The persecution of The Church and The Spreading of the Gospel — Acts 7-8

0:00 Open your Bibles to Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight. And, unfortunately, I do not have a a Christmas message for you, but we are gonna teach the word of God and preach Jesus. Alright? Amen.

0:12 Alright. Amen. Alright. So open up to Acts chapter eight. We're gonna continue our study in Acts.

0:21 We're gonna look at... Consider chapter eight verse one through 25. There it is. We're already... We're gonna just read the first three verses, then we're gonna read the rest in a little bit.

0:35 But let's just start out reading the first three verses. And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. That is Stephen. And on that day, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.

1:04 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women. He would put them in prison. He would put them in prison. Alright. The lord always blesses his word.

1:19 Let's pray father. We ask for help from the holy spirit that it would bring clarity and conviction in Jesus name. Amen. Well, up to this point, we... We've been noticing that everything's in Jerusalem.

1:32 Everything has to do with the apostles and the the fact that they're getting persecuted or attacked for them preaching the word of God. Everything's in Jerusalem. People are getting saved and all that's happening there. And from this point on, you're gonna notice a shift. Everything leaves Jerusalem.

1:49 Now it's gonna go throughout all of the world. So if you do want a title, it's a persecuted church and the spread of the gospel. So the shift from Jerusalem and the apostles to the gospel spreading. Now the apostles still engaged and involved, but it doesn't center around them as much anymore. It starts to shift as you're gonna see in the following weeks as we consider the word of God.

2:17 So notice then what happens is that Steven had had preached to the group, to the audience that was listening to him, and he says this to them, you're always resisting the holy spirit. Furthermore, he said that you rejected the righteous one, and he says on top of that, Jesus was standing at the right hand of God, and he also said that he saw the son of man. So as he... Stephen is preaching to this audience and they're listening to this, they're getting really angry as he's preaching the gospel to them, and and he states these facts. Now these facts are these facts are really starting to to get to them, and rather than repenting, they're they're they're getting more and more angry especially when he says that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of god.

3:14 In other words, he was saying to them, Jesus is god. He's the righteous one. He's the son of man, which comes from Daniel chapter seven, which is another expression or saying that Jesus is God. Now, well, before my next statement, listen to what else you said. You receive the law and yet you do not keep it.

3:39 You receive the law and yet you do not keep it. Now for the people listening, you want to get people angry, that's one way to get them angry. What? They were like, okay, the the first four already getting esteemed and and mad, but this last statement, now now you went too far and they they they grab them, they drag them outside, they literally pick up stones and they start to stone the guy and they literally kill him. They stone him because of what he said.

4:38 So if you were to look at my family, you would say my mom especially had tremendous religious zeal for being a Catholic. That's how she was raised and for her culture. And the people that I've worked with when they come to Christ, they have extremely strong religious zeal for God. Right? And they have a lot of...

5:02 And for their religion. And in this case, Saul was just extremely zealous for God and for Judaism. But you have to understand that the way he understood the the Old Testament was that there was only one God, Deuteronomy chapter six. And when they started saying that Jesus was God, it's like, wait a minute. Everything I've always heard about Jesus...

5:27 I mean, I'm sorry, about God that I've been taught since I was young, and and I I believe it with all of my heart. It was deep rooted in his heart was that there's only one God, and now you're saying that Jesus is God? And it got him angry. That goes against everything I know about God. There's only one God.

5:47 The concept of the trinity didn't make sense to him. He couldn't even understand it. And so they were saying Jesus is Lord and they were bowing down to Jesus and he just couldn't take it and they just grabbed rocks and they killed the guy. And so their anger spews out not only towards Stephen, but against all believers. Did you notice what we read in the text?

6:13 First of all, Saul was in hearty agreement in putting him to death. So Paul saw Saul in this case said, hey, yes, let's let's kill him. Let let's get rid of this guy because he blasphemed against God. And the bible says that, in other words, he completely agreed with killing them with murder. Then it says in verse three, that he began to ravage the church entering house to house and dragging them off men and women and putting them in prison.

6:46 Wow. You think he was mad? Think he was angry because of what he heard as Stephen preached the gospel to them? I think you would agree. Now listen to what Paul said in in his salvation testimony.

7:01 In first Timothy one thirteen, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Just so you know, a blasphemer is somebody who curses God. It's equivalent today when people curse, they say, Jesus, you know, blank as they use it as a curse, as a as a... To curse really. Funny how they don't use other of the gods' names, only the name of Jesus.

7:29 I wonder who's behind that. And he was violent. Did you know Paul was really violent? He had such deep convictions, and he was a really violent man. Listen to how he said it in Acts twenty six eight to five verse 11.

7:44 It's right there on the screen. In verse 11, within that context, says, and I punished them often in the synagogues. So he would go into the synagogues where those people who had turned to Christ for the salvation of their souls and they were saying Jesus is Lord. They were bowing to him. He would go in there looking for them, and listen to what he says then.

8:06 I would go into a synagogue looking for them, and I try to force them to blaspheme. So just picture it. He goes into the synagogue or a church if you will, and he would say, which of you are followers of Jesus? We are. And then he would go and grab them, and he would start to get violent with them and hit them.

8:26 And then he would... I couldn't imagine him grabbing by the hair, you know, blaspheme Jesus, and they wouldn't do it. Well, I would never blaspheme Jesus. I would never curse his name. He's my lord and savior, and he would beat them and drag them off to prison.

8:43 Notice, I'm being furiously enraged. Boy, you can almost feel it, right, his anger. He was just enraged because they were preaching Jesus. And he was mad, And I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities. Wow.

9:01 This guy had an anger problem, don't you think? In Philippians three six, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church. Anybody know who this guy is right here? Anybody know him? He lives in Veracruz, Mexico.

9:18 His name is Bernard and his wife Amelia. This guy, when the missionaries first went to his town to preach the gospel, this guy not only cursed and cursed them, but he got violent and he beat some of the guys that went to preach the gospel there. The next time they came, he got a Molotov cocktail, and he threw it at them. And by the grace of God, when it exploded, it didn't hurt anyone. Right?

9:48 They went back a week later, and he was still violent and angry, and they kept preaching to him. Repent. And you know what? He got saved. Not far from where he's at, they both are assisting a local assembly and growing in their faith.

10:06 Praise the Lord. Not only that, but those four other men in a town nearby. In fact, I'm gonna be at that camp in April in that town, and I'm gonna get pictures of these four guys, and I'm gonna show them to you. Four guys went after another missionary and the the team, and they started to beat them. Then he got a a bat, and he swung, and the guy ducked and missed him.

10:30 And he swung again, and he jumped back. He he just told me a couple of months ago I was talking to him. He explained to me how it happened. Then the home where where he was visiting to preach the bible, they grabbed him, took him inside, locked the doors, and they were all night waiting for him with machetes in their hand to to kill him. And great...

10:49 By the grace of God, they were saved. Those four guys are now not only saved, but they're in the local church and worshiping Jesus. I got to meet them, each one. And you're the ones that are trying to kill that guy? Yeah.

11:04 We're the ones. And now we follow Jesus. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. This guy right here, Paul, look at his testimony.

11:16 His testimony is this, what he was before Christ when Christ saved him and what Christ is doing in him now. And just briefly, and this should be your testimony too, by the way. What I was before Christ, Christ got ahold of me and what Christ is doing in my life right now. And yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly and in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

11:50 Praise God for the grace of our Lord. That even people who curse him, who slam his name, who hate him, get converted, get saved, and they end up worshiping the very one they used to curse. Alright. Now, let's go on, moving on. Verse four, therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

12:45 Now there was a certain man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic or sorcery in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria claiming to be someone great. And they all, from the smallest to the greatest, were giving attention to him saying, this man is what is called the great power of God. So in other words, they were even saying, he's like a God. And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic art or swords... Sorcery, your bible might say.

13:24 But when they had 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. And even Simon himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued on with Philip as he as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, and he was constantly amazed. Alright. Let's just stop there, then we'll continue a minute our reading.

13:58 Alright. So Philip, the preaching deacon, you know that deacons can preach the gospel too. Right? And they can be evangelists. He's Philip the evangelist also called that.

14:08 Right? But notice that when they got scattered because a great persecution arose because of Stephen's preaching and and they murdered him and Paul's enraged and there... There's a persecution. People are being scattered, but they didn't go and hide. They continued to preach Jesus.

14:26 So you notice that. Right? They went... Those scattered people went and preached the word wherever they went. Then he said, we better not preach anymore because we might get beat up or thrown in jail.

14:37 They were they were brave because they had true conversion and true conviction of what they believed in. Hopefully, you're not hiding or scared to say that you're a follower of Christ. Notice his motive was to introduce Christ to them, so he goes to this town led by the spirit of God, and he began proclaiming Christ to them. And that's what we do. We proclaim Christ.

15:03 Right? He was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God. So he was telling the Samaritans, hey, Christ died on the cross not too long ago. He rose from the dead. And if you believe in him, you can become part of the kingdom of God.

15:20 Wow. He had a message, right? And he was preaching it and people were getting saved. And then notice then that we're introduced to a guy named Simon, Simon the sorcerer. Now his intent as he was in that area, in that town, was to glorify himself as you notice the text.

15:37 He seemed to be more interested in Philip's power and not Jesus. Now follow with me. Follow with me. Astrologers, sorcerers, and magicians exerted great influence on the people and they earned a great living. So this guy, Simon, the sorcerer, had some money.

15:58 He was doing well, and he was indeed doing all kinds of sorcery. Simon practices magical arts and tricks, impress the people, and claim that he was someone great. That that was his... What he was telling the people. And the people thought, wow, this man is called what we call the great power of God.

16:24 They were like, wow, look at his look at his sorcery, look at his tricks, look at the things he does. And they were saying that somehow he got his power from God. However, we know that that they were impressed with his magic card and his tricks, but we know that he got his power from where? From Satan. That's right.

16:43 Any sorcery, any magic, any of that kind of stuff always has its origins in Satan. What was the result of Philip Philip preaching? Well, many believed and were baptized. Even Simon believed and was baptized. Now I want you to note verse 13.

17:04 He observed the signs and great miracles taking place, and he was constantly amazed. Now that's not in there for for no reason or by accident. Simon... Well, here, let's unfold this. Let's unfold it.

17:36 Was he? Was he was he truly saved, or did he just profess? Now watch. Doctor William Marty says this, Simon's request revealed two major concepts. What requests?

17:51 Well, let's read that then before we continue. Look at verse 14. Now, when the apostles in in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of god, they sent them Peter and John who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit. For for he had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the lord Jesus.

18:19 Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the holy spirit. Now when Simon saw that, the spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money. What? Look what he did. And he was saying this, verse 19, give this authority to me as well so that everyone on whom I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.

18:51 But Peter said to him, 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 intentions of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity. But Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me yourself so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.

19:33 We'll read verse 25 in a minute. So what did he do? Well, he said he was saved. He got baptized. Then he's following Philip around, and he said that he was constantly amazed when when he was doing miracles.

19:47 Yes. Philip was doing miracles. Legitimate. And it... We read in the text that people who had demons, demons were coming out of him.

19:55 We read that paralyzed people were not walking and lame people were straightened out. And so, yes, this was actually happening. And it was true at the beginning when the church was new that by many signs they were preaching the gospel. That's that's what would happen. Yes, it's there.

20:16 But he mistakenly assumed that the holy spirit was a gift that could be purchased. And he thought that the holy spirit was a power that could be manipulated. Now, the holy spirit is a gift to true believers and the spirit himself is a person, not a power to exploit for for selfish purposes. And so here we go. Peter's strong denunciation makes us believe that his profession, saying that he believed and was now a follower of Christ, was false.

20:53 Now, I want you to follow the following things I'm going give you. This was from a variety of commentators because I did a deep investigation into this. And many of them, this is what they had to say. When he said, may your silver perish with you, the word perish sometimes means eternal destruction. So they tend to say that.

21:18 He was saying, may you be eternally destroyed because of what you said, wanting silver for for the holy spirit's power. His interest in the spirit was totally selfish. He wanted power for profit. You know that that's happening today? Turn on the TV.

21:41 I I I saw it growing up. I literally saw this happening. And if you send your money, we're gonna send you a little jar of some some oil from Jerusalem. And you get on there, you're gonna be healed and all this stuff. But you're gonna give us money.

21:56 And when you give us money, then we'll send you this oil from Jerusalem. It was probably Crisco oil that they put in little bottles. Oh, by the way, by the way, this is for free. There there was this lady that that was able to lead to Christ and we're doing the discipleship, and she always wanted to be anointed with oil. And I'm like, well, lady, I mean, you don't really have to, you know, but she kept nagging me.

22:19 I wanna be anointed with oil. So one day, I got tired of her nagging me. So I got crisco oil and put it in a little jar like this. I went over there, put it on her head, prayed over her, and she was happy and left me alone. So there you go.

22:32 That was for free. I anointed her with oil. It wasn't from Jerusalem. It was Crisco oil. All right.

22:40 So, yes, isn't that funny? I'm crazy. She stopped bothering me though after that, and I was happy. Amen. Alright.

22:48 Here we go. Alright. So he wanted power for profit. Peter tells him, your heart is not right with God. Peter also tells them to repent, normally addressed to lost people.

23:01 Peter sees them full of bitterness and bondage of iniquity. I like the way the New Living Translation puts it, you are full of bitter jealousy and held captive by sin. Wow. Didn't sound like a believer to me. Even though Luke said Simon believed, he never said Simon received the spirit.

23:31 Now, look at John two twenty three to 25. Many believed in his name, beholding his signs which he was doing, but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them. That's another way of saying he didn't believe him. For he knew all men. No one needed to tell him about the human nature for he knew what was in each person's heart.

23:53 In other words, they said they believed verbally but their heart had not been converted. They didn't truly believe. They like the signs. Wow. Look what he's doing.

24:04 We believe that he's doing those signs that he could be the Messiah, the savior, but Jesus says, no. It's superficial. Justin Martyr, who lived 100 to 165, he's got a lot of writings. I have some of them at home if anybody wants to read his writings, said this, Simon the magician and meanders, I was a buddy of his, were promoters of narcissism and therefore considered false prophets. You can read about Simon, and he was known for being a false teacher.

24:41 But at this moment, he professed. And a lot of people put a lot of faith and they prayed when they were little. And they even got baptized. In fact, has anybody been listening to Moody Radio lately for the last six to eight months? They've been saying over and over again in the morning program, over and over again.

25:00 And there... Some of them, two of them that are on their morning program said, I I grew up in church. I got... I said I was a Christian. I got baptized.

25:09 I went to bible college, and then I joined the Moody staff, and then I didn't get saved till a few years ago. I did all of that, and several of them said the same thing. The main guy, Carl Claussen, I love that guy. You should read his book, Killing Sin. It's powerful.

25:30 He said that he grew up in church too. His dad was a pastor, and he was... Got baptized, did the whole thing. And he got steeped into drugs and all kinds of immoral lifestyle. And then finally, one day, he repented and truly came to Christ.

25:49 Rory says this. He was still thinking in terms of magical powers rather than repentance of heart. Repentance of heart. Salvation is a life altering, transforming experience. It's not just, oh, yes, I believe, and then you keep doing the same thing.

26:40 Mark was supervised by Peter as he wrote his gospel. And so the apostles had that responsibility. So they hear that, hey, something's going on in Samaria. People are getting saved. So Peter and John, right, the apostles went over there, and they were like, wow, look what God is doing.

26:59 Now, at the beginning, when someone got saved, they were... The spirit guide came upon them, and there was external evidence that that happened for a reason. It happened several times. But, yes, they went over there. They prayed for them.

27:18 The holy spirit fell upon them. Now... But I I want you to realize this again about the apostles. The the the church, what we believe now today, what we have here in the whole New Testament written as supervised by them is what we found our our faith in. That that's what we ground our doctrines and beliefs in in the New Testament.

27:40 It says that we were built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Philip was one of those prophets that went over there, preached the word, people got saved, the apostles went over there to confirm what was going on and to pray that the holy spirit will fall upon the Samaritans as well. Now they went to Samaritans to see what God was doing through the preaching of Philip and found many believers. And they laid their hands as a sign of unity so that a separate church would not start with any kind of teaching. Also, as proof, they take...

28:15 They too were saved by faith and received the spirit. So, yes, the apostles went, and the spirit came upon them when they prayed for them. They already had believed, and then the spirit of God came on them. Now I want you to to pay close attention here because this can confuse many people. Now this pattern happens only four times in acts, then it's not mentioned again in the scriptures.

28:41 It happened in Judea. Remember the birth of the church when the holy spirit came upon them and they were able to speak in other languages. In chapter eight of acts, what we're reading right now in Samaria, it happened, and it doesn't say in the text more more likely that they did speak in other languages or did other things that that to externally show that they too were receiving the the gospel, Christ's savior, and the holy spirit. It happens in acts chapter 10 with the Gentiles. You're gonna see that in a few weeks when Cornelius got saved and all his family.

29:16 When they got saved, the spirit guide came upon them. And then when Peter's given a report of what happened, then all of the Jews were able to say that, wow. So God is granting them repentance by grace as well as us. And then you'll see it again in Acts 19. To men who had not heard the complete gospel, and when they got saved, they prayed for them in the spirit of God.

29:42 The holy spirit fell on them. Now, in after Acts, when you get all the teachings to the church, you never see that they say, oh, by the way, when you get saved, tell the pastors to come, the elders, or an apostle so they can pray for you. You can read the holy... Receive the holy spirit. You don't see that.

30:02 That was just in the in the beginning when the church was being initiated and and there was many changes going on. Now here is what the Bible says, Romans eight nine, but if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. So if you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians six nineteen, the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and that you are not your own. First Corinthians twelve thirteen, for by one spirit we were all baptized into the body, the body of Christ, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, you are made to drink of one spirit.

30:43 So when you get saved, the Holy Spirit put you into the body of Christ. And so then finally, we read in Ephesians one thirteen. In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. There's no waiting. There's no second experience.

31:10 There's no call the pastors to pray for you so you can read the holy spirit. After acts, we see that the moment a person gets saved, you're sealed with the holy spirit of god. And so, did you come to Christ? Did you truly believe? Were you converted?

31:47 They were angry at him at first and violent, but the the holy spirit got a hold of him, showed him the beauties of Christ, and they were saved. Philip preaching the word and leading people to Christ. Praise god for the Phillips. Samaritans came to Christ. They were born again.

32:09 They got baptized and gave testimony of that. Simon, a false person, agreeing to believe so he can gain power. Trying to get rich by the gospel like many are doing it today. And the apostles laid the foundation of the church's doctrines and truth to stand on. Wow.

32:32 What a powerful section of scripture. Look at verse 25. And so when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. Wow. The word of god spreading and we're going to see as we continue to to the books of act, to the book of acts, how the gospel kept spreading throughout the world in many ways and many forms, but praise God for that.

33:02 Many... Maybe maybe God will give you an open door this week to preach Christ, to share. You never know. Even people get angry. They might get converted.

33:15 You don't know that. This week, the Lord gave me several open doors. And I prayed in the morning, Lord, I wanna be ready because if you open a door, wanna be ready to share. And sure enough, you opened it and bam, I was able to share Christ. Philip went and preached, and people were converted.

33:34 God did a mighty work, and he wants to do a mighty work through us. Well, may the Lord be worshiped and exalted. Now that Christmas is right around the corner, don't forget to remember him and to praise him for having been born. And now, we're saved through him. Father, thank you for your word.

33:54 Thank you for your word. Bless it to our hearts. Lord, we are truly converted. We have truly put our faith in Jesus, and we have been given testimony that he has transformed our lives. And we're true believers, followers of Christ, we worship you, Jesus Christ.

34:12 Thank you for this portion where we're able to learn how you did a mighty work in Samaria. Lord, be with us, and may you be glorified in our lives. In Christ's name, amen.