually is?

If what Wade Roof has laid out in his book accurately reflects the spiritual condition of the baby boomers who call themselves Christians, why would anyone think the same conditions would not infect subsequent generations? There are literally millions of Americans who say things like, “I’m a Christian, but I don’t have a church or go to one.”
Or, “I’m a Christian, but good people of other religions go to heaven too.” Or, “I’m a Christian, but I believe in reincarnation and enjoy astrology too.” Or, “I’m a Christian, but I think a woman should be able to do what she wants with her own body.” Or… Well, you get the idea. Should you dare to question the salvation of anyone who holds such beliefs, you’re immediately accused of being narrow and judgmental. “Who are you to judge?”

But could anything, ANYTHING, be worse than someone who thinks they are saved finding out – after they have left this world – that they are not, were not, and never will be saved? It is for that reason that I asked Johann-Peter to read Jesus’ words from Matthew 7 to open the service this morning. Listen again to just two of those verses.
*Matthew 7:21, 23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of hea-ven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Keep a marker here in Matthew – we’ll come back to it.)

In v. 21 Jesus is speaking of those who claim to be Christians, but are not. They think they are saved, but they are not. In v. 23 Jesus tells us why they are not saved. They aren’t saved because they don’t obey God. And so Jesus says that He doesn’t even know them. They will spend eternity in hell because they remain unrepentant and unforgiven sinners.

Can you see why it’s so important to for us understand what constitutes true conversion from lost to saved? First, we need to know for ourselves so we can be confident in our own salva-tion. Second, we need to know for others so when we talk to them we can speak the truth. Clearly, all who profess to be Christians are not. They may have a faith, but it isn’t a faith that saves; it’s a faith that condemns.

We’ll meet a person with such faith today. And we’ll see what the apostles do about it.
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II. Review
In the first seven chapters of the Book of Acts we’ve seen the birth of the church and its first baby steps as it began to fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus told us to…
*Matthew 28:19-20
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

In the opening chapter of Acts Jesus told the disciples, “…you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (1:8).” The twelve apostles obeyed their Master and began by preaching and teaching in Jerusalem.
Thus the new church grew in numbers, but it also suffered persecution.
However, the persecution did not stop the spread of the gospel. On the contrary, as the per-secution intensified the church grew stronger. But then sin came into the church. It came not from the outside, but from the inside. When two believers, Ananias and Sapphira, tried to bring glory and honor to themselves, and lied to God, He literally took them out. A sin that could have destroyed the new church from within was quickly dealt with… and the church continued to grow.

Then came Stephen. He courageously confronted the leaders of Israel with the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, and the truth about themselves. Rather than recognizing their sin, admitting it, and repenting, they stoned Stephen to death and followed his martyrdom with…
*Acts 8:1b
1b “…a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria…”

It is in this scattering – a direct result of Stephen’s martyrdom – that we see the first mani-festation of Jesus’ command to His church back in Acts 1:8 – “…you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria…”

With that we come to the end of the first major section of the Book of Acts. The second part of the book begins in Acts 8 with the gospel leaving Jerusalem and going out into the world.
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III. Text
After Stephen’s death Philip was one of the believers who left Jerusalem and went down to Samaria. We first heard his name in Acts 6 when he, along with Stephen, was one of the seven men the apostles chose to assist them with the work of ministering to and caring for the church in Jerusalem. In Samaria Philip preached the gospel, performed numerous signs and wonders, cast out demons, and healed the sick and lame.
*Acts 8:9-24 (Please stand with me in honor of reading God’s Word.)
9 Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be some-one great;
10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.”
11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
13 And even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip; and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,
15 who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,
19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
21 “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
22 “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that if possi-ble, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
23 “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
24 But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

This passage is about a faith that condemns. But someone says, “Wait a minute! How can faith condemn? My Bible tells me that faith saves.” The answer is as simple as it can be. Faith only saves if it is in the right thing. In the case of the Scriptures, it isn’t faith in some-thing; it’s faith in someone. The one salient point you’ll want to take with you today is this: Faith in Christ alone is true faith. And true faith saves. Faith in anyone (or anything) else is false faith. And false faith does not save. False faith only condemns.

According to Wade Roof’s research, most people – including most professing born-again Christians – don’t really believe that. They say that God is love, and as such, good people from other religions will be saved too. They say that faith in Christ alone is just too narrow-minded. But what did Jesus say?
*Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.
14 “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” (and…)

And then Jesus got even narrower.
John 14:6
6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”
We need to be reminded that when the gospel is preached it results in three things.
• The first result is outright rejection. Most people, when they hear the gospel, simply reject it.
• The second result is genuine saving faith. A few people, when they hear the gospel, are convicted of their sin, repent, turn to Jesus for forgiveness, and trust Him alone for their eternal salvation. They are true Christians because they have a true faith.
• The third result is, sadly, more common than you might think. Many people, when they hear the gospel, think it sounds pretty good. You know… believe in Jesus and go to heaven. Such people hear about Jesus and they say, “All right, I’ll believe in Jesus. And then I get all the good stuff? I’m in! This is like a ‘get out of jail free card.’” They are false Christians because they have a false faith.

Now here is the problem for us. There are times when true Christians and false Christians can be very hard to tell apart. How we need spiritual discernment! In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares. Tares are a weed that to the untrained eye look a lot like wheat, but contains no usable grain. Tares are essentially “false grain.” It looks real until the harvest. Jesus explains the parable to the disciples.
*Matthew 13:37b-43
37b “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
40 “Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,
42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weep-ing and gnashing of teeth.
43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

The Simon we will meet this morning’s in Acts 8 appears to be a Christian. He looks like wheat, true grain. But as we will come to see Simon is really a tare, false grain.
*Acts 8:9-13
9 Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be some-one great;
10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.”
11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
13 And even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip; and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was continually amazed.

If the passage ended here with v. 13 we would all think that we have a new brother in Christ, would we not? After all, Simon “believed.” Simon was baptized. Simon stayed with Philip.
But Simon was lost! In the rest of this morning’s text we will uncover four reasons why his faith was false and why Simon was lost.

1. Simon had a massive ego problem. He did not think he was a sinner. And if he wasn’t a sinner, why would he need a Savior?

How many people do you know – including professing Christians – who think that man is basically good? They seem to think that their good deeds are sufficient proof that they are not at all totally depraved. But Isaiah says, “For all of us have become like one who is un-clean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment (64:6a)…”

Look again at Acts 8:9-10. Simon claimed to be great. The people he impressed called him “the Great Power of God.” This is a claim of deity that Simon accepted. It’s what Satan wants for himself, and it’s what the Antichrist will claim for himself. But there is no heresy greater than claiming to be divine. There’s little doubt that Simon was a talented magician. But the so-called magic of the first century didn’t consist of card tricks and pulling rabbits out of hats. It used things like divination, astrology, and the occult. If you threw in a pinch of science and a dash of superstition, and added demonic power to the mix, you had a recipe for making something that looked like “the Great Power of God.”

You wonder if Simon actually believed his own “press clippings?” He probably did. As such he would have been blissfully unaware of the fact that he was really a fraud. But if that is the case, it only made him more dangerous to those who believed in him and his “magic.” In Acts 8:11 we’re told that many people were impressed with Simon. Could he be the Mes-siah the Samaritans were looking for? Might Simon himself have thought so? You can see how his pride would have blinded him to his sin and his desperate need of a Savior.

Simon’s pride is the sin that was keeping him from the truth. The fact is that pride is the sin that keeps all unbelievers from the truth. I believe that pride can be found at the root of vir-tually every other sin. Just consider the Ten Commandments: God says, “Put Me first…” But man says, “No, I will put myself and my desires first…” God says, “You shall not do…” But man says, “No, I will do as I please…” “I want, I will, I won’t!”
The operative words are always “I” or “me” or “my” or “mine.” Where does this come from? It comes from our first parents when they were in Eden, doesn’t it?
Genesis 2:17a; 3:6b
2:17a “…from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…”
3:6b …she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Listen, it is pride that destroys us because it is pride that keeps us from humbling ourselves before God and coming to Jesus for salvation. Listen to Jesus as He teaches this truth.
*Luke 18:10-14
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer.
11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people; swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer.
12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all I get.’
13 “But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
14 “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”

In the book that is named for him James says, “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you (4:10).” But self-exaltation was Simon’s problem. Unless he humbled himself, repented, and put his faith in Christ, he would have no hope. And that brings us to the second reason why Simon had a faith that was false.

2. Simon didn’t understand the nature of truth. In Acts 8:12-13 it actually appears that he comes to saving faith. He hears the gospel preached by Philip, he “believes” it, he is bap-tized, and he starts following Philip. That is what the Scripture says.

But why did Simon believe? As we will come to see, Simon’s faith was merely self-serving. Look, he knew what he could do with his magic. But when he saw what Philip was doing – the signs and wonders of God, the casting out of demons, the healing of the sick, the lame, and the paralyzed – Simon knew he couldn’t do any of those things. He wanted what Philip had. You can almost read the man’s mind… “Believe in Jesus and get that kind of author-ity? Get immersed in water and come out with that kind of power? All right! Let me at it!” If Simon was a “big man” before, what could he be with all of that?

Simon believed in the signs and wonders, but he didn’t believe in their source. In Simon we have a classic case of a professing believer who looks like a Christian, but is not.
He is not a grain of wheat; he is a tare, a weed that looks like wheat, but has no value. He is a man who knows the facts about Christ, but knows not the Person of Christ. He is one of those to whom Jesus will one day say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:23).”

Simon is lost because of his pride and because he doesn’t understand the gospel. But there is a third reason Simon is lost.

3. Simon neither acknowledges nor understands the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.
*Acts 8:14-21
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John,
15 who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,
19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
21 “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.

Look vv. 15-17. Those who teach that getting saved and getting the Holy Spirit are really two different things that happen at two different times usually cite this passage as proof of their claims. But to do so ignores two important facts. The first is the rest of the NT. There is no such thing as a “second work of grace” that can only take place when a Christian seeks the Holy Spirit – who may or may not come – and whose arrival is manifested by speaking in tongues. There is no such thing as a Christ-ian who does not have the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:9b
9b …if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
1 Corinthians 12:13a
13a For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…

There is no such thing as a true Christian who is not indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God.
The second is of the most basic truths about the entire Book of Acts. Acts functions as a transition, a bridge, if you will, between the Old and New Testaments. The standards and practices of the OT were coming to an end, or were in the process of doing so. At the same time the standards and practices of the NT church were just beginning to come into focus.
In Acts 11 we’ll see that reality became a real struggle for Peter himself. The point is that what Luke has recorded for us in Acts is happening during the transition between the two testaments. So for us to build a doctrine or a standard for the church on what took place at one particular moment between the testaments simply doesn’t work. Many of the things that took place in Acts would never be seen again. Here’s an analogy.

The southern approaches to the Golden Gate Bridge are in the city of San Francisco. The northern approaches to the bridge are in Marin County. If you’re driving north you get on the bridge in the city and get off in the country. The differences in your surroundings from one end of the bridge to the other are vast. But, of course, while you’re crossing the bridge, you’re in transition. You’re neither in San Francisco nor Marin County. The Book of Acts is a little bit like that. You’re not in the OT anymore. But you can still see it in your rear-view mirror. And you’re not quite in the NT yet. But you can begin to make it out in your windshield as it comes into focus through the fog.

So why did the Samaritans have to wait for the apostles to come to town before the Holy Spirit fell upon them? There are at least two reasons. First, the Samaritans and the Jews hated each other. Had God sent His Spirit to the Samaritans they would have thought that they didn’t need the Jews and would have begun a new church completely separate from the church in Jerusalem. Second, the Samaritans needed to understand that they were under the authority of Jesus’ apostles. Today, all believers receive the Holy Spirit the moment they are saved. But in Acts 8 the church was in transition. The OT was behind. The NT was ahead. They were still “on the bridge.” (back to Simon in Acts 8:18)

In Acts 8:18-19 Simon sees that the Holy Spirit is coming on the Samaritans as the apostles lay hands on them. He wants that power so badly that he’s willing to pay for it. But nothing God has is ever for sale. How significant is that fact? The Protestant Reformation was at least in part fueled by Martin Luther’s crusade against of the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences where money could insure less time spent in purgatory. Buying God’s favor? By this one gesture Simon revealed his unbelief. He offered his money to the wrong guy.

In vv. 20-21 Peter just unloads on Simon. Look at his words in v. 20. Your translation probably says something like, “May your money perish with you.” But modern translations soften Peter’s rebuke. His words are far stronger than that. He says to Simon, “To hell with you and your money!” Simon’s attempt to buy God’s favor is blasphemy of the worst kind. And so we come to the fourth and final reason why this magician was not saved.

4. Simon has no concept of his sin or his need for repentance. So Peter tells him…
*Acts 8:22-24
22 “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that if possi-ble, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
23 “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
24 But Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

In vv. 22-23 Peter warns Simon that he needs to acknowledge his sin and recognize that Jesus is the only one who can forgive it. (The term “gall of bitterness” speaks to the vile nature of the sin in Simon’s heart.) He is in desperate need of seeing his sin for what it is, turning away from it, and trusting Christ. Peter says that only if Simon does that is there any hope for forgiveness. Isn’t that precisely what everyone must do? There is no other way! (John 14:6)

Does this morning’s passage end with Simon’s repentance and salvation? Sadly, it does not.
He says to Peter and John, and I paraphrase, “No, I’m not going to do that. You have access to God. You do it for me.” In this Simon is doing what millions of people who think they are Christians do every day. They look to someone else – a friend or a priest – to be their intercessor. They say, “I may have a sin or two that needs cleaning up. I’ll tell you about it and you can take care of it for me.”
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IV. Conclusion
There is a tragedy going on all around us. There are countless numbers of people walking the earth today who have consciously and deliberately rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. Either they are convinced it is a myth or they suspect it might be true and just don’t care. It is outright unbelief and God will deal with it in His time.

But there is another tragedy – one that’s worse, if that’s possible. It’s the multiplied millions of people who think they are Christians, but are not. They think they are saved for all sorts of reasons. For example… they say God is love and that’s enough; they go to a church that tells them how wonderful they are; they take care of their families and pay all of their bills on time; they do nice things for their neighbors. They’re just plain good people. And in the end, they know it’ll all come out all right, because God is love and that’s enough.

But, of course, it isn’t! Johann-Peter read about them to open the service. They’re the ones to whom Jesus will say, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

They’re like Simon the magician in Acts 8.
• They are blinded by their pride in their own supposed goodness.
• They don’t understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• They don’t understand the work of the Holy Spirit.
• They refuse to repent and trust Christ alone for their salvation.

Thus they believe a false gospel, cling to a false faith, and stand condemned. But what about the true faith, the faith that saves? We’ll see an example of that next Sunday when Philip encounters a man who will come to such faith on the road to Gaza.

~ Pray ~