44 Acts 8:9-24 SIMON THE SORCERER Introduction: When Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church at Jerusalem the members scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Philip, who was one of the seven original deacons, went also into Samaria preaching the gospel and working miracles. He had great success. Many people were saved and baptized under his preaching and there is good evidence that a church was organized in the city because of his preaching. Our text today is centered around one man who made a profession of faith in Jesus under his preaching. That man is Simon. I. Simon, before Philip arrived I would like for us to take a look at Simon and the occupation he held prior to the time that he heard Philip preach. V. 9, “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.” Before Philip came into his life, Simon was a sorcerer. That was his occupation, his trade. That is, he practiced witchcraft for a living. People came to him hired him to use his magical powers on their behalf. If Simon had been a female instead of a male, he would have been called a witch. He possessed powers which enabled him to do things which ordinary people could not do. These were powers which he had gained by making contact with the evil spirit world. He was dealing with Satanic forces. He received his powers from demon spirits which give their loyalty to Satan. Let me say to you that it is a dangerous thing for people to be messing around with evil Satanic spirit forces. In our day there are a lot of witches and sorcerers advertising their trade on the television. They do not call themselves witches and sorcerers. But they come on the television urging you to call them using a 1-900 telephone number and they promise to give you the answer to all of life’s problems. They will even promise to give you the first few minutes of your call free. But after your phone call is over you owe a huge telephone bill. But that is not the worst of it. They will open up to you a contact with the evil spirits of Satan which will do everything in their power to maintain that contact and to control you life. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY should ever make contact with such people. Especially Christians have no business dealing with such Satanic forces. But let me get back to Simon, the sorcerer. V. 10, “To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.” Simon had such great powers from the evil spirit world that the people were convinced that his powers were a gift from God. I strongly suspect that he told them that he got his supernatural powers from God. That is what such people today say about themselves. They tell everybody that they have this power as a gift from God. V. 11, “And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.” The people of that city and of all of the local area surrounding that city had very high regard for Simon. He had not just performed one amazing feat before them. He had a long history of doing amazing things by supernatural powers. He could in all reality know things supernaturally and do things through supernatural powers. II. Simon after Philip arrived V. 12, “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.” The word “but” is used here to show a contrast between Simon and Philip. The people had once looked to Simon as the wise man of their area. If they had a problem before Philip came they went to Simon. If they needed counsel or help before Philip came they went to Simon. But now that Philip had come performing greater miracles in the name of Jesus and proclaiming Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of men, the majority of the people now turned to Philip and sought his counsel and advice. In great numbers the people professed Jesus as Savior and were baptized and joined the new church that Philip apparently organized in that city. In verse 13 we find a very surprising statement. V. 13, “Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.” Instead of becoming angry at Philip, Simon made a profession of faith in Jesus, presented himself as a candidate for baptism and joined the church. Not only that, but he faithfully attended the services. He was very excited about what Philip was doing. III. Simon after the arrival of Peter and John V.14, “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John.” Soon after Simon made his profession of faith and was baptized, the Jerusalem church heard about the new church which Philip had started and about the great number of converts so they sent two of the apostles to give Philip some help. The apostles had been trained under Jesus, Himself and could give Philip some needed guidance in helping this young church get started out in the right way. Furthermore, with such a large following, Philip needed some help ministering to them. So the church at Jerusalem sent Peter and John to help him. Now let me deviate briefly from the subject of Simon, the sorcerer, and let me call your attention to something about the apostle Peter. I think we see right here that the apostle Peter had not been appointed to be the pope over the Jerusalem church as some folks have mistakenly concluded. You see, Peter did not make the decision that he and John would go down to help Philip. If he had been the pope he would have made that decision whether or not he would go or whether to send somebody else. But Peter did not make the decision. Somebody else made the decision and then sent him. At any rate, when the apostles Peter and John arrived on the scene they laid hands on some of the church members and bestowed on them the same kind of miraculous spiritual gifts which had been bestowed on the church at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. These were special gifts which were given to the early churches prior to the completion of the Bible to enable them to do the work which God had assigned them to do. V. 15-17, “Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they [their] hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” Not all of the church members received the special gifts at the hands of the apostles. Only certain ones did. It is obvious from this passage that Simon did not receive any. Also not all of those who did receive a gift received the same gift as the others. I am confident that the gifts followed the same order that Paul described to the Corinthian church in I Corinthians 12:8-11. “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” V. 18-19, “And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.” Simon had made a profession of faith in Jesus. He had even been baptized, but he was still not right with the Lord. At heart, he was still a sorcerer. He saw that the miraculous powers which Philip possessed were superior to the powers that he had possessed as a sorcerer. He wanted this power for himself and he was willing to pay for it. He offered to pay the apostles if they would bestow this power upon him. The apostle Peter rebuked him sternly. He minced no words. V. 20-23, “But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and [in] the bond of iniquity.” The Apostle Peter informed Simon that his chief problem was that he was not yet saved. He had made a public profession of faith in Jesus. He had been baptized and joined the church. But he had never actually repented of his sin. He had never and trusted Jesus Christ as His Savior. His heart was not right with God. He was still in the gall of bitterness. He was still in the bond of iniquity. He was still unsaved. I think you know that there are unsaved people in many of the Lord’s churches today. They have made a public profession of faith in Christ. They have been baptized. They have been faithful to attend the services. They give of their money to the church. They sing the great hymns. But they have never really repented of their sin and they have never trusted in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul. They have never been born again. They have never been saved. IV. Simon today V. 24, “Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.” Simon the sorcerer then asked Simon Peter to pray for him. He did not wish to be destroyed by the power of the Lord. He was most certainly convinced of the power of the Lord and he was convinced that the Lord would destroy him unless he was forgiven. I might observe this. It would be nice to have the apostles Peter and John praying for him, but unless he himself repented of his sin, he would still be destroyed. Simon Peter had said to him, “You repent and you pray for forgiveness.” Today it is good when lost sinners want us to pray for them that they might be saved. That is good but that is not enough. The lost sinner must repent of his own sin. He must ask the Lord to forgive his sin. He must call upon the Lord to have mercy on his soul. He must trust Jesus to save his soul or else he will not be saved. We have no record of whether or not Simon the sorcerer ever did repent. We have no record whether or not he himself ever asked the Lord to forgive his sin. We have no record of whether or not he ever got saved. All we know is that he had every opportunity to be saved. He heard the gospel message under Philip. He must surely have also heard the gospel message from Peter and John while they were there. He had every opportunity of being saved. If he did then he is already saved and he is already in heaven. If he did get saved he had to do it quickly because Simon Peter warned him that he would be quickly be destroyed if he didn’t. If he did not get saved then it is already too late for him. He is already wishing to high heaven that he had.