Acts is an account of the birth of the church. God called out a people who would be the body of Christ by great power and signs and wonders. In Acts we see something of a New Testament parallel to the Israelites coming out of Egypt by great signs and wonders of Moses. And in yet another parallel, we also see that the devil attacks the congregation of the Lord in various ways, through persecution, and through corruption from within.

So as the church is growing mightily, there is also strategic attacks on the church from without and within. We saw that played out with Ananias and Sapphira back in chapter 5, as they lied to the Holy Spirit. Their sin was a deadly leaven that threatened to corrupt the church from within that had to be dealt with severely in order to preserve the sanctity of the congregation.

But Satan is a clever and deadly adversary. He like any good general, marshals his forces to attack on several fronts simultaneously. So almost immediately after Ananias and Sapphira were dealt with, Peter and John are arrested and beaten and imprisoned. But that too fails to hinder the proclamation of the gospel. In fact it only serves to embolden and empower the apostles to do more. So Satan enlists his forces from the religious realm to arrest Stephen, one of the seven young men who had been recently appointed as one of the leaders in the church. And as we saw last week, rather than that shutting him up, Stephen took that to be an opportunity to preach the gospel to the high priests and ruling council, convicting them by many Biblical proofs that their belief in God had in fact not saved them, but that they were enemies of God, outside of the kingdom. And what he preached enraged them so much that they rushed on him with one accord and threw him off a cliff and cast stones on him, making Stephen the first martyr.

Now in chapter 8 we see that this young man named Saul mentioned in the previous account who watched over the affair and held their coats while they stoned Stephen was now persecuting the church with a renewed intensity. But rather than persecution shutting down the church, it only served to strengthen it. Tertullian is credited with the saying that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And we see that seed now being scattered throughout Asia as a result of persecution. Satan thought that he had silenced a preacher of the gospel, and yet he inadvertently helped to spread the gospel from Jerusalem, to Judea, then Samaria, and ultimately to the uttermost parts of the earth. Acts 8:4 “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”

Last week we looked at the last sermon of Stephen, which illustrated several principles which revealed that the religious leaders of the Jews were not true believers. And those principles were instructive for us as well, as we compared our salvation with the template that Stephen was proclaiming to be the gospel. These religious leaders had a form of religion, they claimed to be worshipping the One True God, they kept the Old Testament scriptures, they were extremely zealous for certain religious rituals and ceremonies, and yet they were not saved. And so I pointed out how we too must carefully examine our faith in order to see if we truly are of the faith, according to the examples given by Stephen in his last message.

And in a similar way, today we will look at the message of Philip, another of the original seven, who has gone out from Jerusalem as a result of the persecution, and he is now called the evangelist. He is preaching the gospel of Christ to the Samaritans and many signs and wonders were happening by his hand, and many people were being saved. But at the same time Satan is attempting to duplicate and deceive through a false prophet named Simon that is also doing signs and wonders, and when he cannot compete with the ministry of Philip, he professes to believe and is baptized. So we are going to examine today in light of this passage the contrast between the true faith and message of Philip and false faith and false message of Simon. I have titled this message, false faith, false follower, and false prophet.

So in this passage the Holy Spirit deliberately contrasts authentic Christianity with that of a false and counterfeit faith. Simon the Magician, or Simon Magus as he is sometimes called, appears in this passage as yet another means of the devil’s attack against the church, this time from within. Remember that Jesus had said in the parable of the tares and the wheat that though He was sowing good seed in the field of the world, an enemy would come at night and sow bad seed in the midst of the wheat, and that they would grow up together. The wheat and tares would initially be indistinguishable. And that is what we see here with Simon becoming identified with the church.

So let’s look at some of these characteristics of false faith, or false Christianity. And by the way this is not just ancient history. We must not be so foolish as to think we are past all of this sort of thing today in the church. No, the devil is continuing similar attacks on the church and even more so today. In fact as time marches on towards the end of the age, Jesus told us in Matt. 24:24 that it will increase. He said, “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” Deception will grow worse and worse. Satan just keeps repackaging the same old deceptions in new false prophets, and people are deceived and keep on being deceived, often to their damnation.

So to start with, the first characterization of Simon’s false faith was self exaltation. Contrast that to the ministry of Philip; Philip it is said in vs. 5, proclaimed Christ. He preached the gospel of Christ and God validated that preaching with signs and wonders which served to glorify God. But Simon, as a false prophet, glorifies himself. Vs. 8 says that he was claiming to be something great. And his magic arts enabled him to convince the people of Samaria that he was something great. They called him the Great Power of God.

There is actually some very fascinating history written about this man in several contemporaneous non-biblical writings.   But what the text tells us, and from what history tells us, this man practiced a form of magic, professing secret knowledge, whereby he was able to astonish the local people. The word magician is from the root word magi. You remember the three wise men who visited Jesus’ birth? These men were known as magi from the East. They were learned in astronomy and the sciences and some practiced the secret arts as well, such as astrology and the occult. Obviously, Simon is one that has that sort of knowledge which is called sorcery.

Now the text indicates that he did certain feats of magic or sorcery in order to exalt himself. To bring attention to himself and probably make himself money in the process. That is always a characteristic of false prophets, by the way. They are self aggrandizing people who set themselves up in such a way as to bring attention to themselves. They claim to have great power from God. And I want to be very clear; beware of people that focus on signs and wonders as testimony to their Christianity or their spirituality.

Do you know that the devil is able to authenticate his false prophets by signs and wonders as well? There is more hocus pocus going on in the church today than ever before and it’s because our people lack discernment. They aren’t taught what the word of God says. They are taught that we need to experience God. And so whatever experience that comes along in the context of the church they then attribute to God. Today in the church there is everything from people falling down acting like they are drunk, to entire congregations laughing uncontrollably, to gold dust falling from the ceiling and angel feathers floating from the rafters. And all of it is attributed to God. However, it’s nothing short of demonic. It’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. God is not the author of confusion. Beware of signs and wonders that are purported to be done today, which are in effect only serving to enable false teachers to deceive gullible and superstitious people who are ignorant of what the scriptures actually teach.

Furthermore, its says in vs. 10 that the people both small and great from all quarters were giving him attention. False prophets are always popular. They attract great crowds even today. Ancient writers such as Justin Martyr, Jerome and Irenaeus give a sordid history of this man Simon and the way he eventually became a great enemy of the truth. He is credited with being one of the forbearers of the great heresy known as Gnosticism which arose in the first century to deceive many people. Simon went on to be one of that heresy’s foremost prophets. He taught that he was the manifestation of God, that divine knowledge resided in him.

Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge. It is a blend of different religious philosophies that believed in a higher knowledge, a spiritual plane that it was possible to reach that was separate from the body, from matter. They believed that it was possible to exist on a spiritual plane in some measure of godliness, but which was unaffected by the physical. So you could live in immorality or any such sin and yet be unaffected by it spiritually. It bred a false doctrine called antinomianism which is what James and Jude and John were warning against in their epistles, this false knowledge that puffs up. Jude 1:4 “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

But again, I would warn you, that Satan has repackaged much of that philosophy today and sold it to the church once again. There are false prophets who are known for their signs and wonders that are immensely popular in so called Christianity today, that are preaching a form of antinomianism which has it’s roots in Gnosticism. False prophets today like the televangelist Joseph Prince teach that you can be holy spiritually in God’s eyes, but be something else in the physical realm. They teach that you can be a child of God, and yet live in sin and not have any conviction of your sin. They teach that in fact it is impossible for a believer to sin, and you never need to repent of your sins. It’s first century Gnosticism repackaged for the weak, immature and often immoral church of today.

But not only is this Simon Magus an example of a false prophet, he is emblematic of those that are of a false faith. Their faith, as it were, is founded on serving their pride. They are all about self aggrandizement. They practice their religion to be seen of men, to draw accolades to their piety. They are interested in signs and wonders because it pleases their vanity to be seen to have some great spiritual power. They are interested in some higher degree of knowledge that relieves them from the conviction of something so petty as sin. They want to profit from religion, both economically as well as in their social standing. And yet their actions reveal that they are prideful. They have never humbled themselves in the sight of God. They never repented of their sins.

And that leads us to the next characteristic of Simon as an example of false faith, and that is he had a incorrect understanding of salvation. Vs. 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. 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.”

At first glance, it sounds pretty positive, doesn’t it? Sounds like this false prophet, this great celebrity of Samaria actually became a Christian. After all, it says he believed. Isn’t that the requirement for salvation? Isn’t that what is being taught today? Just believe in God and he will accept you just the way you are. But the Bible says that the devils believe and tremble and yet they are not saved. Why not? Well, first of all because salvation is not offered to angels, but only to men. But even if they could be saved salvation would require repentance. And they have believed but not repented. That’s why Jesus went about preaching first and foremost, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Repentance is the polar opposite of pride, do you understand that? Repentance is confession that you are a sinner, and that the Bible says that the penalty for sin is eternal death. You confess that you are a sinner and you admit that you are guilty and worthy of the punishment. But there is nothing said of Simon repenting. In fact as you read on, you will see that he had not repented, and when Peter told him to repent, he excused himself.

What Simon did was find himself attracted to the church by the signs and wonders. He liked the display of power. He imagined how that kind of power might benefit him. He might have even had a certain mindset that if you can’t beat them, then join them. He had been duping the people with his magic arts, he had been enjoying this fame and prosperity that came with it, and suddenly along comes Philip with true knowledge, with divine power to truly heal, and so his act is completely eclipsed. So he joins this movement, or appears to, in order to learn and acquire this knowledge to add to his own bag of tricks.

By the way, I don’t doubt but that Satan has certain practitioners that can perform some signs and wonders. But I think that for the most part it is a deception. I have studied a little bit about some well known pseudo evangelists, and I have noticed a pattern in some of being trained in and practicing hypnotism. I think a lot of the fake faith healers set up their shows ahead of time with willing accomplices or they weed out the truly handicapped in favor of those with some sort of psychosomatic disorder. And so these people are selected who might be very easily persuaded by means of hypnosis or some other trick. But it’s not long thereafter until they find they are no longer healed.

One of the saddest tales I have heard on this subject came from the well known Christian speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident when she was a young woman. And in the early years of her illness, one day in desperation she went to a famous faith healer’s service in hopes of being healed. And she relates how that she and other quadripalegics and people who had serious problems were escorted to a special wing and then left there while others with non visible maladies were healed. She relates the horrible feeling of abandonment at the end of the service as they were wheeled out of the back door still in their wheelchairs. Such false prophets are an abomination to God and will one day face God’s judgment for their false faith message.

But back to Simon, he supposedly believed, and he was baptized. According to at least a couple of different denominations out there, that should have sealed the deal. He was baptized. To some denominations, becoming a Christian is like making instant oatmeal. Just add water and you’re good. So he joined the church. He made a profession of faith, he was baptized, he effectively joined the movement. He began following Philip around. Folks, please understand that Satan loves nothing more than to join the church. Jesus taught another parable about the church, in which He said that the kingdom of God was like a mustard seed that was planted in a garden and it grew into a great big tree, so big that the birds of the air came and nested in it’s branches. This parable was taught immediately after the parable of the tares and the wheat. The picture He is giving is that the church will grow bigger than normal, first of all. The church will grow and spread far beyond it’s normal growth into a great tree, instead of a normal bush. And it’s branches extend out so far that the birds of the air come and nest in it’s branches. Jesus said in the parable of the soils that the birds of the air are the devil and his angels. So Jesus is saying that the devil and his angels are nesting in the branches of the church. That is a reality that is true today more than ever before as we see every sort of abomination welcomed and embraced by many modern churches today.

The number one way the church has been rendered weak and ineffective, more than any other, is by unregenerate people coming in and taking on the outer garments of Christianity, calling themselves Christians, but remaining still unchanged in heart and life. That has ruined more churches than any external attack possibly could.

You know, all of the church growth strategy books have got it wrong. The church doesn’t need to attract more unsaved people. The church doesn’t need more pew sitters in the congregation. It doesn’t need more spectators. The church needs holy and sanctified workers for the harvest. Matt. 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” The church is the body of Christ, not a collection of the unregenerate seeking validation while still in their sins.

Simon is missing one major ingredient in his salvation. And that is he is unrepentant. He may have professed to believe in God, but nothing had changed. Listen, repentance is a change of direction. It is coming to the end of yourself. It is mourning over your sin. It is realizing that you are depraved and without hope and you need God to transform you. Simon just added the outward garments of Christianity to his carnal nature and nothing had actually changed.

Next, Simon misunderstood the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is still a major problem in the church today, isn’t it? A complete misunderstanding of the nature of the Holy Spirit and His function in the church. But let’s look first at some background. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria was receiving the gospel and people were becoming saved, they sent Peter and John there.

Now the important distinction here is that these were Samaritans. They had traditionally been excluded from Israel as half breeds, half Jew and half Gentile. And so what is being described here is a manifestation of the Spirit upon the Samaritans, to indicate and affirm that they were also now part of the body of Christ. God’s plan was not to have a church in Samaria which had different customs and beliefs than the church in Jerusalem. But as the scripture says there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And so that is why it is important that the apostles come from Jerusalem and lay hands upon them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit, to show by the signs that followed that they were all of one body.

But it’s important to understand what is happening; no one can be saved without the agency of the Holy Spirit. They had been saved. They had the power of the Holy Spirit manifested to them when they were delivered from illnesses through the ministry of Philip. And they had the joy of their salvation in vs. 8 which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. The thing that was missing was that they needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to bring them into communion with the church, to make them part of the body of Christ, to show that they were in no way inferior to the church at Jerusalem.

That is the significance of the laying on of hands. We lay hands or even shake hands to show solidarity with other people. So the fathers of the church in Jerusalem came to join hands with the Christians in Samaria in order to show full fellowship with them. And there were undoubtedly certain signs accompanying the baptism of the Holy Spirit similar to what had happened at Pentecost to authenticate by the Spirit what the apostles were affirming, that they were a part of the church. It’s interesting, because in each of the 4 occasions in Acts when this happens, it happens under slightly different circumstances. This is the only time that the laying on of hands occurs with the baptism of the Spirit. And I believe that is because it signifies the right hand of fellowship that is extended from Jerusalem to these Samaritans who had long been estranged from Israel.

So there is the same manifestation of gifts in Samaria that there had been at Pentecost. There would be the same manifestation of signs at the household of the Gentile Cornelius which Peter goes to preach to at the bequest of the Spirit. And all because God is indicating that there is no more Jew nor Gentile nor Samaritan in the church; we are all made one in Christ by the self same Spirit.

But Simon seeing this is moved to approach Peter and ask him if he could buy that ability. There is a word in the English language which is simony. It is the buying or selling of religious offices or powers. This man’s name is the origin of this word. He is attempting to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted to buy it so that he could profit by it. And while I don’t think many people today are so bold as to try to buy the power of the Holy Spirit, I do believe that many in the church today are trying to profit by the Spirit. They attempt to use a false power that is attributed to the Holy Spirit for ungodly gain. I once personally knew a man that was duped into thinking that Benny Hinn was a great power of God, and he regularly would go fly somewhere to one of his crusades and pay him $10,000 for a private meeting so that he could receive his blessing. He ended up going bankrupt. False prophets like Benny Hinn seek to profit from the Holy Spirit.

Simon thought that he too could profit from being able to administer the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so Peter’s response illustrates the last characteristic of Simon’s false faith, which is that he lacked true repentance. Simon revealed that he had held onto his sin. He professed to believe, he participated in the ritual of baptism, but he had never truly repented. And that lack of repentance became evident when he tried to buy the Holy Spirit.

Philip may have been a somewhat naïve young preacher, a beginning evangelist that God was using, but Peter had the gift of discernment as we saw evidenced in the passage about Ananias and Sapphira. So Peter says to Simon in vs. 20, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” The literal translation of Peter’s rebuke is “may your silver go to hell with you!” Peter sees immediately that this man is still in the bondage of sin. He never repented. His heart is alienated from God. He describes Simon as bitter, that would indicate he was jealous of Philip.

Listen, the Gnostics, the antinomians, think that as believers you never need to repent, because you never sin. But I would remind you of Psalm 51, a Psalm of David when he sinned against God, he said, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.” Was David saved when he sinned with Bathsheba? Yes, he most certainly was. Was he saved the same way we are? Yes, he certainly was, he was saved by faith, through grace, just as we are. He looked forward to Christ, we look backwards to Christ, but we are both saved the same way. And yet David by divine inspiration calls his sin, sin. He said against God he had sinned, and his sin was ever before God.

So what was David’s solution? Repentance. He confessed his sin as sin, as an affront to God. And then he asked to be changed. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Listen, David was saved and he still sinned against God, he still needed forgiveness, he needed repentance that he might have fellowship with God.   This idea that you can live in sin and be ok, that you can come as you are and stay as you are, is not the gospel. It is not the gospel that Peter is preaching. He turns to Simon and says, “you are still in the bonds of iniquity.” You were never released from your sins because you never repented of yours sins.

I am convinced that the church today is full of people who profess to believe, who have been baptized or been catechized or been through some experience or ritual and they believe they are part of the church, but in fact they have no part at all in the body of Christ. They are still in the bondage of iniquity. That is the only explanation for why the divorce rate is as high in the church as it is in the world. That is the only explanation why our church members are living in immorality. That is the only reason why our people are living fleshly, carnal lives, chasing riches and material things of the world. They have a false faith. They are still in the bondage of sin.

Unfortunately, Simon has no interest in repenting as Peter tells him to do. Instead he says, “Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” He wants to escape the judgment of sin, but he is not willing to forsake the presence of sin. There’s no confession; there’s no self analysis; there’s no acknowledging of sin. There’s no trust in the Lord; there’s no asking for forgiveness; there’s no repentance, nothing, but possibly even a scornful comment, “Why don’t you pray for me yourselves, so that what you’ve said doesn’t happen to me.”

Simon is never mentioned in scripture again. But history tells us that his unrepentant heart led him further and further away from the truth and into abject heresy. According to some sources, he became a constant adversary of Peter, going before him into various cities refuting the gospel that Peter was preaching. His doctrine became more and more heretical, even to the point of denying that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, denying the divinity of Christ, meanwhile making himself out to be god. According to Justin Martyr, there was a statue erected in Rome that bore the inscription testifying that he was a god. He became the father of Gnosticism, which is the grandfather of all heresies.

Listen, there is a great danger in refusing to repent of sin. At the very most you cannot be saved without repentance, without humbling yourself and being willing to forsake your sin. And at the very least, if you are by some miracle a Christian, you break fellowship with God and you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and you trample underfoot the blood of Jesus by refusing to confess and repent of your sin. Either way your unrepentant heart will lead you further and further away from God just as surely as leaven eventually corrupts all of the dough.

I don’t know whether you folks listening to me today are wheat or tares. I don’t know whether or not you are of the faith, or of a false faith. I don’t have the level of discernment that Peter had. But I do know that Jesus said that by their fruit you shall know them. What is in the heart, eventually comes out of the mouth. Simon should be a warning against a false faith, false followers, and false prophets. 2Cor. 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?” Be sure you are not of a false faith, a faith without repentance. Believing without repentance can never produce saving faith. But as David said, “a broken and contrite heart O God you will not despise.” Let us pray.