Empowered by the Spirit for Mission
Acts Ch. 6-11: Empowered for Jesus' Mission

Money, Fame, Power & the Holy Spirit

Money, fame, power, and the Holy Spirit. Sounds like the title of an expose you might find online today about the contemporary church, but believe it or not, it would be an appropriate heading in your Bibles for the passage of Scripture that we’re about to look at from Acts 8. I want you to turn there if you would, and we’re going to continue our study in the book of Acts.

I want to make clear I have just one objective this morning as I preach. I want us to honor God the Holy Spirit. I simply want us to acknowledge the work that he does in us and through us for the glory of Jesus. I want us to be mindful of him. I want us to care for him. I want us to submit to him. I want us to esteem him. I want us to love him.

Prayer

Will you pray with me and we’ll jump into this text together? Father, thank you that you are a good and kind Father. Thank you that you love us with all the love and affection you have for your Son, Jesus. Jesus, thank you that you, being eternally God, humbled yourself, and you entered into our world, and you lived the only holy, only perfect, only obedient life to the Father that’s ever been lived. And Jesus, you went to the cross, and you being without sin, you being without rebellion, you being without treason, upon the cross, you paid for the penalty of our sin, our rebellion, our treason.

Lord Jesus, we rejoice, we exalt in the fact that you rose from the grave and you’re at the right hand of the Father. And we want everything we think, everything we speak, everything we do for the rest of our time together to bring glory and attention to you. Father and Son, thank you for the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit, we pray that we would have a better understanding of who you are. And as you make yourself known to us through the pages of Scripture, may we pay closer attention to you. May we give you a greater esteem and honor than we ever have before.

Holy Spirit, I especially pray for those that are here today who don’t know Jesus. Even for those who think they may know Jesus but actually don’t, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would open their hearts to receive the good news of Jesus. I pray that they would meet Jesus today and forever be changed. In his good name we pray, amen.

The Holy Spirit’s Power Is Greater Than Persecution

So, we focus our attention on the Holy Spirit today from Acts 8. We’re going to begin in verse 4. And the first thing I want you to know about the Holy Spirit and about his power is this. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater than persecution.

Let me show you. Acts 8:4, picking up where Pastor Mark left off last week. “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.”

That’s an amazing passage. That’s incredible, especially considering what just transpired. Here’s the backdrop to the text if you missed last week: Persecution has begun to run amuck in Jerusalem. There are those that are opposing the people of Jesus, the message of Jesus, and particularly a man named Saul is ravaging the church. He’s throwing families into jail who believe in Jesus, and we have seen that Stephen, one of the leaders in the early church, has just been stoned to death. So, there’s this enormous effort to persecute the church and some of the Christians are scattering, particularly those that aren’t probably—those aren’t that are native to Jerusalem.

So, we see Philip moves out of Jerusalem, goes to Samaria, which is an adjacent place, and he picks up where he left off. He starts talking about Jesus. It’s amazing. Despite the opponents of Christianity and Jesus greatest efforts to silence the church, the power of the Holy Spirit is greater than their persecution and the message of Jesus continues so that more people and more places are meeting Jesus. Incredible story.

As a matter of fact, what makes it even more remarkable to me is when you look at Philip’s ministry in Samaria, it looks just like the ministry of Jesus, doesn’t it? His message is Jesus. That’s all it says. His message is he preached the Christ. That’s exactly what Jesus did. Jesus went from village to village and proclaimed himself as the long awaited One, as the Christ, as the Messiah who would bring the kingdom of God, who would make things right between God and his people. Not only are people hearing about Jesus, they’re seeing the power of Jesus manifested, so those that are demonized are liberated. Demons are cast out. Those who are disabled, those who are ill, those who are physically compromised are healed, and the result is great joy. As a matter of fact, it’s just as Jesus called it.

Let me show you a text earlier in the book of Acts that’s really the outline for the book of Acts that indicates this is just what Jesus said would happen. Let’s look at Acts 1:8 real quick. Words of Jesus to his disciples before they even began mission. This is what he said. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea.” That’s phase one. That’s now coming to conclusion.

Phase two has begun here with Philip. “And Samaria.” Samaria is really the theme, the theatre for phase two. “And then to the end of the earth,” and that’s where we are today in phase three. So, despite the persecution, despite the opposition, despite the fact that Christians were being imprisoned and the message of Jesus was attempted to be silenced even through cold-blooded murder, guess what happens? The Holy Spirit’s power propels the mission of Jesus to a new place exactly in line with the words of Jesus.

Does that encourage you today? I hope that gives you encouragement, particularly as we look at the context of our own world.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this yet, but we live in a culture that’s growingly hostile towards Jesus and Christians. Have you noticed that yet? If not, you need to turn on the Internet and just look at a few articles, right? We live in a world where, at least by most modern standards and polls, fewer and fewer people than ever before in our country are identifying as Bible-believing Christians. And worse than that, we’re seeing a general hostility played out everywhere against Christianity and against Christian beliefs, and it’d be easy to be discouraged. It’d be easy to look at today, particularly if you’ve been a Christian for quite some time, it’d be easy for you to feel like things are getting worse and worse. Our culture is becoming more resistant to Jesus, more resentful of Christians, and it’d be easy to be disheartened, but you shouldn’t be. As a matter of fact, you can look out on the horizon and see way off in the distance this dark cloud of persecution.

Can you feel that? It’s not here yet. We’re not being imprisoned for our belief in Jesus, and as far as I know, in our country no one is being murdered and executed for the sake of Jesus, but maybe something that felt impossible perhaps a decade ago now looks like it’s looming on the horizon. We’re not persecuted yet, but there’s resistance, there’s hostility. There are Christians all over the world who are going to be executed or imprisoned for their faith in Jesus. We’re not there yet, but our culture is definitely trending in that direction.

But don’t be discouraged or disheartened because the power of the Holy Spirit is greater than any persecution. And no matter what people do to try to silence the message of Jesus, to try to stop his movement, the Holy Spirit empowers the mission of Jesus so that it goes on. The Holy Spirit is not discouraged today. The Holy Spirit is not intimidated today. The Holy Spirit isn’t stopping what he does best in forwarding the mission of Jesus in any way despite the fact of where our culture is.

Here’s my concern. My concern for us as Bible-believing Christians as we look at the culture around us, and instead of turning in prayer to the power of the Holy Spirit to radically change our world for the better, we could turn to political power instead.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I want you to be politically active. I want you to be politically active according to your conscience and according to what the Bible tells us is right, just, and good. But don’t think that’s ever going to change things entirely. That doesn’t make things entirely better. Holy legislation isn’t what changes heart. Holy Spirit regeneration is what changes the hearts of people. And you and I can take great confidence and comfort in the fact that the Holy Spirit’s power is far greater than any persecution we may face. Are you encouraged? Do you believe that to be true?

The Holy Spirit’s Power Is Greater Than Spirituality

Now, let me introduce to you in Acts 8 someone that I think is one of the most interesting characters in all of Scripture. Ready? Verse 9. I want you to see this. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater than spirituality. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater not only than persecution, it’s also greater than spirituality.

Let’s meet Simon. Verse 9, “But there was a man named Simon, who previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria.” I don’t know if he wore a tuxedo and a top hat and pulled rabbits out of his hat. I don’t know what he did. “Saying that he himself was somebody great. They all”—verse 10—“paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the power of God that is called Great.’ And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.”

But Philip comes and changes everything. Verse 12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” Side note here. Women, Jesus is the best news you could ever hear. When we look at the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, it was men through the right of circumcision that demonstrated the covenant of God. We move to the New Covenant that Jesus enacts, it’s for women too. So, men and women alike are baptized. It’s great news. Jesus is the best news for women anywhere at any point in time.

Verse 13, listen to this. “Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.” See what’s going on here? This is really an interesting story. We get a big picture of all the people listening as one to an audience of Philip’s preaching, but in particular, there’s one man of great importance in Samaria, in this city. His name is Simon and he’s a magician.

Tapping into Dark Spiritual Forces

Now, here’s what the Bible teaches. It’s really important you understand this. The Bible tells us that we live in a supernatural world. We live in a supernatural world. There are supernatural forces around us and there are things that happen on a regular basis that defy reason, that defy science, that don’t make sense from purely a naturalistic perspective. And the Bible tells us that there are supernatural things that happen that originate from God. God is a triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God does things that draw attention to his glory in a very good way, but there’s also dark spiritual forces. There are created beings that we call angels and a portion of them rebelled against God. We call them demons, they’re led by Satan, they oppose God, and they are capable of producing counterfeit miracles for the sake of distracting people away from God as well as destroying lives.

And somehow, some way, Simon tapped in to dark spiritual forces in such a way that he captivated the city in Samaria. He did miracles and he did things that everybody said he was great, perhaps some even said he’s so great he must be a god. That’s what the text tells us. But when Philip comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, preaches Jesus, people are healed, demons are cast out, all the sudden, people stop paying attention to Simon and they turn their attention to Jesus, and even Simon does as much. So, the miracles of the Holy Spirit are so significant, his work is so powerful, that it’s greater than the false spirituality that captivated the city in Samaria. That’s good news for us today, isn’t it?

I would argue if you look at those same polls I just mentioned a while ago, if there’s a growing phenomenon in our culture, it’s spirituality that’s ultimately grounded in demonic activity. People experience things all the time in our culture that are supernatural. They defy reason. They defy scientific explanation. And Scripture tells us that behind every false religion there are demonic forces and powers empowering that religion to capture the hearts and minds of people.

Good example from my home state. I grew up in New Mexico and was—before moving here to the Puget Sound area as an executive elder of Mars Hill Church, was lead pastor of Mars Hill Albuquerque. It was a church that I, along with others, had planted years ago. And as we planted this church, we began to see native families that practiced the Pagan spirituality meet Jesus. Really exciting, really encouraging. People turned away from spirituality, turned to Jesus empowered by the Holy Spirit. And one of these tribal groups had a lot of superstition around death. And when you would talk to them and you would ask them to tell their stories, they weren’t just a superstitious people. They were people that actually experienced demonic activity on a regular basis that was very confusing and enslaving to them.

Cousin Tony

So, they had this sense that if they were near, even a loved one, when that loved one passed away, the spirit of that loved one could haunt them perpetually. So oftentimes, when a loved one would be dying in a hospital, the family would leave and that loved one would be left to die alone. So occasionally people would come in from the reservation that didn’t live in Albuquerque. They would come to the regional medical center, and these families that were in the church would call me and say, “Pastor Dave, we have a relative in the hospital who’s about to die. Would you go pray for him?”

I got a call one day. Cousin Tony was in from the reservation and I got a call from a family that believed in Jesus, belonged to the church, saying, “Pastor Dave, would you go pray over Cousin Tony? He’s about to die.” I said, “Sure I will.” And so I went into the hospital.

Now, there’s this one general thing about hospitals that are just a little bit interesting if not compromising. If you’re a pastor in a hospital, they let you do way too much, OK? You get access to stuff you probably shouldn’t have access to. So, I walked in to the ICU unit. I knew the charge nurse. I had been there before. And it was like, “Hey Pastor Dave, you want to scrub in and help us today?” “Well no, let me just pray for people. Let’s leave it at that. I know we have a doctor shortage right now, but let me just leave it at that.” So there I went and found Cousin Tony in his room—in his ICU room—and he was swollen beyond recognition. He didn’t look good. He was discolored. He was almost a grayish blue. He was laboring to breathe through a respirator, and he was unconscious.

Seeing that many of his family members had abandoned him out of fear that if they were there when he died, they would be haunted by his spirit, I prayed before I prayed for him. I walked in. Because he wasn’t alert, I put my hand on his head, I leaned over in his ear, and I prayed. And I remember praying two things. I prayed that Jesus would save him, that Jesus would deliver him from his sin and free him from sin. And then I also prayed that he would walk out of the hospital, he would go back home to his family members, to his friends, and he would be one who told others among his people about Jesus. Then I left. I had to get out of town that afternoon, had other responsibilities that took me out of town, and I just waited for this family that Cousin Tony belonged to to call me back and tell me that he had died and now it was time to prepare a funeral. But I didn’t hear anything.

I came back to Albuquerque after three or four days, called the family up and said, “Hey, tell me how Cousin Tony is doing.” And the woman on the other end of the line said, “You wouldn’t believe this Pastor Dave, but after you prayed for him, Cousin Tony walked out of the hospital within thirty-six hours. He’s now back on the reservation recovering.” That’s the Holy Spirit’s power. That’s not about me. That’s ultimately what the Holy Spirit does, because the Holy Spirit’s power is greater than spirituality.

The Holy Spirit makes it very clear that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and every thing, every spirit, is under his authority. That’s good news to us today because we encounter people on a regular basis who are deceived by supernatural experiences in their lives. And yet, we know the Holy Spirit and his power transcends all that. The Holy Spirit works in miraculous ways to draw attention to the one who has the most authority, the most power, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater than persecution. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater that spirituality.

The Holy Spirit’s Presence Is the Greatest Gift

The third thing I want you to see is the Holy Spirit’s presence is the greatest gift. Back to our text. Acts 8:14, “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit”—verse 16—“for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

So much to glean here. So much to unpack, but we need to be really careful. We’ve got to be careful that when we see the book of Acts, we don’t take patterns that we see there and consider them normative. I’m going to get to that in just a minute. But to really understand what’s going on, you need to understand who the Samaritans are. As the church that began in Jerusalem begins to expand, through persecution nonetheless, into other parts of the world and now the gospel’s been preaching in Samaria and Samaritans are responding.

If you were John, if you were Peter, if you were a member of the apostles, and you were Jewish, and you saw what was going on, you would be absolutely shocked because the Samaritans were the people they considered to be furthest from God. And the fact that God was saving them was miraculous beyond their imagination.

Now, here’s who the Samaritans are to the Jews. The Samaritans are half-breeds and they’re heretics. The Samaritans are the remnant of the ten northern tribes of a nation of Israel that went into captivity in Assyria in 722 B.C. and a few people were left in Northern Israel. Those people that were left began to intermarry even though God warned them against this. They began to intermarry with foreign people. So, you had what seemed to be people with some Semitic Jewish heritage, but were also intermixed with other ethnic groups as well. So, from a Jewish perspective, particularly a committed Jewish perspective, these people were traitors. They were sellouts. They were half-breeds.

Not only were they half-breeds, they were heretics because what they did is they offered up a parallel form of Judaism. They began to have their own concepts of worship, their own temple, their own gathering place. They set up a religious rivalry with Jerusalem. If you’re familiar with the Bible, remember Jesus encountered this in John 4 when he goes to and meets the woman at the well in Samaria. They get into a theological debate and Jesus basically says to her, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” So, the fact that the Samaritans have believed in Jesus is miraculous. From a Jewish perspective, no one would believe that the Samaritans would ever respond to God because they’re half-breeds and they’re heretics.

Patterns Are Not Always Normative

Now, we need to be careful when we come to the book of Acts to make patterns that we declare to be normative that just aren’t normative. What we see going on here isn’t normative. Here’s what I mean by that. Three things happen. First, we’re told the people believe. After they believe, they’re baptized, and there must have been at least some duration of time that passed before they receive the Holy Spirit. That’s not always the way it plays out in the book of Acts. It’s not what happens in Acts 2 at Pentecost. It’s not what happens in a chapter here later when Saul meets Jesus. It’s not what happens in Acts 10 when the first full-blooded Gentiles under Cornelius meet Jesus. And so we have to be really careful to not say this is a normative pattern of what it means to become a Christian. You believe, then you’re baptized, and then after some period of time, someone comes and lays hands on you and the Holy Spirit indwells you.

Then the question is why did it happen this way? I don’t know. I can’t speak authoritatively to that. I can offer up some thoughts, but I want you to understand this is purely conjecture. I don’t know why it happened this way. But I would say, if I had to reason a guess, it would be two-fold.

Number one, it was very clear because of the religious rivalry it was very important that the Samaritans, who had an antagonistic relationship with the Jews, understood that John and Peter had authority as apostles. So, there could have been some authentication of their authority in laying their hands on these Samaritans who become believers and them receiving the Holy Spirit in that. And perhaps there is another side of the coin as well. Maybe it was important for the Jewish Christians to realize the Samaritans were no longer half-breeds and heretics. They belonged to Jesus, and they received the Holy Spirit just as the Jewish Christians did.

The Bigger Narrative

But as we look at this text, I don’t want you to miss for a minute the bigger biblical narrative of why this is important. I don’t want this to obscure the big picture here, because what’s going on here speaks a great volume about who God is and what he wants to do. There’s a meta-narrative that runs through the pages of our Bible that begins in Genesis and concludes in Revelation. We have a God who created us and he loves us so much he wants to live among us.

Let me prove that to you. Genesis 3, prior to God confronting Adam and Eve over the rebellion in the Garden, what do we find God doing? What was he doing? He was walking in the Garden that he created to be with the people he created, Adam and Eve. I don’t know what that looked like, but that must have been phenomenal. God created Adam and Eve, and he put them in a garden because his desire was to walk among them, to relate to them, to live among them. Their sin changes everything. And as we move through the book of Genesis, God makes an unconditional covenant with a man named Abram that he will be his God and Abraham’s people will be his people.

And we come to the point where God delivers the nation of Israel out of Egypt, and as God has them and he’s delivering them in Exodus 29:45, God almost in an emotional sense declares, “I will be their God. I will live among them and they will be my people.” And from that point, we begin to see the concept of a tabernacle where God’s people can come together and they can experience his presence, that God indeed lives among them and they are his people. Then we see the idea of a more permanent temple being constructed in the Old Testament where God’s presence resides and people can come and they can experience his presence. And again, God is a God who desires to live among his people and dwell among them.

Then this whole concept ultimately culminates in Jesus. Jesus comes, and then Jesus, as he ascends into heaven, gives the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, we understand the temple is no longer a place. You don’t go to a place to experience God’s presence, God’s temple are a people, a people that belong to Jesus, that are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. And one of my favorite passages of all, Revelation 21.

As the Bible concludes, one of the last pictures we see of God’s intent all the way along that began in Genesis, that began with the creation of humanity, is Revelation 21:3, which basically says that God will be their God. He’ll dwell among their people. There will be no more death. There will be no more sin. There will be no more Satan. But God will be their people and in Jesus he will live among them. And you and I ultimately will live among Jesus in our resurrected body for all eternity. Do you see what a gift that is?

What’s the greatest gift God could ever give us? If he’s the greatest thing that ever existed and he could give of himself. What if God loved us so much that he wanted to live with us? What if he loved us so much he didn’t want to remain at a distance as an onlooker, looking at all the things that are transpiring in the world, but he wanted to enter into our world and he wanted to dwell among us? What if God the Holy Spirit is with us right now? What if what happens when we come together on Sundays, we’re the temple of God? God no longer lives in a place. God lives among his people, and when we come together, we worship because we enjoy the presence of God.

Let’s Be on Mission with Jesus

We had a spring training day two days actually. Spring training is a time every year that we get together after Easter is over as lead pastors and executive pastors and we look to the future. And it’s kind of a working retreat if you will. Lots of spreadsheets, lots of plans. We look at staffing models, we look at calendars. It’s a very complex thing to get fifteen locations and five states on the same page, and so we bring all the leaders together and we go to work for a couple of days. And usually, at the culmination of that experience, Pastor Mark will conclude by giving us just a, “Hey, let’s go for it, guys. Through the Bible, let’s be on mission with Jesus. Rah, rah, rah, let’s go, go, go!”

And it came time for that last allocation that Pastor Mark had to preach to us, and he did something that was surprising, but was absolutely perfect. He said, “Guys, let’s do this. Let’s make a big circle, and let’s just pray. Let’s put aside this last hour and a half, and let’s just let the Holy Spirit lead us in prayer.” As matter of fact, I think I had a picture of it to show you guys. There it is. U-District Church. We prayed standing like an hour and a half. We just prayed. Some guys cried, some guys mourned, some prayed for the future. We all prayed for you, that you would grow in Jesus. We prayed for people that aren’t here yet. And I don’t know if God has for me to be at Mars Hill five more years or fifty more years.

Now, fifty years is hard to imagine. I can’t imagine being ninety-eight and having anything to do to serve, but maybe. Maybe by God’s grace that will happen, but I really believe that this day will stand in my memory forever because what we did for that hour and a half is we put everything aside and said, “Together, let’s just enjoy the presence of God among us, God the Holy Spirit.” Mars Hill Church, that’s why Saturday services and Sunday services are so important. When we come together along with the universal church, we’re the temple of God. God dwells among us and his greatest gift to us is indeed his presence.

Until Jesus completes his kingdom and we see Jesus face to face in our resurrected, transformed bodies, this is as good as it gets. We get to come together and we get to enjoy the presence of the Living God who loves us to the point that he wants to live among us. Do you realize what’s going on right here right now? Oh, that you would. Oh, that we’d be mindful of the presence of the Holy Spirit right here, right now. Are you? Are you aware of his presence? The Holy Spirit’s power is greater than persecution. The Holy Spirit’s power is greater than counterfeit spirituality. The Holy Spirit’s presence is the greatest gift that we have.

The Holy Spirit Cannot Be Manipulated

Before we go too far, you have to understand the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated.

This story is going to get really weird really fast as Simon, the magician, our friend, loses his mind. Ready for this? Here we go. Verse 18, “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’” Oh, you shouldn’t have said that to Peter.

Here goes Peter, ready? “But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you.’” One commentator I read this week said this literally reads, “To hell with you and your money,” OK? That’s Peter for you. “‘May your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, ‘the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.’ And Simon answered”—I think rather sheepishly—“‘Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.’ Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” The Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated, and Simon proves this for us.

5 Reasons Why Simon Wasn’t a Believer

Now, I want to say this from the outset. I don’t believe Simon was ever a Christian. Let me give you some big picture Bible reasons why, and then I really want to hone in on this text to give you some reasons why I don’t think Simon was a Christian.

The Bible tells us, Jesus tells us through the Parable of the Sower, sowing seed on soils, that there are people who outwardly look like they believe in Jesus who don’t. The Bible is very clear that a relationship with God is something that God does start to finish, so you and I can’t lose a relationship with God. It’s as secure as he is secure. It’s as strong as he is strong. But the Bible tells us there are often people who have a superficial faith that isn’t from God, that they don’t lose something that they formerly had, they never had it in the first place. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 13. The word “belief” is also used in James 2—we studied it recently—where even the demons believe in God and shudder, but they’re not saved. I don’t believe Simon is saved. Here are five reasons why.

1. He didn’t get the gospel

Number one, he didn’t get the gospel. He thought he could pay for a gift from God. You don’t pay for gifts, right? That’s inside out and upside down. That’s self evident. The message of Jesus isn’t what you and I do for God to earn his favor, it’s all about what God has given us in Jesus to love us and care for us. We don’t buy God off, God pays the price through his precious Son Jesus to buy us. Simon doesn’t get the gospel. He doesn’t understand the way that a relationship works with God through Jesus. He misses the point entirely.

2. His heart’s wrong

The second reason I don’t believe he’s a Christian is, his heart’s wrong. That’s what Peter really goes after. “Hey, this isn’t really about money. This is about your heart, Simon, and it’s in the wrong place. Your heart’s about you.” The Bible’s very clear that when you and I become a Christian, we are converted. Converted means we are changed, that we don’t simply become improved people, we become radically new people, that God the Holy Spirit takes out of our chest a cold, dead heart of stone and puts in our chest a heart of flesh that’s sensitive and responsive to Jesus. And so we may not perfectly be there, but there is present in the life of a true Christian, a genuine Christian, a love for Jesus and his people. It’s no longer about you. Simon doesn’t get that.

3. He’s a slave to sin

Third thing that Peter tells Simon is this: “You’re a slave to sin. You’re in the bonds of iniquity. You are chained to your sin, Simon. You need to be liberated. You need to be freed.” That’s not what it looks like to be a Christian. We sin, yes, but the sin that once dominated us, the sin that once ruled over us like a cruel slave master, we’re no longer in bondage to sin. We become slaves of God to righteousness. We have a power now through the Holy Spirit to fight back and we’re free. We’re not only forgiven from sin, we’re freed from sin, and the essence of our life in Jesus is we become people who think, feel, speak, and act like Jesus does. Fourthly, I don’t think Simon has the Holy Spirit. No indication. That’s why Peter uses language like, “You’re not a part of this lot. You’re not a part of this.”

4. He’s partnering with the Holy Spirit

What’s he talking about this? He’s talking about being a partner with the Holy Spirit. “Simon, you have no part in this. You have no lot in this.” You cannot be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit. Do you understand that? Salvation is a work of God start to finish. The very faith you profess in Jesus is a work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit regenerates you that you that you might believe, and as you believe, he indwells you. There’s no category in Scripture for a Christian who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. It’s a baseline definition. It’s a prerequisite for Christianity.

5. He’s at risk of perishing

Lastly, Simon’s at risk of perishing. Peter’s very clear, “Unless you turn your heart, you’re going to perish. You’re going to spend eternity apart from God in misery and suffering.” I want us to look through Simon’s eyes right now and realize the point that Peter is making. We cannot manipulate the Holy Spirit. Do you see that? His power is amazing. His presence is satisfying, but you and I don’t manipulate the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a force to be harnessed. The Holy Spirit isn’t a phantom that haunts us. The Holy Spirit is fully God and we honor him, we obey him, we love him, we follow him. We don’t use him; he uses us.

I was in a desperate time in ministry years ago, and out of desperation I connected to some pastors who I loved in my city, but they were wild guys. And they said, “Hey, we got a prayer retreat just for you. Come on out. It’ll set you straight.”

So, I came to this prayer retreat. The first bad sign was we started it off with heavy chicken fried steak. Not a good way to start—with cream gravy. Not a good way to start a prayer retreat. But as we prayed, I was taken aback how men were yelling at the Holy Spirit, telling him to do things. They were directing the Holy Spirit. They were commanding the Holy Spirit. That’s inside out and upside down, right? He’s not a force we harness. He’s not a phantom that haunts us. He’s fully God, and we honor him, we submit to him, we yield to him. It’s not what we want him to do, it’s what he wants us to do that’s ultimately important. Do you see that? I want to close with two applications today.

What’s Your Motive?

First, for the Christian. I want us to look through the eyes of Simon and I want us to examine our motives, right? If we took a poll of everyone in the room and I asked the question, “Do you want the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you want the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?” every Christian without exception, 100 percent of us in total, would say, “Yes!” So, let’s just take that for granted. Let’s just take for granted that we all want, as Christians, the power of the Holy Spirit. We all want the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It begs the second question, “Why?” Why do you want the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Why do you want the presence of the Holy Sprit in your life? Christians, we can learn some things from Simon the magician. The answer to his why was he wanted to go back to being the center of attention in the city in Samaria. He saw an opportunity. Remember, he once was called great. People even attributed to him divine status and he’s watching Peter, and he’s watching John, through prayer and through the laying on of hands, pour out the ultimate gift of God and the Holy Spirit. He wants some of that action too, why? Because he desires to be great.

Is that your motive, Christian, as to why you want the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, so that you might be great? Is having the power of the Holy Spirit in your life for your fame or is it ultimately for the fame of Jesus? Because you need to decide, do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit so that you can be a great woman, a great man, a great husband, a great wife, a great dad, a great mom, a great son, a great daughter, a great accountant, a great software engineer, a great artist? And tell me if you haven’t heard this before: “I want the power of the Holy Spirit so I can be a great athlete.” That’s Simon’s perspective. That’s not the Holy Spirit’s perspective. The Holy Spirit’s power, purpose, and presence is ultimately about making Jesus great, not us great. Do you see the difference?

What’s in your heart today? I want you to understand, I’ve struggled with this a lot in preaching and in pastoral ministry. I don’t want to be a great preacher who talks a lot about Jesus. I want to be a preacher who talks a lot about the great Jesus. Do you see the difference? I don’t want to be a great pastor who points people to Jesus, I just want to be a pastor who points people to the great Jesus. And to do that, I need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christian, what’s your motive? Are you aligned with the motivation of the Holy Spirit? Why is the Holy Spirit motivated? He wants to make the name of Jesus great. You and I don’t use the Holy Spirit for our purposes; he uses us for his purposes. Do you understand the difference? Non-Christian, are you like Simon? Maybe you’re not a Christian and you don’t even know it today. I think that’s where Simon’s at here. Would you, like Simon, say, “You know what? I think I believed. I prayed a prayer publicly. I’ve talked about Jesus. I’ve even been baptized.”

But what if, like Simon, you don’t get the gospel? What if this relationship you have with God is all about what you do instead of what God has done for you? What if this is all about you doing the right things and avoiding the wrong things so that God will love you instead of God already loves you and he’s given you the righteousness of Christ? What if your heart’s in the wrong place? Nobody has a perfect heart 100 percent of the time, but if you’re a Christian, you should consistently have a heart that’s about Jesus and others. And if your heart is filled with you, you may not be a Christian.

What if, like Simon, you find yourself enslaved to sin? Simon’s big deal is he’s prideful. He wants to be great. My theory is we don’t struggle with 100 sins, but we have one predominant sin we struggle with over and over again, right? What if you’re enslaved?

What if you’d say, “Pastor Dave, if I’m honest to you, I do whatever my sin tells me to do all the time. I never get a break”? Then you may not be a Christian. Oh, I hope some of you realize today who don’t know Jesus that you’re not a Christian. You may have professed Jesus in a way that was superficial, that wasn’t a work of God in your heart that ultimately converted and transformed you. You may have gone through the motions just like Simon did because you had ulterior motives.

Repent

Are you that person? If so, the question is, “Pastor Dave, what should I do?” Take Peter’s advice, ready? Repent, that’s what you should do. Repent. Repent means you turn from sin. You turn from independence. You turn from living apart from God. You turn from false religion. You turn from self glory. You leave that behind and you turn to Jesus. And you say from your heart, from your head, with your whole self, “Jesus, you’re enough. Your perfect life, your substitutionary death, your resurrection, it’s enough that if I turn and trust in you, your righteousness becomes mine and I will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. I will receive the Holy Spirit.”

Would you pray where you are right now? Lord Jesus, I turn from sin. I trust in you. I want to receive the Holy Spirit. Would you do that?

Mars Hill, here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to continue our time of worship together, but I want to ask a huge favor of you. In just a few minutes, as we take an offering, as we take Communion—and at Communion, we see once again in a very physical way that our relationship with God was perfectly achieved by Jesus. It’s through his body and his blood that you and I might be reconciled to God. We’re going to sing songs. Some of us are going to pray together.

As we do this, would we be able to do this together mindful of the presence of the Holy Spirit among us? Would you consider that? As you give, as you sing, as you pray, as you take Communion, would you be aware that the Living God dwells among us. God the Holy Spirit lives among us and we want to acknowledge his presence. I don’t want us to be like my wife, Karen.

Now, let me explain what that means. There are many ways in which we should be like her, but there’s one way that we shouldn’t. My wife has been suffering hearing loss.

Now, I’ve got to be honest with you, having a wife whom I love very much, who often times can’t hear me, coming provides endless opportunities for surprises that are very tempting, so pray that I’d resist that temptation.

Several weeks ago, though, she was in the laundry room just doing some work, and I really wanted to talk to her about something that was really important because I wanted her input. So, I walked into our laundry room, and it’s small. It’s maybe forty square feet. You know, it’s four feet by maybe eight feet—maybe thirty-two square feet. And she’s there at the sink. The washer and dryer are full bore. They’re making a lot of noise.

She’s in the sink, and I walk in this small room, literally can reach out and touch her, and start talking to her, and start pouring out my heart. And I just notice that she’s folding clothes and doing things in the sink. I’m thinking, “Wow, she’s really thinking. I’m going to get an amazing answer.” So, I keep talking, no response. Then I stop talking, still silence. Like, “Wow, she must be praying about giving me a good answer. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say.”

All of a sudden it dawns on me she’s not heard a thing I said. So, I’m about to reach out and touch her when she turns around and sees me, and she feels like an intruder has come into her home, and she reaches for the scissors. And I realize, “All right, she’s good with scissors. I’m going to get my heart cut out real quick.” And I startle her, and I thought, “How weird is this that I’m present with her the whole time and she’s just going about her work completely oblivious to my presence.” I don’t want us to be like that with the Holy Spirit. I want us to acknowledge, and to honor, and to esteem the Holy Spirit. How sad would it be,

An Opportunity to Respond

Mars Hill, if when we came together all we did was go through the motions, and do our work, and ritualistically get the job done, completely ignorant and oblivious to the presence of the Holy Spirit among us. Will you respond as we worship together? Would you particularly be mindful of the Holy Spirit. Nothing compromises our senses and our sensitivities to the Holy Spirit more than sin. Would you confess sin today? Would you invite the Holy Spirit to make himself known? How do we know when the Holy Spirit is active among us?

There’s one telltale sign throughout the Bible. You know what it is? Joy, that’s what it is. The psalmist in Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence is the fullness of joy.” When we see the Holy Spirit being poured out in the book of Acts among the people of God, you know how they respond? No matter what’s going on, they’re filled with joy. Mars Hill Church, in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we move forward to the future, let’s be far more aware of his presence as we’re filled with joy.

I want to ask our financial stewards to come up right now, and as we prepare to continue in the presence of the Holy Spirit, giving, taking Communion, singing, praying for one another, I want to show you some amazing things the Holy Spirit is doing across the world. Take a look at this video.

[Video]

The Lord spoke to me and said [speaking in foreign language], “Preach my Word to the nations.” [Speaking in foreign language] So, I thank you that today you are a nation of people to whom I’m able to bring the word. [Speaking in foreign language]

Howdy, Mars Hill Church and our Extended Family of Mars Hill Global. I’m Pastor Sutton and I’m really, really excited to show you in video what the Lord is doing here in Ethiopia. Eleven of our church leaders preached and encouraged the local Ethiopians church planters. He said, “Behold, I am with you.”

[Speaking in foreign language] We had over two thousand pastors from all over Ethiopia that attended this conference. Please continue to pray, please continue to give to Mars Hill Global so that we would see more people saved by Jesus, more people growing in Jesus, and more people on Jesus’ mission. It’s amazing to see the work of the Holy Spirit going on halfway around the world knowing that he is at work in our lives and our hearts in this building right now.

Note: This sermon transcript has been edited for readability.